FLATE was established in 2004 through a National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Center grant and funded to date with $10 million. FLATE is NSF’s Florida Regional Center of Excellence and is one of 26 ATE Centers across the country focused on improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education to meet the technician workforce needs of American advanced technological industries. FLATE has been recognized both locally and nationally for its innovative best practices in curriculum, outreach, and professional development.
FLATE’s impact on its educational, industry, and workforce partners is captured in a variety of metrics. FLATE data comes from stakeholder and participant surveys, Florida Dept. of Education databases, various web statistics, anecdotal comments, and other sources. These define our activity successes and impact as well as provide feedback for process improvements.
- Industry defined/endorsed Engineering Technology Degree (AS/AAS) degree approved by FL DOE in May 2007
- 31 frameworks for 20 certificates and 11 specializations of the degree
- Developed with 12 partner colleges, 44 Florida manufacturing companies, FL Department of Education, Workforce Florida, Manufacturers Skill Standards Council, Manufacturers
Association of Florida, Regional Mfg. Associations - 19 college ET Degree adoptions as of December 2016
- Three articulated high school framework submitted to FLDOE offered to 510 schools.
- Automation Production Technician (APT) impacting eight high school programs
- 1,776 students enrolled in Engineering Technology college degree programs in 2015-16
- Awarded over $220,000 to ET degree awarding college partners for laboratory upgrades
- Developed with 12 partner colleges, 44 Florida manufacturing companies, FL Department of Education, Workforce Florida, Manufacturers Skill Standards Council, Manufacturers
- Statewide articulation agreement for high school students and incumbent workers for 15 credit hours by achieving MSSC
- Developed statewide 15 credit-hour articulation agreement with MSSC-CPT for anyone
- Established a five-year partnership with FloridaMakes (Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership)
- Provided language for Career Academy legislation and testified before the FL House and Senate subcommittees
- Crafted the award for Banner Center for Manufacturing for related workforce training initiatives (2006-08, $700,000)
- Awarded $1.4 million in additional funding from NSF ATE for requested special projects
- Facilitated approximately 26 project awards from the National Science Foundation Center
- FLATE has been leveraged by its partners to obtain over $80 million in state and local funding
- Provided 54,777.57 hours of professional development to 42,660 educators and 15,385 workforce, economic and manufacturing personnel in multi-day workshops, presentations,
and through online webinars at hundreds of events in Florida, nationally, and worldwide - Over 47,095 Florida students and educators reached by 1,432 Made in Florida (MIF) outreach campaign events
- MFG Day Partnership (2013-19) 29,480 students, 1,916 teachers, 1,080 parents and chaperons to 1,031 advanced manufacturing tour events in 50 Florida counties
- More than 47 MIF industry-sourced, integrated STEM middle and high school lesson plans
- Recognized 28 outstanding manufacturing educators and 14 industry champions in an annual awards program.
- Supported 1,712 middle and high school students in week-long STEM robotic camps since 2005
- Awarded at least 30 statewide recognitions since 2010 including Best Practice and Exemplary Practice Awards
- Eleven published FLATE Best Practices guides
- Tracked over 194,697 views of the FLATE FOCUS online newsletters in the U.S. and 171 countries since 2009. From 2019 to 2020, the newsletter was viewed 32,172 times with distribution to approximately 14,271 individuals in 2020. The FLATE Focus online newsletter is the winner of 2013 and 2014 APEX Awards for Publication Excellence
- Disseminated products, resources, and services publicly through madeinflorida.org , fl-ate.org , pbworks.com, websites and blogs which have served over 316,350 visitors to FLATE online resources since 2009
- Established a model for industry-endorsed 2-year curriculum for A.S. degrees in Engineering Technologies
- Facilitated seamless articulations to Florida BSET and BAS degrees
- Participated in national advisory boards for CTE and STEM education including ATE Centers, the National Academy of Sciences, NAM, MSSC, NCPN, ACTE, and NCATC
- Took 9 Florida ET AS degree students and 8 faculty for 3-weeks a training in Renewable Energy in Spain with supplemental funding.
