Antelope Valley College (AV College) officials, faculty and staff, industry partners and other dignitaries recently celebrated the grand opening of the state-of-the-art Discovery Lab. The 35,466 square-foot building will support programs in electronics and avionics, welding, fire technology and the Aircraft Fabrication and Assembly program, also known as AFAB.
The AFAB program provides inexperienced students with entry-level skills for the aerospace industry and experienced students with upgraded skills.
AV College is one of the few community colleges in the United States offering composite fabrication and repair.
“This building is for industry, developing a workforce and making sure that we meet community needs in the best way we know how,” AV College President Ed Knudson said.
The building features a state-of-the art welding lab, along with electronics laboratory, fire technology, advanced manufacturing, and metrology programs.
“We’re moving this thing into the 21st century and we’re very excited about this building,” Knudson said.
Each of the classrooms is equipped with cameras for distance learning. There are also microphones to capture classroom discussion. The Electronics and Avionics classroom has devices at each student station to capture soldering dust. The electrical technology classroom features an exposed ceiling so the students can see the workmanship.
The welding lab includes seven welding dust collectors that collect smoke from the welding and there are also ambient air cleaners to filter the air and an alarm to measure the gas in the air. The monitor can measure oxygen and open a door to ventilate the room.
