NW Innovation Resource Center

That's a wrap on the Northern Cascades SAF Event Series 🎉

Event 3: Building the SAF Workforce brought together industry, educators, researchers, and community partners at Bellingham Technical College to map the path forward for SAF workforce development in our region.

The opportunity is real — and it starts with recognizing transferable skills, building the right connections, and making targeted training investments that open doors for workers and rural communities across the Northern Cascades. ✈️🌄

A huge thank you to our speakers and to everyone who showed up across all three events. This is just the beginning.

Follow along as NWIRC turns this momentum into action. 🌲

🌟 Featured Speakers Announced – Northern Cascades SAF Event Series (Part 3) 🌱✈️

We’re excited to spotlight the incredible voices joining us for the final session of the Northern Cascades SAF Event Series, focused on Workforce Development. These speakers bring deep expertise across education, industry, and innovation—driving the future of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in our region.

🎤 What they’ll cover:
• Building cutting-edge process technology curriculum aligned with industry needs
• Unlocking new workforce opportunities in the timber sector
• Exploring engineering and research career pathways in SAF
• Strengthening partnerships between education, industry, and regional leaders

Our featured speakers represent a dynamic mix of educators, industry professionals, and innovators working at the forefront of SAF development—helping turn regional strengths into real economic opportunities.

📅 Event Details
SAF Workforce Development – Part 3
Thursday, April 9, 2026
8:30 AM – Noon
📍 Bellingham Technical College
Desmond McArdle Center, Room 118

This is your chance to hear directly from leaders shaping the SAF workforce pipeline and to connect with partners across the Northern Cascades.

🚀 Let’s build the future of sustainable aviation—together. Don’t miss it!

🚀 Join Us for April’s NWIRC AI Meetup!

In collaboration with Cascadia AI and Cloud Computing, NWIRC’s monthly AI Meetups bring together innovators, small businesses, and professionals to explore practical, real-world applications of AI. Each session dives into a new topic with expert insights and engaging peer-to-peer conversations—helping you stay competitive in today’s rapidly evolving digital economy.

🔬 April Feature Session:
We’re excited to welcome Chelsea Liekhus-Schmaltz, PhD—Senior Research Data Scientist at Zap Energy and Founder & CEO of Ergo Labs AI.

Chelsea will tackle one of the biggest challenges in generative AI: hallucinations—especially in high-stakes, “unverifiable” fields like science. Learn how cutting-edge tools and architectures—like MCP servers, vector databases, and structured schemas—are being used to improve accuracy, reliability, and trust in AI-driven scientific research.

📅 Thursday, April 9, 2026
⏰ 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
📍 IRC Lab–SWIFT

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain actionable insights and connect with others shaping the future of AI!