Community College Leadership and Innovation in Advancing the Skilled Technical Workforce, 2027-2029

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) will lead a three-year national initiative to strengthen community college leadership in advancing STEM technician education and workforce development. Community colleges play a critical role in preparing the skilled technical workforce needed to support emerging technologies, regional economic growth, and evolving industry needs. This project will expand that work by supporting the development and enhancement of Advanced Technological Education (ATE)-related programs; fostering STEM professional development opportunities for faculty, administrators, and students; promoting innovation and entrepreneurship; strengthening institutional STEM capacity; and increasing awareness of the vital role community colleges play in preparing the nation's skilled technical workforce. The initiative will support the national ATE community through professional development, mentoring, networking, and dissemination activities designed to strengthen institutional capacity and promote evidence-based practices in STEM technician education. Major activities will include hosting the national ATE Principal Investigators' Conferences, leading the Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC), expanding the MentorLinks mentoring initiative, growing the ATE Future Leaders Fellows program, and facilitating peer-to-peer leadership engagement opportunities focused on STEM capacity building. The project will advance knowledge and practice in STEM technician education by strengthening collaboration across the ATE community, expanding access to mentoring and professional development, and increasing awareness and adoption of evidence-based practices that support student success and workforce preparation. Broader impacts include expanding pathways into the skilled technical workforce, strengthening institutional capacity at community colleges, broadening participation in STEM, and increasing national awareness of the essential role community colleges play in preparing a highly skilled U.S. workforce. The project includes five integrated activities: (1) AACC will host the 2027, 2028, and 2029 ATE Principal Investigators' Conferences to provide professional development, technical assistance, resource sharing, and collaboration opportunities for the ATE community. (2) AACC will implement a new MentorLinks cohort to support 15 community colleges seeking to develop or strengthen STEM technician education programs through structured mentoring, peer learning, and engagement with ATE resources and practices. (3) AACC will lead the annual Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC), which will provide community college student teams with innovation, entrepreneurship, and professional communications training through a national innovation competition and intensive boot camp experience. (4) The project will expand the ATE Future Leaders Fellows program to provide leadership development and industry engagement opportunities for 15 STEM professionals. (5) AACC will facilitate peer-to-peer leadership engagement activities and disseminate ATE resources nationally through webinars, publications, outreach activities, and a new Workforce Innovators podcast. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program, which focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.