C ++ PROGRAMMING, ON DEMAND

Custom course for Brooks is example of corporate outreach at UMass Lowell

May 23, 2003

By FRANK TUTALO
Sun Staff

Lowell – Three months ago, when Brooks Automation Inc. needed to train 15 computer programmers as quickly as possible, it turned to somewhat unlikely, yet logical, source.

Gearing up to transition to a more efficient computer program, Chelmsford-based Brooks had no qualified personnel to teach the initiative. So, it found help from the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s corporate education department.

Brooks approached the university, and was able to help craft the focus and schedule of the course. Ten weeks and 30 class hours later, software control engineers and technical support personnel from the company had learned something new.

“We’re finding that a lot of companies want customized skill sets and they need it right away,” said Catherine Kendrick, director of corporate and distance market development for UMass Lowell’s corporate education department.

Brooks which uses C programming to develop its embedded software, needed to switch to the C++ version, an object-oriented language.