ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION · DECEMBER 2011

Welcome to the ATE Central Connection! Published the first Monday of each month, the ATE Central Connection is meant to disseminate information to and about ATE centers and projects, providing you with up-to-date ATE news, events, reminders, as well as highlighting new centers, projects, and resources. In addition, we will also highlight an educational topic with complementary resources found within ATE Central to help illustrate how ATE resources can be used in the classroom.

We want the ATE Central Connection to be a valuable tool; please e-mail info@atecentral.net with any suggestions about how to make the ATE Central Connection more useful for you or to suggest any information you would like to see in an upcoming issue.

Upcoming Events

December 5-9 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting San Francisco, CA
December 6 GeoCUR Workshop at AGU San Francisco, CA
December 6 Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL): 1 Day Public Workshop Plymouth Meeting, PA
December 7-9 Ag's 2012 Challenge: Rebalancing Risk and Reward Chicago, IL
December 9 MATEC Networks Webinar: Instructional Gaming Online
December 10-11 Winery Microbiology Workshop Onalaska, WI
December 16 Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA): VMware VSphere Jacksonville, FL
January 3-6 SCME/USF Pressure Sensor Workshop Tampa, FL
January 5-6 National and Mid-Pacific ICT Centers Winter ICT Educators Conference San Francisco, CA
January 7-10 Winter Working Connections Conference Frisco, TX
January 8-20 National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NINN): International Winter School for Graduate Students (iWSG) Campinas, Brazil
January 9-13 CyberWatch: EC-Council's Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI) Course Alexandria, VA
January 9-20 Computational Materials Science for Energy Generation and Conversion: PASI Workshop 2012 Santiago, Chile
January 13-14 SCBC/Bio-Link Conference San Diego, CA
January 18 ATE Survey Orientation: What You Need to Know to Get Good Information Into and Out of the Survey Online
January 20 MEMS 103: Biomedical Applications of Microsystems (BioMEMs) Online
January 24-26 Marine Technology: Underwater Intervention 2012 New Orleans, LA
January 25-28 AACC: Workforce Development Institute Miami, FL

For more events please visit the ATE Central Events page or if you have any upcoming events that you would like posted on ATE Central or in the ATE Central Connection please send them to info@atecentral.net.

Featured ATE Center

Florida Advanced Technology Education Center for Manufacturing (FLATE)

http://www.fl-ate.org/

The Florida Advanced Technology Education Center for Manufacturing is dedicated to the creation of a manufacturing education system that offers "technical programs, curriculum development, best practice demonstrations, and student training" required to create a workforce with high performance skills to fill the needs of the ever-growing manufacturing industry. To that end, its website provides multi-media projects and activities as well as faculty support that help develop current skills which are in demand in the industry. These projects and activities could be used in large lecture courses or in small groups. This website would be ideal for teachers seeking to update or create from scratch manufacturing courses, and for students seek to develop a skill set that will be required of them in the job market.

Featured ATE Resources

Here is a sample of the valuable resources in ATE Central that focus on Bio and Chemical Technologies:

From the Southwest Center for Microsystems Education (SCME):

DNA to Protein Learning Module

http://scme-nm.net/scme_2009/...

The Southwest Center for Microsystems Education is a Regional Advanced Technology Education Center funded in part by the National Science Foundation. These resources provide an overview of how "digitally encoded information in DNA is translated into a functional protein that can be used for diagnostics, analysis and measurements in medical applications." The content will help users in understanding the applications of MEMS devices in medicine. A comprehensive PowerPoint presentation is included along with instructor and participant guides. Visitors are encouraged to create an account and log in in order to access the full set of resources.

LIGA Micromachining Activities and Presentation

http://scme-nm.net/scme_2009/...

The Southwest Center for Microsystems Education is a Regional Advanced Technology Education Center funded in part by the National Science Foundation. This page provides a powerpoint presentation as well as instructor and participant guides for the LIGA Micromachining Simulation Kit. An order form is provided to order this kit complete with most of the materials needed to simulate the lithography and electroforming steps of the LIGA process. Visitors are encouraged to create an account and login in order to access the full set of resources.

From NetWorks:

Learn.Genetics

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/

The Genetic Science Learning Center is a science and health education program located in the midst of the bioscience research being carried out at the University of Utah. The Center's mission is making science easy for everyone to understand. To achieve this mission, the project provides educational materials and programs for global and local audiences. Their website, Learn. Genetics, delivers educational materials on genetics, bioscience and health topics. They are designed to be used by students, teachers and members of the public. The materials meet selected US education standards for science and health. These educational resources provide accurate and unbiased information about topics in genetics, bioscience and health. Designed for non-research audiences, they are jargon-free, target multiple learning styles, and often convey concepts through animation and interactivity.

News & Reminders

Follow ATE Central on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all things new at ATE Central and in the ATE Community as well as in the world of STEM Education

Want to know which ATE Projects and Centers and ATE partners and collaborators are using Social Media? Check out our ATE Social Media Directory and follow them too!

ATE Central has an Outreach Kit to help with Your Project or Center's Dissemination and Outreach Plan

Are you interested in designing a more effective dissemination and marketing plan for your project or center? If so, then check out ATE Central's Outreach Kit at atecentral.net/outreach. This online toolkit includes a Planning Guide to show you, step by step, how to build and execute a realistic and achievable outreach plan. Learn new and innovative ways to reach your audience and connect with the ATE community and beyond with the Social Media Guide. Use the Communications Guide to craft your project or center's message, discover new dissemination paths, and learn to build your own media kit. In addition, you will find a Resources section which will direct you to some best practices within NSF and ATE, other free and low-cost outreach tools, further helpful links, and some suggested reading. If you're ready to show Broader Impacts and ensure your NSF mission, then get started with the ATE Outreach Kit.

Digitally Enhancing America's Community Colleges: Strategic Opportunities for Computing Education

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) recently released a report that addresses a fundamental question about community colleges: why are so many of them unable to successfully secure federal funding for computing programs? The report, Digitally Enhancing America's Community Colleges, offers recommendations designed to spur new grant proposals, inventive initiatives, and dynamic partnerships that infuse innovation into community college computing courses and programs. The full 24-page report is available online here: http://www.acmccecc.org/.... NSF's release about the summit, ACM, and the report is available here: http://www.nsf.gov/news/.... Printed copies of the report along with a strategic planning template are available for free via an online request form at http://www.acmccecc.org/contactus/.

ATEEC seeks reviewers for eERL resources

ATEEC is looking for environmental and energy specialists to vet (review) materials for the electronic Environmental and Energy Resources Library. If you are interested in participating please contact Lora at lkaisler@eicc.edu.

Can CWIS Software Help Support Your Project Goals?

CWIS is open source software, created with NSF funding, that can help your project or center showcase resources online. It's free and very easy to use — click here to check out a few of the sites running CWIS. We'd be happy to provide you with more information about CWIS and give you a quick tour of its features — please e-mail cwis@scout.wisc.edu to get started!

Find Out More About ATE Central

For information about ATE Central and how your project or center can take part and benefit from ATE Central's portal and services you may want to download the ATE Central Handbook at http://atecentral.net/handbook.

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