It's Going to be STEMtastic Summer!

Building our pipeline of STEM workers includes more than outreach to students informing them about careers in manufacturing and STEM industries. We also need to reach out to teachers and provide them with information about new and emerging technologies, high tech careers, new teaching methods and pedagogies as well as opportunities to share their own best practices with each other. Check out these highlights from our upcoming summer teacher professional development activities.

Close to home, FLATE is partnering with several groups at USF for summer activities. The FLATE—FESC partnership is also offering an energy-focused professional development workshop during the last week of June that will be conducted by Dr. Denis Karaiskaj, assistant professor of physics. Our second FLATE Engineering Technology Summer Institute will provide intense mechatronic training for 20 secondary and post-secondary STEM educators from around the state at HCC-Brandon campus starting June 13, and will involve experts from USF college of engineering. This 3-day workshop will focus on a systems approach to the types of integrated systems found across the state in many manufacturing facilities. Next week, FLATE is offering another intense three-day summer camp for teachers designed to provide tools to help educators attract and retain girls in STEM education and career opportunities. Both FLATE educator workshops will provide stipends to participants. 

We are also partnering with the USF NREC (Nanotechnology Research and Education Center) to deliver nanotechnology and manufacturing career information to high school students in Pasco County as well as hosting the four-day Pressure Sensor Workshop for technical educators in partnership with the Southwest Center for Microsystem Education (SCME) in the University of South Florida clean room facilities. USF NREC and FLATE will also be partnering with the American Vacuum Society (AVS) for its annual Science Educator Workshop that is part of its annual conference. This October 29-30 workshop is legendary for providing high school teachers with rich modeling ideas and concepts of working in controlled environments, a site visit to Plasm-Therm in Pinellas County and over $1000 in equipment.

In August, FLATE will be providing professional development for secondary STEM teachers in the pre-school days of August, and look forward to another workshop at EMS-USA who provided a wonderful workshop on the emerging technologies of additive manufacturing for Hillsborough County teachers in January.

In July, FLATE will take a number of college educators and stakeholders to the annual HI-TEC conference where they will be exposed to new and emerging technologies, will interact with industry from across the country, and have the opportunity to network with their peers from other institutions. We will also present at the annual FACTE (Florida Association of Career and Technical Education) conference. There is more information on each of these events on the www.fl-ate.org home page, or you can contact us by email. If you are interested in partnering to offer other professional development events for teachers, please contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org.