SUNY Reconnect Faculty Highlight

SUNY Reconnect Faculty Highlight: Dan Moretti

Meet Dan Moretti, Assistant Professor of Machine Tool Technology at SUNY Corning Community College. Through SUNY Reconnect, Dan is helping adult learners build the skills needed for successful careers in advanced manufacturing.

What is a message you would like to provide for SUNY Reconnect students?

There is a lot of opportunity in the manufacturing sector in the southern tier, and the country as a whole, which is why the Machine Tool Technology degree is one of the few that is eligible for SUNY Reconnect. Manufacturing companies have a desperate need for skilled machinists and programmers, and are increasingly losing their current workforces to retirements. While this is not great for the companies, it provides a fantastic opportunity for people who are looking for good jobs and higher pay.

With SUNY Reconnect people with no degree or background in manufacturing can get their 2-year Machine Tool Technology AAS degree and gain extremely marketable skills, all for free, at a manageable pace, often while still being able to work!

In addition, many local companies cooperate with the machine tool program, and will often hire our students long before they graduate, and promote them as soon as they do.

If you're interested in making things and making money, it is hard to go wrong with SUNY Reconnect and the Machine Tool Tech program at CCC.

How do you see your program benefitting SUNY Reconnect students?

The Machine Tool program provides a great path for people who would like to enter the manufacturing industry, or have been working in industry and want to advance in both their role, and pay.

Someone who was previously working in the stockroom or as an entry-level machine operator can attend the Machine Tool program through SUNY Reconnect, and learn at a manageable pace - typically while still working, with their educational costs covered.

Once they complete the program, they will be well-equipped to move into more significant machining, CNC programming, manufacturing engineering, and supervisory roles. These roles are often more stable, and significantly higher paying.

When did you begin working at SUNY CCC, and why/how did you end up here?

I began working at CCC when I was a student at the college a decade ago. I served as an AutoCAD and Solidworks tutor while I attained my Manufacturing Technology AAS.

Fast forward to 2021 and I worked as an adjunct, teaching a section of TECH 1080 Manufacturing Methods Lab for a semester while I was working full-time as a CNC programmer and machinist at Service Machine and Tool.

I suppose I got good reviews from students because about 8 months later I was asked to join the faculty for the Fall semester of 2022!

More generally speaking - I joined CCC full-time to rebuild and modernize the machining program which I had been a graduate of years earlier, and hopefully provide the next generation of students a solid education at an affordable price. I thought my experience could be valuable to future generations of students and that those students would turn into graduates - getting good jobs and helping to keep our local manufacturing base here in the southern tier vibrant.

Four years later I would say that I'm still not done modernizing things, but my students who've graduated thus far definitely have fulfilled the other part!

What classes do you teach at SUNY CCC?

• TECH 1080 Manufacturing Methods Lab
• MACH 1040 Precision Machining 1
• MACH 1540 Precision Machining 2
• MECH 1560 CNC Mill Programming
• MACH 2510 CNC Lathe Programming
• MACH 2380 Mastercam
• MACH 2400 CNC Machining
• MACH 2410 Tooling Technology
• MACH 2350 Machine Tool Co-Op

What's your favorite part about being a faculty member at SUNY CCC?

Getting to teach people about machining - perhaps my primary interest and passion - and seeing them develop into highly capable machinists and programmers.

What's been the best part of your professional career?

Having former students and recent graduates email me or visit and thank me for how well-prepared they were for their new careers, and show me (when not under NDA of course) all of the cool projects they've been working on in "the real world".

What do you like to do during your free time/time outside of the classroom?

I enjoy building and repairing things in my home workshop, hiking, and history.

What are some of the companies where Machine Tool Technology graduates work?

Our graduates work for companies including:

• The Hilliard Corporation
• Corning, Inc.
• Siemens Energy
• Forkhardt Hardinge
• Cameron Manufacturing & Design
• Service Machine & Tool Co.
• Kennedy Valve
• Victaulic
• Howell Packaging
• Tobeyco
• EL Manufacturing
• Lockheed Martin
• Jabil, Inc.
• ...and many others.