2009 ATEEC Fellows Announced!

The Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC)announced the 15th annual professional development workshop to be held at the University of Northern Iowa from June 14 - 23, 2009.

The theme of this year's institute will be "Wind Power." All math and science instructors from 2 year colleges and high schools are encourage to apply.

Application deadline is February 2, 2009.

Learn more and apply today.

Tribal Colleges Apply for Technical Assistance through ATEEC and PETE

The Partnership for Environmental Technology Education has announced the call for Tribal Colleges to apply for technical assistance through a National Science Foundation grant to strengthen environmental science programs at our nation's Tribal Colleges.


The grant is in its second year and has already provided assistance to three Tribal Colleges. Year two has started and they are asking for more Tribal Colleges to apply.

Learn more or apply at the PETE NSF Tribal College website

ATEEC Releases New Google Earth Virtual Field Trips

The Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) releases seven new virtual field trip activities today. Building on last year's ATEEC Fellows Institute, attendees (environmental science instructors from high school and two year colleges) flew to Alaska again to explore fossil fuels and alternative fuel options there.

Utilizing another one of ATEEC's products, An Illustrated Guide to Creating Virtual Field Trips Using FREE Google Services, instructors learned how to build virtual field trips with nothing more than a GPS unit, digital camera and camcorder. This was done through the use of FREE Google tools such as Google Earth, Blogger and YouTube. Teachers who utilize these tools can capitalize on student technology skills while still engaging them in the outside world through GPS and GIS. Imagine giving an assignment to students that asks them to create a virtual field trip and present it to the class. How many higher learning skills are being captured there - (experience, design, development, presentation) all while bridging the real and digital world.

The ATEEC Fellows Institute is a professional development workshop for faculty and is a joint effort by both the University of Northern Iowa and ATEEC. Offering new skills to environmental and energy instructors allows them to take these types of experiences back to their classroom and engage their students more. It plays a role in getting students more interested in math and science.




Ken Walz, a chemistry and engineering instructor at the Madison Area Technical College had this to say, "Thanks again for a really great experience. I think I can speak for both Russ and myself that we learned a ton of new tech skills that we did not have previously, and certainly came away with a lot more knowledge about the petroleum industry and renewable energy in general. Since this was my first experience with ATEEC Fellows, I should also note that I was very impressed with the program. I will definitely recommend your work to others..."


The final products created by the 2008 ATEEC Fellows are visually stunning, classroom ready and are downloadable from the ATEEC website at www.ateec.org Teachers guides for each Google Earth virtual field trip are also included.

To learn more about the ATEEC Fellows or to be a part of it next year, check out the ATEEC Fellows website.


2008 ATEEC Fellows are listed below.

- Marlene Morales
- Tom Pederson
- DJ Jin
- Karen Merritt
- Roy Sofield
- Michael Marchiondo
- Laurie Trotta
- Suzanne Banas
- Ken Walz
- Kevin King
- Susan Wingate
- Louis LaPierre
- Wendy Lawton
- Catherine Ryan
- Russel Smith
- Roger Everhart (Fellows Mentor)
- Jeff Newmeister (Fellows Mentor)

ATEEC Fellows Build Virtual Field Trips about Energy and Environmental Topics

While many teachers take summers off to wind down and get ready for the next year, a rare breed of other faculty kick off their summer through an intense but fun workshop. The 2008 ATEEC Fellows Institute held their 14th annual workshop in Alaska for the second year. The theme this year- "Fueling the Future."

Fellows attended various lectures and field trips focused around energy, climate, sustainability, fossil fuel usage and transportation in Alaska. Alaska's vast resources have long been a topic of controversy regarding U.S. energy and environmental issues.

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) conducts the professional development workshop each year in conjunction with ATEEC. This year, we also partnered with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to utlize their expertise and services. The mission is to bring environmental, science, and math faculty from across the nation together to learn about hot environmental topics and discuss new teaching strategies that they can share with other instructors and students across the nation.

This years innovative teaching strategy was focused on the use of virtual field trips utilizing free Google services such as Google Earth, Blogger, and YouTube. ATEEC Fellows learned how to create virtual field trips with the use of GPS, digital cameras, and video equipment. Instructors used the ATEEC "Illustrated Guide to Creating Virtual Field Trips" product to help learn the process. The Fellows were split into groups to complete their projects based on various energy or environmentally related topics.

The result will be six new ATEEC virtual field trip activities that other instructors across the nation can use in their classroom. Look for them in the coming months.

Interested in applying for the ATEEC Fellows Institute next year? Check out our website at www.ateec.org for new information.

ATEEC Releases New Product - Virtual Field Trip How To Manual and Video

ATEEC has released their newest product, "An Illustrated Guide to Creating Virtual Field Trips." 

The guide shows you how to create a virtual field trip for free by utilizing Google's free online services.  Video and Manual.  As always, our products are free. Download it now! 

Enjoy.

ATEEC

Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center

www.ateec.org

Bruce Braley passes Clean Energy Investment Act - ATEEC present

Yesterday, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) visited the “Watts Up with Energy” exhibit at Bettendorf’s Family Museum of Arts and Sciences to discuss his wind energy bill. The interactive renewable energy exhibit which features many renewable energy technologies including wind energy, was developed by a partnership among Mid American Energy, The Family Museum, the Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center (ATEEC) at Eastern Iowa Community College and the Davenport Library.

The press conference was opened by Tracey Kuehl, Director of the Family Museum, followed by a welcome from Dr. Ellen Kabat-Lensch, Executive Director of ATEEC



During the press conference Rep. Braley expressed his vision and support to transform Iowa into one of the leaders country-wide in wind energy production. (Iowa’s wind energy production currently ranks fourth in the nation.)

“Iowa has the potential to be the wind energy capital of the Midwest,” Braley said. “Wind energy is good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for farmers. That’s why we need to do more to encourage the development of Iowa’s wind energy industry…”



Braley’s Clean Energy Investment Act of 2008 would extend the Wind Energy Production Tax Credit for seven years, providing wind energy producers with the incentive to expand production of wind energy."