Klancher, who is also the director of Research and Innovation at CWC’s Alpine Science Institute and an environmental health and science professor at the college, says it took her several attempts before her proposal for GEOBRIDGES was successful.

She advised community college educators who are seeking ATE funding not to give up if their proposals are not successful and to apply for Mentor-Connect mentoring.

Somerset Community College Professor Eric N. Wooldridge, who received the 2024 Science and Society Award from the National Science Board (NSB), wrote his first Advanced Technological Education grant proposal with Mentor-Connect mentoring.

Since 2016 he has served as the principal investigator of four ATE projects and co-principal investigator of another grant. He encourages community college educators who have not had an ATE grant to complete Mentor-Connect’s application for cohort mentoring in 2025 by November 8.

To learn more about Wooldridge’s ATE projects and his NSB award see the ATE Impacts Blog. 

HI-TEC will be held this year in Kansas City, Missouri, from July 29 – August 1 

Supported by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) program, HI-TEC is a national conference on advanced technological education where secondary and postsecondary educators, counselors, industry professionals, trade organizations, and technicians can update their knowledge and skills. Charged with preparing America’s skilled technical workforce, the event focuses on the preparation needed by the existing and future workforce for companies in the high-tech sectors that drive our nation’s economy.

Big congratulations to Ryan Bradshaw, David Oliver, Daphne Lewis, and Brian Worley of Johnston Community College one of Mentor-Connect's Cohort 11 mentee teams.

This dedicated team's hard work at JCC has paid off with a well-deserved $645,836 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create an innovative simulated cyber range training environment with a focus on recruiting female students to cyber tech!

Culturally responsive pedagogy is more than a nice add-on according to Juan Rodriguez, Jr., and Sarah Belknap.

The two community college educators have found that it’s an effective way to build rapport with students that facilitates learning and helps students—particularly Latinx and first-generation college students—persist in courses and in their pursuit of academic credentials.

Rodriguez and Belknap are instructors at State University of New York (SUNY) Westchester Community College (WCC) where they have led the Hispanic Serving Institution Advanced Technological Education Hub 2 (HSI ATE Hub 2) project that tested a professional development model for helping community college faculty adopt culturally responsive instructional practices in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses.

Brian Michel said, “There's no illusions here that none of it would have been possible without MentorConnect, and we're very much grateful to them for taking us on and working with us and shepherding us through the process.” Niagara’s Mentor-Connect project team in 2020 included Michel and co-principals investigators Mark Voisinet and Joseph Schmidt.