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Conferences and meetings play such an important role for all of us as we work to disseminate information about the valuable impacts and outcomes of our ATE projects and centers.

NISOD's annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence provides a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about ATE. The conference attracts educators from around the world and serves as a gathering place for community and technical college faculty, administrators, and staff seeking to engage in deep conversations about best practices and promising approaches crafted to improve student achievement.

Regular conference registration will be open until May 25th, or you can register onsite during the event.

We look forward to seeing you there – please stop by and visit us in booth 209!

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The Decommissioning Strategy Forum (produced by the ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums) is partnering with RCNET for this year’s forum, which takes place June 17-18, 2019 at The Westin in Nashville, TN. RCNET will co-locate their annual professional meeting following the forum on June 19.

The second annual Decommissioning Strategy Forum allows attendees to learn how to capitalize on opportunities in the nuclear decommissioning market. This year’s program will explore the theme Driving Efficiency in Today’s Evolving Decommissioning Marketplace. Each session will include both a utility and supplier perspective.

To learn more about the 2019 Decommissioning Strategy Forum and to register, view the official press release about the event.

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This workshop, which will be held at HI-TEC this July, kicks off a two-week course that guides participants through the process of exploring innovative ways to solve problems that address the needs of your intended audience and/or market in the education sector.

This course is especially relevant to ATE PIs who are interested in learning how to sustain and scale educational innovations and network with education industry professionals. The kick-off workshop will be held at HI-TEC on July 22 with all subsequent courses held online throughout August 2019.

Those who participate in the course will learn how to explore project opportunities beyond federal funding, work through ideas while receiving direct feedback from instructors, and learn how to effectively network with the ATE community, among many other benefits.

For more information about the workshop and to register, check out the workshop’s informational flier and visit the HI-TEC registration site.

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This recently published report reflects the proceedings, presentations, and takeaways from the first ever Equity and Inclusion STEM Thought Leaders' Summit held in October 2018. This summit was funded through the ATE grant the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) received from the NSF and included a steering committee representing ATE projects and centers, in addition to AACC-affiliated councils. 

The summit entailed a series of workshop sessions revolving around a variety of issues concerning STEM education and the ATE program: equity gaps; recruitment and retainment strategies for underrepresented populations; and professional development, to name a few.

Summit sessions were attended by faculty and administrator teams from 15 colleges all new to the ATE program. The sessions were designed to be highly engaging, drawing feedback and insight from community college educators and leaders about these pertinent issues. 

Read the full report to learn more about the summit, in addition to projects and centers (including ATE Central) that were highlighted for ongoing support within the ATE Community. 

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Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) has announced that their scholarship portal for 2019 is now open. There are two types of scholarships available: a national scholarship open to all students (graduating high school seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students) pursuing a STEM degree, and the Artemio G. Navarro Scholarship, which is open only to graduating seniors attending Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Los Angeles. 

The deadline to apply is April 1, 2019, and the application requirements and instructions can be found on the GMiS website. 

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Registration for the 2019 showcase has opened! Registration to present will end on February 19 (or earlier if the showcase receives more than 250 registrations). Once approved, presenters can submit their videos between March 13 and April 23.

The STEM For All Video Showcase is an interactive, online event that is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and features federally funded projects aimed at improving STEM or CS learning and teaching in formal or informal environments. The Showcase takes place online from May 13 - 20 and during the event, thousands of participants will view the videos, have discussions, and vote for their favorites.

To read more about the 2019 Showcase, visit the event’s website and check out last year’s video submissions.

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Start the new year off right by joining presenters Rachael Bower, Director/PI of ATE Central and Farra Trompeter, Vice President of communications firm Big Duck, for two upcoming free, live webinars held in January and February. In these webinars, the presenters will share ideas for how to create descriptive yet simple mission statements and tactics for optimizing your project or center’s outreach strategies.  

Tell a good story: Crafting Mission Statements and messages for your ATE project or center

Tuesday. Jan. 29, 1-2 pm ET

In this live webinar, Rachael and Farra will discuss how mission statement elements and messages from your project or center can be created to more effectively engage students, partners, funders, and other key external audiences. Read more about this webinar and enroll here. 

So many choices, so little time: Setting strategies to guide your tactics

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 1-2 pm ET

Rachael and Farra will discuss how your project or center can optimize social media and communications channels, in addition to how to craft an outreach strategy while staying focused on which tactics are worth your time. Read more about this webinar and enroll here. 

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Great Minds in STEM, a non-profit that promotes STEM education and careers to underserved communities, recently announced that the U.S. Army RDECOM Competition deadline has been extended to January 15, 2019, and specifically invites students attending Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, and historically Black colleges and universities to enter the competition. 

Students entering the competition can submit design proposals in two categories: Small UAVs and UAVs from biologically-based materials. Two design proposals are allowed per eligible institution and each team must be comprised of three to eight students.

For more detailed information, including key dates, awards, and information required in the proposal, visit the announcement on the Great Minds in STEM website. 

Read the complete solicitation and guidelines here.

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The National Science Foundation will be running a social media campaign - #MySTEMspark - until Dec. 7, which seeks to energize the STEM community around the importance of STEM education and is asking its partners, stakeholders and anyone who has a passion in science to share the moment that sparked their curiosity about or interest in science, technology, engineering or math.

#MySTEMspark stories can be shared on Twitter and Instagram; for those who don't use either of those social media platforms, you can email your story to tellus@nsf.gov. Don't forget to tag NSF! @NSF

If you're needing some ideas or inspiration for what to share, check out the #MySTEMspark Toolkit, which contains graphics and templates. 

Check out NSF Director Dr. France Cordova's #MySTEMspark story here!

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An exciting partnership has formed between the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). Through this collaboration, community and technical college faculty will have the opportunity to earn credit toward ACUE’s Certificate in Effective College Instruction through new online and face-to-face “seminars” offered jointly by NISOD and ACUE. 

Seminars are credit-bearing and those who participate in the courses will be recognized at the annual NISOD conference. Those who are interested in taking seminars through this collaboration can expect to see more information in the coming weeks. 

“We formed this collaboration given our mutual strengths and complementary work, as we’re always looking for additional ways to support faculty,” Dr. Penny MacCormack, ACUE’s chief academic officer, said. “Both NISOD and ACUE aim to ensure every faculty member is supported and every college student receives the best education possible.”

To learn more about this announcement, visit the official press release.