Volume 2, Issue 2 | February 2021
Progress Inside the Project
ATE Leadership Caucus
Lends Insight and Vision to the
Future of Work
Each month Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work brings together leadership from the ATE Centers to facilitate a discussion about cutting-edge technologies and implications for technician education. These virtual meetings also provide a forum for the ATE Leadership Caucus to share updates about their centers and discuss issues, systems and strategies for the rapidly changing landscape of technology, education and instruction, especially during the age of COVID-19.

On February 17, this month's meeting will feature Dr. Marilyn Barger, special advisor on the project team for Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work and Director of Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE). Since it's inception in 2004, FLATE has a longstanding record of productivity and bears the distinction as an NSF Center of Excellence. Marilyn will discuss their successful transition from NSF sunset to sustainability. Continue reading.
Seeking Subject Matter Experts
The project's Instructional cards are almost ready for prime time. The cards will cover 43 cross-cutting knowledge and skills that experts advising the Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work project consider essential for STEM technicians to learn in the next decade.

To assist in the continued development and review of the Instructional Cards, the project is looking for SME faculty from community college technical programs in the areas of:
  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Agricultural & Environmental
  • Biological & Chemical
  • Data Science
  • Engineering
  • Information & Security
  • Micro & Nanotechnologies
Industry Connection
Entrepreneur Says Biotech Is A Growing Field: Anticipates More Overlap in Nano & Biotech within Agricultural Technology
Entrepreneur and PhD physicist Aaron Santos suggests community college students and faculty pay attention to the intersection of micro and nanotechnologies with biotechnology, and the emergence of their use in sensors and other new devices.

In short, nanotechnology innovations are becoming more commercially viable in bioscience products.

“My prediction is that you’re going to see what happened with the programming and software startups that you saw popping up in the 90s. I’m predicting that you are going to see a similar effect with some of the biotechnologies that are coming out now,” he said. Continue reading.

By Madeline Patton
FLATE - Florida's 2020 Manufacturing Month Hub
During this challenging time, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), now a part of the FloridaMakes Network, has remained focused on inspiring young people to explore manufacturing education and career pathways. The Covid-19 pandemic caused FLATE, companies, schools and supporting organization to pivot from Florida’s well-orchestrated Manufacturing Month tours and events of recent years. Researching opportunities and resources led to an investment in an online event platform that could host virtual events (available on demand after the live events) from the FloridaMakes network. Continue reading.
Featured Resources
NSF- EHR Releases STEM Education for the
Future - 2020 Visioning Report
This report tackles the key questions on achieving the goals of lifelong STEM learning, equitable access to sustained success, and a strong American workforce.
  1. Priority One - All learners at all stages of their educational pathways must have access to and opportunities to choose STEM careers and contribute to the innovation economy.
  2. Priority Two - We must build an ethical workforce with future-proof skills.
  3. Priority Three - We must ensure that the appropriate technological innovations make it into learning spaces, whether face-to-face classrooms or not, guided by educators who understand how modern technology can affect learning, and how to use technology to enhance context and enrich learning experiences for students.
MIT Task Force on Work of the Future Releases Report
After two years of research on technology and jobs, MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future released its report in November. The American Workforce has been deeply affected by decades of advances in technology including a culling of middle and low-tier jobs. But the advent of innovation also gives rise to opportunity in jobs creation. This report advocates for better policies during a time of transformational technological changes. The six key points from the report:
  1. Technological change is simultaneously replacing existing work and creating new work. It is not eliminating work altogether.
  2. Momentous impacts of technological change are unfolding gradually.
  3. Rising labor productivity has not translated into broad increases in incomes because societal institutions and labor market policies have fallen into disrepair
  4. Improving the quality of jobs requires innovation in labor market institutions. 
  5. Fostering opportunity and economic mobility necessitates cultivating and refreshing worker skills.
  6. Investing in innovation will drive new job creation, speed growth, and meet rising competitive challenges.
The International Society of Service Innovation Professionals, ISSIP (pronounced iZip), hosted their Future of Work Summit Discovery Series: Future of Work – Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Crisis. Experts from Accenture, Aruba Networks, Boeing, Cisco, IBM, ISSIP, Plotly, and Skuchain shared perspectives on building resilient supply chains. For more information, including the agenda links to session recordings, follow this link.

ISSIP is a nonprofit professional association co-founded by IBM, Cisco, HP and several universities with the mission of promoting service innovation for our interconnected world.
Listen to the Latest Podcast
Episode 20: It's More than Just Pressing "Cycle Start"
What are the changes and trends in CNC machining and manufacturing? Where is the industry going next with additive manufacturing and cobots? And what impact will this have on education of entry-level technicians? In Podcast 20 our guest is Terry Iverson. With 40 years in his role as President of Iverson and Company, Terry discusses the most pressing issues he sees for manufacturing: global competitiveness, reshoring, and the need for younger employees. He also explains the unique characteristics of the four types of control systems, and forecasts how emerging technologies may affect this industry.
This episode's guest is Dave Vasko, Director of Advanced Technologies
at Rockwell Automation. He is charged with developing and managing technology to engage the future generation of the company’s industrial automation products. Rockwell Automation is the world's largest company dedicated solely to industrial automation and information. Dave talks about the rapidly changing technologies and increasing complexities on the manufacturing floor that will require technicians to develop a diverse set of cross-cutting skills from configuring networks and firewalls and writing code to debug machines to using digital twins and virtual reality.

You'll also want to check out the show notes where you'll find links to the free online instructional and professional development resources Dave mentions in the podcast.
About the Podcasts
Hosted by Mike Lesiecki, the project's monthly podcasts cover topics such as artificial intelligence, the internet-of-things, cybersecurity, advanced robotics, digital design and prototyping, and other topics at the changing interface of technology, work, and education.  In each podcast, you will hear interviews with industry leaders and working technicians in the field.

Visit our website to catch up on any of our past podcasts. You'll also find show notes and transcripts.


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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.