“Public safety officers are of paramount importance and serve a vital role in our communities, so it’s critical that we prepare them for realistic situations," said Dr. Scott Ralls, Wake Tech President. "This new building will allow the college to train law enforcement officers, EMS personnel, and firefighters of the future in a model simulated training environment that will equip them to handle rapidly changing conditions.”
The new Public Safety Simulation Center is the first student-occupied facility on WTCC’s Eastern Wake 4.0 Campus. The simulation facility will provide cross-disciplined first responder training and will lead the state in training educational institutions, state, and local agencies on threat response. The program is designed with a full indoor simulation “streetway” village for first responder real-life scenario and de-escalation training. This environment will support fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars with sidewalks, and 10-plus simulation PODS. A fully immersive, 3D virtual reality lab also provides for de-escalation, force, mental illness, and human judgment training scenarios.
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and flight training also tie into the future Industry 4.0 programs on the 4.0 Campus. The National UAS Training and Certification Center at Sinclair College consulted on the curricula, technology, and industry-specific equipment that support the aviation-centric programming within the facility. Aimed at building an environment for robotic development and testing that places demonstration space adjacent to development environments, new immersive environments will allow the college to integrate new program capabilities that will shape their drone/robotic training certificate program.
“Our collaboration with Wake Tech provides students with opportunities to explore advanced careers in drone medical delivery, disaster response, critical infrastructure monitoring, and homeland security," said Karrie G. Dixon, Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) Chancellor. "This partnership amplifies our efforts to produce a well-trained workforce to meet growing demand in unmanned aviation, as well as seamless transfer to ECSU’s aviation and emergency management programs, which are in high demand.”
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Through a partnership with Elizabeth City State University, WTCC and ECSU students will be able to transfer and work together on projects across institutions. Students can engage in immersive training scenarios within a VR Simulation Lab or experiential exercises via an outdoor training space that includes a rooftop helicopter pad.
