Northwest College faculty have put together a nine-credit program for students to learn about unmanned aircraft usage in the wake of receiving a nearly half million dollar grant to form the program. 

This is the first program of its kind amongst the state’s community colleges. 

“We’re very excited to bring this certificate to the board,” President Lisa Watson said. 

Trustees unanimously approved the program at Monday’s board meeting, which means there is time for the college to get the program proposal to the community college commission in time for review and to go before the commission at its February meeting. 

Vice President for Student Services Dave Erickson said this timeline will allow the college to put the program in place in time for fall 2026. 

“We’ve been really excited about this ever since we learned we were getting the funds” Erickson said. 

This fall the college announced it had received a $475,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, which would allow the college to put together a new program to teach students how to use unmanned aircrafts, commonly known as drones, although Erickson said this program will prepare students for all types of unmanned aircraft, whether dual rotor craft, single rotor or fixed wing aircraft. 

He said the college has received letters of support from all three superintendents in Park County and Big Horn School District 3 in Greybull, as well as Choice Aviation in Cody and GT Aeronautics in Powell. 

The program was developed with faculty from a wide array of disciplines at the college, including agriculture, archeology, business, criminal justice, wildlife biology and engineering within physical science. 

“So this particular goal, we were really hoping to attract a very multi disciplinary group of students, so that anyone earning a degree in any one of those seven different fields,” Erickson said. “They could hopefully have a lot of interest to also add on this drone certificate to again, just help to enhance employability within their fields by gaining this additional knowledge relating to the operation of drones.”

Board chair Denise Laursen said she’s followed this process with excitement and said in her years as a high school teacher she understands the importance of embracing new technologies. 

And Watson noted the courses will touch on both established technologies and emerging ones within a still young
field of study. 

“I think with it being a burgeoning industry, you kind of never know where that knowledge is going to lead,” she said. “But this really provides a great foundation and a little bit higher to get people the skills they need to be able to step into it comfortably.”

The certificate program will offer beginning, intermediate and advanced courses, with opportunities for a paid internship or work-based learning experience.

Students will learn the basics of flight, including the responsibilities and ethics of drone ownership, as well as the technical and programming needs for flight management systems, weather planning, GPS, and more. The knowledge and skills acquired through the RPAS Technician Certification will allow students to pursue multiple career pathways in an emerging field that encompasses industries as diverse as agriculture, anthropology, business, criminal justice, and the physical sciences, which could include opportunities unique to the Greater Yellowstone region.