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Session 1526

The Florida Advanced Technology Education Regional Center for Manufacturing Education, FL-ATE

Marilyn Barger and Eric Roe, Bradley Jenkins, Richard Gilbert

Hillsborough Community College/ St. Petersburg College/ U of South Florida

Introduction

The Florida Advanced Technology Education Regional Center for Manufacturing Education (FL-ATE) was funded by the ATE program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the summer of 2004 after 2.5 years of planning. This regional center will focus on curriculum development, faculty professional development, and outreach activities focused on recruitment of students into Florida’s two-year manufacturing and related technologies A.S., A.A.S., and certificate programs. FL-ATE is one of 30 funded ATE centers throughout the country focused on regional or national needs in traditional, redefined, or emerging advanced technologies.

One unique aspect of FL-ATE is that it has a strong partnership among three educational institutions. The Center has strong participant involvement at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) its administrative institution, St. Petersburg College (SPC), and the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), as well as at a number of very supportive affiliate community colleges. The region is defined by the state boundaries and the Center is challenged to meet the manufacturing and related technologies needs of a diverse industrial customer base that are, on average, small to medium in size with a skilled workforce. The manufacturing business sector in Florida employs more than 37 other of the 50 states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Missouri. This paper shares the guiding principles and specific goals of this newly formed NSF-ATE Center. It also outlines how the Center plans to meet its multifaceted challenges.

NSF-ATE Program Overview

The Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program at NSF is committed to developing the best practices in technician education and have these practices become standard operating procedures for educators throughout the United States. The program was initiated by congressional legislation in 1992 to increase the number of skilled technicians in “strategic advanced-technology fields” with in the nation and to improve the productivity of American industry. To accomplish this mission, NSF-ATE supports Centers and projects that utilize partnerships with industry, business, government, and other educational institutions to achieve improvements in one or more the ATE program goal areas. These interests include enhancement of educational programs for technicians and continued professional development for educators. In addition, the creation of curriculum and educational materials, technical expertise, student’s laboratory experiences, and applied research are key elements of ATE’s mission.

"Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2005, American Society for Engineering Education"

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Gilbert, R., & Jenkins, B., & Roe, E., & Barger, M. (2005, June), The Florida Advanced Technology Education Regional Center For Manufacturing Education, Fl Ate Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14387