Seven years ago as a member of the team developing the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant proposal for the Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC), Peter Kazarinoff suggested requesting funds for podcasts that would feature semiconductor technicians talking about their careers.

Kazarinoff said he thought it was important for working technicians to share their stories “so that other community college faculty can hear what those working technicians do. And then other community college students can hear what they might be doing once they graduate because there aren't a whole lot of alumni stories out there about technicians that work in the semiconductor industry.”

He pointed out that because semiconductor factories, which are called fabs, are closed environments due to the sensitivity of equipment and intellectual property most people do not know how they operate.

When Kazarinoff was interviewed for the ATE Impacts Blog in early October he had just completed his 59^th interview for Talking Technicians, which is in the midst of its sixth 12-episode season for MNT-EC.

He continues to be impressed by the “life transformations” that have happened as a result of people becoming technicians. Kazarinoff explained that he always asks the people he interviews, “How did your life change when you became a technician?

“And the answers to that question have just been illuminating and inspiring and make me want to keep working as a community college faculty member and working on MNT-EC and recording more episodes.

In an era of evolving industry demands and demographic shifts, people are living and working longer, extending opportunities for new and continuous education later in life.

Older learners, defined as those ages 35 and older, are becoming increasingly common in the post-secondary landscape. A recent report from Inside Higher Ed, supported by AARP, outlines the need for colleges and universities to adapt to the growing prevalence of older students. It notes that creating viable pathways for these learners can support economic growth, workforce development, and social engagement. Calling them “Generation Now,” older adults bring a unique set of assets to education, including a variety of lived experiences, intrinsic motivation, and focused goals spanning from career advancement to making a difference in the world.

The National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT) is involved in three new initiatives that have attracted the attention of educators and students around the country.

Lessons that prepare students to take the Part 107 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) drone pilot licensing exam have been downloaded more than 10,000 times since the Universal Design for Learning Small UAS Model Curriculum was posted on NCAT’s website in April 2025. The curriculum also aligns with the minimum requirements for colleges to become part of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Collegiate Training Initiative (UAS-CTI).

In a separate endeavor, NCAT facilitates students’ applications to the Elevate Scholarship Program, a nonprofit that three NCAT industry partners started this year to defray Part 107 exam fees for low-income students. As of September 30, 81 students between the ages of 16 and 24 had applied for the scholarships; 51 had been granted exam fee vouchers.

This year NCAT also received its formal accreditation as the training provider for the Association of Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). In August, NCAT delivered its first AUVSI professional development program using the Trusted Operator Program Mentor-Protégé Model to 13 educators. With 10 educators already on the waiting list for the 2026 workshop, NCAT is developing a hybrid version of the model program to blend online instruction with an in-person, practical final exam.

 “NCAT fosters collaborations that support technician education programs in autonomous technologies and advanced transportation systems, and this year we’ve had some exceptional opportunities to expand access, elevate standards, and strengthen the skilled technical workforce pipeline,” Jonathan Beck, NCAT executive director and principal investigator wrote in an email.

Beck explained that these robust activities evolved from NCAT leaders’ decision to focus on the 148 institutions that participate in the FAAs Unmanned Aircraft Systems Collegiate Training Initiative (UAS-CTI). NCAT receives center funding from the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program. NCAT is hosted by Northland Community and Technical College at Thief River Falls, Minnesota. 

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association of Community Colleges will host this year’s ATE Principal Investigators’ (PI) Conference on October 29-31, 2025, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The deadline for registration is October 2, 2025.

The event will bring together more than 850 NSF ATE grantees and project partners to collaboratively dive into the current issues and industry trends shaping advanced technological education. In its 32nd year, the PI conference continues to support innovation and partnership in preparing the skilled technician workforce of tomorrow. Leaders from community colleges, business, the private sector, and secondary school systems will drive valuable discussion and information sharing across disciplines.

For both new and established projects and centers, the annual PI Conference provides a chance to learn, grow, share advice, collaborate, and connect with others. Content will cover a variety of STEM fields, including engineering technology, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, information technology, nanotechnology, and more. Spotlight sessions, learning labs, focused workshops, product demonstrations, and presentations will offer attendees the opportunity to network, share project or center updates, gain valuable insights for industry and education, and network with the ATE community.

Salvatore-John Ragusa’s first semester at Monroe Community College (MCC) included a history course, which he thought would apply toward his intended major—and a geographic information systems (GIS) course to fulfill a general education requirement. He was so impressed by the GIS lessons taught by Geography Professor Jonathon “Jon” Little that he changed his major from history to geography.

“Geography is at the crossroads of the humanities and of STEM,” Ragusa said. The GIS certificate he earned and the international internship he did remotely as part of this specialization of his associate degree in geography gave him lots of authentic experiences with GIS software and interpreting data. “That gives you the tools to display a humanities topic,” Ragusa said, explaining that as a student he focused on researching food deserts in Rust Belt cities.

Now as a Central Sales Senior Associate (Sales Support) with L3Harris Global Communications, Inc. he uses those tools to communicate with colleagues and customers in Western and Southern Europe.

“I think Jon’s program really helps students ... it’s something that genuinely helps students and builds them up,” Ragusa said.

Jon’s program is the Geospatial Information Science and Technology (GIST) Associate of Applied Science Degree at the State University of New York (SUNY) Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.

Prior to Jon Little receiving Mentor-Connect mentoring to develop his first Advanced Technological Education grant proposal in 2015, the college had two GIS courses. And Little had a dream of building a program.

The GIST degree program with stackable credentials is now MCC’s fastest growing program. On October 1 Little will begin leading his third ATE project—Advancing Geospatial Workforce Preparation (Award 2453993). With the $679,505 grant he plans to add artificial intelligence, more cloud-based skills, and paid student internships to the program he built with his first two ATE grants.

Outreach is critical for the success and sustainability of grant-funded initiatives. It can be the key to creating lasting impact and building valuable connections both inside and outside the ATE community. By using strategic communication and dissemination, projects and centers can reach audiences in meaningful ways and drive advancements in STEM technical education. To support this mission, ATE Central offers practical resources for successful outreach, including how to best announce updates, share deliverables, connect with potential collaborators, and extend the value of your efforts well beyond the life of your grant.

Below is an overview of some of the outreach resources and tools currently provided by ATE Central and EvaluATE that can help your project or center maximize visibility, impact, connection, and long-term sustainability.

As a Sinclair College student in 2018 Brett Ewing was one of the first people to use Sticker Heist—a problem-solving game that Sinclair Professor Mike Libassi created to give students hands-on experience with cybersecurity tasks.  

Testing the prototype as a member of Sinclair’s Hacking Team added to Ewing’s excitement about defending computer systems. Libassi’s teaching had already sparked Ewing’s interest in cybersecurity. And the game’s scenario, which requires players to decode the lock of the sticker storage box called the “heist box,” ignited a new career passion in Ewing. He changed his major from computer engineering to cybersecurity.

Now as the leader of two cybersecurity companies and the nonprofit Hack Dayton, Ewing is an industry partner of Libassi’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant.  The project’s full title is Implementing Game-Based Learning to Recruit a Diverse Cybersecurity Workforce and Enhance Training for Technicians, but it goes by Sticker Heist as well.  

Ewing uses the Sticker Heist game at Hack Dayton’s in-person monthly meetups and at industry conferences for both cybersecurity newbies and seasoned hackers to develop their skills.

“Utilizing the Sticker Heist allows us [at Hack Dayton] to always have a challenge that especially the new members really love ... The Sticker Heist acts as a great way to expose them to a whole different set of the tools that we utilize every day in the real-world jobs and the kind of experience that you're going to get, testing real infrastructure.

“ So the Sticker Heist allows us to both train up individuals as well as give the more senior ones newer and harder challenges that they can accomplish, and also help them contribute [by answering], What would you add to the Sticker Heist? How would you make it better?”

Libassi wrote in an email that it is “awesome” to have his former student as an industry partner on the grant. “Brett is top tier,” Libassi added.     

To regain enrollment numbers after a decade of declines, community colleges are pressed to demonstrate the value of post-secondary education, including how programs provide pathways to living-wage jobs or support successful transfers to four-year universities. A 2025 report published by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) analyzed Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data from the 2022-2023 academic year to explore post-completion value of community college awards. It evaluated which certificates and degrees were most likely to help graduates obtain well-paying positions or transfer to a related bachelor’s degree program. As highlighted in CCRC’s analysis of the report, this publication expands on existing efforts to enhance and showcase the value of community college education, such as the development of career ladders and the strengthening of transfer pathways.

CCRC’s report showed that more than half (56%) of credit-bearing community college program awards were directly designed to prepare learners for employment or to build career-technical skills. This comprised over a third of all associate degrees (35%), nearly all bachelor's degrees, over half (59%) of long certificates (30 or more credits), and a strong majority (93%) of short certificates (fewer than 30 credits).

IPEDS data on credentials indicated that approximately 276,000 associate degrees, 16,000 bachelor's degrees, 134,000 long certificates, and 371,000 short certificates were awarded by U.S. community colleges in the 2022-2023 academic year.

As a farm management education instructor at Dakota College at Bottineau, Linda Burbidge is well versed in how drones are used to monitor crops, livestock, and irrigation systems.

As the principal investigator of the Advanced Technological Education-funded Development of a Stackable Certificate Program for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Technicians project (Award 224777), Burbidge is exploring how these small aircraft also known as drones can be leveraged for economic development in rural communities.

The 24-credit Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems certificate program she developed with colleagues and a business industry leadership team stacks with the North Dakota college’s associate degrees in agriculture, business, horticulture, forestry, natural resources, wildlife, and fisheries.

“We wanted to make sure students knew they had this option to have that as an add-on to their two-year degrees,” she said.

With the certificate’s launch in the fall—with four new courses added to the four drone-related courses the college has offered for several years—students will have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills to take the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) exam that is required to become a certificated operator of uncrewed aircraft.

Burbidge is also striving “to help support the workforce in North Dakota” with noncredit learning opportunities. Those activities began with the project’s first sUAS Industry Boot Camp this spring.

During the capstone presentations by the boot camp participants, Burbidge learned of two uses for drones that were new to her: inspecting radio station towers and checking park facility improvements that had been funded by government grants. From her teaching and experience as a sUAS pilot and instructor, Burbidge was aware of drones being used in the region for dam inspections, biology research, and agribusinesses.

“I really think there's a lot of different directions we can go, so this is one of the things we're going to be working on next, is where do we want to take it?” Burbidge said.

The boot camp participants report that the lessons that began online in April and concluded in May with two days of in-person, hands-on workshops expanded their thinking about how they can use drones in their careers. One participant is even planning to launch his own business centered on drones. 

As drone technology becomes more widely adopted across industries, educators continue to explore ways to best integrate drones into STEM and technician education. From collecting geospatial data to teaching programming, drones offer hands-on learning opportunities that engage students while building technical skills. These applications are not limited to one industry—they span manufacturing, environmental monitoring, agriculture, and more—making drones a relevant, cross-cutting tool in today’s classrooms.

In this From the Archive blog post, we’re highlighting three drone-focused resources that showcase how this technology is being used to enhance teaching and learning. Our first resource is a peer-reviewed journal article that explores the impact of drone-based Smart Manufacturing workshops on educator training. Next, a foundational course introduces students to UAS systems. Our final resource showcases an educator workshop that includes sample lesson plans and activities to help teachers bring drone technologies into their classrooms.