Tallahassee Community College is looking to expand drone technology programs at its Wakulla County campus. To do that, TCC is asking the Triumph Gulf Coast board for a grant.
The college’s ask of the Triumph board is for $1.5 million – a slice of an $8 million pie that would fund the project. Its goal is to build on programs at the college’s Wakulla Environmental Institute, which already has multiple drone technology courses. With the funds, TCC would create the Unmanned Aerial Systems Center of Excellence.
When TCC applied for money from the Triumph board in 2018, the college's president Jim Murdaugh wrote that the program would be “transformational for our region” and a driver of local job growth – specifically in Franklin, Gulf, and Wakulla counties.
Frank Fuller is the Triumph board’s education adviser.
“We see the market expanding rapidly, particularly for our region, and this is just trying to get a trained workforce in place as it grows,” Fuller said during the board’s Thursday meeting.
The program will have two tracts, according to TCC – aviation training and aviation systems development.
Rick Harper is economic advisor for Triumph Gulf Coast. He says some parts of the proposal still being looked at, including curriculum on underwater drones:
“Like one might expect with innovative elements of the proposal, they are also the riskiest elements of the proposal, in the sense that there is not, as of yet, a known robust demand for certifications for unmanned, underwater vehicles, for instance,” Harper told the board.
On that subject, Triumph board chair Don Gaetz suggests TCC communicate with U.S. Navy operations in Panama City, to find out if there’s a “crosswalk” between Navy training for underwater personnel and what TCC’s program would require.
“It would be a real benefit if we could link to what the Navy is doing, and it would be a shame if we didn’t,” Gaetz said.
The Triumph board says it hopes to have a suggested term sheet on the project for its next meeting in December.
