Impact of Student Tours of Manufacturing Facilities

Marilyn Barger; Richard Gilbert; Marie A. Boyette

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: NSF Grantees' Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 23.688.1 - 23.688.10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--19702
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/19702
Download Count: 675

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Paper Authors

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Marilyn Barger National Science Foundation ATE Centers

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Dr. Marilyn Barger is the principal investigator and executive director of FLATE, the Florida Regional Center of Excellence for Advanced Technological Education. FLATE is funded by the National Science Foundation and has been housed at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida since 2004. FLATE serves the state of Florida and is involved in outreach and recruitment of students into technical career pathway; has produced award-winning curriculum design and reform for secondary and post-secondary career and technical education programs; and provides a variety of professional development for STEM and technical educators focused on advanced technologies. She earned a B.A. in Chemistry at Agnes Scott College. She earned both a B.S. in Engineering Science and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Environmental) from the University of South Florida, where her research focused on membrane separation science and technologies for water purification. She has over 20 years of experience in developing curricula for engineering and engineering technology for elementary, middle, high school, and post-secondary institutions, including colleges of engineering. Dr. Barger serves on several national panels and advisory boards for technical programs, curriculum and workforce initiatives, including the National Association of Manufacturers Educators' Council. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education, a member of Tau Beta Pi and Epsilon Pi Tau honor societies. She is a charter member of both the National Academy and the University of South Florida‘s Academy of Inventors. Dr. Barger holds a licensed patent and is a licensed professional engineer in Florida.

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Richard Gilbert University of South Florida

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Richard Gilbert is a professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of South Florida's College of Engineering and a co-principle investigator for FLATE. The Florida Advanced Technological Education (FLATE) Center is a National Science Foundation Regional Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) Center of Excellence with a statewide mission to help colleges within the Florida State College system maximize the skills and STEM impact of their A.S. degree programs that address the production of a technical workforce to meet the needs of Florida's high tech sector. Dr. Gilbert's applied engineering research interests are focused on electric field mediated drug and gene delivery. He has publications in this area and holds over a dozen patents tied to licensed technology related to applicators and delivery protocols.

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Marie A. Boyette FLATE

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Marie Boyette is the associate director of FLATE at Hillsborough Community College. Dr. Boyette earned her B.A. in Communication, M.A. in Adult Education. Her Ph.D.s in Curriculum and Instruction/Measurement and Research, and Adult Education are from the University of South Florida. Her research interests are in
STEM curriculum development and student outcomes as well as in experiential learning for career and technical education and training. Developed and deployed concepts include creating an annual “summer camp style” workshop for teachers covering the topics of alternative energy, integrating the technology and engineering side of STEM into mainstream curriculum, and engaging girls in STEM curriculum.

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Abstract

Since 2005, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (FLATE) has conducted over 160 tours to more than 50 different Florida manufacturing sites, introducing around 3,500 middle and high school students and 300 educators to the world of modern manufacturing. We have surveyed most of the students after the tours to find out what the students saw from their own points of views. We have also surveyed the industry hosts. One of our goals has been to provide students with contact with real STEM workplaces, especially those in manufacturing. Modern manufacturing is a misunderstood industry sector that currently has a large number of unfilled technical and high paying positions that companies are finding difficult to fill across the country. The jobs are extremely varied, exciting, and challenging. Most, and increasing numbers of these jobs are in highly automated, high tech, and very clean facilities. The high tech jobs are high paying and now require some level of post secondary education from community college technical associate degrees to post baccalaureate degrees in all STEM disciplines. They offer wonderful careers and great lifestyles. This presentation will share our basic outline of how to organize an effective student tour and our feedback from these many students, industry hosts and educators as well as aggregated summary results of seven years of tours of manufacturing facilities. We will also share resources that have been created to try to help dispel some of the misconceptions about modern manufacturing. The feedback illustrates the importance of exposure to real world work environments and real people doing real jobs for the rising workforce.

Citation
Format

Barger, M., & Gilbert, R., & Boyette, M. A. (2013, June), Impact of Student Tours of Manufacturing Facilities Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19702

TY - CPAPER
AB - Since 2005, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence (FLATE) has conducted over 160 tours to more than 50 different Florida manufacturing sites, introducing around 3,500 middle and high school students and 300 educators to the world of modern manufacturing. We have surveyed most of the students after the tours to find out what the students saw from their own points of views. We have also surveyed the industry hosts. One of our goals has been to provide students with contact with real STEM workplaces, especially those in manufacturing. Modern manufacturing is a misunderstood industry sector that currently has a large number of unfilled technical and high paying positions that companies are finding difficult to fill across the country. The jobs are extremely varied, exciting, and challenging. Most, and increasing numbers of these jobs are in highly automated, high tech, and very clean facilities. The high tech jobs are high paying and now require some level of post secondary education from community college technical associate degrees to post baccalaureate degrees in all STEM disciplines. They offer wonderful careers and great lifestyles. This presentation will share our basic outline of how to organize an effective student tour and our feedback from these many students, industry hosts and educators as well as aggregated summary results of seven years of tours of manufacturing facilities. We will also share resources that have been created to try to help dispel some of the misconceptions about modern manufacturing. The feedback illustrates the importance of exposure to real world work environments and real people doing real jobs for the rising workforce.
AU - Marilyn Barger
AU - Richard Gilbert
AU - Marie A. Boyette
CY - Atlanta, Georgia
DA - 2013/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Impact of Student Tours of Manufacturing Facilities
UR - https://peer.asee.org/19702
DO - 10.18260/1-2--19702
ER -