Advanced Technological Education ·

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 [email protected] 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.

In This Issue

Featured Resources in Science and Technical Writing

Technology

From Bio-Link: Educating the BioTechnology Workforce:

From the Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC):

From Project SHINE: Shaping High-Quality Integrated Nebraska Education:

Technical Writing Exercise

http://www.mechatronics-mec.org/downloads/Technical_Writing_exercise_Learning_Activity_by_EBrown.pdf

This learning activity by Brown and from the Mechatronics Education Center’s Project SHINE develops student technical writing skills. The lesson helps students understand the differences between literature and technical writing, while learning the processes, concepts and considerations used in technical writing. In particular, this activity aims to increase student understanding of sequential order, attention to detail, trouble-shooting, matching illustrations to text, and ability to assess an audience’s needs. The activity requires 90 minutes of class time.

Community Connection

Shaking hands

Welcome to ATE for New Projects and Centers

ATE Central would like to take this opportunity to welcome new ATE projects and centers! With the ATE PI Conference just a few short weeks away, projects and centers old and new will get the chance to connect to one another - sharing experiences, collaborating, and learning together. As a reminder, ATE Central can benefit your project or center by:

  • Providing outreach and dissemination opportunities for your project, including the ATE Central Connection monthly newsletter, the ATE Events Calendar, ATE Social Media outlets, the ATE Central Outreach Kit, and more.
  • Connecting your project to the larger ATE community and beyond, via ATE Central’s comprehensive resource collection and maps.
  • Assisting with managing and sharing deliverables with the ATE Central Collection Development Policy Template and support for creating Data Management Plans, both located in the ATE Central Handbook.
  • Offering technology tools to help showcase and assess the impact of your work, including the ATE Central Events Widget, CWIS open source resource portal software, the quarterly ATE Central Activity Reports, and more.

Additionally, new community members should make sure to check out the “Getting Started” workshop at this year’s PI conference. This workshop is recommended for all principal investigators, co-principal investigators, and other team members looking for a smooth transition to ATE. The workshop will cover ATE program issues, financial management and grant management issues, and evaluation. ATE Central will be presenting at the session, so feel free to ask any questions you might have there or at our showcase booth.

Spotlight on NSF’s Community College Innovation Challenge

The National Science Foundation, through its various funding initiatives and innovative research, reminds us that scientific progress is the hallmark of a dynamic society. At the center of this progress, as members of the ATE community can attest, is education. Community colleges, in particular, have long recognized the importance of mentoring students and industry has frequently looked to community colleges to provide an educated and technologically up-to-date workforce.

The Community College Innovation Challenge is NSF’s call to community college students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use science in order to make a difference in the world. This is a great opportunity for ATE projects and centers to showcase the brilliant work of their students. If you haven’t already checked it out, here are the basics:

Who: Teams of community college students, a faculty mentor, and a community or industry partner.

What: Teams proposing innovative STEM-based solutions for real-world problems they identify within one of the following themes: Big Data, Infrastructure Security, Sustainability (including water, food, energy, environment), Broadening Participation in STEM, Improving STEM Education.

When: –

Why: To foster the development of crucial innovation skills

More information can be found on the Community College Innovation Challenge website and questions can be emailed to [email protected].

Did You Know?

A recent report from the Institute for College Access & Success states that nearly 1 million community college students do not have access to federal student loans because their schools choose not to offer them.

ATE Events

Ongoing Events
Gen WomenTech Educators Online Training Online
– Nano Nanotechnology Course Resources II: Patterning, Characterization, and Applications State College, Pennsylvania
– Gen American Association of Community Colleges John E. Roueche Future Leaders Institute Washington, DC,
Upcoming Events
– Info URISA Leadership Academy (ULA) Louisville, KY
– Mfg 2014 Southern Automotive Conference Birmingham, AL
– Eng NCATC Fall 2014 Conference: Making It: Energizing the Manufacturing Workforce through Innovation Houston, TX
Gen Winter Cold Damage Prevention & Rescue Wamego, KS
Gen Mentor-Connect: Cohort Application Deadline Online
– Mfg National Career Pathways Annual Conference: Building Capacity: Aligning for the Future Orlando, Florida
– Nano COMS2014 Salt Lake City, UT
Mfg Lightweighting: The Implications for Automotive Design Development Clinton Township, MI
– Eng OSA Frontiers in Optics/Laser Science Tucson, AZ
– Eng Recycled Materials Alpena, MI
– Info 2014 New York State GeoSpatial Summit Skaneateles Falls, NY
– Gen ATE Conference 2014 Washington, DC,
– Eng Spatial Analysis and Modeling Workshop Part 1 Watsonville, CA
Gen Writing in the Disciplines Workshop El Paso, TX
– Ag/Env Wine Sensory Analysis Workshop Green Bay, WI
Info Cyber Risk Summit Bellingham, WA
– Eng NCWE Annual Conference: Casting Relationships, Forging Partnerships Pittsburgh, PA
Info National CyberWatch Center: Critical Skills for Industry and Government Online
Nano Crystallography Workshop Albuquerque, NM
– Ag/Env Texas Wine & Grape Growers Association 2014 Grape Camp Fredericksburg, TX
– Eng The National Educators Workshop Seattle, WA
– Nano Third Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Conference Boston, MA
– Ag/Env Intermediate Brewing Workshop Dobson, NC
– Gen Southeastern United Grape and Wine Symposium Dobson, NC
Info North Texas Community College Technology Forum 2014 Frisco, TX
– Info Web Mapping Development Using the ArcGIS Javascript Watsonville, CA
– Ag/Env Wine Sensory Evaluation Workshop Dobson, NC
– Info STEMtech Conference Denver, CO
– Nano Hands-on Introduction to Nanotechnology for Educators University Park - State College, Pennsylvania
– Mfg FABTECH Exposition 2014 Atlanta, GA
– Eng ACTE CareerTech VISION 2014 Nashville, TN
– Bio/Chem CCURI Regional Poster Session and Bio-Link Conference Charlotte, NC
Info National CyberWatch Center: Building Enrollments Online
Bio/Chem NIH Community College Day 2014 Bethesda, MD

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 submit them online.

To add a continuously-updated list of ATE and STEM education events to your website, use the ATE Event Widget.

News & Reminders

Is your project/center on Facebook, Twitter, or another social media site?

If so, please make sure we've found that site and added it to the ATE Social Media Directory. Having your social media presence linked through the directory will help ensure that interested parties can find you online. In addition, if you currently publish a newsletter, please let us know, as we will be adding links to newsletters to the information available on ATE Central.

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


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. The latest version (CWIS 3.1.0) was released on and is available for download on the Scout site. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions or would like a quick tour of its features!

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