The NOVONIX Institute of Advanced Battery Technology will prepare students for careers in STEM fields like those booming in Chattanooga
NOVONIX Anode Materials (NAM), a division of NOVONIX Limited, (NASDAQ: NVX, ASX: NVX, OTCQX: NVNXF) (“NOVONIX”) a leading battery materials and technology company, celebrated the official opening of the NOVONIX Institute of Advanced Battery Technology at a gala open house yesterday evening. As part of Hamilton County Schools’ Future Ready Institutes, the NOVONIX Institute of Advanced Battery Technology will provide career-focused learning aimed at equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the battery industry and other STEM innovation fields.
“We are excited to launch this Future Ready Institute and help students acquire the skills they need to jump start a career in growing science and innovation fields,” said Daniel Deas, President of NOVONIX Anode Materials. “As this industry grows by leaps and bounds, we must help to also grow a highly skilled workforce to support it, hopefully right here in Chattanooga. The Institute will help get young people interested in the work we do and lay a foundation for a prosperous career in a high-demand field.” Deas continued, “We are proud of our commitment to the community, and grateful to partners like Hamilton County and Lookout Valley School. In just our first semester we are already pleased by the feedback and hope this program offers a template for expansion.”
Located at Lookout Valley Middle/High School in Chattanooga, TN, the high school training program promotes STEM-based learning and a highly specialized technical curriculum with credits counting towards students’ graduation requirements. Students will receive in-lab training, safety tutorials, on-job shadowing with NOVONIX employees, and an interview with NOVONIX upon graduation. To date NOVONIX has invested nearly $500,000 to hire dedicated staff and retrofit a former auto body shop into a state-of-the-art interactive classroom with a lab and advanced equipment like a Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM).
Hamilton County Public Schools’ Future Ready Institutes offer field-specific education that equips students with the skills needed to enter the workforce. “Working with NOVONIX to develop this institute in the advanced battery technology sector will provide our students with the hands-on, relevant learning they need to succeed after graduating,” said LeeAnn McBryar, Principal of Lookout Valley Middle/High School. “Feedback from parents and students has been phenomenal, and the experience that students gain here is so robust that it can be used to help springboard higher levels of education in areas like engineering, material science, battery research, chemistry, and more. There’s just so much potential!”
