The Faculty Associates in Science and Technology Leadership Corps Project for Enhancing Environmental Technology Education The Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) is a national non-profit public-private partnership designed to link the resources of federal laboratories, federal and state agencies, private industry and professional societies with community and technical colleges. The primary goal is to assist approximately 460 participating colleges in developing quality programs for the education of environmental technicians and transfer students to four-year institutions. Faculty development has been and remains a key element of the PETE program. PETE is a partner in the NSF/ATE Program-funded Advanced Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC). This proposal is closely linked with ATEEC's programmatic objectives. This project is establishing within PETE a Faculty Associates in Science and Technology (FAST) program. Under this initiative, up to 60 community and technical college faculty are being placed annually in 4 to 8 week summer internships in private industry, national laboratories, DoD facilities, remediation sites and regulatory organizations. Four phases of this program are defined in the project, including providing environmental technology faculty with real world experiences which translates into improved community college curricula and the development of a nationwide network of experienced professional educators (FAST Leadership Corps) to serve as a resource to other community and technical college faculty delivering environmental programs. PETE provides the organizational framework for a national impact of program results. The FAST Project is based upon four years experience with the faculty internship program developed in the Western PETE region.
