Today the Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center (UASC) announced it has officially formalized a partnership with Clark State Community College. The UASC is looking to expand precision agriculture efforts statewide while Clark State Community College has developed a UAS program around agriculture.
The UASC and Clark State are collaborating on a new precision agriculture program beginning this fall. The Associate Degree program will position students to emerge into a dynamic industry with a new and highly valued set of skills including UAS operation, remote sensing, and data processing. SelectTech operates its UAS development facility at Springfield-Beckley Airport.
“I am very impressed with the community leadership demonstrated between Clark State and the City of Springfield around advancing UAS technologies,” said Dick Honneywell, UASC’s Executive Director. “Clark State is located in a rich agriculture community and with UAS precision agriculture predicted to lead this UAS industry, this program will be very attractive to students,” continued Honneywell.
"Precision Agriculture will allow Ohio farmers to become even more efficient and productive by combining state of the art agriculture and geospatial instruction including the use of UAS to gather agriculture related data,” said Dr. Jo Alice Blondin, president, Clark State Community College. "Partnering with UASC will help ensure that the instruction we deliver to the students will always be relevant and current. The platforms, sensors and regulations that are part of the UAS industry are very dynamic and having UASC experts working alongside Clark State instructors will ensure that we stay at the leading edge of this technology."
The UAS market is projected to be an 82 billion dollar industry and create 100,000 jobs over the next 10 years. Precision agriculture is predicted to be approximately 80% of the known UAS industry. In Ohio, agriculture is the #1 business with approximately 50% of Ohio’s land mass farmed and 1 in 7 Ohioans are in an agriculture related job. The UASC is partnering with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources and academia across Ohio in an effort to advance precision agriculture through introduction of remote sensing and data processing capabilities.
About the Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center:
The OH/IN UAS Center is a joint venture between the states of Ohio and Indiana. The overall mission of the UAS Center is to advance UAS commercialization and support flight operations for government and agencies. It offers a mix of services and a variety of test ranges and capabilities to support research, development, testing and evaluation of unmanned aircraft Systems (UAS) technologies for businesses, government and academia. These activities will enhance economic development and place Ohio in a leadership role as FAA prepares to integrate UAS in to the National Airspace System. For more information about the OH/IN UAS Center contact David Gallagher, 937-497-6767, uascenter@dot.state.oh.us.