Bruce Sobczak has been selected as Director of the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) at the Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP) in Tustin. ATEP, the newest campus of the South Orange County Community College District, is developing 68 acres in the Tustin Legacy project that will focus on advanced technology and career technical programs.

Sobczak brings over 30 years of corporate experience in engineering and operations management with international responsibilities for manufacturing process, productivity, quality and documentation. He has also consulted in lean manufacturing implementation, ISO 9000 compliance, change initiatives, training in team building, effective communications and leadership development. "Bruce's deep manufacturing experience will help ATEP grow its state-supported workforce development program beyond its current focus on optics and photonics in order to more closely serve industry needs," said Dr. Randy Peebles, ATEP Provost.

Sobczak says CACT's mission at ATEP is to connect closely with the local manufacturing community and co-create training programs to help manufacturing companies thrive in vital technological areas. "The fast pace of emerging technology is challenging manufacturers more rapidly than any other time in history. As a result, training programs need to be developed at a similar pace to keep manufacturing industries competitive, well tooled and in California."