Dec. 18--Edmonds Community College has secured $500,000 to launch degree programs in the study of composites -- lightweight laminated materials that have become increasingly common in the manufacture of commercial and military jets, skis, prosthetics and biomedical devices.

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Citing composites' significance to aerospace and other manufacturing sectors, executives from local companies noted that composites manufacturing is on the rise -- and that training people now to enter a burgeoning manufacturing field is an important element in the region's quest to remain competitive.

"Having the ability to get the youth coming up trained (in composites) is absolutely critical to business in Washington state and to The Boeing Co.," said Liz Otis, vice president and general manager of fabrication at Boeing.

Currently, 10 percent of each Boeing 777 jet is made from composite materials.

"We see that going higher and higher," Otis said.

Indeed, newer generations of aircraft could contain 60 percent composites. According to a George Washington University study, by 2016, composites are expected to replace all traditional metals in aircraft manufacturing.

The college will use the funding, which U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., helped it secure from the Department of Defense's 2003 budget, to develop an associate's degree program. The money will also help the college create bachelor's- and master's-degree programs that it will offer through a partnership with Central Washington University.

The community college and Cantwell announced last week that the funding, requested earlier this year, had been approved.

"Already, 250,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. depend on composites," Cantwell said.

In Washington state, 15,000 people currently work in composites manufacturing. Composites manufacturing volume grew from 250 million pounds in 1960 to 4 billion pounds in 2000.

"This technology is going to absolutely explode over the next 20 years," said Peter Janicki, president and chief executive officer of Janicki Industries, a Sedro-Woolley company that built America's Cup race-boats hulls this year for OneWorld and Oracle, and works with clients such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and recreational-vehicle manufacturers.

Janicki said that composites technology, which began in the 1960s with the introduction of fiberglass in boats, made advances in the 1980s when carbon fibers found in coal were found to create strong materials. Such fibers have been altered and improved over the years and can be blended with other materials through resins, he said.

Newer composites materials are now 10 times stronger per pound than steel.

"Now the big push is to take technology that only the military could fund before and apply it elsewhere," Janicki said.

He noted that the Joint Strike Fighter, a plane that Lockheed Martin is building for the military, will use 90 percent composite materials and cost $65 million per aircraft.

The Defense Department money is not the first composites-related grant Edmonds Community College has received. In 2000, the campus was awarded a $1 million National Science Foundation grant to create a resource center and train teachers in a composites-related curriculum. This fall, the college and the University of Washington jointly applied for a $5 million, five-year grant to support composites-related programs and are expecting an answer on the application by the end of March.

Edmonds Community College will begin offering the degree programs next fall, according to President Jack Oharah.

Jerilee Mosier, vice president for work-force development at the college, said her office has met since October with area employers, including Northwest Composites, Connelly Skis and Boeing, to discuss curriculum ideas for the programs.

In January, she said, the college will create a board to oversee the programs and their curricula.

NEXT-WAVE MANUFACTURING

These companies work with composites -- lightweight plastics and metals that increasingly appear in transportation, recreation and medical products.

Boeing, Everett: Composites comprise 10 percent of Boeing's 777 jet and may account for an even-larger percentage of the company's planned Sonic Cruiser.

Connelly Skis, Lynnwood: The company sells water skis and other watercraft to leisure consumers and professional athletes.

Cornerstone Prosthetics and Orthotics, Everett: It has offered patients artificial limbs made of fiberglass or carbon-graphite composites for more than 12 years.

Fab-Tech Systems, Everett: The year-old company, a spinoff of Cornerstone Prosthetics and Orthotics, manufactures and distributes composite-derived artificial limbs to clinics throughout the U.S. and has begun researching new uses of composite materials.

Janicki Industries, Sedro-Woolley: The company has used composites for more than 10 years to build molds, parts and equipment used in the manufacture of aircraft, boats, bus panels and race cars.

Northwest Composites, Marysville: The 15-year-old company builds aircraft parts such as cabin interiors and cockpit doors.