FLATE: Florida's Advanced Technological Education Center of Excellence

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The Florida Advanced Technological Education (FLATE) Center is a statewide ATE Regional Center for Advanced Technological Education that supports manufacturing and its related technology sectors. This project includes three goals as an extension and expansion of FLATE's efforts to: implement a statewide unified education system for manufacturing so that manufacturing education is a convergent curriculum that optimizes technician preparation; provide an effective outreach platform for high school, community college, industry, and legislature access, providing information about the requirement for and impact of manufacturing education in Florida; and present professional development opportunities for STEM educators to develop, refine, and certify their knowledge within manufacturing and its enabling technologies.Intellectual Merit: FLATE's focus is on three important areas: (i) Curriculum: The Associate of Science (A.S.) degree in Engineering Technology has integrated the national MSSC-CPT certification and the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council Certified Production Technician credential. This represents the first statewide articulation for a national industry credential. (ii) Professional Development: The Engineering Technology Forum is an exemplary model for collaborative professional development. The Forum meets at different Florida State and Community Colleges with a flexible agenda that meets a variety of needs within the College system. (iii) Outreach: The Made in Florida campaign is FLATE's award-winning dissemination platform that uses as its public information window www.madeinflorida.org . Made in Florida is a comprehensive combination of industry tours, videos, STEM student/teacher summer camps, career pathways, recognition awards, student-focused web site, outreach/dissemination events, FLATE FOCUS (a monthly newsletter), and statewide advertorials that are all partially supported by Florida industry. Broader Impacts: FLATE makes a significant impact on the broader aspects of technical education in Florida. It has developed a method for filtering course, certificate, and degree program content that the Florida Department of Education has delegated to FLATE to apply to new Engineering Technology- based program submissions. FLATE has demonstrated an effective way for community colleges to work directly with Workforce Florida - supported Banner Centers in order to optimize technical workforce education and training efforts statewide. It has included the Manufacturers Association of Florida in an awareness campaign that is instrumental in elevating manufacturing careers as necessary for Florida's economic well being. It has also created a pathway to the ET A.S. Degree program that allows high school students to earn 15 credit hours toward the A.S. Degree.