Enhancing Welding Technician Education through the Transition of the National Center for Welding Education to a Resource Center

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Welding and materials joining are basic requirements for most types of manufacturing. Welders and welding technicians are employed in diverse fields, including energy, mining, construction, agricultural equipment manufacturing, and ship and automotive manufacturing. The complexity of the welding field continues to advance and change. For example, to do their work, today's welding professionals need knowledge in chemistry, metallurgy, materials science, physics, mathematics, codes and standards, and inspection techniques. A report from the Economic Modeling Specialists predicts a clear need for skilled welders, partly because of retirements in the existing workforce. The Welding Education and Training (Weld-Ed) Resource Center will address the changing welding industry and the need to disseminate current industry data to welding instructors and industry professionals. It will also support welding programs with competency-based curricular materials, professional development activities for teachers and faculty, and the development of an accreditation program for two-year institution welding programs.To complement and enhance its portfolio of services to improve welding technician education, the Weld-Ed Resource Center aims to achieve the following goals: continue to offer professional development workshops at ten regional partner sites; develop new instructional modules for instructors and an online Welding Simulation activity for high school students; develop a Resource Guide to Outreach Events that will provide guidelines and examples to assist partners in creating additional events; develop STEM lessons for faculty to deliver to students in grades 7 through 9; develop a welding technology application for smart devices; and encourage partners to develop activities that will increase the enrollment of underrepresented populations in all levels of welding technology and welding engineering programs. Examples of these activities include a collaboration with the Society of Women Engineers, providing technical assistance to welding instructors in the Job Corps program, and development of a new series of Students in Welding videos featuring diverse students preparing for welding careers. 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.