CAAT's 2018 Accomplishments and Activities
2018 saw the CAAT transition to a NSF ATE Resource Center. Our primary mission continues to be the development of a prepared technical workforce for the advanced automotive industry, a critical initiative to continued national economic growth. To this end, we engage with stakeholders in education, business and the community to proactively address the emerging and growing hiring and educational needs of the automotive industry. CAAT was also awarded supplemental NSF funding to continue its work with industry and educational partners to create curriculum related to connected/automated vehicles and cybersecurity, attend and present at important automotive and educational conferences and events, and mentor and collaborate with other ATE Centers to ensure that technicians are prepared for automotive cybersecurity, automotive infrastructure, materials technology, etc.
Technician Curriculum Development
Developed and enrolled students in two new technician degree programs
- To equip students with mechanical, electronic, and software skills for product development in electrified and automated/connected vehicles and experimental vehicle testing
- Two seed-funded courses approved for inclusion in the VDT program:
-
AUTO 2000 – Connected, Automated, and Intelligent Vehicles
-
ELEC 2310 – Vehicle Experimental Testing
- Develop your leadership, problem-solving and communication skills as a Production Supervisor while earning your associates degree
top
Professional Development
Offered professional development opportunities that were attended by more than 400 automotive educators
top
STEM Outreach to Middle and High School Students and Parents
Provided STEM outreach opportunities to more than 7,000 middle and high school students and parents
- Conducted in-classroom STEM labs in 15 middle school classrooms for approximately 2,700 students
- Updated
in-classroom STEM labs to reflect the new standards of teaching science
- Developed a new
STEM lab, Mini Marshmallow Shooters, and a new STEM Lab for Career Classes
- Modified
Career Exploration Labs for 9th and 10th grade students, debuted the program at Macomb’s Career Exploration Days (March, 40 students)
- Contributor at
Michigan STEM Partnership’s Southeast Michigan STEM Alliance (March)
- Participated in the
Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) STEM Day and the Detroit Science Center (April, 1,000 students)
- Sponsored
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Summer Academy for high school students (June, 15 students)
- Conducted two
Career Exploration Labs in conjunction with Macomb's College for Kids program, (July &, August, 8 students)
- Participated in
Connect with Careers event (August)
- Provided hovercraft STEM lab at Middle School Days at Macomb Community College (March, 250 students)
- Offered
Auto STEAM Days event attended by middle and high school students from area secondary schools (December)
- Sponsored
Exploring Careers in Manufacturing and Technology event attended by middle and high school students/parents (December)
top
Educational Leadership
Participated in various opportunities to engage with leading educational organizations to further the education of technicians and engineering technologists in advanced automotive technologies
top
Industry Engagement
Attended important industry events to keep the CAAT on top of the expanding workforce needs of the automotive industry
top
Marketing and Communications
Maintained website for students, educators, and industry representatives that was visited more than 45,000 times by more than 36,000 unique visitors
- The website had more than 175,000 pageviews this year
- Added a new
Automotive Cybersecurity page to the CAAT website
- Added 58 new resources to the
CAAT's free library, from which more than 1,800 resources were downloaded
- Created a
new brochure for the CAAT
- Provided 1,700 social media posts to more than 1,000 followers
- CAAT Director mentioned in Automotive News article “
Fixed on the Future” (February)
Developed ten CAAT Tracks newsletters distributed to 1,500 subscribers
top