Advanced Technological Education · March 2016

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.

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In This Issue

Featured Center: National Aerospace Technical Education Center (SpaceTEC)
Featured Resources in Space Technologies
Community Connection
ATE Success Tips: Outreach
Did You Know?
ATE Events
News & Reminders

Featured Center

National Aerospace Technical Education Center (SpaceTEC)

http://www.spacetec.us/

The SpaceTEC National Resource Center for Aerospace Technical Education, is an ATE resource center that "provides skill-based, nationally recognized professional certifications for the U.S. Aerospace Industry." On this site, visitors will find information about SpaceTEC partners, certification options, and initiatives. Also, in the Resources section, users will find links to a number of other aerospace technology programs and SpaceTEC's own publications, including brochures and an archive of newsletters. Finally, the front page offers a calendar of upcoming events and links to related resources, the SpaceTEC blog, and more.

Featured Resources in Space Technologies

From SpaceTEC:

Living and Working in Space

http://www.rcptv.com/spacetec-dl/Media/LIVINGinSPACE-1024_1Mbps_Stream.wmv

This video from SpaceTEC explains the effects of living in space, such as the physiology of weightlessness, how to maintain functionality, how to handle radiation issues, and how to safely return to earth. This six-minute video is one of the aerospace certification readiness courses.

From Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC):

Imagine the Universe Lesson Plans

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/educators/lesson_plans.html

The Educators' Corner, from Imagine the Universe out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, contains astronomy and space science lesson plans and resources for middle and high school students. Lesson plans cover the topics of frequency and wavelength, x-ray spectroscopy, supernova chemistry, and more. Each lesson plan includes a suggested grade level, estimated time to complete the lesson, a summary and objective, and detailed steps. Lesson plans are organized in a table that can be sorted by title, subject, grade level or math or science standards.

From Technology and Innovation in Manufacturing and Engineering (TIME) Center:

NASA’s Education Website

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/index.html

This site from NASA features educational materials on astronomy and space sciences. Educational news, research, and announcements are featured on the homepage. Teaching materials for educators teaching in levels K-12 and higher are available on the site, and include lesson plans, links, and podcasts.

Community Connection

Recently Released on the ATE@20 Blog

The ATE@20 blog began as a way to commemorate the first twenty years of NSF’s Advanced Technological Education program. Now in its third year, the ATE@20 blog continues to focus on the many accomplishments of the ATE community while highlighting research findings of note, important opportunities, and helpful tips.

Recent posts have covered the following topics:

Entries are posted bi-monthly, so be sure to check in regularly to discover a wealth of information about the high-impact work being done by ATE projects and centers and of value to all of us in the education community.

If you have a story to share or an accomplishment to highlight on the blog, we would love to hear about it - let us know by sending an email to ate20@atecentral.net.

ATE Success Tips: Outreach

Using Canva to Create Quick Outreach Materials

When distributing outreach materials, it's no secret that the use of interesting and eye-catching graphics can make your project/center stand out among the rest. Unfortunately, developing such a graphic is often a difficult, time-consuming, and expensive task for anyone who isn't an expert at graphic design. If your project or center is looking to create an impressive looking graphic quickly and at no cost, Canva might be a good option. The online graphic design tool hosts a variety of pre-sized templates that can be used for social media, blogs, email, presentations, posters, and more.

For more information about Canva, including a QuickGuide on how to use the site, check out this Evalu-ATE blog post by Emma Perk!

Did You Know?

According to US News & World Report, there are four degrees that are better to earn at a community college than at a four-year institution; these degrees are in engineering technology, radiation & medical imaging, plumbing & heating, and dental hygiene.

ATE Events

Ongoing Events
March 1 – April 1	Nano	SCME Hands-online Microsystems Academy: Crystallography with Bulk Micromachining	Online
March 2–5	Gen	SREE Spring 2016 Conference	Washington, DC
March 2–5	Info	SIGCSE 2016	Memphis, TN
March 4–6	Gen	Change Agents Workshop	Williamsburg, VA
March 7–10	Gen	SXSWedu 2016	Austin, TX
Upcoming Events
March 8	Info	Good Geographic Practices for the New Framework (7-12)	Newark, NY
March 8	Gen	Am I Sustainable? An Overview of Key Steps Towards Finding a Sustainability Model	Online
March 9	Mfg	HTEC – CNC Machining Educators Conference	Sarasota, FL
March 11–12	Ag/Env	Wine Sensory Analysis Workshop - PA	Lancaster, PA
March 14–18	Mfg	Guitar Building Workshop for Educators, Students and Hobbyists	Mesa, AZ
March 15	Gen	2016 NSF CAREER Program Informational Webinar	Online
March 16	Gen	Strategies for STEM—Solving the Education Equation, Part 2: Increase Student Access, Educational Equ	Online
March 17–18	Mfg	NSF Workshop on Additive Manufacturing for Health	Arlington, VA
March 18–20	Info	Western Regional Collegiate Cyberdefense Competition	Pomona, CA
March 20–23	Eng	2016 Innovations Conference	Chicago, IL
March 21–24	Mfg	Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Fab Labs & Makerspaces	Bentonville, Arkansas
March 23	Info	Mount Vernon Regional GIS Symposium for Historical Resources	Mount Vernon, VA
March 23	Gen	Evaluation for Small Projects: Live Webinar	Online
March 24	Info	Communities of Practice: Secrets of Successful Implementations Part II	Online
March 29–30	Eng	TU-Automotive Cybersecurity USA 2016	Novi, MI
March 29–30	Bio/Chem	Genomics in Education Workshop	Carbondale, IL
March 31 – April 2	Info	Women in Cyber Security Conference	Dallas, TX
March 31 – April 3	Gen	National Conference in Nashville: Science: Empowering Performance	Nasheville, TN
March 31 – April 1	Mfg	Engineering Technology Forum	Leesburg, FL
April 1 – May 1	Nano	SCME Hands-online Microsystems Academy: Microcantilevers	Online
April 5	Gen	Funding Beyond the Grant: Finding the Best-Fit Funding Model for Your Project or Center	Online
April 7–9	Info	30th Anniversary National Conference on Undergraduate Research	Asheville, NC
April 8	Gen	Get 2 IT	Parma, OH
April 9–12	Gen	AACC Annual Convention	Chicago, IL
April 11–14	Gen	National Summit for Educational Equity	Alexandria, VA
April 13–14	Eng	Internet of Things North America	Schaumburg, IL
April 14–15	Gen	2016 Forum on Science & Technology Policy	Washington, DC
April 19	Gen	Know your Audience, the Rest Will Follow: A Deeper Dive into Audience Assessment	Online
April 21	Gen	Preparing Forms for your NSF ATE Proposal: Live Webinar	Online
April 28	Gen	Threat Intelligence Webinar	Online
April 29 – May 1	Eng	MARINE EDUCATION WORKSHOP	Big Pine Key, FL
May 1 – June 1	Nano	SCME Hands-online Microsystems Academy: BioMEMS Applications	Online
May 3–5	Mfg	MFG4	Hartford, CT
May 3	Gen	The Funding Environment: From Funder Mandates to Industry Partnerships	Online
May 5	Gen	Science Diplomacy 2016	Washington, DC
May 6	Eng	2016 CAAT Conference: The Road to Autonomous Vehicles	Warren, MI
May 10	Info	Good Practice in Geography for Elementary Grades	Newark, NY
May 10–12	Eng	Future Connected Cars USA	Santa Clara, CA
May 13–14	Gen	2016 Expo Fest	Wallingford, CT
May 14	Info	Y.E.L.L. Female Summit	Des Moines, WA
May 18–20	Eng	Women in Transportation Annual Conference	Austin, TX
May 23–26	Mfg	4-Axis CNC Milling Teacher Training	Auburn, ME
May 24–26	Eng	National Association of Workforce Development Professionals Annual Conference	Orlando, 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 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

Consider participating in the Bioscience Industrial Fellowship Project (BIFP) June 1-24, 2016.

The Bioscience Industrial Fellowship Project (BIFP) is a four week observational fellowship program where selected instructors will reside in Winston – Salem, North Carolina for the month of June 2016. During their stay, they will visit NC Biosciences industrial facilities, community colleges and university labs and research parks. Working in pairs, up to twelve awardees will write about their experiences and produce contextualized modules as grant products. For more information please contact Russ Read, rread@forsythtech.edu or Allison Nestor, anestor@forsythtech.edu at the National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce. Applications will be accepted on a first come first serve basis for those who meet the requirements.

Registration is still open for the 2016 Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education!

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is holding its third Summit on Improvement in Education March 22-24, 2016 in San Francisco! Join other innovative thinkers and dedicated practitioners to learn new ideas for transformative teaching and learning in science and other fields.

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.

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 3.2.0) was released on Jun 12^th and is available for download on the Scout site. Please email cwis@scout.wisc.edu if you have any questions or would like a quick tour of its features!

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