The Michigan State University Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) has received another $5 million in its work to make manufacturing and commercial operations more sustainable throughout Michigan and the broader United States.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), it extends the efforts of the MSU IAC that began in 2021 to help companies, community colleges, trade schools and unions save money, improve energy efficiency, and shrink carbon footprints through cross-network support. There is also a focus on building the energy and manufacturing workforce through hands-on training and student-led assessments.

MSU IAC Director Kristen Cetin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE), said the $5 million is an important expansion of the current IAC program on campus and nationally. It builds on the strengths of the MSU IAC, and its key collaborator, the Michigan AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute (WDI).

The MSU IAC will leverage its expertise in starting and operating as an IAC, working with more than 70 manufacturers in the past 2.5 years and collaborating with community colleges and high schools. WDI will utilize its expertise in registered apprenticeship, apprenticeship readiness, unions and Joint Apprenticeship Training Centers, and workforce development to inform the project efforts, she said.

Collaborators at MSU also include CEE Associate Professor Annick Anctil, Assistant Professor George Berghorn of construction management in the School of Planning, Design and Construction, and Ryan Gallagher in Infrastructure Planning and Facilities Project Services.