Faculty Externships

Through this externship, Mussab Abdelsalam, an engineering technology assistant professor at Tri-C, partnered with Talan Products to develop and evaluate an AI-based vision inspection system for high-speed stamping operations. The goal of the project was to detect dimples on stamped parts and catch part-out conditions in real time. The team was able to set up a process and system to do this, while also overcoming challenges such as lighting conditions, reflections off metal surfaces, tooling geometry limits and restricted camera angles. The team provided their recommendations to the industry leaders. The project moved from feasibility evaluation into early-stage prototype testing and integration, with ongoing efforts to sharpen performance under real production conditions.

Through this collaboration, the employers gained applied research on a live production problem, while students benefit from instructors who bring current, real-world technology and problem-solving straight into the classroom, better preparing them for a career in manufacturing.

Faculty members Kolleen Barnes and Kelly Moranz in Tri-C's Captioning and Court Reporting program completed an externship to strengthen the connection between classroom instruction and the evolving needs of the court reporting profession. Working alongside local courts, reporting firms and industry professionals, faculty gained firsthand insight into what employers need most from new graduates. During their experience, employers reaffirmed what the Captioning and Court Reporting staff have known for a long time: there is a continued demand for qualified court reporters across all reporting methods - stenography, voice writing and digital reporting methods - and the availability of many high-paying opportunities for well-prepared graduates. Faculty also observed that remote and hybrid proceedings are now standard practice, underscoring the need for students to develop fluency with the technology and workflows these settings require. These findings are driving meaningful curriculum updates.

With court reporting facing a nationwide workforce shortage, Tri-C is committed to being a proactive employer partner - producing practice-ready graduates who can step in and make an immediate impact.

Faculty member Issam Boukabou developed a student research project to test manufacturing efficiency at Eaton Corporation. Students researched burr and deburring operations and lean methodology. From this research, students found that compressed air - one of the most expensive utilities in manufacturing - might be replaceable with low-cost Wi-Fi sensors. Using these sensors at individual workstations could stream pressure data to a dashboard to help flag potential waste. The research was a valuable learning experience for students and has the potential for positive improvements for operations at Eaton.

Kellie Emrich recently completed a professional development externship, working alongside marketing and business professionals at InBloom Consulting on digital strategy, social media, branding, analytics and organizational marketing challenges. The experience created a direct link between current industry practice and classroom instruction. Insights gained from the externship are already shaping curriculum updates with new course content, current case studies and assignments that more closely reflect real-world marketing challenges.

Tri-C is committed to keeping faculty connected to industry, directing the flow of knowledge back to students and the employers and communities they will serve.

Faculty members Michael Flatt, Ph.D. and Rachel Stehle, Ph.D., from the Sociology program partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland to design and pilot a classroom assignment using the Fed's Occupational Mobility Explorer (OME), which is an interactive tool that helps users visualize career trajectories, occupational stepping stones, and the skills and wages tied to specific careers.

The assignment served two clear purposes. First, it gave students a structured way to explore potential career pathways and identify opportunities for economic mobility. Second, it addressed a practical need for the Federal Reserve: collecting meaningful user feedback on how the OME tool is navigated and evaluated by students and community members - data the Fed currently has no streamlined way to gather. The assignment was piloted across six introductory Sociology courses over two semesters, reaching 121 participants. Students explored the tool firsthand and submitted detailed feedback on their user experience, generating insights that will directly inform future design decisions for the Federal Reserve.

Once data analysis is complete, a white paper will be presented to the Federal Reserve Bank documenting how Tri-C students engaged with the tool at this stage of their academic and professional development. This partnership illustrates the value of connecting education and industry around shared goals.

The purpose of the externship was to provide Early Childhood Education (ECED) faculty member Karen Goulandris, Ed.S., M.Ed., with an opportunity to connect classroom content to hands-on work experience in the community. The project fostered a relationship between Tri-C faculty and The Smart Start Learning Center, an early learning program in the community. The project specifically focused on implementing the Creative Curriculum for preschool-aged children. The project focused on identifying areas where The Smart Start teachers needed assistance in implementing a curriculum that supports developmentally appropriate practices for young children, specifically ages 2 to 5. This information was brought back to the Tri-C students who were in their capstone courses for the ECED program. The Tri-C students said this partnership was valuable because faculty truly understood the challenges they were experiencing in their placement sites using the prescribed curriculum and implementing it. The employer partner used the faculty support to make changes to their approach to implementing the curriculum, and in the exit survey, commented that the changes they made had a positive impact on how children engaged with the curriculum materials.

This externship project was successful for all involved and gave faculty access to a state approved curriculum, which helped to increase confidence that they are preparing ECED students for work in the community.

Margaret MacDonald, Ph.D., a full-time faculty member in the Biology department at Tri-C, pursued an academic partnership with Kent State University, gaining hands-on training in two advanced research tools, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a laser confocal microscope, rarely accessible to community college students or faculty. Working alongside KSU Stark researcher Matthew Lehnert, Ph.D., MacDonald spent the semester learning to operate both instruments and conducting original research on the mouthparts of bed bugs, bat bugs and bird bugs. Using the confocal microscope's laser technology, the team captured high-resolution images of insect exoskeletons, producing preliminary data suggesting structural differences across species that have not previously been studied comparatively.

The externship delivered classroom value with MacDonald returning with firsthand research experience, original microscope images and renewed insight into the scientific process.

The collaboration also created a framework for ongoing student involvement. Plans are in place to engage Tri-C students in future research at KSU, including remote operation of the SEM, allowing students access without leaving campus.

Nursing professor Desiree Sanders worked with First Year Cleveland to strengthen the connection between the College's Nursing program and community-based public health work in Cuyahoga County. The experience deepened Sanders's understanding of the social determinants of health, healthcare access barriers, systemic inequities and community health data. Those insights carried a clear connection to First Year Cleveland's mission and to the systemic factors driving infant mortality in the region.

The partnership produced tangible results for students. Students in Sanders's classes completed new nursing assignments focused on community health, which will be piloted with a clinical group and refined based on student feedback. Additionally, this experience led to the creation of a career resource guide that connects students to community and population health career pathways, expanding the professional options graduates can pursue.

For First Year Cleveland and similar organizations, the collaboration offers a pipeline of well-prepared students ready to contribute to local health initiatives. For the College, it strengthens curriculum, broadens career pathways, and opens the door to future partnerships that serve students and the communities they will one day support.

Robyn White, a Sociology professor at Tri-C, partnered with the executive director of Friends of CITY DOGS Cleveland and the volunteer coordinator to identify information that could strengthen the group's programs. An initial proposal to study compassion fatigue among volunteers gave way to a more immediate need: understanding adopters' experiences. Both leaders agreed that feedback from adopters would better inform how the organization serves its community.

White assisted with adoptions, building direct relationships with adopters, and she developed a survey to gather structured feedback on the adoption experience. Together, these efforts created a clearer picture of how families connect with CITY DOGS and where the organization could improve.

The work will continue, with the next phase of this project reinforcing the value of connecting classroom learning with real organizational needs, offering students applied experience while helping Friends of CITY DOGS Cleveland gather insights to guide its programs.