Round of Applause for Student Success from FLATE's Executive Director!

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over. Here at FLATE we just completed five amazing weeks of  robotics camps at the Hillsborough Community College (HCC) Brandon campus, and three equally awesome weeks at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Ocala, captivating the minds and hearts of middle and high school students, and providing them with the tools they need to start building their dreams. We hope many of them will be STEM dreams and STEM futures. Some of those will eventually find their way into great jobs supporting manufacturing companies in Florida.

Regardless of their individual career choices, a STEM-oriented summer camp experience is a great place to start planting some of the seeds needed for student success. Encouraging and supporting exploration, creativity, perseverance, problem-solving strategic thinking, teamwork, and healthy competition in the context of “STEM technologies made friendly” is what FLATE’s robotics camps are all about. One smile, one “yes!” can melt hearts as well as tell us that we are on a right track. What could be better than this?

The foundation of student success can be fragile. It might start in a single class with a dynamite teacher, a meaningful mentor, nurturing family, inspiring role model, or personal drive. Our jobs, as “responsible” adults, parents and community leaders, are to try to provide as many opportunities for our children to be inspired and awed by something in the world they live in. We never know when, where, or what will be ‘the’ spark that’ll inspire them to reach for a strong, meaningful and healthy future. To that effect the camps gave each participant a chance by supporting their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In this issue of our FLATE Focus, we want to celebrate student success in just a few of its many forms: large or small, public or personal, individual or team-based. Each marks success and each one deserves our applause. Our Regional Manufacturers Associations (RMAs) support student success by raising money every year to support post-secondary education scholarships for students going into manufacturing career pathways. Fund-raising is not always easy, but these organizations—some big, some small—work very hard to support education. We applaud the RMAs along with their scholarship winners across the state in an article this month. The article highlights scholarship winners’ plans and dreams for their STEM futures that will support modern manufacturing in Florida. Graduation is a notable “success” milestone, and you can check in on two of our spring 2012 engineering technology degree graduates who are now ready and eager to go to work for our manufacturing stakeholders and partners.

We certainly celebrate our Florida high school students who have worked incredibly hard to earn their MSSC (Manufacturing Skill Standards Council) Certified Production Technician (CPT) credential. It’s an incredible feat for young high school students. It is also speaks volumes about their teachers who place high premium on this industry validated credential and have taken the extra time to prepare students for this success. The MSSC CPT—says out loud that they are “ready-for-work” in manufacturing companies. A big YES goes to their success.

On a smaller scale, we have over 100 middle and high school students “successfully” completing robotics challenges in FLATE summer camps. We are hoping that some of them discovered their spark and are now motivated to pursue a STEM career pathway. Switching gears, you can measure your own success by checking your answer to last month’s STEM puzzle. Were you successful? Regardless, no matter your geographical location, I’d like to thank all educators for encouraging and acknowledging student success.

Engineering Technology Degree Lays Pathway for High School Students to Get Industry Certified

Industry certifications occupy an important role in validating relevant skills-set of employees across various industries. The Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) is an industry-led, training, assessment and certification system focused on core skills and knowledge needed by the nation’s front-line production workers (Source: MSSC USA). FLATE recognizes the importance of industry aligned programs, and has embedded the MSSC Certified Production Technician (CPT) certification as part of the technical core for the two year A.S./A.A.S degree in engineering technology (ET).

The FLATE-created ET degree has served as a vehicle for students as well as incumbent workers across Florida to get industry certified. Since the implementation of the ET degree in 2007, 461 high school and technical school students, as well as community college and incumbent workers have been MSSC certified. Additionally, between 2011-2012, ninety three students at Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) in Bradenton, FL, took at least one of the modules of the MSSC Certification test. Out of the 93 students, 79 students earned at least one certification in either safety, or manufacturing; 64 students earned at least one certification in safety and manufacturing; 64 students earned at least two certifications in safety and manufacturing. Thirteen students took all four tests, passed it and earned their CPT certification.

Michelle Todoroff, career advisor and industry certification coordinator at LRHS says “industry certifications not only help prepare students for careers,” but also add an additional skill set to a student’s resume which ultimately makes him/her more marketable. To date 30 LRHS students have taken all four MSSC modules. Out of these, 15 (two in 2011; 13 in 2012) have earned their CPT certification.

Marion Technical Institute (MTI) in Ocala, FL is yet another high school that offers MSSC CPT to its

 students. To date, 150 students enrolled in the Production Design Academy have attempted at least one module of the MSSC CPT certification. Most have passed the safety module, with four earning their MSSC CPT certification in 2011-2012, and five more students expected to earn their CPT next year. Dale Toney, production and design teacher at MTI says “these certifications are huge for secondary students as it puts them in a really advantageous position of having college credits right out of high school.”

Other high schools in Florida that have taken the lead on getting students industry certified include Manatee Technical Institute in Bradenton (MATI), East Lake High School (ELHS) in Tarpon Springs, and Treasure Coast High (TCHS) School in Port St. Lucie. To date, 91 students from MATI, 29 from TCHS and 13 from ELHS have earned their MSSC CPT certification. Given the considerable edge it gives to high school students, the MSSC certification has the potential to certify millions of production workers with industry recognized standards/credentials. Under this system, new and incumbent workers who pass the four manufacturing-related modules (manufacturing processes and production; quality assurance; maintenance awareness, and safety) can be awarded the CPT certification.

The MSSC CPT certification is also embedded into the FLATE-created engineering technology A.S./A.A.S technical core that allows students to earn 18 credit hours that can be applied towards a four year degree in engineering technology. The certification combined with FLATE’s ET degree and Automation Production Technician program for high school students ensures Florida has a high-skilled workforce prepared to work in advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries. For more information on MSSC certification and/or FLATE’s ET degree contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at 813.259.6578/barger@fl-ate.org. You can also visit http://fl-ate.org/projects/mssc.html, and http://madeinflorida.org/engineering-technology-degree.

Regional Manufacturers Association Scholarships Support Student Success & Technician Education in Florida

Regional Manufacturers Associations (RMAs) play a vital role in supporting postsecondary education and technical training in Florida. Each year RMAs across Florida award numerous scholarships to outstanding high school and college students whose summer are defined by at least two big successes—graduating from high school and winning a RMA scholarship. Indeed, RMA scholarships have gone a long way in helping students like Danielle Marie Larson realize their ambitions and dream to succeed.

Larson was the recipient of the 2012 Bay Area Manufacturers Association (BAMA) scholarship. Larson who recently graduated from Dunedin High School in Pinellas County with a 3.7 GPA says she is “no longer skeptical to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Florida due to financial reasons.” She was chosen from a pool of 20 applicants, and is planning to pursue a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Florida.

For over 20 years, BAMA has provided scholarships to local high school seniors continuing their education  in a manufacturing related field. In addition to the $1000 scholarship awarded to Larson, as part of its partnership with FLATE, the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon, BAMA gave another $1,500 to support FLATE’s state-of-the-art robotics camp for middle and high school students. Cliff Csulik, director at Jabil Circuit and president of BAMA says the organization “takes pride in supporting quality educational and STEM based programs” that strengthen its commitment to manufacturing across the state.

South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA) is yet another RMA that remains committed to supporting student success. The organization currently serves as a leading advocate for manufacturing initiatives in Broward, Dade, Palm Beach, Indian River, Monroe and Okeechobee counties in Florida, and is dedicated to promoting growth and success of manufacturing in its targeted region. SFMA recently awarded scholarships to three high school students, Adam Garey, Jessica Wilbo and Devin Brown, to pursue higher education at Florida State University.

Brown, Garey and Wilbo are high achievers, and beacons of academic achievement. Brown who is a resident of Hollywood, FL holds a current GPA of 4.48, received high honor roll, and was part of the national honors society throughout his junior and senior years in high school. Adam is an Eagle Scout, a member of the National Technical Honor Soceity, and a 2012 Communications Pathfinder nominee. Jessica Wilbor too has maintained a high GPA throughout her term in high school, and is member of several honors societies that include the Entrepreneurial Business Academy, the Spanish River High School National Business Honor Society, and DECA Business Program. She served as president of “No Place for Hate” club for two consecutive years, and was part of the girls varsity lacrosse team.

Scholarships continue making a positive impact in the lives of students across the nation, and serve as an effective mechanism in capturing fresh talent. The award amount, criteria and number of scholarships varies by each institution, nevertheless, to a large extent, is determined by candidates’ interest in pursuing a technical and/or manufacturing related program. Other RMAs who will tentatively be offering scholarships and/or announcing winners in the coming academic year include the Sarasota Manatee Manufacturers Association and the Marion Regional Manufacturers Association.

For more information on scholarships, deadline, criteria for application visit www.madeinflorida.org/scholarships, contact an RMA in your area, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org.

Puzzle #29 (Answer): Vapor Composition Mixtures of Two Secret Perfume Liquids

Points for discussion

The mixture of two pure liquids creates a third liquid as well as a unique vapor that is generated by that liquid. These binary liquid diagrams are great for really showing students how to read multiple information graphs. The common error when reading this diagram is the presumption that the answer is obtained at the ordinate value intersection with the abscissa at 50%. The actual vapor content is obtained by reading up at 50 % “Essence of Pearl” line until it intersects with the Bubble-point curve for the boiling point of that mixture and then read along the horizontal line at that temperature to determine the % “Essence of Pearl” in the vapor about that boiling liquid mixture at the Dew-point curve intersection. This puzzle is a great way to end a discussion about mole fractions of mixtures. It is also a way to emphasis that just because the liquid is 50% of each of its two liquid components, the vapor of that mixture is not also 50% of each component. The fact that a liquid mixture can be 50% of each type of liquid but the vapor has much more of one of the liquids molecules is a hard idea for students to accept but a critical concept in understanding distillation.

1) A boiling liquid made from a 50% mixture of both liquid ingredient produced a perfume that has a vapor that contains 50% “Essence of Skunk” and 50% “Essence of Pearl”. Answer: NO