| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 1, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 7, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 1901987 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Virginia Carter
vccarter@nsf.gov (703)292-4651 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $930,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,153,716.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2020 = $185,280.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
101 W 3RD ST DAVENPORT IA US 52801-1419 (563)336-3300 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
101 W Third Street DAVENPORT IA US 52801-1419 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Advanced Tech Education Prog |
| Primary Program Source: |
04002021DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The U.S. water infrastructure includes more than 151,000 public drinking water treatment systems and more than 15,000 publicly-owned wastewater treatment systems. These numbers do not include the industrial water and wastewater systems. This massive infrastructure is confronting the increased role of water in national security issues, changes in national and regional regulatory compliance requirements, a retiring workforce, new technology, and the changing demands of industry. Thus, there is a need for realignment of academia, industry, business, and government to ensure the resilience of the U.S. water infrastructure. An important part of the water infrastructure labor force are water and wastewater technicians. Technician jobs are growing faster than average and include water operations technicians, wastewater treatment technicians, and water and wastewater system technicians and operators. These occupations have wages above the national median and, because the jobs are mandated by regulations, they cannot be outsourced. Water technology jobs survive economic downturn cycles because populations will always need clean drinking water and wastewater treatment to survive, and business and industry need clean water to produce goods and services.
The Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) is an Advanced Technological Education Resource Center that supports and advances high school and community college environmental technology education through curriculum development, professional development, and program improvement. ATEEC will create Professional Learning Community webinars for new water/wastewater technology programs; conduct a national Defining Forum and occupational analyses to define current water technician level jobs; update the interactive Defining Water Management Careers Chart for high school/community college career counselors and students; revise the Brownfields in a Box with updated technology to interest new students in water careers; expand the electronic environmental resource library of juried water technology content; develop augmented/virtual reality modules in water/wastewater content; and assist college programs in crosswalks to increase the number of veterans receiving college credit for military training/experience. Results of ATEEC activities and evaluation will be broadly disseminated. This project is funded by the NSF Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Advanced Technology Environmental and Education Center (ATEEC) was established in 1994 as a Center of Excellence within the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation. ATEEC defines and disseminates the cutting-edge technical knowledge necessary for educators to provide their students with successful careers in environmental, energy and water-related fields. We work with experts in education, research and industry to develop comprehensive, professionally validated materials and programs.
ATEEC’s mission is the advancement of environmental and water technology education through curriculum, professional, and program development. Our vision is to foster a network of educational communities, supported through public and private partnerships, which ensures human health, safety, and global sustainability. In addition to the National Science Foundation (nsf.org), our core partners include Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (eicc.edu) and the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (nationalpete.org).
ATEEC developed many useful resources over the years which are available at our online portfolio of seven websites. Links to all websites are at ateec.org. Website improvements made during 2018, including removal of out-of-date resources, allow for better experiences on mobile devices. In the past year, at least one of each of our resources was downloaded from the main site with over 6,200 total downloads.
In 2014, ATEEC became the first ATE Center to develop and deliver interactive charts for perusing water and environmental technology careers including job functions, projected job growth, pay scales and educational requirements. ATEEC maintained and annually updated an interactive database of colleges with programs specific to environmental, energy and water technologies that culminate in a 1- or 2-year degrees or certification. Currently listed are 293 colleges with environmental technology programs; 71 of those are water specific and 254 are specific to energy.
Popular and downloadable resources include; Seven Technology and Environmental Decision-Making modules to help educators incorporate the latest research into their curricula. These modules were developed in 2003 (four were recently updated) in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ATEEC recently updated “The Best Practices Guide for Developing Educational Programs”, a guide for implementing and improving community and technical college programs.
In 2017, ATEEC became the first ATE Center to develop augmented and virtual reality applications focusing on water/wastewater technician training. Twelve interactive and immersive modules were created, which include: centrifugal pump operations, maintenance and safety, grab, composite and aseptic sampling, titration, sludge judge, pH testing, and bioreactor overview, sampling and testing. These modules provided students and instructors access to a simulated laboratory environment during the pandemic.
In 2022, a Defining Water Management Report was compiled as a result of a modified DACUM. This report provides students, career counselors and career changers with information about degreed and non-degreed careers in the water management field; community colleges with the necessary information to determine certification requirements for technical workers in their local water industries; and a foundation for the development of industry-based curricula and training programs to prepare a local/regional water management workforce.
As a long-term National Resource Center, ATEEC supported and mentored other colleges new to the NSF ATE program. We served on advisory boards, reviewed grant proposals and answered questions. Our trained staff helped with needs analysis, occupational and workforce analysis, evaluation of programs and projects, instructional systems design, and curriculum and development. The ATEEC efforts will continue under the Environmental and Natural Resources Technology (EARTh) Center. ATEEC’s products and resources are archived on the EARTh Center’s new website, www.ourearthcenter.org.
Last Modified: 08/13/2024
Modified by: Joshua P Webb
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