CAAT's 2020 Accomplishments and Activities

Professional Development

CAAT Conference and MATA Conference

• cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions

STEM Outreach to Middle and High School Students and Parents

Provided STEM outreach opportunities to more than 300 middle and high school students and parents

• Taught girl scouts about designing, building and showcasing robots. Women from various engineering fields served as mentors and team leaders. (February, 80 students)
• Conducted a virtual robotics camp. Students learned to build and program a COSMOS Jimu Robot through hands-on activities, experimentation, trial and error, and live virtual instruction. (August, 35 students)
• Collaborated with Macomb Community College, General Motors and Bosch, on a second robot programming challenge. Students explored the world of microcontrollers and built and programmed their own OSOYOO Robot Car. (September, 70 students)
• Participated in the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) Virtual STEM Conference with a virtual hands-on session called, “STEM Fun with Catapults” (October, 100 students)
• In conjunction with MISD and NCAT, offered a Drone Learn to Fly Challenge event with virtual instruction session held via Zoom and an in-person competition held at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica. (October, 34 students)

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

• CAAT Director, Ben Cruz participated in the 2020 Autonomous Vehicle Technology Sensors Educator Workshop offering a presentation on ADAS Sensors in Automotive Applications-Radar and Ultrasound. (October, 100 attendees)
• Presented a spotlight session at the ATE PI Virtual Conference, STEM Engagement in the Time of COVID: Strategies from Air, Land, & Sea, with NCAT and MATE. (October, 900 attendees)
• Presented at the National Career Pathways Network 2020 Virtual Conference on The Technician Skills Gap in the Emerging Connected and Automated Vehicle Industry. (October)

Industry Engagement

Attended important industry events to keep the CAAT on top of the expanding workforce needs of the automotive industry

• CAAT Director, Ben Cruz was featured on the Mobility Moments podcast by Driven Detroit: The Region Leading the World in Mobility discussing how important a properly skilled technical workforce is to the future of Michigan mobility. (March)
• CAAT Director, Ben Cruz provided input for industry articles:
  • Why Big Changes in Vehicle Design Happen More Often for Adapt Automotive
  • The Future Technician is a True Multi-Talent for Fender Bender
• Attended the virtual CAR Management Briefing Seminars (August)

Marketing and Communications

Maintained website for students, educators, and industry representatives that was visited more than 40,900 times by nearly 33,500 unique visitors

• The website had more than 136,000 pageviews this year
• Added a new NEVTEX Resources page to host the work being done by NEVTEX.
• Added 21 new resources to the CAAT's free library, from which more than 1,500 resources were downloaded
• Engaged with nearly 1,250 followers over social media

Developed three CAAT Tracks newsletters distributed to 1,600 subscribers

• Visit the CAAT Tracks archive
• Subscribe to the CAAT Tracks newsletter