ROME — EOS/ESD Association, Inc. (ESDA) is offering STEM education activities and technology certification to local area schools in central New York and the Mohawk Valley.

As part of the ESDA’s effort to reach out to the local community and to work with individuals who need training to work in the technology field, the ESDA team is working on projects to attract the future’s workforce to technology-related professions as early as the middle-school age level and teaching them about the impact of electrostatic discharge.

“We are doing our part in trying to enhance the technical talent of the local community,” said Lisa Pimpinella, executive director for the ESDA.

“We have identified that capturing the interests of students starting at the middle-school and high school age levels is necessary,” Pimpinella added.

From designing fun, interactive activities and experiments to offering course certifications, ESDA recently started working alongside Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES and the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School District to offer their students foundational training in the area of electrostatic discharge (ESD).

According to the ESDA’s website, in ordinary circumstances, static electricity and ESD are only a little more than an annoyance. However, in an increasingly technological age, like in semiconductor and microchip manufacturing, the familiar static shock received when walking across a carpet can be costly or even dangerous during production.

Pimpinella also said that the ESDA offers an operator training course, which is an online learning video intended to give basic information needed to implement an ESD Control program as well as to help understand how to protect sensitive products, like microchips and semi-conductors, from static discharge.

The self-paced learning video is accompanied by a knowledge assessment.

“Once the course is completed and knowledge assessment passed, the ESDA issues certificates to each attendee,” said Pimpinella.

The ESDA is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of ESD avoidance. It was founded in Rome in 1982, has grown to 15,869-plus members and volunteers and 55-plus participating countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Initially focusing on ESD on electronic components, the association expanded its reach to include areas such as textiles, plastics, web processing, cleanrooms and graphic arts. Due to a continually changing environment, the association is chartered to expand ESD awareness through standards, development, education programs, local chapters, publications, tutorials, certifications and symposia.

It is the only organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute to write and produce standards on electrostatics.

For more information, contact Pimpinella by calling 315-339-6937 or emailing lpimpinella@esda.org, visit www.esda.org or find them on Facebook.