ݮƵprovides free training for aspiring machinists via America’s Cutting Edge partnership
Contact: Aspen Harris
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State is providing free training to the public through its partnership with America’s Cutting Edge, a national initiative addressing the growing need for skilled workers in the machining and machine tool industry.
The ACE program, a collaboration between the public-private Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation and the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy, was launched in 2020 as a free machine-training curriculum. The program’s focus is to reestablish America’s leadership in the machining industry through transformative thinking, technology innovation and workforce development
With the help of a $1.2 million grant from the DoD, MSU’s ACE Hub opened in 2024 and has provided more than 190 certifications to participants. It is located at the university’s Innovation, Design and Engineering Education Laboratory in Patterson Engineering Laboratories on Hardy Road.
Aidan Duncan, MSU’s ACE program coordinator and IDEELab shop manager, said this type of training is crucial to sustaining the economy.
“Right now, we have more people retiring from the manufacturing workforce than joining it, and we are losing a lot of the knowledge gained from making important products,” Duncan said. “Through this initiative, we are closing that gap and adding to the manufacturing workforce knowledgeable machinists and engineers.”
Regardless of background, education level and work experience, students and industrial workers can participate in the program to gain or further their machining skills. Participants can take the six-hour online training at their own pace. Upon completion, they are eligible for the optional 32-hour, in-person training at one of 39 sites across 14 states.
The training emphasizes computer numerical control programming, precision measurement and real-world applications.
Alejandro Martinez-Castellon, MSU’s ACE curriculum coordinator and IDEELab instructor, said the program sparks creativity in many participants.
“By the time they come to their final project, they have so many ideas. Now, they know how to execute it,” Martinez-Castellon said. “It’s amazing to see how much they’ve grown in that time.”
The ACE program also has been implemented into the curriculum for ݮƵmechanical engineering students, exposing them to training not commonly found in other universities’ curricula.
Duncan said this implementation will help bridge the gap between future engineers and machinists.
“We’re trying to teach them more about machining, so when they go and talk to machine operators, they understand what their problems are,” Duncan said. “Our students come in and learn how the machines work. They can translate that between the office and shop floor and be prepared to help design solutions to these problems.”
MSU’s ACE training also has expanded through a partnership to Northeast Mississippi Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.
To learn more about the ACE program, visit .
The Bagley College of Engineering is online atand can be found on,andat @msuengineering.
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