BOARD # 397: NSF ATE:  A Virtual Mentoring to Support Community Colleges through the NSF ATE Proposal Submission Process

Karen Wosczyna-Birch

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session II
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 4
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55771
Download Count: 1

Paper Authors

biography

Karen Wosczyna-Birch CT College of Technology

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Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch has been a champion of engineering and technology education for the past 30 years. Since 1995, she has been the State Director of the CT College of Technology (COT) where her leadership has been instrumental in creating nationally recognized seamless pathway programs in engineering and technology between all 12 public community colleges in CT with 10 universities and high schools. She is also the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (NCNGM), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Excellence and a Professor of Applied Technology at Tunxis Community College. Since 2004, she has received over $30M in funding from the NSF, including two grants for international partnerships. Karen has implemented strategies resulting in an increase in the enrollment of underrepresented populations in STEM programs at the community colleges.

Karen has received numerous awards for her accomplishments as a professor and for her passion for increasing the diversity of the STEM population including the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the international honor society Epsilon Pi Tau (EPT), the 2018 CT Women of Innovation Award in the Postsecondary Academic Innovation & Leadership Category, the 2012 New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award for the State of CT and most recently, the 2020 HI TEC Innovative Program of the Year Award and 2021 ITEEA Special Recognition Award. In 2014, she was invited to the White House College Opportunity Summit recognizing leaders like Karen for their commitment to STEM education. She also serves on numerous local and national boards including the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Hartford High's Pathway for Engineering and Green Technology, and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.

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Abstract

This project, funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) program, provides a mentoring program for community colleges teams submitting NSF ATE proposals. The project aligns with the NSF ATE program objective to provide leadership opportunities for faculty at two-year institutions and supports the national priority of educating the skilled technical workforce for the industries that keep the United States globally competitive. The key outcome of this project is an increase in the number of competitive NSF ATE proposals submitted by community college faculty.

Specific activities of the project include virtual mentoring and webinars as well as a virtual 2.5-day workshop where two-year faculty who are teaching technician education learn the strategies and NSF requirements for writing and submitting competitive proposals. Although this project was developed with an in-person workshop as one of its components, it was modified to a virtual workshop during the pandemic. Following the pandemic, the project leadership team decided to keep the workshop in a virtual format to accommodate potential participants who may face barriers to travel. Through these activities, participants learn strategies for institutional investment in pursuit of NSF ATE program grant funding and increase project team expertise in the NSF ATE proposal writing process. Participants also learn to address many of challenges faced by community college faculty in preparing and submitting NSF grant proposals. For community colleges awarded NSF ATE grants, this project results in improved student access to education and acquisition of skills needed to enter the workforce as STEM graduates whose contributions will advance the nation’s economic goals for meeting emerging workforce needs.

The project has served four annual cohorts from 2021 – 2024 with a total of 56 teams participating. Out of those teams, 38 submitted proposals. In 2024 a pre-application mentoring component was added to the project. Teams interested in applying to the 2024 cohort were able to work with a mentor for up to ten hours to develop a one-page project summary demonstrating workforce needs that would justify funding for the project and industry partnerships that have been established. Eight teams participated in pre-application mentoring, six of those teams applied to the regular cohort, and four of those teams submitted NSF ATE proposals.

Citation
Format

Wosczyna-Birch, K. (2025, June), BOARD # 397: NSF ATE: A Virtual Mentoring to Support Community Colleges through the NSF ATE Proposal Submission Process Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55771

TY - CPAPER
AB - This project, funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) program, provides a mentoring program for community colleges teams submitting NSF ATE proposals. The project aligns with the NSF ATE program objective to provide leadership opportunities for faculty at two-year institutions and supports the national priority of educating the skilled technical workforce for the industries that keep the United States globally competitive. The key outcome of this project is an increase in the number of competitive NSF ATE proposals submitted by community college faculty.

Specific activities of the project include virtual mentoring and webinars as well as a virtual 2.5-day workshop where two-year faculty who are teaching technician education learn the strategies and NSF requirements for writing and submitting competitive proposals. Although this project was developed with an in-person workshop as one of its components, it was modified to a virtual workshop during the pandemic. Following the pandemic, the project leadership team decided to keep the workshop in a virtual format to accommodate potential participants who may face barriers to travel. Through these activities, participants learn strategies for institutional investment in pursuit of NSF ATE program grant funding and increase project team expertise in the NSF ATE proposal writing process. Participants also learn to address many of challenges faced by community college faculty in preparing and submitting NSF grant proposals. For community colleges awarded NSF ATE grants, this project results in improved student access to education and acquisition of skills needed to enter the workforce as STEM graduates whose contributions will advance the nation’s economic goals for meeting emerging workforce needs.

The project has served four annual cohorts from 2021 – 2024 with a total of 56 teams participating. Out of those teams, 38 submitted proposals. In 2024 a pre-application mentoring component was added to the project. Teams interested in applying to the 2024 cohort were able to work with a mentor for up to ten hours to develop a one-page project summary demonstrating workforce needs that would justify funding for the project and industry partnerships that have been established. Eight teams participated in pre-application mentoring, six of those teams applied to the regular cohort, and four of those teams submitted NSF ATE proposals.

AU - Karen Wosczyna-Birch
CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DA - 2025/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - BOARD # 397: NSF ATE: A Virtual Mentoring to Support Community Colleges through the NSF ATE Proposal Submission Process
UR - https://peer.asee.org/55771
ER -