ATE Student Success Stories: Josiah's Story

Josiah Roberts successfully completed a two-year program at Naugatuck Valley Community College and is now transferring into a four-year mechanical engineering degree program at a local university. The ATE collaborative wheelchair project he worked on during his time at Naugatuck helped convince him that engineering was the field for him. With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and employers to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways to two-year colleges from secondary schools and from two-year colleges to four-year institutions; and other activities. Another goal is articulation between two-year and four-year programs for K-12 prospective teachers that focus on technological education. The program also invites proposals focusing on research to advance the knowledge base related to technician education.