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Session 2432

TECH-4 Electronic Workforce Development Marilyn Barger, Andrew Hoff, Richard Gilbert University of South Florida

Introduction

An internationally competitive US electronics industry requires a well-prepared workforce. Many community colleges and universities along the central Florida “Interstate-4 Corridor” (Tampa-Orlando-Daytona) work with industry to offer programming in the engineering technology/electronics field. Rapidly evolving industry demands and increasingly limited resources have led to the establishment of an education/business alliance known as the Tech-4 High-Technology Industrial Education Consortium. Tech-4 is currently utilizing NSF-ATE funding and over $1 million in substantially cash value industry match to enhance individualized institutional efforts to design and deliver a collaborative, replicable Electronics Workforce Development System. This System will maximize learning for secondary and lower-division students through coordinated sharing of industry and educational resources.

NSF-TECH-4 Initiative

The galvanizing premise among the various industrial and academic partners within the "I-4 corridor" was the basic belief that the central section of Florida did not have the workforce in place to support the high tech boom projected within the next 10 years. As the fourth largest state and growing, there is virtual certainty that the counties connected to Interstate 4 will be ideal locations for high tech firms. What was found to be missing was a unified, technical educational support structure to meet the employment needs of such an industrial focus. The legislatively funded Florida High Tech Corridor Council, (Fl HTCC), began to address this issue in several ways. One of their principal action paths was the formation of the TECH-4 Educational Consortium.

After the expenditure of some organizational energy, the focus of TECH-4 Educational Consortium was on the creation of a technical educational structure that would be compatible with the existing community college and university system. This effort lead to a multiyear million dollar proposal with industry match to NSF's Advanced Technology Education Division, ATE. Grant partners are Brevard (Melbourne), Hillsborough (Tampa), Seminole (Sanford), and Valencia (Orlando) Community Colleges; along with the University of South Florida (Tampa) and the University of Central Florida (Orlando) and Cirent Semiconductor (Orlando). The awarded grant crossed the boundaries of three ATE areas (Curriculum and Instructional Materials; Teacher and Faculty Development; and Laboratory Development). Seven curriculum modules focusing on different aspects of the electronics industry will be located across the region to serve as collaborative resource centers. These modules and the institutions that will develop and house the curricula are: Fluids/Pneumatics (HCC/VCC): Cleanroom/Contamination Control

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Gilbert, R., & Hoff, A., & Barger, M. (2001, June), Tech 4 Electronic Workforce Development Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9889