Education for a marine technical workforce: the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center

This paper highlights the major efforts and achievements of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center since its founding in September 1997. The MATE Center was developed through a multi-year grant (DUE-ATE 9752028) from the National Science Foundation´s Advanced Technological Education program. A major goal of the MATE Center is to work closely with industry and educational organizations to build strong collaborations that will improve marine technology education. The MATE Center has designed and implemented methods to gather information from stakeholders in the marine community. The process has led to collaborations, partnerships, internship opportunities, industry guidelines for technical jobs in 5 occupational clusters, and the development of a model degree and certificate program in marine technology at Monterey Peninsula College. Five partner high schools have strengthened relationships with local community colleges, and begun development of a curricular framework for pathways from high school to college. Industry/government and university partnerships have been initiated to steer program development regionally. The MATE Center has taken effective steps to create and distribute information and outreach materials for increasing the Center´s impact on major stakeholders in marine science and technology. These include: brochures and informational materials, a web site, quarterly and bi-weekly newsletters, visits to high schools, seminars, and displays at national meetings.