Advanced Technological Education .

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.

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.

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In This Issue

Featured Resources: Bio and Chemical Technologies

From Developing Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experiences in Antibody Bioengineering:

From Developing Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experiences in Antibody Bioengineering:

Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LlYIrg3SeE&list=PLSAXB_etwzD9dl3gN4hgCUtAdspV5FfP9&index=2

This video, provided by Digital World Biology, is from the 2022 Antibody Engineering Hackathon, an event where teams collaborated to develop Course-based Undergraduate Research projects (CURES) for students studying biotechnology. During the presentation, Erin Dolan, biochemistry professor at the University of Georgia, provides an overview of CURES and their benefits. Additionally, Dolan gives tips on how to plan a successful CURE, such as choosing relevant research issues, designing student and research goals, and creating a plan of action. This video runs 29:05 minutes in length.

From Developing Classroom-based Undergraduate Research Experiences in Antibody Bioengineering:

Engineering Careers - Former Participants and Their Careers

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERb2e4bAiCU&list=PLSAXB_etwzD9dl3gN4hgCUtAdspV5FfP9&index=12

In this video, former Antibody Engineering Hackathon participants Andrew Givone and Mallari Miko share insights on their journeys in biotechnology, discussing their work with antibodies, post-Hackathon work experiences, and how the Hackathon has positively impacted their careers. Additionally, Givone and Mallari offer advice to students interested in antibody engineering, covering topics such as job interviews and necessary skills. This video runs 56:11 minutes in length.

Community Connection

Connecting with ATE Central's Outreach Kit

Explore the key role of outreach and dissemination in the success of National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) programs in our latest ATE Impacts blog post. Whether you're new to grant proposals or already funded, effective outreach is crucial. The Outreach Kit and Template by ATE Central is a comprehensive resource designed to guide ATE projects through strategic outreach planning and customizable templates. Covering essential aspects from branding to outreach activities, the kit ensures projects and centers can align with grant goals. Remember, outreach is an ongoing process, and ATE Central encourages your feedback at info@atecentral.net to support your journey.

ATE Success Tips: Outreach

Data Visualization

ATE community members appreciate the value of outreach, its role in sharing out project and center results, and its ability to support efforts to broaden the impacts of their ATE funded work. By creating attractive and informative visual representations of data related to your project or center's achievements you can create more powerful and effective content to use in any number of ways, including your outreach efforts. Visualizations are also useful for your team, helping to identify trends and show opportunities for growth in all areas of your work. With the following tools, your project or center can use data visualization to its best advantage.

Tableau

This free data visualization suite can import and process data from a wide variety of sources, including online sources like Google Sheets or sites that provide Web Data Connectors. Users are able to share their visualizations via email, over social media, or embedded in a website. When embedded in a website, these visualizations can be both interactive and dynamic. Users can configure visualizations to update in real time as new data is published and allow audiences to filter and explore the data that is displayed. Get started with Tableau's short beginner's guide, which offers links to resources for numerous examples of data visualization in action, a list of visualization types to indicate the wide variety of available possibilities, and links to Tableau's recommended learning resources, including their favorite data visualization blogs, books on theory and practice, and free training videos offered by Tableau. Tableau Public is available for Windows and macOS.

SankeyMATIC

Users can leverage SankeyMATIC tools to enhance visual representation and comprehension of complex relationships within their lectures or presentations. These tools allow educators or others to create dynamic Sankey diagrams that illustrate the flow of information, processes, or data between different components. For instance, in a biology class, a teacher could use SankeyMATIC to depict the energy flow within an ecosystem, showcasing the transfer of energy from producers to consumers. In an economics course, the tool could be employed to illustrate the allocation of resources in various economic systems. By utilizing SankeyMATIC, users can engage students, or any other stakeholder group, with visually appealing and informative diagrams, facilitating a better understanding of intricate concepts and fostering a more interactive and effective learning or work environment.

Raw Graphs

Users can integrate RawGraphs.io into their workflow to create compelling visualizations that enhance the understanding of complex data sets. RawGraphs.io provides an intuitive platform for generating various types of charts, such as scatter plots, bar charts, and network diagrams, among others. By incorporating RawGraphs.io, users can present information in a visually appealing manner, catering to diverse learning styles and promoting a more engaging and interactive learning experience for a variety of audiences.

It's a good idea to involve your evaluator as you consider how to use data you (or they) have collected – check out EvaluATE's Basic Principles of Data Visualization. For additional outreach and dissemination resources, check out ATE Central's Outreach Kit.

Did You Know?

In Fall 2023, the U.S. saw its first increase in undergraduate enrollment since the pandemic, with a notable 1.2 percent rise. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center's latest report highlights a national growth of approximately 176,000 students. Community colleges particularly thrived, experiencing a significant 2.6 percent boost, signaling a positive recovery from pandemic-related setbacks. Vocational programs at community colleges stood out with a remarkable 16 percent surge. While associate degree program enrollments increased by 2.2 percent, they surpassed the 0.7 percent growth in bachelor's degree program enrollments.

However, despite these gains, overall enrollments still fall below the levels observed in fall 2019. Additionally, two-year public colleges and for-profit institutions continued to face employment declines, with community colleges witnessing a 4.35 percent reduction in staff from 2020 to 2022.

Select STEM Education Resources

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

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Virtual Labs

www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources?search=&f%5B0%5D=resource_type%3A17

These virtual labs from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute allow students to experience laboratory procedures as if they were a professional scientist. Students can isolate and analyze bacterial DNA sequences, examine cardiac patients, dissect a leech, or diagnose diseases by detecting the presence of antibodies. These virtual labs include animated steps that must be performed, along with textual instructions and explanations so that students understand not only what they are doing, but also why they are doing it. This is an extensive Web site that offers a lot to learn, and a chance to have fun in the process.

National Simulation Resource

www.imagwiki.nibib.nih.gov/physiome

Operated by the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, "the National Simulation Resource Facility for Circulatory Transport and Exchange" investigates computational models in biology and medicine. The facility's Web site has detailed documents on the research and projects currently underway, but perhaps the most useful features for people in this field are the software packages available for download. Although they require a short registration, they are free for noncommercial uses. JSIM is likely the most popular title, which is used for simulation of mathematical models and data analysis. There are numerous other tools as well.

Human Protein Atlas

www.proteinatlas.org

Launched in Sweden, the Human Protein Atlas is an open-access database that was created to, "map all the human proteins in cells, tissues, and organs using integration of various omics technologies, including antibody-based imaging, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, transcriptomics and systems biology." This resource is intended to be used by researchers and educators in academia as well as in industry. Today, the Human Protein Atlas consists of three parts: the tissue atlas, the cell atlas, and the pathology atlas. Users can explore each atlas by conducting a free-text search while utilizing a number of controlled vocabulary fields. Additionally, users can browse by clicking on the tissue, cell, or pathology atlases.

Do you have some great STEM resources you'd like to share with ATE Central? Email us with your ideas at info@atecentral.net.

ATE Events

Upcoming Events
– Info ITSS Summit - Frisco, Texas Frisco, TX
– Bio/Chem BIOTECH Pathways: Workshops Online
Ag/Env 2024 AgTech Summit Champaign, IL
– Eng International Technology and Engineering Education Association Conference Memphis, TN
Bio/Chem Flourish with Feedback: Harnessing Competencies for Professional Growth Online
Bio/Chem ATE Project Talks: Bio Blend 1.0 and Social Dogs Online
– Info Cybersecurity Workshops for Community College Instructors Online
– Info Esri Developer Summit Palm Springs, CA
Mfg Next Generation Electric Vehicle Curriculum Online
– Info GeoTech Center Drone Educators Conference Saratoga, CA
Nano Nebraska Research and Innovation Conference Lincoln, NE
Bio/Chem Negotiating for What You Need Online
Ag/Env KidWind Workshops - Powergrid 101 Online
– Gen Innovations Conference Garden Grove, CA
– Eng ASME Mechanical Engineering Education Summit Atlanta, GA
– Eng Robotics for Inspection & Maintenance Summit Houston, TX
Info Top Ten Global Mapper Pro Tips & Tricks Online
– Info 2024 Mid-Atlantic Cybersecurity Capabilities and Careers Symposia (MA3CS) Largo, MD
– Eng MN Aviation Maintenance Technician & IA Conference Brooklyn Center, MN
– Ag/Env Conference for Advanced Reactor Deployment Charlotte, NC
Gen STEM Day at the Capitol 2024 St Paul, MN
Bio/Chem Resume & Interview Preparation Workshop Online
– Gen American Association of Community Colleges Annual Conference Louisville, KY
Bio/Chem Bridging Fields: Uncovering Transferable Competencies for Biotechnology Online
Eng UND Aerospace Community Day Grand Forks, ND
– Info Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Conference Nashville, TN
Eng Experience Northland Aerospace Open House Thief River Falls, MN
– Info 2024 Northeast 3CS (NE3CS) Bethlehem, PA
Bio/Chem Biotechnology Careers Online
– Ag/Env 2024 STEM Virtual Solar Institute Online
– Gen SkillsUSA Florida State Leadership and Skills Conference Jacksonville, FL
Info Blue Marble Academic Program Online
Ag/Env KidWind Workshops - Hydropower 101 Online
Eng GigaZone TechXpo Bemidji, MN
– Eng AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2024 San Diego, CA
– Info ITSS Summit - Seattle, Washington Seattle, WA
– Eng VEX World Championship Competition Dallas, TX
Bio/Chem Utilizing an Interview to Determine a "Good Fit" Online
– Eng ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference Renton, WA
Bio/Chem Program Development, Articulations, Policy & Advocacy Online
Gen How to Produce a Livestreaming Event (that is Accessible, Green, and Open Source) Online
– Gen NISOD 2024 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence Austin, TX

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.

News & Reminders

ATE Central Outreach Kit

The ATE Central Outreach Kit was developed as a tool to assist ATE Principal Investigators (PIs) and staff in effectively planning, monitoring, and executing outreach activities.

ATE Central has given the Outreach Kit a refresh with a new design and content, accompanied by a downloadable Template. The new kit is designed to guide you through a step-by-step process and helps you explore how to identify your primary audiences and stakeholders, determine the partners and resources that can support your efforts, and start considering aspects such as branding and messaging.

By utilizing the kit and template, you will make significant progress towards developing a comprehensive plan that enables you to achieve the objectives of your grant, effectively communicate your outcomes and impacts, and showcase the valuable work of your project or center to a diverse range of stakeholders.

The Outreach Kit can be found on ATE Central's website, under the Resources tab.

New Tool - Calendar Feed

The ATE Central Calendar Feed is an easy to customize tool that enables calendar feeds from the ATE Central Events Calendar to quickly be added to either the Outlook or the Mac Calendar app, and will then automatically display upcoming events of interest based on the keywords you include. You can use the feed to populate your personal calendar or to add lists of upcoming events to your ATE center or project website. For WordPress-based sites, free plugins like ICS Calendar will allow you to use a calendar feed to display a list of upcoming events on your WordPress site. You'll need to sign in to your ATE Central account to create a feed - and it's easy to change your selection of keywords to add or subtract areas of interest over time. We look forward to hearing from you as you utilize this new service and as always, we'd love to get your feedback or comments. Don't hesitate to reach out to the team with any questions at info@atecentral.net.

ATE Impacts 2022-2023 Book Showcases Work of ATE Community

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 More information on the book can be found on the ATE Impacts website.

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.


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