Lambton College will purchase new industry equipment, software and simulators that support enhanced training for students thanks to a significant donation from the Suncor Energy Foundation.
"That generous donation today, was $300,000 from Suncor," College President and CEO Judith Morris announced to students, staff, local dignitaries and industry representatives who gathered for the announcement Monday afternoon.
Sarnia's Suncor Refinery Vice President Mark Hiseler says the latest investment, supporting the college's Envision Tomorrow capital campaign, will help ensure students continue to have access to new learning environments gaining the skills required in the workplace of the future.
"We've donated as an investment in not only Suncor's future, but the future of Lambton County," says Hiseler. "The specific hardware that the money has gone towards is going to set up students out of these technical programs to be competitive, both locally and across the country and even internationally if they choose. It's investment that's needed. This stuff changes. There's constant change in this technology, so we're really happy to be able to support the college in sustaining good quality graduates."
The new equipment will be used by students in the college's Chemical Production and Power Engineering Technology (CPET), Power Engineering Technology (PETC) and Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology (ICET) programs.
Students will now have access to a state-of-the-art Combined Cycle Power Plant, Bio-ethanol Plant and Refrigeration and Chiller System simulators.
A new piece of equipment, a Bio-diesel Trainer, designed in-house, is expected to be completed by early spring.
Dean of Technology, Energy and Apprenticeship Alan Arbour says the donation also provides funding for mobile and Bluetooth technologies, allowing for remote monitoring and control of Hart modem and chemical and physical iPad sensors.
"This is the way industry is going," says Arbour. "We're helping to try and lead the way as far as having our students learning and being trained on the newest types of instruments, which are Bluetooth enabled. For instance, we have graduates now who've told us that they're basically using their iPhone [or other mobile device] to monitor the plant from their phone."
