College Receives $200K Grant to Create Program Combating Counterfeit Packaging

According to a report this week by Printing Impressions, Philadelphia, Penn., USA, Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), Charlotte, N.C., has secured a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a new certificate program focused on anti-counterfeit printing and paper packaging technology.

CPCC will use the NSF Advanced Technological Education grant to support a number of project activities, including course development and adaptation leading to a new technician certificate program offered at the two-year college, as well as a continuing education course for incumbent workers, faculty professional development, and cultivation of business and industry partnerships. The project will be led by Zachery Blackburn, instructor and chair of CPCC’s Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology program.

The college will conduct the grant project over three years, beginning in the fall of 2016.

"By researching the evolving field of functional printing, we want to establish a multi-disciplinary certificate program in anti-counterfeit printing and packaging technology to address the need for technicians who understand security printing and brand protection measures," Blackburn explained. "By engaging university-based researchers and other external partners, our goal is to design a transformational program that is unique to two-year colleges."

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