Wright State University has opened a new center designed to put people in the Miami Valley to work. The Aerospace Professional Development Center’s goal is to connect people looking for work with companies looking to hire, both online and in-person.

The APDC went online as a website today and the in-person center at the Wright State Research Institute will be open in a few weeks. The center is part of the state of Ohio’s initiative to get people to work, and Wright State serves as a state-wide center for aerospace technology.

Counselors will tell center users what jobs exist and aid them to find training, if it’s needed. The APDC will also help companies in the growing aerospace industry fill open jobs.

Wright State University president David Hopkins said employers, now in a very proactive way, will come to this center as a portal and seek help.

“It’s going to be a pretty robust, dynamic center,” he said. “We felt like employers tell us we have jobs, but we can’t find the people properly trained and qualified,” Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield.