ATE Centers and Projects are remarkable not only for the high level of collaborative activities they sustain with their partners, but in the ways they cooperate with each other.
The ATE tradition of established Centers working with new Centers continues. Recently, the National Center for Telecommunications Technologies, one of the first ATE Centers, helped the brand new Convergence Technology Center build its electronic clearinghouse
of education materials.
The collegiality of the ATE program is evident in the specific advice the Regional Center for Nanofabrication Manufacturing Education gave to Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, MN, for its new nanotechnology project with The University of Minnesota. Collegiality is also the hallmark of the information exchange the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center facilitates among the 400 community and technical colleges that consult each other through its Partnership for Environmental Technology Education network.
In 2004, eight ATE Centers that focus on manufacturing set a new standard for higher education cooperation when their representatives met with the leaders of The Manufacturing Institute about ways to increase manufacturers’ awareness of the ATE Centers’ activities and to improve educators’ understanding of industry needs. The Institute is the research and training arm of
the National Manufacturing Association, the nation’s largest industrial trade association with 14,000 members.
