SACRAMENTO – The Foundation for California Community Colleges has announced that it is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (ATE) research grant to support “From Pipeline to Pathways,” a project that will explore ways to transform community college science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

The $899,999 in funding will allow a team of researchers, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Norena Norton Badway, to identify and disseminate strategies that community college ATE programs use to offer meaningful pathways to associate degree programs in this field of study.

Over the course of three years, “From Pipeline to Pathways” will seek to identify strategies to help local programs that are struggling with how to expand access to and completion of technical education, while also providing professional development tools to help STEM programs implement more flexible and accessible career pathways.

In addition to Dr. Badway – whose background includes serving as the Director of the Community College Cooperative at University of California, Berkeley – the team of researchers includes Dr. Debra Bragg, a Professor of Higher Education and Community College Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Dr. Jerry Somerville, educational consultant and independent researcher. Dr. Somerville’s background also includes a 40-year tenure with Napa Valley College, where he served in a wide variety of faculty and administrative leadership roles.

“This is an exciting project for both the Foundation for California Community Colleges and higher education in general, as it will address the need to increase the effectiveness of educational pathways that help students evolve into leaders in technology,” said Dr. Paul Lanning, President and CEO of the Foundation for California Community Colleges. “The project will benefit from the knowledge of Drs. Badway, Bragg and Somerville, each of whom possesses significant experience in community college research.”

“This research will ultimately benefit not only California Community Colleges, but colleges throughout the nation, by identifying promising practices for developing the curriculum and structure to help students enter and complete STEM programs,” said Dr. Badway. “Technical programs such as these represent an important field for the unemployed returning to college to seek advanced training, so it is critical that we explore the effectiveness of these programs, as well as ways in which colleges might expand their capacity in this area.”

Throughout the project, the team also plans to employ collaborative research that will involve both emerging scholars and experienced ATE leaders at individual community colleges.

“Allowing for multiple perspectives throughout this project will not only bring greater value to the findings, but will also provide leaders in Advanced Technological Education with professional development and knowledge that can be applied to ongoing measurement of the effectiveness of technical programs, thereby making continued improvement possible even after this project comes to an end,” added Dr. Badway.

The National Science Foundation’s ATE program, launched in 1992, provides seed money to innovative community college educators to focus on specific ways to improve the education of technicians in high-technology fields that drive our nation’s economy. The grants, such as the one given to the Foundation for California Community Colleges, support the development of educational materials, courses and curricula; professional development for high school and college educators; and lab experiences, field experiences, and internships for students.