Celebrating 20 Years of the ATE Program
In 1993, the National Science Foundation created the Advanced
Technological Education Program to support, develop, and expand
the education available to aspiring
STEM
technicians. Since those first grants, the program has grown
steadily: it now supports 45 centers and 229 projects in the
United States and US
territories, all of which are dedicated to improving the education
of America's technical workforce.
ATE is
currently the largest community college focused investment in the
National Science Foundation's portfolio. As the importance of
STEM
education grabs the national spotlight, the
ATE program
continues to grow and fill the gap between supply of and demand
for highly trained, ready-to-work technicians.
As a part of this 20-year celebration, ATE Central is partnering
with the community as a whole to produce a booklet and blog that
will capture the breadth and impact of
ATE projects
and centers. Stay tuned over the coming months for
PI and alumni
interviews, stories, photos, and more that showcase
ATE projects
and centers at their finest. Following the blog, which will debut
on the ATE Central site in May, ATE@20 will also be responsible
for a 48-page booklet, to be released at the
ATE
PI meeting in October.
This booklet will be available to all projects and centers free of
charge, and feature a full-color history of
ATE, stories
from within the program, and data about the
ATE
program's long-lasting impacts. The ATE@20 blog and booklet will
help connect
ATE to new
audiences, and support ongoing relationships with
STEM
educators, institutional administration, industry partners, and
government leaders.
In order to complete this project, however, we need you! We are
currently collecting stories and photographs to feature in the
booklet and blog. Please contact us at
ate20@atecentral.net if
you have anything you would like to contribute. We look forward to
sharing our community's accomplishments with a wider audience. Our
mission is to highlight and amplify the fantastic work being done
daily by
ATE projects
and centers across the nation.