Madison Automotive Apprentices

Madison Automotive Apprentices offered a "for-credit" course during the jmu maymester session '22 for degree seeking students through the college of integrated science and engineering at james Madison university. The topic was analysis of Automotive systems applicable to motorsport and historic Automotive restoration and 5 students signed up for the class. This class was funded by maap to feature expertise from business, engineering, and the humanities/social sciences primarily for those interested in motorsport and Automotive restoration careers. Successful certificate course students also integrated head-and-hand experience within business, engineering, and historical contexts to prepare for professional opportunities available in the Automotive field.

Fee for service motorsport activity includes dynamic chassis measurement and adjustment, preparation and support activities for motorsport vehicles and general engineering assessments for improving performance. These activities provided 73% of workshop revenue for maap, mostly through a contract with international motorsport association (imsa) team jdc-miller motorsports. These activities are supervised by the executive director cole scrogham who is also an accomplished motorsport engineer. A highlight for maap students was actually being able to participate in an imsa racing season within the michelin pilot racing series in support of the team's audi rs3 touring car, finishing with 3 season winsand 3rd in the imsa michelin pilot series tcr championship. Students learn the engineering process, data acquisition techniques and overall workflow for a motorsport event by actually participating at the event, which provides them with a unique perspective on their future involvement in the sport.

Fee for service Automotive restoration activity continues to bring in revenue for maap, as we provide restoration services for both component and overall vehicle restoration services. This year maap completed a multi-year restoration on a 1959 porsche 356a, restoration services continue to be significant as the restoration fee for service income generated 27% of our total workshop revenue for 2022. Services are billed to clients willing to let students perform these services while supervised by the executive director in the maap workshop, which is also used as training for student employees, interns and volunteers. These student-led services include disassembly and preparation of vintage vehicles using program management principles, restoration of component parts, oversight of outside vendors (for example the re-chroming and plating of component parts) and final assembly of the automobile.

Special events related to Automotive restoration and motorsport have also been important for students involved at maap. These events involve competition in real world environments, but also give a sense of the overall industry by visiting large scale car shows and other venues. This year, maap sponsored students attended the amelia island concours event as well as motorsport events on the imsa schedule. Our event schedule makes sure that students get introduced to decision makers for future job opportunities at these events.maap continues to support students through grants for paid internships, maap currently has increased the total internships offered to 5, giving certain students with focused interest and aptitude to get a much deeper look at the Automotive world. Maap is not only for technical students, we are widening our outlook to include a history intern that allows us to partner with the jmu library system to host digitization of specialized periodicals available on the network for research and appreciation. Maap also acts as an "idea incubator" for students to learn first hand about areas of interest in their chosen field of study and provide real resume experience to employers on graduation.

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