Both MERC and NETEC serve the clearinghouse functions in support of the respective missions of the two NSF ATE Centers from which they emerged - NCME, the National Center for Manufacturing Education based at Sinclair Community College in Ohio and NJCATE, based at Middlesex County College in New Jersey. During the course of their work, each Center independently identified the need for a dissemination portal and applied for funding to create digital clearinghouses particular to their specialties - engineering technology and manufacturing technology respectively - have partnered to ensure their projects meet the common goal of serving the larger technology educational community. With NCME Director Monica Pfarr and NJCATE Executive Director Jack Waintraub as PI's, the two centers' projects have been guided by their own Editorial Boards and a joint National Visiting Committee composed of leaders from academe, industry and professional societies nationwide. Though concentrated on different aspects of technology education, both centers have focused on the effective dissemination of NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) resources and their use by educators, students and others to advance the ATE program goal of technology education reform to ensure ongoing and future national economic viability in a competitive global climate.

Dr. Elizabeth Teles, NSF's ATE Program Director notes, "They both have an excellent group of people working on the projects... There is real potential for the sites to serve the community. Because dissemination is required of ATE and other NSF projects, this should be one avenue that is useful for the manufacturing and engineering technology communities."

In honor of National Engineers Week, below are links to some sites that highlight the roles of engineers and technologists in manufacturing, along with other engineering career information and virtual tours of manufacturing facilities. Enjoy!