Welcome to Advanced Technological Education
The National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program supports the development of innovative approaches for educating highly skilled technicians for the industries that drive the nation’s economy.
The ATE program features two-year college educators as leaders in this endeavor because public community and technical colleges are the major sources for technician education in the US. The competitive grant program’s structure also encourages partnerships with employers and secondary school and university educators. As a result, the innovations that ATE centers and projects devise and test are model programs that reach students from secondary schools to community colleges and universities. They also generate career pathways for students to follow from certificate and degree programs to employment in established and emerging industries.
This publication focuses on the activities and accomplishments of 40 ATE centers and two large ATE projects. Depending on their funded mission, the 40 centers lead national or regional initiatives in particular fields, or serve as support centers. The two large projects serve as catalysts within the ATE community and as sources for program-wide dissemination and capacity building.
