Welcome to the ATE Central Connection! Published the first Monday of each month, the ATE Central Connection is meant to disseminate information to and about ATE centers and projects, providing you with up-to-date ATE news, events, reminders, as well as highlighting new centers, projects, and resources. In addition, we will also highlight an educational topic with complementary resources found within ATE Central to help illustrate how ATE resources can be used in the classroom.
We want the ATE Central Connection to be a valuable tool; please e-mail info@atecentral.net with any suggestions about how to make the ATE Central Connection more useful for you or to suggest any information you would like to see in an upcoming issue.
For more events please visit the ATE Central Events page or if you have any upcoming events that you would like posted on ATE Central or in the ATE Central Connection please send them to info@atecentral.net
SpaceTEC, the National Aerospace Technical Education Center is an Advanced Technology Education (ATE) resource center that aims to be a "focal point for aerospace related technical education resources providing motivation for academic studies and professional development services for faculty, students, and aerospace employees." On this site, visitors will find news and information about upcoming conferences and workshops in the field of aerospace technology. Also, in the "Resources" section, users will find links to a number of other aerospace technology programs and SpaceTEC's own publications, including brochures and an archive of their newsletters. This is an excellent site for students, educators, and technicians working in aerospace technology to gather information about professional development and education opportunities.
Here is a small sample of the valuable resources in ATE Central that focus on Marine Technology:
From the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC):
This activity describes the effects of phosphorus and nitrogen on surface water. The activity is meant to provide a real world application for Environmental and Marine Biology where students observe, setup, and count common pond microorganisms. Access to the lesson requires quick and free registration with ATEEC.
From the Marine Advanced Technology Center (MATE):
The Bridge, from the Virginia Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, is a growing collection of the best marine education resources available online. It provides educators with a convenient source of accurate and useful information on global, national, and regional marine science topics, and gives researchers a contact point for educational outreach. On the site, visitors will find lesson plans, career information for students, and a resource center of books, links, aquariums and more.
From the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources (NCSR):
The Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources (NCSR) has developed a series of materials focused on technical issues associated with mitigation of wetland loss and construction of new wetlands, and recovery of marine ecosystems that support restoration of fish populations. These materials address topics identified as essential to increasing the knowledge and skills of natural resource technicians. This focus helps natural resource technicians meet the future demands placed on our natural resources. NCSR's marine fisheries materials include lecture-based modules, an instructional guide, activities, and a set of comprehensive resources to complement the educational materials here. They are designed to be easily adapted by faculty. These materials and modules provide faculty with new scientific research and management practices associated with the recovery of ecosystems and are designed for incorporation into their instructional materials. To access these materials, scroll down to the "NCSR Marine Fisheries Series" section. NCSR's materials are free to use after filling out a brief registration survey and can be ordered in hardcopy or downloaded online.
ATE Central will be presenting at the NISOD Annual Conference, in Austin, TX. If you are attending the conference please stop in for our workshop or visit our booth (#305) in the Exhibit Hall.
CWIS is open source software, created with NSF funding, that can help your project or center showcase resources online. It's free and very easy to use — click here to check out a few of the sites running CWIS. We'd be happy to provide you with more information about CWIS and give you a quick tour of its features — please e-mail Edward Almasy (ealmasy@scout.wisc.edu) to get started!
For information about ATE Central and how your project or center can take part and benefit from ATE Central's portal and services you may want to download the ATE Central Handbook at http://atecentral.net/handbook.