Mentor-Connect: Leadership Development and Outreach Initiative for ATE

Mentor-Connect support for community and technical colleges and their faculty includes mentoring, instruction, technical support, and resources to prepare competitive NSF ATE grant proposals, navigate the NSF funding process, and successfully implement funded projects to advance technician education and develop STEM faculty leaders in advanced technological education.  ATE grants increase faculty ability and institutional capacity to address the need for a skilled technical workforce. Prior awards have made strides toward reducing barriers, engaging more two-year college technician educators, developing STEM faculty leaders, expanding mentoring capacity, and increasing impacts of the ATE Program. Even so, there are still many two-year colleges that have not yet benefited from the ATE Program.

Mentor-Connect Forward: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE (M-C Forward) will: 1) advance technician education in new and proven ways by expanding engagement of geographically and demographically diverse 2-yr IHEs and STEM faculty with the ATE Program; 2) stimulate use of ATE-developed resources; 3) encourage and support the submission of proposals by new and previous grantee institutions; 4) develop leaders and mentors among those who receive ATE funding; and 5) support and guide new principal investigators (PIs) to help them become successful grantees.