The MentorLinks: Advancing Technological Education program, supported by the National Science Foundation is designed to help colleges develop or strengthen technician training programs in STEM fields through mentoring, professional development opportunities, and technical assistance; to establish connections for colleges to identify new ideas and relationships through networking opportunities at program meetings and Advanced Technological Education (ATE) National Conferences; and to help colleges gain insight about support for building and sustaining new programs.

To advance technician education, increase community college engagement with the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program, and expand mentoring capacity, Mentor-Connect and participating ATE Centers are collaborating in mentoring prospective ATE grantees.  The Co-mentoring initiative provides support from both ATE Centers and Mentor-Connect while developing an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant proposal for submission to the National Science Foundation.  Co-Mentored teams benefit from discipline expertise from an ATE Center and technical expertise (e.g., grant proposal preparation, submission, funding, and implementation) from the Mentor-Connect project.

The ATE Center will encourage and support faculty/colleges in their network to pursue ATE funding with co-mentoring support. Prospective grantee colleges/faculty will apply for co-mentoring via an online application on the www.Mentor-Connect.org website, under the tab “Get a Mentor.” Each participating ATE Center website will provide a link to this application as well. The application identifies participating ATE Centers and prominently include logos for participating centers on the application. *Applications received via the online system will be shared with the affiliated ATE Center immediately upon receipt.