Cross-Pollination Skillsets: Growing Mechatronics and Agricultural Collaborations for Producing Skilled Agricultural Technicians

异花授粉技能：不断发展机电一体化和农业合作，培养熟练的农业技术人员

• 批准号: 2350254
• 负责人: David Berry
• 金额: $ 34.32万
• 依托单位: Virginia Western Community College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-06-01 至 2027-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2350254&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cross; Pollination; Skillsets; Growing; Mechatronics

This project aims to serve the national interest by advancing workforce readiness of agricultural technicians. Agriculture is a top economic driver in Virginia. Both the state government and private industry are currently investing in industries focused on hydroponics, precision-agriculture, and controlled-environmental agriculture. This project directly aligns with these initiatives and will develop an agriculture-technology (Ag-Tech) curriculum that teaches skillsets needed by today’s technicians. The project will meet the NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program mission by highlighting successful members of the STEM workforce from traditionally underserved groups in STEM and merging two traditionally divided areas of study into one career studies certificate. Specifically, this effort seeks to blend the mechatronics discipline with agriculture disciplines. As no Ag-Tech program currently exists within the Virginia Community College system, the project will serve as a model for those seeking to develop one. The project will play an important role in workforce development by maintaining BILT (Business & Industry Leadership Team) partnerships and using industry feedback to grow the novel Ag-Tech program. The project will advance the understanding of modern mechatronics skills, agricultural knowledge, and leadership skills to grow a regional workforce needed to meet the growing field of precision-agriculture. The goal of this project is to develop a novel Ag-Tech career studies certificate (CSC) that can be completed at the community college in just four semesters. The scope of the project will involve current faculty and staff, industry leaders, high school instructors, and current and future Virginia Western Community College students. The project will advance understanding of mechatronics and agricultural skills needed in an Ag-Tech career through field trips to partnering industries and development of new courses through feedback from current BILT leaders. New courses will include vertical growing, autonomous vehicles, and agricultural leadership. This project will add to the field intellectually through development of a novel Ag-Tech CSC that currently does not exist in the VCCS. With the goal of producing 45 graduates, the project will benefit the local economy of Roanoke by generating $3.3 million in direct, indirect, and induced economic impact over 3 years. Evaluation of the project will be performed twice a year through student, faculty, and industry feedback. Annual evaluation activities will analyze number of participants, retention, and satisfaction with the project to determine future direction if feedback indicates changes are needed. The progress and results of the project will be disseminated through ATE Central, internally in the college, with participants at HI-TEC (High Impact Technology Exchange Conference), and potentially in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Engineering Technology (JET). This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that 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.

该项目旨在通过提高农业技术人员的劳动力准备程度来服务于国家利益。农业是弗吉尼亚州的首要经济驱动力，目前州政府和私营企业都在投资于水培、精准农业和受控环境农业的行业。该项目与这些举措直接相关，并将开发当今技术人员所需的农业技术 (Ag-Tech) 课程，该项目将通过突出 STEM 的成功成员来满足 NSF 高级技术教育 (ATE) 计划的使命。具体来说，这项工作旨在将机电一体化学科与农业学科融合在一起，因为弗吉尼亚社区学院系统内目前不存在农业技术项目。该项目将成为那些寻求发展这一项目的人的典范。该项目将通过维持 BILT（商业和工业领导团队）合作伙伴关系并利用行业反馈来推动新型农业科技项目的发展，从而在劳动力发展方面发挥重要作用。对现代人的理解机电一体化技能、农业知识和领导技能，以培养满足不断增长的精准农业领域所需的区域劳动力。该项目的目标是开发一种可以在农业科技学院完成的新型农业技术职业研究证书（CSC）。该项目的范围将涉及当前的教职员工、行业领导者、高中教师以及当前和未来的弗吉尼亚西部社区学院的学生。该项目将增进对农业所需的机电一体化和农业技能的了解。 - 通过实地考察来实现技术职业生涯通过当前 BILT 领导者的反馈，合作行业和开发新课程 新课程将包括垂直种植、自动驾驶汽车和农业领导力，该项目将通过开发目前尚不存在的新型农业技术 CSC 来增加该领域的知识。该项目的目标是培养 45 名毕业生，在 3 年内将产生 330 万美元的直接、间接和诱发经济影响，每年将通过学生进行两次评估。 , 教师,年度评估活动将分析项目的参与者数量、保留率和满意度，以确定未来的方向（如果反馈表明需要进行更改），项目的进展和结果将通过学院内部的 ATE Central 进行传播。与 HI-TEC（高影响力技术交流会议）的参与者一起，并可能在工程技术杂志 (JET) 等同行评审期刊上发表。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于技术人员的教育。先进技术领域该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。