Volume 2, Issue 6 | June 2021
We are pleased to bring you news and resources in collaboration with the NSF Advanced Technology Education (ATE) community and industry partners. We hope that this content will be useful in this time of substantial educational change. For more information about our project, please visit our website.
Preparing Technicians for the
Future of Work to Host Virtual
Special Interest Group
As part of the HI-TEC Conference 2021, Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work will host a virtual Special Interest Group (SIG) convening on Friday, July 16 (11 am–2 pm CDT) featuring:
  • Rationale and Resources for Implementing a Cross-disciplinary STEM Core
  • Perspectives, Priorities, and Impacts of Work of the Future on Regions and Sectors featuring employers and educators from the Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest
  • Industry Speaks: Work of the Future and the Versatilist Technician
  • Author Mehran Gul discusses Innovation Ecosystems

Participants will receive complementary registrations for both the SIG and the HI-TEC Conference, but seats are limited. To apply for participation or to ask questions, contact Ann-Claire Anderson.
Being a “Constant Learner” Propels
Rachel Gaines
Rachel Gaines has had an array of technician jobs at sea and on land since 2012 when she enrolled in a marine biology course at Monterey Peninsula College in California. At that point she had earned a bachelor’s degree in contemporary music and was employed as a wildfire firefighter. Learning to surf nudged her to think about an ocean-related career.

Since then her curiosity and hard work have helped her gain technical skills – like those she learned as a technician maintaining and piloting remotely operated vehicles aboard the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Exploration Vessel Nautilus – to propel her career.


For his work as an engineering technician in a research and development lab at Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon, Korey Theberge constantly uses what he learned in the Portland Community College’s (PCC) electrical engineering technology program from which he graduated in 2016.

To test circuit boards that are new products or prototypes requires his efficient use of microscopes, oscilloscopes, and other measuring equipment, as well as precise soldering skills. Fortunately he has steady hands. He praises his PCC instructors for imparting strong foundational knowledge in how heat transfer works, how to read technical documents such as schematics, and how to use different types of software.

From the NSF ATE Community
2020 - 2021 ATE Impacts Now Available
The much-anticipated 2020-2021 ATE Impacts book showcasing the innovative and critical work of the NSF ATE community is now available. ATE Central has released an online flipbook and easily shareable PDF versions viewable across all devices via any web browser, but you can also request free printed copies using the book request form.

Listen to Our Latest Podcasts
Episode 25: Robotics Skills, Robotics Careers
Host Mike Lesiecki with Podcast Guest
Lisa Masciantonio
Chief Workforce Officer of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute
Robotics and automation technologies and changing and expanding rapidly and that means that manufacturers need a workforce that can keep pace with the changes. Lisa Masciantonio sees a large skills gap that her Institute is addressing with new competency models, program audits and endorsements. Listen and find out about three levels of robotics technicians and learn more in the Show Notes about resources available at https://www.roboticscareer.org/ including information about three promising career pathways: Robotics Technician, Robotics Specialist, and Robotics Integrator. You can also view the associated competency frameworks (including employability/soft skills).
Episode 26: Future Work, Future Technologies, Future Workforce
Host Mike Lesiecki with Podcast Guest
Linda Molnar
Program Director, National Science Foundation
Dr. Molnar is a National Science Foundation Program Director involved with a very new program called the Convergence Accelerator which grew out of NSF’s Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier initiative. In this episode, she describes the program and its philosophy, "To ensure an equitable scientific future, we propose an ecosystem approach to ensuring representation, success and meaningful outcomes of science and technology for future scientists, engineers and technologists and society at large. This goal requires that we re-think the educational process itself."
Listen and subscribe to catch up on any of our earlier podcasts. The Show Notes and Transcripts provide additional resources and activities.


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Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF DUE #1839567. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.