By Chris Cunningham
Inside PRE-TEC, a robotics company in west Eugene, Lane Community College electronic technology alum Andrew Moser works at this computer, viewing a three-dimensional graphic for a custom-built industrial robot that he helped design.
Nearby, technicians are at work building the robot, which will be capable of installing thin mica (metal) insulation into the metal frame of an American car.
Moser says his work at the company, a division of Willamette Valley Co., satisfies his long-held passion for industrial design. PRE-TEC also designs, builds and tests robotics for aerospace, wood products and medical industries.
"The reason I work where I do is because LCC's electronic program focuses on current technology used in industrial settings," Moser says. "That got my foot in the door."
The robotics classes "showed me what I wanted to do" for a career, says Moser, who is 23, and was born, raised and homeschooled in Corvallis.
His original plan to enlist in the U.S. Air Force was stifled when recruiters told him the military required a high school diploma. To fulfill those requirements, he enrolled at Lane, and in 2010 he received an Associate of Applied Science degree in electronic technology. He also worked at the college for one year as a part-time lab technician and instructor.
In 2014, he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, OR. OIT's theoretical coursework and LCC's practical emphasis "have been a good combination," Moser says.
Terry Dale, an electronic technology instructor at Lane, says Moser was a model student with a strong aptitude in the field. What's more, "he was always on time, always engaged in classroom discussion and was great with other students."
Dale says the electronics program has "had good luck" placing students, and that employers are asking for more qualified students than he has students to place.
There's no doubt, Moser says, "If you're at LCC, you're doing the right thing."
More information about the Electronic Technology program
Published by Lane Community College Marketing and Public Relations, February 2015.