Advanced Technological Education The National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program provides grants to improve and expand educational programs that prepare skilled technicians to work in the high-tech fields that drive the U.S. economy. The program is Congressionally mandated and focuses on both the undergraduate and the secondary school levels. Because most technicians in the American workforce receive their education at associate degree granting institutions, the ATE program focuses on community colleges and expects community colleges to have a leadership role in all projects. In response to the growing need for well-prepared workers with adaptable skills, industries and businesses play a key role in most ATE projects. Nearly all projects involve partnerships of some kind - partnerships that bring together community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, secondary schools, business industry and government. For a complete description of the program, please refer to www.atecenters.org or www.nsf.gov/ate. The American Association of Community Colleges with the support of the National Science Foundation holds an annual ATE Principal Investigators Conference, sponsors a mentoring program for community colleges, and provides information and resources for community colleges currently involved in or seeking information about the ATE Program. Please save the date for the 2008 ATE PI Conference to be held on October 29-31 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Contact: Ellen Hause at (202) 728-0200 x217 or ehause@aacc.nche.edu.
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