Advancing STEM Technician Education & Innovation: The Community College Leadership Role

长期以来，社区和技术学院一直是美国STEM改革和改进工作的领导者和创新者。作为以社区为基础的机构，他们具有独特的优势，可以跟上技术进步的步伐，提供满足不断增长和不断变化的劳动力需求的技术教育计划。通过提供负担得起的、方便的高等教育入门点，招收近40%的美国本科生，社区学院代表了一条重要的国家途径，可以满足全球劳动力日益增长和多样化的需求，这对我们国家的竞争力和未来的经济增长至关重要。随着工作场所和雇主对技能的需求不断发展，社区大学必须继续努力培养学生学习新技能的能力，比如分析和创造性思维，因为这些技能变得越来越重要。该项目的特色活动旨在扩大社区学院领导在推进STEM技术人员教育方面的影响；鼓励更多的社区学院发展或加强与ate相关的项目；创建并支持为两年制学院管理人员、教师和学生开发和培养STEM专业和领导力发展机会的场所；培育创新创业精神；支持STEM机构能力建设；并提高对从事STEM技术人员教育的社区学院的资源和贡献的认识。项目活动包括：1)举办三次全国性的STEM首席研究员会议，为ATE社区提供专业和领导力发展；2)发起一项全国性的申请，选择MentorLinks活动的成员，使社区学院能够开发新的或加强现有的STEM技术人员教育项目；3)领导社区大学创新挑战赛（CCIC），以国家科学基金会创新队（I-Corps）项目为蓝本，通过国家队比赛和夏季训练营来培养学生的创新和创业技能；4)开发一个ATE未来领袖研究员试点项目，以：(a)使12名社区大学STEM专业人士参加AACC Roueche未来领袖研究所或AACC未来总统研究所；(b)促进STEM能力建设的全国对话，并创造一种支持ATE奖励的资助文化；(c)提高对STEM教育格局的认识，以帮助塑造社区大学领导的实践和能力。该项目还将在全国范围内推广社区学院在技术培训计划中的作用和资源，并评估所有赠款活动，以确保活动满足两年制社区和技术学院社区的需求。该项目由先进技术教育（ATE）计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Community and technical colleges have long been leaders and innovators in STEM reform and improvement efforts in the United States. As community-based institutions, they are uniquely positioned to keep pace with advances in technology to offer technician education programs that meet growing and evolving workforce needs. By providing affordable and accessible entry points into higher education and enrolling nearly 40 percent of all U.S. undergraduate students, community colleges represent a significant national pathway to meeting the growing and diverse needs of a global workforce critical to our nation’s competitiveness and future economic growth. As workplace and employer skill demands evolve, it is imperative that community colleges continue to engage in efforts to cultivate students’ ability to learn new skills, such as analytical and creative thinking, as they become increasingly essential. This project features activities designed to broaden the impact of community college leadership in advancing STEM technician education; encourage greater numbers of community colleges to develop or strengthen ATE-related programs; create and support venues for developing and nurturing STEM professional and leadership development opportunities for two-year college administrators, faculty, and students; cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship; support institutional STEM capacity building; and raise awareness of the resources and contributions of community colleges working in STEM technician education. Project activities include: 1) Hosting three national ATE Principal Investigators’ Conferences to provide professional and leadership development for the ATE community, 2) Launching a national application to select cohorts of the MentorLinks activity to enable community colleges to develop new or strengthen existing STEM technician education programs, 3) Leading the Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC) to foster the development of students’ innovation and entrepreneurship skills through a national team pitch competition and summer Boot Camp modeled on NSF’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, and 4) Developing an ATE Future Leaders Fellows pilot to: (a) enable 12 community college STEM professionals to participate in the AACC Roueche Future Leaders Institute or AACC Future Presidents Institute; (b) contribute to a national dialogue on STEM capacity building and creating a grant culture in support of ATE awards; and (c) raise awareness of the STEM education landscape to help shape the practice and competencies of community college leadership. The project will also conduct national outreach on the role and resources of community colleges in the ATE program and evaluate all grant activities to ensure the activities meet the needs of the two-year community and technical college community. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) 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.