Michael UngarCEO of the Industry 4.0 Club

Cleveland State University: Engineering & Talent Pipeline Explained

21 Sept 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:37

In this interview segment, Speaker B (Matt) provides a concise overview of Cleveland State University (CSU), highlighting its 60‑year history as a public research university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. He notes that CSU evolved from the earlier Fenn College, which offered engineering classes, establishing engineering as the university’s foundational discipline. Matt describes CSU as a commuter‑style institution serving the densely populated northeastern quadrant of the state, drawing students from surrounding counties and suburbs. A key point he emphasizes is CSU’s role as a regional talent pipeline: most graduates remain in the area, supplying local businesses with homegrown talent. While engineering remains the primary focus—especially within his work at the AMC—Matt also mentions that CSU offers programs in nursing, sciences, law, and business, underscoring its broader academic scope.

Chapters

Matt, obviously Cleveland State plays a big role in the region here, but for those who are not familiar with CSU and its standing and its history and stuff, give a little bit of a background on the university and the MDIS program and the shift to the TransDigm Center. Ground us here on the university and your work.
CSU is a 60-year-old public research university. in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. So it is kind of the primary public university that services the northern, northeastern quadrant of the state, really, amongst a few others. So again, 60 years old, engineering has kind of always been its foundation. I believe it started even longer before that as Fenn College with engineering classes. So it very much Seems like a commuter college due to its downtown location, but I say that because there's a very densely populated area around us and students come from the surrounding counties and suburbs, go to school here, and then upon graduation, the majority of them stay here. And that's always the fun fact I like to tout, is that as a talent pipeline, Cleveland State very much serves the community and the local business region very well because where our graduates are homegrown. And so that's somewhat of a background. We're not just an engineering college. There's nursing, sciences, law, business. My focus in our AMC is predominantly engineering and a little bit of the business though.