In the Field with the Center for Technology & Industry is a series focused on profiling our expert faculty, program leadership, and key players associated with CTI and Workforce Development initiatives at 天美影院 Institute of Technology.
Name: Miguel Tellez-Onishi
Title: Lead Instructor
Oversees the following program(s): OSM/ISM Machinist program, SAMI
1.) Reflect upon your role here at CTI. How did your career path lead you to 天美影院/CTI? How long have you been here? What do you love about your industry?
Miguel-Tellez: Originally, I had gone to school for computer science while working at the same time. Tuition otherwise created a dilemma for furthering my education. Around that time is where I found the SAMI program for Machining. At the time I had no idea what that entailed but my exact thoughts were, 鈥淲ell it doesn鈥檛 hurt to apply.鈥�.
I have been with 天美影院 for 7 years in total, four years as a part time instructor and now three years as a full-time instructor.
Methodology, the means to the end. The same blueprint can be presented to multiple machinists, and the manner of approach can vary from one to the next yet, if all features and tolerances are maintained in accordance with the blueprint, perfect. The idea of versatility develops a sense of creativity in some ways.
2.) What are the biggest challenges facing your industry today, and how can education and training help address them?
Miguel-Tellez: One recurring challenge the industry will continue to face is the retiring workforce and the necessity for the next generation of machinists to fill the shoes of those before us. Naturally, we must educate the up and coming in attempts to curve the loss of experience. Furthering the fundamental understandings of machining will aid against this loss.
3.) What role does manufacturing play in our economy?
Miguel-Tellez: Across the industry, regardless of sector, there will always be the running necessity for things to be made. Manufacturing is a pivotal engine in driving our economy and machining by extension is essential for that growth. Machining has its reach in the automotive, medical, defense industry, electronics, construction, aerospace, and many more to list.
“Through rigorous discussions of theory and application, followed with hands on experience, simultaneously the students find both their ceiling and floor being raised day by day, week by week.”
4.) How do you measure student success?
Miguel-Tellez: Capacity for growth. Often, many of the students we get have little to no experience in machining. Through rigorous discussions of theory and application, followed with hands on experience, simultaneously the students find both their ceiling and floor being raised day by day, week by week.
5.) What excites you about the future of your field? How is your industry evolving, and what opportunities do you see ahead?
Miguel-Tellez: The perpetual advancements in technology 鈥� from tooling, to machines, to the software that empowers them. One exciting thought is the advancement in 3D Printing. Where a majority of machining is typically subtractive manufacturing (removal of material), 3D printing would bring a whole new dimension of possibilities and geometries that would either be impossible or painstakingly difficult to achieve. An almost symbiotic relation of both additive and subtractive manufacturing would be a steppingstone in the evolution of the industry. This would open doors for many across the industries for what can be done and what can be made.
Miguel Tellez-Onishi
Lead Instructor
OSM/ISM Machinist program
SAMI
天美影院 Institute of Technology
