Advanced Technological Education . August 2022

Welcome to the ATE Central Connection! Published the first Tuesday 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 Project: Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools
Featured Resources: Engineering Technologies
Community Connection
ATE Success Tips: Social Media
Did You Know?
Select STEM Education Resources
ATE Events
News & Reminders

Featured Project

Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools

nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1800935

Photonics is a rapidly growing field that encompasses the science and technologies related to lasers and optics. Photonics applications are important in many industries, ranging from defense to manufacturing to healthcare. This broad application base creates a continued high demand for photonics technicians in the United States. In this project, Indian Hills Community College will seek to increase the number of photonics technicians by encouraging secondary school students to enter a pathway that leads to photonics technician careers. The project will emphasize rural high school students who rarely have learning opportunities in state-of-the-art technologies. The project will enable rural high school students to earn college credit that transfers directly to a two-year photonics degree. This dual credit opportunity will position the students to enroll in, complete a degree program, and obtain a job in the high-demand photonics field. The project will also test the potential of hybrid online instruction to bring advanced technical education into the classrooms of rural school districts, which often have limited budgets. Rural high school teachers will also receive photonics-related professional development.

The primary goal of this project is to increase the number of rural Iowa high school students in photonics technician career pathways. The project will build on work completed by the Midwest Photonics Education Center, an ATE Regional Center at Indian Hills Community College that focused on educating photonics technicians in the Midwest. Portable photonics kits developed by the Midwest Photonics Education Center will be used for lab activities in the hybrid online courses that will be developed in this project. These kits help students learn photonics concepts through hands-on activities without the need to equip an entire lab. Industry partnerships will also be leveraged to enhance the project activities. The project materials, results, and best practices will be widely disseminated to facilitate the adoption or adaptation of the approach by other community colleges.

Featured Resources: Engineering Technologies

From Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools:

Photonics Fundamentals for Secondary Schools

atecentral.net/downloads/21892/DPE+Objective+1+-+Photonics+Fundamentals+course.zip

Developing Photonics Education created this hybrid and dual-credit course in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools project at Indian Hills Community College. This course and supporting materials were created to "increase the number of photonics technicians in the U.S. via the high school to community college pipeline. Supporting work is available to view separately and includes outreach and professional development materials for teachers.

The course introduces students to "the basics of how light travels and several behaviors of light when light interacts with materials, such as: refraction, scattering, absorption, reflection, and transmission." The course also "introduces [...] student[s] [on] how to handle and clean optics, laser safety, how optics manipulate light, how light behaves as a particle and a wave, and the basics of how a laser operates."

From Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools:

Photonics Fundamentals Information for Iowa High School Teachers

atecentral.net/downloads/21996/DPE+Outreach.zip

The Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools project created a hybrid and dual credit course to increase the number of photonics technicians in the U.S. This resource includes materials that were created to further outreach and recruitment efforts for the course. Project staff went to interested secondary schools as guest speakers and gave presentations on the course. Students and teachers attended these events.

These outreach materials include a 4-page supporting information document and six presentations. The supporting document discusses the outreach effort. The presentations cover the following topics: the nature and properties of light, optical components and handling, laser safety and light sources, geometric optics, physical optics, and the basic principles of lasers.

From Laser-TEC:

Lecture 7 - Principles of Lasers

youtube.com/watch?v=xMo5A61XeB4

This video is part of a series from Laser-Tec that introduces learners to geometrical optics. This video highlights the principles of lasers. Viewers learn about the distinction between spontaneous and stimulated radiation, energy level diagrams, the mechanism of coherent light generation, the conditions required for gain in a laser, and the function of various components of a laser. Continuous and pulse modes, Bohr's Model of an Atom, absorption, emission, photons, and the Law of Thermodynamics are also explored.

Community Connection

ATE Project Creates Summer STEM Fun

The impacts of ATE Programs and Centers last all year. The ATE funded NextGen Technicians project provides evidence that summer is a perfect time to show young children the benefits of STEM education. Last summer of 2021, NextGEn Technicians hosted two summer camps for Northern Iowan students, which included building robot arms!

Campers were introduced by instructors to the basics of robotics, including the structure, electronics, and programming of robots. They built and programmed their own 3D Printed Robotic arms that utilize control software. Maestro Control Center and PolyScope were used for the 3D Robotic arms. All 3D Printed parts were made with PLA plastic filament on a Flash Forge Creator Pro Printer. At the camp's end, the campers could take their robot arms home.

Visit the ATE Impacts Blog for more information and photos from the summer camps.

ATE Success Tips: Social Media

Current Social Media Trends Round Up

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, 2022 is bringing in many new trends for social media usage. We've rounded up several that could interest ATE Projects and Centers using various social media platforms.

Video Content - Influence Marketing Hub writes that "If you're not currently creating videos, it's time that you include them in your content strategy…. You simply have to look at the success of Stories, Reels, and TikTok to realize that engaging short-form videos are now the preferred choice of consumers." ATE Central's last newsletter's Outreach section featured suggestions on how to create videos best.
Inclusivity - Organizations often feature their diversity statement and commitments to inclusivity in their workforces and social media. ATE Projects and Centers can work on creating accessible forms of communication for all audiences. AccessATE features tip sheets for creating inclusive videos and accessible websites.
Personalization - Make sure you know your audience! It's crucial to keep targeting the different audiences who are using your materials and following you — find ways to target the ones who know your area well and those who might be new. Try to use social media to communicate with both.

Did You Know?

A new report from 3M, the international science-based manufacturer, found that 79% of survey participants agree that science companies would have a greater positive impact on society if they had greater workforce diversity and representation.

3M surveyed 17 countries with over 1000 participants per country. Their final report shows persistent gaps in views on STEM and the skilled trades.

The full report can be read and downloaded here, and 3M's website has more information and breakdowns of the report.

Select STEM Education Resources

A few online STEM resources from outside of ATE, that you may find of interest:

National Education Association Foundation for the Improvement of Education

www.neafoundation.org

The National Education Association (NEA) has a number of laudable public outreach programs, but the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education may be one that is of special interest to teachers in particular. The primary function of the Foundation is to make grants that will improve public education across the nation, including those grants to honor teaching excellence and to create the necessary conditions to attract and retain accomplished teachers in high-need schools. The NEA site includes helpful information and application forms for the organization's numerous grant programs, along with a search engine that will help visitors to hone in on specific materials. The publications area of the site is quite nice as well, and visitors will want to avail themselves of such titles as "Connecting the Bits", which provides information for integrating technology into teaching and learning in K-12 schools.

American Museum of Natural History: Milstein Hall of Ocean Life

www.amnh.org/learn-teach

This website is the online companion to the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The “Learn and Teach” section provides links to dozens of AMNH activities and articles, ranging in student ages from elementary, higher education, and adults. Also, the online guide to the exhibit is itself a terrific educational resource. For example, the Dioramas section offers great graphics and informative descriptions of ocean life and the terrestrial animals, like polar bears, that depend upon it. Likewise, users can take a virtual tour of the exhibit in the Ecosystems feature or click on Ocean Life to learn more about marine animals (and a few ancient bacteria).

OneWorld Radio

www.oneworldmusicradio.com

A number of media commentators have been complaining lately about the lack of ideological viewpoints within the vast sea of radio programming, something that has not been lost on the people at OneWorldRadio. Funded by the Department for International Development, OneWorld Radio is part of an international network of over 1200 partner organizations that are utilizing the internet "to promote human rights and sustainable development worldwide." With online audio content from member organizations (such as radio stations) available in French, Spanish, and several other languages, visitors can listen to or download any one of hundreds of programs archived here. Additionally, visitors can elect to search their impressive archive by language, region, or topic. Persons interested in the use of radio for development and human rights will want to examine the news and events section as it contains important updates about events dealing with conferences on media freedom throughout the world and links to important radio broadcasts of note. Finally, visitors (and all who sign up for the free membership) can elect to receive the helpful OneWorldRadio e-newsletter.

Do you have some great STEM resources you'd like to share with ATE Central? Email us with your ideas at [email protected].

ATE Events

Upcoming Events
August 2–4	Mfg	CAR Management Briefing Seminars	Acme, MI
August 3–5	Eng	Midwest Teachers of Transportation and Industrial Areas (MTTIA) Annual Conference	Brainerd, MN
August 8–10	Bio/Chem	Teaching Biotechnology Skills through DNA Metabarcoding Biodiversity Research	Winston-Salem, NC
August 8–12	Mfg	CAV Career Pathways Camp	Minneapolis, MN
August 8–12	Mfg	NITRO X- Northeast Metro 916	North White Bear Lake, MN
August 10–14	Eng	Mall of America STEAM Event	Bloomington, MN
August 14–17	Ag/Env	National Viticulture and Enology Extension Leadership Conference (NVEELC)	Selma, CA
August 14–19	Gen	ESA & CSEE Joint Annual Meeting	Montréal, Québec
August 15–18	Bio/Chem	Algae Biotechnology Meeting	Round Rock, TX
August 18	Nano	Opportunities and Internships at NASA JPL	Online
August 21–25	Eng	SPIE Optics + Photonics 2022	San Diego, CA
September 6–8	Eng	Commercial UAV EXPO	Las Vegas, NV
September 7	Mfg	Application of ISO 26262 USA	Online
September 16	Nano	Like Driving a Car: Acquiring Quality SEM/FESEM Images in Different Situations	Online
September 22	Eng	Unmannd Systems Academic Summit 2022	Online
September 27–28	Info	Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 Workshop	Online
October 4–5	Eng	UAS Summit and Expo	Grand Forks, ND
October 20	Nano	High Throughput Automation of Synthetic DNA and RNA on Nanostructured Ceramic Films	Online
October 20–21	Gen	2022 Annual ATE PI Conference (Virtual)	Online
October 25–27	Eng	Autonomous Vehicle Technology Expo	Novi, MI
October 25–27	Eng	Autonomous Vehicle Technology EXPO 2022	Novi, MI
October 26–28	Gen	2022 Annual ATE PI Conference (In-Person)	Washington, DC

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

ATE Impacts 2022-2023 Book Showcases Work of ATE Community

We are excited to inform you about the upcoming release of the new ATE Impacts 2022-2023 book! You can order copies of the ATE Impacts book online and digital copies of the book can be accessed on the ATE Impacts site.

The ATE Impacts 2022-2023 book showcases the work of the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education Community. This edition includes a foreword from United States President Joseph Biden. It features the work of 33 projects and 28 centers across the seven ATE areas, as well as applied research. By highlighting the ATE community's successful and innovative work, the book encourages broader participation in the ATE program by academic institutions, educators, and industry partners. Dissemination of the ATE Impacts book advances understanding of the importance of technician education and its role in supporting the high-tech industries that drive the United States' economy.

Open for Applications: CCPI-STEM Fellows

CCPI-STEM Fellows program invites applications for Graduate Fellowships from individuals who are pursuing or beginning to pursue graduate degrees and engage in research related to STEM education and workforce development in community colleges. The application deadline is September 15, 2022. Eligible candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Check CCPI's website for more information on the application and criteria.

EvaluateUR-CURE Accepting Applications

EvaluateUR-CURE is now accepting applications to participate in the final round of pilot testing during the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. This opportunity is available through an award from the NSF ATE program to the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo State.

EvaluateUR-CURE is a method for evaluating course-based undergraduate research experiences -- CUREs. Combining research into undergraduate courses provides research opportunities for students.

Pilot testing of E-CURE is open to all faculty. Faculty teaching courses with research experiences (CUREs) at community colleges are especially encouraged to apply. A modest stipend is provided for participating in the pilot and providing feedback.

The application can be completed on EvaluateUR-CURE's website.

More information about the project can be found on the main E-CURE page.

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