Victor Rossi is a hands-on kind of person. He’s either drafting, metalworking, welding, woodworking, or teaching.
Rossi, a lecturer at the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS), has done almost everything imaginable with computers, too. He taught for a few years in public schools in the US Virgin Islands and in Burlington before taking a position at UVM as a prototype model maker and teaching computer-aided machining to students.
At UVM, Rossi has taught everyone from high school students to computer science master’s students to 30-year drafting veterans who never touched a computer.
“What inspires me most is when a person who has taken one of my courses contacts me later to stay that the imparted skill either got them an internship or a full-time job,” he said in an interview with the CEMS Summit Newsletter.
Since 1985, he’s taught about 5,000 students to computer-aided drawing programs, and some 1,000 how to program computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) machines. He also set up UVM’s Fablab, which includes 3-D printing and laser scanning and engraving.
His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in industrial sciences from Colorado State University, and a certificate of computer programming, and MBA from UVM.
Computer-aided drafting and design is only growing in importance in the design and manufacturing industries. “UVM engineering has a history of producing students who are highly productive and pay great attention to the quality of their products and services,” he said. “My job is to continue that trend.”
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