Oakton receives grant for national supply chain project

Oakton Community College will receive a portion of a $3.5 million grant to develop a national center to train supply chain technicians.

Oakton is one of five community colleges in the country partnering on the grant project to establish a National Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Technology. The goal of the center, to be located in Southern California, is to increase the number of highly skilled supply chain technicians by 20,000 over the next four years to meet growing demand.

Oakton’s share of the grant — $160,000 over four years — was approved at a recent college board meeting. The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation to principle partner Norco College in Riverside, Calif.

Oakton Dean of Mathematics and Technologies Robert Sompolski will serve as a co-principal investigator on the project. Supply chain technology facilitates the storage and efficient movement of large volumes of goods from manufacturer to consumer. It includes areas of expertise such as robotics, radio frequency identification, and geographic information systems.

Oakton’s role will be to disseminate best practices in supply chain technology education.