ATEEC News Online–Fall 2000

For the second time since 1994, the National Science Foundation has awarded ATEEC a three-year continuation grant. October 2000 marks the beginning of ATEEC's seventh year of its mission to serve high schools and two-year colleges. Our three major goals remain the same:

1. Strengthen science, math, and technical curriculum, and instructional materials supporting advanced technology environmental education
2. Strengthen the nation’s environmental technician programs through professional development opportunities
3. Strengthen education through support services for program improvement

Along with ATEEC's ongoing projects and services, several new efforts spring from the continuation grant during the next three years, such as:

• A national Defining Environmental Technology Forum to validate and update occupational tasks and skills.
• A series of on-line vocational-technical modules on environmental safety and health compliance and practices for Auto Collision Repair; Printing; Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning; Nursing; and at least fourteen other vocations.
• Multimedia courses and modules in Emerging Environmental Technologies and Environmental Health, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (see related article below).

Beginning in October, the National Science Foundation is funding a two-year project in which ATEEC and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will join forces to integrate environmental technology research into the classroom and community. The partnership is designed to help community college and high school faculty incorporate MIT's cutting-edge research into their course materials. High school and community college students often lack exposure to developing technologies that they may be expected to use two or three years down the road. This project will help teachers learn about these new technologies, which can be passed on to their students.

The project’s two broad goals include:

1. Developing curriculum and educational materials which will focus on emerging knowledge and technologies in the environmental field
2. Establishing a faculty exchange and professional development program to broaden understanding of how research connects to applied education and the workplace.

The project encompasses the development of a series of learning modules focused on “Emerging Environmental Technologies” and “Environmental Health Impacts” and the involvement of community college and high school environmental educators with MIT scientists in a variety of venus. Another outcome would be a critical issues conference to help strengthen the link among environmental researchers, educators, and practitioners.

To learn more about the project, contact Cindy Lake Cary at 319-441-4098, or send an e-mail to clake@eiccd.cc.ia.us.

www.ateec.org/pete/

On behalf of National PETE, we welcome the college faculty and students back to class for another successful academic year. We are completing the transition of the National PETE office from California to our local host, Southern Maine Technical College, and establishing a positive financial management services relationship with Eastern Iowa Community College District. We are looking forward to a bright and prosperous future.

The PETE Board of Directors has formed a Committee to work on specific elements of a business plan to be fully implemented in 2001. In this plan, we are committed to strengthen the network of PETE colleges, enhance the benefits of being a PETE member, and intensify services to PETE’s business, industry and government clients. This also includes a stronger alliance with PETE’s partners, such as, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC), National Environmental Training Association (NETA), and Hazardous Materials Training Research Institute (HMTRI).

The following are highlights of program activity this summer:

• PETE has placed over fifty faculty members in our NSF sponsored Faculty Associates in Science & Technology (FAST) Internship Program. This is the final year of this project.
• PETE launched a new summer “Youth-in-the-Environment” program in New York City and Camden, New Jersey through a grant with U.S. EPA Region II. This program placed over 30 inner city high school youth in summer employment. We also hired four college students from Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY (NE PETE Member College) as Summer Youth Coordinators for the New York City project. This program is designed to provide a meaningful summer employment to inner city youth that exposes them to environmental careers and community college awareness.
• Our Energy Management/Services Curriculum project, under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, is progressing well. Working with ATEEC, PETE will define and conduct a workshop in the Energy Management/Services Technicians field. The next phase is to develop a model for the two-year associate degree program and one-year certificate degree program in the Energy Management/Services fields for technicians. This model will be available in mid 2001.
• PETE has been working on the closeout of two major grants with the U.S. EPA, Energy Star and Design-for-the-Environment. These grants have provided many of our member colleges with instructor training, new program starts, and exposure to the emerging pollution prevention. Also, these grants have increased the marketability of our colleges, faculty, and students through providing energy efficiency technology, products, and services.
• This summer both South Central PETE and Western PETE held successful Instructor Conferences. These conferences were sponsored in part by ATEEC.
• PETE cosponsored two College/University Environmental Compliance workshops with U.S. EPA Region I at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH and Worcester State College in Worcester, MA with over 140 attendees.
• PETE has two international projects that are in their final phases: a subcontract with Honolulu Community College to help develop Environmental Technician Training in Thailand and a grant with the United States Information Agency (USIA) to develop Environmental Technician Training programs with the American University of Beirut.
• PETE has been developing projects this summer to submit to the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. PETE is also developing joint projects with some of our private partners.

We are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Environment Training and Education Foundation (NEETF) to assist in a national launching of their new Industrial Ecology Course and Mentoring Program for Community Colleges. We will announce the details at a later date.

We look forward to another successful year in developing new and exciting opportunities for our Regional Offices and our member institutions. Our best for the coming academic year!

You can reach National PETE at:
2 Fort Road
Campus of SMTC
South Portland, Maine 04106
Tel: (207) 767-2539
Fax: (207) 767-7174
Email: Natlpete@smtc.net

Sincerely,
Kirk J. Laflin, CET
PETE Executive Director

One? A dozen? A hundred? Technically speaking, it takes a couple of mouse movements on the computer for a site to go live. ATEEL, the Advanced Technology Environmental Education Library, will be lit as of the end of September.

ATEEL will feature web resources for students, teachers, and technicians in the environmental technology areas shown in the chart to the right. If a teacher seeks classroom-ready activities juried by expert educators, ATEEL is the place to go. If a student needs to look up the latest regulation, ATEEL is where to find it. ATEEL is not only a clearing house of web resources but also of dates for upcoming events and professional development opportunities.

How many people does it take to light a web site? Dozens. As the ATEEL project designer, I would like to give credit where it is due. Dr. Ellen Kabat Lensch, Director of ATEEC, and Kay Runge, Director of the Davenport Public Library, have spread the word. Meg Sarff and Veronica Mitrisin, Master Librarians at the Davenport Public Library, have been integral to indexing the resources and designing the site organization. The Sector Leads (see chart), environmental technology educators with experience in their fields, juried the URLs to ensure the ATEEL site has reliable content. The ATEEL Board will meet in November to evaluate the initial site and guarantee its continuous improvement. Dean Sessler, Web Master, has maintained a smooth process for web site development.

We also want to thank our partners–the Institute of Museum and Library Services, ATEEC, EICCD, HMTRI, PETE, U. of Northern Iowa, EPA (Envirofacts), and P2RIC (Pollution Prevention Region Information Center). Finally I want to give credit to you and your students. Your use of ATEEL will help us improve our services for environmental technology educators, students, and practitioners.–C. Walker

ATEEL's Sector Leads

• Air–Cheryl Stith
• Energy–Roger Ebbage
• Env. Man. Systems–Bill Engel
• Field Services–Jeff Bates
• Inf. Man. Systems–Bob Welch
• Lab Services–Ken Chapman
• Natural Res. Man.–Richard Knaub
• Pollution Prevention–Rick Yoder
• Regulatory Affairs–Dave Foss
• Remediation–Ron Snyder, Doug Elam
• Safety & Health–Bob Treloar
• Solid & Haz. Waste–Kelly Bringhurst
• Water & Wastewater–Tony Gordon

Drannon Buskirk, Harrisburg Area Community College, reviewed the Guidebook– “If I’d had the Guidebook, it would have saved me six months on my program start-up.”

In 1998 North Central PETE hosted a Best Practices workshop in St. Louis and gleaned hundreds of ideas from teachers around the nation. The ATEEC instructional designers added such topics as the DACUM process, labor market assessment, program evaluation, and contextual teaching and learning strategies. The result is a Web-based book: Best Practices in Environmental Technology Program Guidebook, or simply the "Guidebook."

The Guidebook is primarily intended for two-year college and high school educators interested in starting or improving environmental technology programs. Surveys structured for data comparisons are included in the Program Assessment chapter.

The nine-chapter Guidebook is available on the ATEEC Website. After payment of a nominal fee, you can E-mail Gary Olson for a password to begin your access: golson@eiccd.cc.ia.us. Visit www.ateec.org/guide.html for an overview of the Guidebook.

www.ateec.org/2000/index.html

Participants of the sixth ATEEC Fellows Institute, held at the University of Northern Iowa, have developed teaching resource units around five environmental technology themes and designed them for on-line access:

• State of the Earth unit: Students study a local water body from the vantage point of its history, its current state, and its projected future. By analyzing longitudinal data, they come to conclusions about trends in the quality of the water and about its water and wastewater treatment.
• Environmental Disasters unit: The Exxon Valdez case study is used to stimulate students' consideration of what constitutes an environmental disaster. Teachers may select from numerous activities and resources that lead students to study oil pollution in their own communities as well as local response to spill emergencies.
• Risk Assessment unit: Students apply EPA's four risk assessment steps to activities that contemplate the disposal of old computers and fluorescent light tubes. Students also consider risk factors related to the incidence of asthma in their school.
• Environmental Health unit: This unit especially focuses on emerging and reemerging diseases. Students participate in a simulated outbreak, trying their hands at investigating the source of illness that erupts after a party.
• Environmental Justice unit: This case study introduces students to tools available on the Web for collecting data about a community facing economic decline and possible contamination from nearby industry.

The anticipated upgrade to the “Brownfields in a Box” has finally arrived. ATEEC is proud to announce the completion of the newly updated “Brownfields in a Box” interactive CDROMs and multidisciplinary education module. This new version features the Nahant Marsh Case Study, an EPA Superfund clean-up site.

ATEEC staff, working with Kelly Bringhurst and Ron Woodland from Dixie College in Utah, have spent countless hours creating and editing the final product. Now you can experience real-life video footage and interactive photos of this Superfund site. The student activities included in the module will strengthen math, science, communication, and technical skills.

In this edition of ATEEC News is an updated “Brownfields in a Box” brochure with detailed information and an order form. We believe you will find the upgrade to “Brownfields in a Box” an active and exciting educational experience!

September 2000

This summer NE PETE has undertaken the process of updating its membership roster and ensuring that all the information is correct, including current email addresses. This will keep all of our member institutions and interested parties abreast of NE PETE and National PETE activities.

NE PETE and National PETE hosted and co-sponsored two College/University Environmental Compliance workshops with U.S. EPA Region I. These workshops were held at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, in June and Worcester State College, Worcester, MA in July. Combined we had over 140 attendees that learned about the U.S. EPA compliance requirements of college campuses and what must be done to fulfill the requirements.

NE PETE is also working with U.S. EPA Region I to establish a Regional College/University Presidents Environmental Compliance Advisory Council this fall. This Council will provide a forum for two-way communication and support in EPA’s effort to ensure all college/university campuses are in compliance through assistance versus enforcement. Leading the formation of this council for U.S. EPA Region I are National PETE’s Board of Director’s Chairman, Dr. Frederick Woodward (President of Westfield State College in Westfield, MA) and National PETE’s Chairman of the President’s Council, Wayne H. Ross (President of Southern Maine Technical College).

The NE PETE Board of Directors will determine the next location and site for their 2001 Instructor Conference over the next month. Be sure to watch for the details by mid-fall 2000.

–Sincerely,
Kirk J. Laflin, CET
Acting Regional Director
NE PETE

South Central PETE

The 2001 Four-Region (Northeast/Southeast/North Central/South Central) PETE Joint Conference will be held in St. Louis, Missouri from March 15-17, 2001. St. Louis Community College will host the conference. The conference will revisit Green Campus Initiatives; such as, water reclamation projects, chemical reduction, brownfield sites projects, health and safety programs, etc.

The conference will begin to answer the question, “How do you use your campus as an extension of your classroom?” If you know of some unique green campus programs at your college, please let us know.

Originally from Fort Smith, Arkansas, Daniel Bedell graduated Salutatorian in 1981 from Southside High School. Throughout childhood until he graduated, he loved to play basketball and baseball. The next four years Daniel attended and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

Travelling overseas for his five years of service, Daniel resigned his commission in 1990 and was hired by ALCOA as a mechanical engineer at their Davenport Works. He has served as the primary implementation engineer for all soil and groundwater environmental compliance projects plant wide for nine years. In 1995 he passed the Professional Engineering licensing exam and has been a registered P.E. in the state of Iowa ever since. Welcome our new board member Daniel Bedell!

What Keeps Daniel Busy

His family–a wife and two one-year-old identical twins, Ian and Connor

Daniel Bedell Says

"I’m pleased to be part of the ATEEC Board and fully support the plans and goals of it and its partners.

“I have always been interested in protecting the environment, but my environmental awareness was greatly enhanced by my time working with nuclear material in the Navy. I volunteered to move into the environmental field shortly after hiring on at ALCOA. because I thought the work would be a good match between my interests and skills.

“While at ALCOA, I’ve been part of a team that has made Davenport’s water system a fully recycled system with all water returned to the river in dry weather 100% treated. We’ve installed chemical spill containments for all tanks and truck unloading stations plantwide. We’ve installed a ground water treatment system to treat all well water from our deep water aquifer before discharge to the Mississippi (mandatory pump and treat). We’ve removed and remediated oils around buried storage tanks. “

Emily “Pete” Phillips will graduate in June 2001 with a B.S. in Environmental Science from Salish Kootenai College. Pete is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. She is currently active in the American Indian Science and Engineering Society chapter and Confederated Salish Kootenai Veterans Warrior Society. Her goal is to teach science on the Flathead Reservation.

Pete has finished an internship in the Water Resource Department and did a research project funded by a Montana Weed Grant. She has received numerous scholarships and was nominated for the Deans list. She continues to be on the high honor roll.

Pete states,

“When I first started college my only goal was to know more about gemstones, but I was always fascinated by all other aspects of the science field. Now, I am on my way to a BS in Environmental Science. Because of the past overuse of our planet, we need to find a new way to get back to the old Indian ways to save what’s left.”