Advanced Technological Education

The National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program supports the education of technicians in fields critical to the U.S. economy. With a focus on two-year institutions of higher education, the program aims to strengthen workforce development through partnerships between academic institutions, industry, and economic development agencies. It funds projects that improve technician education, curriculum, faculty professional development, and career pathways, with an emphasis on preparing students for rapidly evolving technology sectors. The program also encourages proposals from minority-serving institutions and those serving underserved communities to broaden participation in STEM technician fields. The program provides funding through multiple tracks, including small-scale projects, larger ATE projects, consortia for innovations in technician education, and ATE Centers. Each track supports distinct goals: piloting new ideas, expanding technician education programs, building multi-institutional consortia, and creating national leadership hubs for particular industries. Supported technology areas include advanced manufacturing, agricultural and biotechnologies, energy and environmental technologies, engineering, information technologies, nanotechnology, security technologies, autonomous systems, and emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum information sciences. Allowable activities include curriculum and materials development, educator professional development, student recruitment and retention, applied research, and entrepreneurial skills training. All developed courses must be credit-bearing and aligned with workforce needs. The program prohibits certain costs, such as student scholarships, general equipment purchases, or routine instructional expenses, but permits instrumentation requests up to $300,000 when tied to student learning outcomes. Proposals must include evaluation plans and demonstrate potential for institutional impact, sustainability, and national dissemination of results. Eligibility extends broadly to U.S. institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, state and local governments, and tribal nations. Two-year colleges must play leadership roles, particularly when four-year institutions or other organizations are lead applicants. Faculty at two-year colleges are required as principal investigators or co-investigators in most cases, ensuring that technician education remains at the core of all projects. Special provisions allow international branch campuses of U.S. institutions to participate if justified. Applications must be submitted through Research.gov or Grants.gov by the stated deadlines, following the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. Full proposals are required; letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not. Proposals are reviewed using NSF’s merit review process, assessing intellectual merit and broader impacts, with additional criteria tied to workforce needs, partnerships, and sustainability. Award notifications are issued by NSF’s Division of Grants and Agreements, and all funded projects must report annually through Research.gov. The next proposal deadline is October 3, 2024, and the program continues annually on the first Thursday of October. NSF anticipates making between 45 and 80 awards, with a total funding pool of $74 million in FY 2025. Award sizes vary by track, ranging from $475,000 for small-scale projects to $7.5 million for centers over five years. All projects are required to participate in the annual ATE Principal Investigators Conference and must work with ATE Central to ensure that funded resources are archived and made accessible beyond the life of the grant.