Illinois school latest to launch RFID lab

This past year was truly “The Year of the RFID Lab” at universities and colleges, right to the very end. An Illinois community college announced plans in late December to open what it says is a unique hands-on operation that will ready students to work with the wireless tag technology in manufacturing and other lines of business.

Oakton Community College says the lab will be created at its new Art, Science, and Technology Pavilion at the Ray Hartstein Campus in Skokie. Intel, Intermec, Stratum Global and William Frick are supplying tools needed to support the lab.

Robert Sompolski, acting dean, Mathematics and Technology, says the school plans to put course modules and test beds in place for the spring semester, and is also developing an RFID certification.

There was a flurry of activity among schools regarding RFID last year. The University of Wisconsin-Madison inaugurated its RFID lab in August. The University of Pittsburgh announced its RFID Center of Excellence in September. Also last year, The University of Arkansas RFID Research Center announced it had passed accreditation criteria established by standards organization EPCglobal. Other schools, such as Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, also introduced major RFID initiatives.

Oakton’s Sompolski says schools such as his aren’t equipped to push the envelope on RFID research but can ensure that interested students can get hands-on training.

“Our expectation is that this is where warehousing and supply chains are going over the next 10 years, so it’s part of our mission to address that emerging job market,” he says.