A new report from the Mary Christie Institute, a think tank concerned with the emotional and behavioral health of young adults, suggests that student-led and peer-to-peer programs are instrumental in mental health wellness. Through surveys and cases studies, the organization looked at how students drive mental health programs in colleges and universities. 

The report states,"It is well documented that, when in distress, students will turn first to each other, making it incumbent on colleges and universities to respond to this inclination with training and support. With modalities that are targeted to students along the behavioral health continuum, peer support has the potential to help all students on campus with a range of issues that impact their ability to thrive."

The report goes on to cover the history and recent literature on student-led mental health programs, and provides options for college campuses on implementing programs. Read more of the full report here.  

Register now for the virtual Fall 2022 Engineering Technology Forum on November 10th and 18th! Hosted by the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), this forum will bring together diverse Florida colleges with similar interests. 

The Florida Forum on Engineering Technology (E.T. Forum) is an important vehicle to bring together colleges with common issues and challenges. The Forum is a semiannual 2-day meeting of community college engineering technologies faculty in Florida. FLATE utilizes the Forum to strengthen its Technology Consortium; share its activities and projects; provide professional development; bring industry and academics together; engage faculty and administrators in statewide curriculum reform; and keep in touch with new and ongoing college program issues and concerns.

Check out the ATE Central Twitter for up to date event announcements. You can learn more about FLATE programs and the E.T. Forum on the FLATE website, and register for the forum here. 

AACC and ATE Central are pleased to announce the release of the 2022 ATE PI Conference mobile app! The app and companion website are designed to help you make the most of your conference experience. Use your phone, tablet, or Internet browser to create a personal schedule, stay up-to-date with the agenda and speaker lineup, search the attendee directory, and more. Whether in-person or online, we look forward to connecting with you at this year's conference!

How to Download

Search your app store for the EventMobi mobile app or click the following link to download the app to your iPhone or iPad or Android device. Next, open the EventMobi app and enter code atepi2022 to launch the 2022 ATE PI Conference app. Log in with the email you used to register for the conference. Attendees who have downloaded the ATE PI Conference app in years past may have an existing user account. New users will be asked to create a password. For assistance with the app, email piapp@atecentral.net.

The NSF-funded Fall 2022 Inclusive Research Mentor-Manager Training has spaces for approximately 10 community college faculty (including administrators or staff) and approximately 5 spots for community college alumni who are now managers in biotech. 

The training is free and modules begin tomorrow, October 11th. The training is designed to teach current and future science professionals how to efficiently and effectively train, performance manage, and support interns and employees of diverse backgrounds in an effort to foster inclusive, high-functioning working relationships. 

The creators of the training, the University of California at San Francisco, City College of San Francisco, and the CLS Racial & Social Equity Initiative, believe community college faculty that run/coordinate work-based learning programs (internships, apprenticeships, etc) would be the best fit to attend these workshops to determine if the training and frameworks are a good fit for their program's mentor-supervisors.

Currently, the training has 222 registrants, including 140 scientists from academia and over 70 scientists from 48 biotech companies. Register for tomorrow's training and check out upcoming...

Conducted in 2022, EDUCAUSE surveyed 820 United States undergraduate students, revealing that students think education needs to become more balanced. According to EDUCAUSE, an IT-focused nonprofit organization, students are reevaluating their relationships to technology, campuses, and online learning.

Their survey found that,"Students are whole people with complex learning needs and goals. Completing a degree is the most common way respondents defined a successful higher education experience, but they are also hoping to secure a job, achieve personal growth, secure a high salary, and more." 

The survey covers four key areas including Technology Challenges and Solutions, Modality Preferences, Access to Educational Technology, and Student Success. Read the full report and more key takeways on the EDUCAUSE website. 

Did you see our recent tweet about Gerald's Student Success Story? At ATE Central, we aim to highlight how ATE programs and centers have impacted students' lives. Each video documents a unique success story, but all of them have a common theme: technician training has the power to change lives.

One Student Success Story features Gerald Kinyua, who moved to the United States from Kenya to explore a career in chemistry. At first, he found it difficult to negotiate the education system in a new country until he connected with Northern Essex Community College. Since his time at Northern Essex Community College, Gerald continued to on earn his Masters of Clinical Laboratory Sciences from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Watch more videos on ATE Central's Student Success Stories webpage. 

Learn about NSF’s New Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) in a free Zoom Webinar!

The National Science Foundation (NSF) says its new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) advances use-inspired and translational research in all fields of science and engineering, potentially giving rise to new industries using breakthrough technologies and helping to engage all Americans—regardless of background or location—in the pursuit of additional high-wage jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Where might ATE Central researchers and other community members fit in?

You can start to find out—and learn more about the vision for TIP and its programs and funding opportunities—in an introductory webinar on Sept. 27 at. 2:00 PM Eastern. Register here for the hour-long presentation. 

Recent research from the Pew Research Center confirmed that people with high education degrees partner with others with similar education levels. The study analyzed the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) report from 2019. 

The study by Pew researcher Richard Fry found that this trend is even more significant with parents with higher education degrees. Additionally, Fry found, "When first-generation college graduates do partner with another college graduate, it is more likely that their partner will also be a first-generation graduate." 

This research shows the cycle of education continues through generations, and individuals earn more as they move from first-generation students to continuing-generation college graduates.

Read the complete study on the Pew Research Center's website. 

The 2022 ATE Conference: Reconnecting & Advancing the Skilled Technical Workforce will be held as an in-person event with a virtual track participation option. ATE grantees may elect to fulfill their NSF grant requirement through participation in the in-person event and/or the virtual components of this conference. Conference registration is due September 28th. 

The conference will bring together more than 850 NSF ATE grantees and their project partners to focus on the critical issues related to advanced technological education. Key ATE members across the country will participate in the hybrid event. Conference participants represent community colleges, business and industry, secondary school systems, and four-year colleges covering projects in a wide variety of areas, such as information technology, engineering technology, micro- and nanotechnologies, chemical technology, biotechnology, and others.

The conference kicks off virtually with ATE Connects on Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 21 from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. EDT and be followed by an in-person event taking place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. on October 26-28, 2022. 

A post-conference virtual track...

Building on work done under two awards from NSF’s ATE program, the ATE project A Collaborative Approach to Work-Based Learning in Biotechnology: Building Inclusive Lab Environments, was recently featured on InnovATEBIO's blog. This post highlights their new Inclusive Research Mentor-Manager Training series, which aims to help life science labs and organizations build inclusive management practices and workplaces. The training focused on teaching current and future industry professionals best practices for training, managing, and supporting interns and employees of diverse backgrounds. Participants averaged four workshops each, with 100% of respondents agreeing that "The workshop was a good use of my time."

To learn more about the training series, including series module materials and details, visit InnovATEBIO's blog.

To learn more about other newly funded centers and projects, check out the fact sheet information on the ATE Central site to explore the full range of currently funded projects and centers.