Resource Center for Advanced Automotive Technology (CAAT)

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The automotive industry continues its radical transformation into new technologies driven by developing connected/automated (autonomous) vehicles, increasing fuel efficiency, minimizing environmental impact, and increasing safety in car design. With this continued transformation, the industry expects automotive employment to increase by 10.8% from 2013-2018. The proportion of automotive technicians within the overall automotive industry is also expected to grow, even as the work becomes more technically complex. These employment projections highlight the importance of automotive technician education programs that incorporate the latest innovations, so that program graduates can meet the growing needs and expectations of the automotive industry. The Center for Advanced Automotive Technology (CAAT) proposes to transition to a Resource Center that will maintain components developed and/or supported by the Regional CAAT Center. CAAT will continue to maintain, grow, and distribute its library of open source, industry approved curriculum resources that are aligned with the knowledge and skills needed by today's technicians in the automotive industry. CAAT's leadership team will work closely with auto designers, manufacturers, and parts suppliers to determine emerging education needs, to ensure that the materials shared through CAAT continue to educate graduates who meet employer needs. CAAT will also use outreach at the secondary and post-secondary level to increase the talent pool of individuals interested in advanced automotive technologies. As a resource center, CAAT aims to strengthen the bridge between education and industry, so that technician education programs include the most recent and promising new technologies that affect the vehicles of today and tomorrow.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.