2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 186: A Hands-On, Dual-Credit Mechatronics Pathway Overview for Secondary & Post-Secondary Educators

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

The mission of this National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) National Center is to cultivate and nurture partnerships with advanced manufacturing stakeholders, creating a national network throughout the United States to further develop a diverse technical workforce. According to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, “Over the next decade, 4 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed, and 2.1 million are expected to go unfilled if we do not inspire more people to pursue modern manufacturing careers.” Through the collaboration of this National Center and project grant, both funded by the NSF ATE program, a series of mechatronics professional development workshops have been expanded to include participants from nine additional states and will continue to expand nationally. This paper will provide overviews of the aforementioned NSF ATE grants, the related advanced manufacturing programs and dual enrollment pathway in mechatronics, and the professional development workshops offered to high school and community college educators.

During the professional development workshops, participants learn about a pathway that gives high school students access to four online entry-level, hands-on mechatronics courses and best practices for delivering those courses. They also build a mechatronics trainer based on which of the four levels the workshop is covering. Participants keep the trainer for use in their own classrooms along with corresponding curriculum. Upon completion of the workshop participants complete a survey and are contacted an additional two times throughout the following year to discuss impacts of the professional development including if the mechatronics curriculum or pathway were implemented and any enrollment, completion, and workforce data improvements.

Authors

Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing [biography]

Dr. Karen Wosczyna-Birch has been a champion of engineering and technology education for the past 30 years. Since 1995, she has been the State Director of the CT College of Technology (COT) where her leadership has been instrumental in creating nationally recognized seamless pathway programs in engineering and technology between all 12 public community colleges in CT with 10 universities and high schools. She is also the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (NCNGM), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Excellence and a Professor of Applied Technology at Tunxis Community College. Since 2004, she has received over $30M in funding from the NSF, including two grants for international partnerships. Karen has implemented strategies resulting in an increase in the enrollment of underrepresented populations in STEM programs at the community colleges.

Karen has received numerous awards for her accomplishments as a professor and for her passion for increasing the diversity of the STEM population including the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the international honor society Epsilon Pi Tau (EPT), the 2018 CT Women of Innovation Award in the Postsecondary Academic Innovation & Leadership Category, the 2012 New England Board of Higher Education Excellence Award for the State of CT and most recently, the 2020 HI TEC Innovative Program of the Year Award and 2021 ITEEA Special Recognition Award. In 2014, she was invited to the White House College Opportunity Summit recognizing leaders like Karen for their commitment to STEM education. She also serves on numerous local and national boards including the Epsilon Pi Tau Honor Society, Hartford High's Pathway for Engineering and Green Technology, and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System.
Wendy Robicheau

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