To provide opportunities for lifelong learning to machine tool and metrology technicians so they can develop and maintain skills to meet the needs of industry. To achieve this goal, the partnership among Madison Area Technical College, the University of Wisconsin Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement and the Madison Metropolitan School District will collaborate with a network of industry and education representatives who have a stake in highly skilled metrology technicians and qualified teachers. This proposal will actively pursue the following objectives: (1) Establish and maintain active collaborations with representatives from education, business/industry, and government. (2) Incorporate employer needs, math and science standards, and quality standards into a metrology curriculum for middle school, high school, and undergraduate students as well as employees. (3) Develop and implement faculty and industry professional development. (4) Adopt and develop strategies to: increase the enrollment and success of students, particularly those from under-represented groups; increase work experiences for students and faculty; enhance professional status of technician careers; and provide lifelong learning opportunities for technicians. (5) Facilitate exchange of ideas among students, educators, employees, employers, and manufacturers. (6) Evaluate project implementation through proactive third-party evaluators. Stakeholders will exchange ideas and collaboratively develop metrology curriculum for secondary and undergraduate students as well as employees at Metrology Institutes. They will also develop strategies as prescribed in Objective 4. Finally, they will gain work and hands-on laboratory experiences at the MATC Metrology Laboratory and on the proposed Mobile Metrology Laboratory. *
