Community College Innovation Challenge Relaunch, 2020-2022

美国的劳动力正在迅速变化。新的工作世界将要求工人获得重要的就业能力技能，并参与终身学习，以保持技术技能的时效性。白宫国家科学技术委员会在其2019年报告《绘制成功之路：美国STEM教育战略》中讨论了创业教育的必要性和满足不断变化的劳动力需求的机会。为了响应这些需求，美国社区学院协会(AACC)将通过领导重新发起社区学院创新挑战赛(CCIC)来培养创新和创业精神，并支持社区学院学生的本科研究体验。AACC成功地与国家科学基金会合作举办了2015-2018年CCIC竞赛，并努力重新设想和加强这一活动，以获得更多的学生团队申请，为学生和教师提供专业和领导力发展机会，并提高人们对社区学院在STEM创新中的宝贵贡献的认识。拟议的活动将使社区学院的学生能够发现并展示他们利用STEM改变世界的能力。CCIC的参与将使学生具备工作技能；为学生保留、完成和就业提供潜在的途径；并提供机会创造基于STEM的潜在社会利益的产品和服务。CCIC通过培养学生/教师在创新方面的合作，并为领导力发展和技术援助提供场所，为使美国在STEM扫盲、创新和就业方面保持全球领先地位做出了贡献。预计CCIC还将在促进社区学院在STEM创新、创业和满足对高技能美国劳动力日益增长的需求方面发挥作用。AACC建议：1.制定全国性的申请请求，并在2020、2021和2022年发起一年一度的社区学院创新挑战赛。由2-4名社区大学学生组成的团队将被要求与一名教师导师一起工作，为现实世界的问题设计基于STEM的创新解决方案，这些解决方案与NSF的十大理想保持一致。制定和实施战略性传播和外展计划，旨在接触到更多的社区学院学生和教职员工，以提高认识并鼓励提交。在2020年、2021年和2022年举办三个CCIC训练营，召集每年通过国家申请程序选出的10至13个决赛团队。Boot Camp是一个为期四天的活动，仿照NSF的创新团队(i-Corps)模式，旨在为团队提供实践机会，学习沟通、商业和创业战略，以促进他们的STEM创新。训练营的特色是在国会山举行了一场备受瞩目的海报展示活动，并以“鲨鱼缸”的形式向评委小组进行最终演示，以确定第一名和第二名的获奖队伍。利用与来自NSF i-Corps计划、战略沟通和社会变革机构以及全国社区大学创业协会的经验丰富的专业人员的合作，开发训练营的议程、资源和材料。在全国范围内传播CCIC获奖者的信息以及社区学院在引领本科生研究、STEM创新和创业努力中的重要作用。这些活动将增进对各个STEM技术员教育领域和技术的了解和理解，以及它们在思维和创新方面的作用。CCIC将丰富和支持学生学习重要的就业技能；培养将知识转化为行动的STEM创新；并为学生和教师团队提供专业和领导力发展机会。此外，CCIC支持社区大学和创业教育的信息和资源将在国家层面上传播。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域的技术人员进行教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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. workforce is rapidly changing. The new world of work will require workers to acquire vital employability skills as well as engaging in life-long learning to keep technological skills current. In its 2019 report "Charting a Course for Success: America's Strategy for STEM Education" the National Science and Technology Council of the White House discusses the need for entrepreneurial education and opportunities to meet changing workforce demands. To respond to these needs, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) will cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship and support undergraduate research experiences for community college students by leading the re-launch of the Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC). AACC successfully partnered with the National Science Foundation to host the 2015-2018 CCIC competitions and has worked to re-envision and strengthen this offering to garner greater numbers of student team applications, provide professional and leadership development opportunities for students and for faculty, and to raise awareness of the valuable contributions of community colleges in STEM innovation. The proposed activities will enable community college students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world. CCIC participation will prepare students with workplace skills; offer potential pathways to student retention, completion, and employment; and provide an opportunity to create STEM-based products and services of potential benefit to society. The CCIC contributes to enabling the U.S. to remain a global leader in STEM literacy, innovation, and employment by nurturing student/faculty collaborations on UREs and providing a venue for leadership development and technical assistance. The CCIC is also expected to have an impact on promoting the value and national significance of community college leadership in STEM innovation, entrepreneurship, and meeting the rising demand for a highly-skilled U.S. workforce.The AACC proposes to:1. Develop a national request for applications and launch an annual Community College Innovation Challenge in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Teams of 2-4 community college students, working alongside a faculty mentor, will be asked to craft innovative STEM-based solutions for real world problems that are aligned with NSF's Ten Big Ideas.2. Create and implement a strategic dissemination and outreach plan designed to reach greater numbers of community college students and faculty to raise awareness and encourage submissions.3. Host three CCIC Boot Camps in 2020, 2021, and 2022 to convene the 10-13 finalist teams selected each year through a national application process. The Boot Camp is a four-day event, modeled on NSF's Innovation Corps (I-Corps) model, designed to provide hands-on opportunities for the teams to learn communication, business, and entrepreneurial strategies to further their STEM innovations. The Boot Camp features a high-profile poster session on Capitol Hill, and a final presentation to a panel of judges in a "Shark Tank" format to determine the first and second place winning teams.4. Leverage collaborations with experienced professionals from NSF's I-Corps program; strategic communication and social change agencies; and the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship on the development of the Boot Camp agenda, resources, and materials.5. Disseminate nationally information on the CCIC winners and the significant role of community colleges in leading undergraduate research, STEM innovation, and entrepreneurship efforts.These activities will advance the knowledge and understanding of various STEM technician education fields and technologies and their role in ideation and innovation. The CCIC will enrich and support students in learning vital employability skills; cultivate STEM innovations that translate knowledge into action; and provide professional and leadership development opportunities for student and faculty teams. In addition, CCIC information and resources to support community college UREs and entrepreneurial education will be disseminated on a national level.This project is funded by the 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.