Members of Congress Explore Manassas Fab Lab

Last week, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-10th) and Congressman Rob Wittman (R-1st) were given a guided tour of our Battleview Building-based FAB Lab by SySTEMic Program Director Josh Labrie.  President Anne Kress, Provost Chad Knights, College Board Member Zuzana Steen and Government Affairs Director Dana Kauffman also joined-in to introduce the elected officials to the recently opened facility.  The Congress members enjoyed seeing the equipment and learning more about how our instructors use the machines to educate NOVA students, area K-12 students and many of our region’s junior high and high school teachers.  Most importantly, it was shared that several area employers, especially Micron and Amazon Web Services (AWS), both recommended and helped the college to purchase many of the high-dollar machines.  This facility is helping NOVA create a skill-based pipeline for their future workforce.  While touring, the members of Congress also got to meet with YearUp students and Amazon Web Services employees currently in training with the equipment.

Congressman Wittman, who had previously visited the facility when it was a vacant building, was so impressed with the completed facility (and NOVA’s ongoing work to leverage its success) that he made a generous offer to provide Director Labrie and his team with a letter of support to submit with an upcoming  DoD STEM Grant application.  The Congressman is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.  The grant would help NOVA build sustainable regional capacity for STEM education and exploration, not only in Northern Virginia but in partnership with sister community colleges in the Tidewater region.  Labrie received a copy of the letter the next day.

Pictured in the photos are President Kress and College Board Member Zuzana Steen with Congresswoman Wexton and with Congressman Wittman.  They are holding plaques made for them by Fab Lab staff on their CNC machine.