Community college educators and students continue to be the primary beneficiaries of theNational Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, according to the new ATE Annual Survey.
In 2014, NSF invested $64 million in the program that supports the development of highly qualified technicians for careers in advanced technology fields such as nanotechnology, cybersecurity, photonics and information technology. The two-year college educators, who generally lead the initiatives, are expected to partner with industry and other education sectors as they develop model programs for students and professional development for faculty.
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With the goal of developing a diverse population of creative problem solvers, “science evangelist” Ainissa G. Ramirez sees the role of STEM 
educators as “awakening the inner scientist” in all students.
“We need creative problem solvers because of the range of problems that require STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) solutions,” she said in her keynote address Wednesday at the opening of the Advanced Technological Education(ATE) Principal Investigators Conference in Washington, D.C.
Calling community colleges one of the “last bastions of democracy,” Ramirez, whose parents attended community colleges, likened the promise that two-year public colleges make to their students to the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
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Do you or a faculty member have an idea for improving a STEM technician program but are unsure how to fund it? The Mentor-Connect‘s 
leadership development and outreach initiative could provide the help you need.
Mentor-Connect offers mentoring, technical assistance and other support to help two-year college educators prepare competitive proposals for theNational Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education(ATE) program.
October 9 is the application deadline to be among the 20 colleges that receive Mentor-Connect assistance during 2016.
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Community colleges with forward-thinking faculty and administrators and savvy grant writers have long used multiple federal grants to build programs. But these have been college-specific initiatives rather than aspects of a coordinated federal strategy.
Recent collaborative efforts by staffers who direct community college initiatives at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are meshing programs in novel, intentional ways to maximize the government’s investment.
The newest, and perhaps most unusual, example of this collaboration is the NSF’s funding of five Advanced Technological Education (ATE) centers to provide technical assistance to recipients of DOL’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants.
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