This project is providing scholarships for students seeking Associates degrees in Electronic Engineering Technology and Laser and Fiber Optics Engineering Technology. Scholarship recipients take part in a "technology academy" featuring peer tutoring, block course scheduling to promote formation of a learning community among the scholars, and faculty mentoring. Special topics seminars and field trips provide additional student support. Upon completion of the program students receive career placement and enter the workforce or transfer to a four-year program. The intellectual merit of this project is further strengthened by a plan to assess the impact of the scholarships on recruitment for community college technology programs; and to assess the value of the technology academy model, particularly in the case where students move together through their whole program as a cohort. The broader impacts of this project are felt through the goal of increasing the number of technicians in the workforce. In addition, since students are recruited from secondary schools within an ethnically and economically diverse locality, scholarship recipients represent a diverse population. Finally, the project offers a model for technology education programs to increase enrollments, student retention, and performance.
