Exploring Advanced Manufacturing—an interactive, online course—offers an overview of manufacturing to help high school and two-year college students decide which type of manufacturing fits their interests and talents.
The course was created by two Advanced Technological Education centers with support from the National Science Foundation. CA2VES, The Center for Aviation and Automotive Technology Education using Virtual E-Schools, provided the research based-instructional design of the six-module course. FLATE, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence, provided the manufacturing content.
Exploring Advanced Manufacturing is a free modular course at EducateWorkforce.com.
“FLATE is extremely proud of this product,” said Marilyn Barger, executive director and principal investigator of FLATE.
“Although FLATE has not been charged with creating content, we were able to leverage our own content expertise with CA2VES ‘ expertise in online learning. We are able to provide this open access introductory course to individuals and educators across the country through our collective stakeholders.
“With Manufacturing Day just around the corner on October 2, we hope many educators and students will take advantage of this state-of-the-art, free resource,” Barger said.
When she makes a photonics recruiting presentation to women and girls, Carolyn Hulla-Meyer explains engineering in way that makes them see immediately that they can do it.
She asks them if they are crafters. Do they like to get on Pinterest? If they do, then, she says, “OK. That’s a lot like engineering. You’re just not told it’s engineering. It’s called crafting when you do it.ˮ
“It’s just about staring those stereotypes in the face. Calling them out and then flipping them around so that the student can see it for what it is,ˮ she explains.
Dan Hull, OP-TEC’s principal investigator, points out that the capacity of optical fibers to carry massive amounts of data in the form of light through hair-thin flexible strands of glass or plastic enables other technical advances. These include faster Internet speeds and enhanced endoscopic medical procedures.
Nevertheless, Hulla-Meyer is proud that the four white male students who graduated in May 2015 are being replaced by four students from underrepresented populations. Two of the incoming students are women—the program’s second and third female students since 2006. The other new students are an African American man and a Hispanic man.
All the outreach specialists are using posters, events, and other collaterals developed to celebrate 2015 as the International Year of Light in their presentations. In Cincinnati, Hulla-Meyer is reaching out to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden for the college’s laser and optics program to have a role in the Festival of Lights, the Christmas holiday light show that attracts thousands of visitors to the zoo each year from November to January.
Indian River State College where LASER-TEC is located has already had two large public conferences to mark the International Year of Light. More than 250 teenagers, parents, and teachers attended the events where lasers, infrared technologies, fiber optics, integrated photonics, and other light-based technologies were explained by national experts.
Faculty at Seminole State College of Florida hope to “green” technical students’ skills and expand non-science majors’ knowledge of environmental science in ways that pique their interest in STEM careers.
Principal Investigator Jason Gaschel hopes the certificate program, which begins in Fall 2015, will help graduates differentiate themselves when they look for jobs and provide a framework for his college and others to add environmental sustainability content throughout their programs.
High school students use 3-D modeling and other technologies to create solar-powered vehicles capable of crossing obstacle courses during the 2015 Career Pathways summer workshops on alternative energy at Seminole State College.
Gaschel, interim associate dean of the Center for Engineering and Design at Seminole State, has taught about hybrid vehicle technologies and is interested in alternative fuels for autos and homes. For several years he and his colleagues have discussed the possibility of creating a program for alternative energy technicians.
However, their conversations with employers did not find a strong demand for technicians who focus exclusively on hybrid vehicles in automotive technology or alternative energy sources in construction technology.
“Green jobs are out there, but in emerging areas I do not see the data for alternative energy technicians,” Gaschel said, explaining that employers want technicians with “green” knowledge woven into their technical skills.
The contextualized math program for secondary and postsecondary students that Palm Beach State College (PBSC) is launching with a new Advanced Technological Education grant fits with the college’s strategic goal of boosting student retention and completion.
The new Intermediate Algebra course for postsecondary students will incorporate tactile experiences and authentic math problems from the college’s Electrical Power Technology (EPT) and Engineering Technology (ET) associate of science degree programs.
Jay Matteson, principal investigator of the InnovATE project supported by the ATE grant, hopes the contextualized math will assist students—both teens and older adults—entering the EPT and ET programs with intellectual scaffolding that ignites their interest in STEM careers and fortifies their learning so they can succeed in college.
The InnovATE project aims to improve STEM learning and increase STEM career interest among the students enrolled in high-yield middle and high schools, defined as Title I schools, that serve as key parts of PBSC’s student pipeline. Currently, the Algebra I passage rate is only about 50% at the six high schools that the InnovATE project targets.
“If you can’t pass math, you can’t get to the degree program,” Matteson said, summing up PBSC’s challenge and the nation’s challenge with recruiting and retaining underserved populations in STEM fields.
oosting student retention and completion.