Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center: A Resource Center

美国的水基础设施包括151，000多个公共饮用水处理系统和15，000多个公有废水处理系统。这些数字不包括工业用水和废水系统。 这一庞大的基础设施正面临着水资源在国家安全问题中日益重要的作用、国家和地区法规合规要求的变化、退休的劳动力、新技术以及不断变化的工业需求。 因此，有必要重新调整学术界，工业界，企业和政府，以确保美国水基础设施的弹性。水基础设施劳动力的一个重要组成部分是水和废水技术人员。技术人员工作的增长速度高于平均水平，包括水操作技术人员，废水处理技术人员以及水和废水系统技术人员和操作员。这些职业的工资高于全国平均水平，而且由于这些工作是由法规规定的，因此不能外包。水技术工作在经济衰退周期中幸存下来，因为人口总是需要清洁的饮用水和废水处理才能生存，而商业和工业需要清洁的水来生产商品和服务。先进技术环境教育中心（ATEEC）是一个先进的技术教育资源中心，通过课程开发，专业发展和计划改进来支持和推进高中和社区大学的环境技术教育。ATEEC将为新的水/废水技术项目创建专业学习社区网络研讨会;进行全国定义论坛和职业分析，以定义当前的水技术人员水平工作;更新高中/社区大学职业顾问和学生的互动定义水管理职业图表;用更新的技术修改盒子里的棕地，使新学生对水职业感兴趣;扩大陪审水技术内容的电子环境资源库;开发水/废水内容的增强/虚拟现实模块;并协助人行横道上的大学项目，以增加因军事训练/经验而获得大学学分的退伍军人数量。ATEEC活动和评价的结果将广泛传播。 该项目由NSF先进技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于推动国家经济的先进技术领域的技术人员的教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The U.S. water infrastructure includes more than 151,000 public drinking water treatment systems and more than 15,000 publicly-owned wastewater treatment systems. These numbers do not include the industrial water and wastewater systems. This massive infrastructure is confronting the increased role of water in national security issues, changes in national and regional regulatory compliance requirements, a retiring workforce, new technology, and the changing demands of industry. Thus, there is a need for realignment of academia, industry, business, and government to ensure the resilience of the U.S. water infrastructure. An important part of the water infrastructure labor force are water and wastewater technicians. Technician jobs are growing faster than average and include water operations technicians, wastewater treatment technicians, and water and wastewater system technicians and operators. These occupations have wages above the national median and, because the jobs are mandated by regulations, they cannot be outsourced. Water technology jobs survive economic downturn cycles because populations will always need clean drinking water and wastewater treatment to survive, and business and industry need clean water to produce goods and services. The Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) is an Advanced Technological Education Resource Center that supports and advances high school and community college environmental technology education through curriculum development, professional development, and program improvement. ATEEC will create Professional Learning Community webinars for new water/wastewater technology programs; conduct a national Defining Forum and occupational analyses to define current water technician level jobs; update the interactive Defining Water Management Careers Chart for high school/community college career counselors and students; revise the Brownfields in a Box with updated technology to interest new students in water careers; expand the electronic environmental resource library of juried water technology content; develop augmented/virtual reality modules in water/wastewater content; and assist college programs in crosswalks to increase the number of veterans receiving college credit for military training/experience. Results of ATEEC activities and evaluation will be broadly disseminated. This project is funded by the NSF Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.