ATE Grant Program Info
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These are some excerpts that I have copied out of the previous ATE Program Solicitation
Centers
Regional Centers of Excellence: Regional Centers should focus on a particular field of technology and have a clear, measurable impact on the workforce and economy in a logically defined geographic region. Regional Centers are cooperative efforts between the region's employers and academic institutions and should be designed so that the relationships developed during the grant period are institutionalized. Although a Regional Center may have national impacts, the mission, structure, activities, and products of a Regional Center should be carefully designed to fit the region's particular characteristics and needs in the relevant field of technology. When possible, the Center's activities should be coordinated with local, regional, and statewide economic development strategic plans. Regional Centers are expected to focus mainly on reforming academic programs to produce a greater number of highly qualified workers who meet regional workforce demands and who also meet national industry and academic skill standards.
A Regional Center should normally undertake a wide range of activities associated with program improvement and professional development for educators, as described in Section II.A.1 ("ATE Projects") above. Normally, the development of new educational materials is not a mission of a Regional Center, but the collection, adaptation, and implementation of existing exemplary materials is a common activity. The center should lead systemic reform at all or most of the academic institutions in the region, engaging a large number of the region's college faculty and secondary school teachers in the relevant discipline(s). The center must have mechanisms for measuring the number and quality of students who are recruited, achieve competencies in relevant areas, receive industry certifications (when relevant), participate in internships, graduate, and find appropriate employment. The center must also have high visibility and support at the collaborating educational institutions. Center leaders should be prepared to contribute to longitudinal studies that examine students' performance in the workplace and measure employers' satisfaction with graduates.
Regional Centers are invited in any field of technology normally supported by the ATE program. However, all proposals must present a strong case for the regional economic significance of the chosen technological field.
Resource Centers: Resource Centers constitute a highly visible source of educational materials, ideas, contacts, and mentoring and have a national focus and a broad impact. Resource Centers may focus on a particular field of technological education or cut across several technology fields to promote best practices in areas such as recruitment, retention, curriculum development, teaching practices, and industry partnerships. Generally, only ATE national or regional centers and exemplary ATE projects that have already completed their original grants are well-positioned to become Resource Centers because leaders of these centers must demonstrate that they have already made substantial, high-quality contributions to technological education.
Resource Centers partner with business and industry, government agencies, professional societies; and academic institutions. They work on national initiatives to bring about systemic changes in the way students are prepared for our national technical workforce and to expand the role that community colleges play as agents of change towards this goal. Resource Centers typically undertake activities such as:
providing support and mentoring for institutions that wish to start or improve educational programs in a particular field of technology; establishing and supporting additional industry, business and academic partnerships; organizing and offering professional development opportunities for educators; promoting technician careers and visibility and the public image in the field(s) on which the Center is focused; addressing technician knowledge, skills, and competencies needed for the evolving, converging, and emerging technical workplace; and screening, validating, updating, and broadly distributing exemplary materials, curricula, and pedagogical practices adapted or designed by ATE centers and projects and other appropriate sources.
Award Information
NSF anticipates that approximately $46 million each year will be available for this program in FY2008, FY2009, and FY2010. The program expects to make approximately 75 new awards per year. Grants may be awarded in a wide variety of sizes and durations, as summarized below. The categories below are expected to encompass most of the activities supported through the ATE program; however, additional activities and mechanisms may be proposed after consultation with an NSF program officer. The actual number of awards and the award sizes are subject to the availability of funds and the quality of proposals received.
Anticipated number, size, and duration of new awards:
- ATE Projects: approximately 45 new awards, ranging from $25,000 to $300,000 per year and having a duration of up to three years, except for Large Scale Materials Development (LSMD) projects, which are limited to $500,000 per year for four years.
- ATE small grants for institutions new to the ATE program: approximately 15 awards for up to $150,000 (each) typically spread over two years.
- National Centers of Excellence: up to 2 new awards for up to $5 million (each) spread over four years, with the possibility of renewal, at a lower level of funding, for an additional three years.
- Regional Centers of Excellence: up to 3 new awards for up to $3 million (each) spread over four years, with the possibility of renewal, at a lower level of funding, for an additional three years.
- Resource Centers: up to 4 new awards for up to $1.6 million (each) spread over four years with the possibility of renewal.
- Planning Grants for Centers: up to 4 new awards for up to $70,000 (each) to develop well-formulated plans for future national or regional centers (see Section V.A ["Proposal Preparation"] for additional information).
- Targeted Research on Technician Education: approximately 5 to 8 new awards, ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 per year for up to 4 years.
Additional Eligibility Info:
The categories of proposers identified in the Grant Proposal Guide (Chapter 1, Section E) are eligible to submit proposals under this program solicitation. Two-year colleges and other associate degree-granting institutions are especially encouraged to submit proposals, and all proposals are expected to include one or more two-year colleges in leadership roles. A proposal from an informal consortium of institutions should be submitted by one member of the consortium; a proposal from a formal consortium--such as a community college system or school district--should be submitted by the consortium.
