- Latest News >
- EICC receives $1.6 million NSF grant
 |
EICC receives $1.6 million NSF grant
 |
Eastern Iowa Community College’s (EICC) Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) has received $1.6 million over the next four years from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The funding will be used to continue ATEEC’s work to advance environmental and energy technology education through curriculum development, professional development and program improvement in the nation’s community colleges and secondary schools.
ATEEC has been a recipient of NSF funding since 1994 and has led the charge in preparing high schools and community colleges to meet this country’s need for a prepared workforce in today’s emerging environmental and energy jobs.
“EICC is committed to being on the leading edge of workforce preparation,” said EICC Chancellor Dr. Don Doucette. “This new grant will allow us to not only better serve our local community, but also the nation’s high schools and community colleges.”
In the current four-year grant, ATEEC will be expanding its activities to build on the specific needs of the nation’s environmental and energy education programs by facilitating occupational analyses workshops at community college sites across the country and expanding curricula, professional development and program improvement in the area of water technology.
“Over the next decade we believe there will be a tremendous need for more education and training in the area of water resources,” Dr. Ellen Kabat Lensch, Executive Director of ATEEC and EICC’s Executive Director of Resource Development and Innovation, said. “This includes infrastructure, technology advancements and jobs. EICC will be working with business and industry to identify these needs and develop courses and programs to have a ready and prepared workforce.”
Specifically, this NSF funding will provide resources, support and professional development for educators; curriculum and educational materials for grades 10-14; and environmental and sustainable energy best program practices, articulated 2+2+2 programs, and other environmental and sustainable energy curricula.
ATEEC was established in 1994 and is a national center of excellence within the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program. ATEEC provides educational resources for colleges and K-12 classrooms. It also works with business and industry to identify emerging technologies, enhance technical training, create opportunities for collaboration and educate the workforce.
 |
ATEEC moved to new quarters last fall with the opening of its Environmental and Energy Center and Interactive Learning Lab in downtown Davenport. Located on the first floor of the Mississippi Plaza office building, 201 Harrison Street, the center houses a renewable energy learning laboratory, instructional classrooms for credit and non-credit renewable energy training programs, an environmental health and safety office, solar panels and wind turbines to provide educational data and educational videos demonstrating sustainable energy jobs and training programs.
ATEEC’s professional and program development also includes international activities, most recently partnering with NSF, the Dalum College of Agriculture and the EUC-Syd Technical College in Denmark to host community college faculty and students from across the country in a four-week agriculture-based renewable energy technology institute.
The goal of the ATEEC Resource Center is to partner with business, industry, governmental agencies, professional organizations and academic institutions to provide resources of exemplary educational materials, curricula and pedagogical practices for the purpose of training technicians in environmental and sustainable energy technology.
To accomplish these goals, ATEEC: 1) provides support and mentoring for institutions that wish to start or improve educational programs in environmental and sustainable energy technologies; 2) provides services to other NSF community college projects; 3) establishes and supports additional industry, business and academic partnerships; 4) promotes technician careers and visibility in environmental and sustainable energy technology; 5) addresses technician knowledge, skills and competencies needed for the evolving, converging and emerging technical workplace; and 6) screens, validates, updates and broadly distributes exemplary materials, curricula and pedagogical practices adapted or designed by NSF projects and other sources.
Currently the ATEEC Resource Center website alone serves 8,200 users per month and contains more than 300 educational products. ATEEC’s Environmental Resource Library website contains 6,635 resources and has over 4,000 users per month. The ATEEC Resource Center is going to become even more important as green jobs seek workers proficient in math, science and technology for the rapidly changing areas of environmental and energy technology.