Nominations are now open for recognizing 2014 FLATE manufacturing educator and manufacturing industry service awards. This will be our seventh year of recognizing outstanding secondary and post-secondary classroom educators as well as industry and community partners who support the advanced manufacturing industry in Florida.  Twenty one outstanding and dedicated educators and advanced manufacturing professionals from all […]

Engaging girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is a topic of national interest. A recent Verizon commercial stated “66% of girls in 4th grade like math and science, but only 18% of all college engineering majors are female.”  Take for instance, Kaitlyn Pankoe a 6th grader at Terrace Community Middle School in Tampa. Pankoe […]

FLATE’s annual Summer Camp for Teachers provides educators with a variable topic 3-day professional development workshop each summer. The camp is now in its 5thyear. This year’s topic was “Keeping the “T” and “E” in sTEm Curriculum.” FLATE research has exposed the fact that while science and math resources are widely available for STEM curriculum, […]

A water quality technician has collected and graphed the back flow test data for a carbon nano-tube (everybody has to do something with nano, so FLATE’s puzzle team is no exception) based membrane technology water filtering system. When the water to be sold under the companies PDS (“Purer then Driven Snow”) brand passes one way […]

Last month we brought you a story about two STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) awardees from Hoerbiger Corporation of America in Pompano Beach Florida. In our continuing series highlighting the role and contributions of women in manufacturing, this month we highlight three additional STEP awardees from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems America, Inc. in Orlando, […]

According to Harvard University research addressing the misalignment of education and job preparation, by 2018, 57% of jobs will require skills based training (technicians). The highly technical, knowledge based economy is already here, because the recurring theme from U.S. manufacturers nationwide is that jobs are available but skilled workers can’t be found to fill them. […]

The National Academies of Engineering, Science, and Health recently hosted their first Education and  Training Opportunity workshop in support of the Gulf Research Program. The Gulf Research Program (GRP) is supported primarily from BP gulf recovery funds. Among the workshop’s goals was the establishment of the current state of education and training pathways for the […]

Dr. Marilyn Barger, principal investigator and executive director of FLATE, the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence in manufacturing, supporting high-tech manufacturing and manufacturing-related careers and technical education in Florida, received top honor at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) International Awards gala. Dr. Barger received the 2014 SME Education Award on June 9 in […]