Pratt and Whitney to invest $8 million in UConn

Pratt and Whitney Co. plans to build the most advanced additive manufacturing center in the nation on the University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus.

The aerospace manufacturer, based in Bloomfield, will invest $8 million in the center by the end of the project, company officials told the Hartford Courant.

Additive manufacturing, like 3D printing, fuses materials together to create an object instead of  traditional means, which curve objects out of a given material.

The project is seen as both an effort to strengthen of Pratt and Whitney’s relationship with UConn and an opportunity to give students more access to the manufacturer.