MATE Center ROV Competitions for Students: Partnering with Industry and Professional Societies to Help Meet Work Force Needs
Authors: Zande Jill , Michel Andrew Drew 
Published: June 2014

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center coordinates and helps to facilitate both regional and national student ROV competitions. The Center partners with industry and professional societies to create and support these events, which challenge students to develop technical, problemsolving, and teamwork skills, and benefit the marine community by preparing students to meet work force needs.

About the MATE Center

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, headquartered at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California, is funded by the National Science Foundationâ??s (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) and has been in existence since 1997. The MATE Center is a national network of community colleges, high schools, universities, research institutions, marine industries, professional societies, and working professionals. The mission of the MATE Center is to improve marine technical education and in this way help to prepare the nation's future workforce for ocean-related occupations.

Introduction

The need for qualified individuals to support the marine industry has never been greater, yet educational programs that focus on marine technology are sorely lacking. This is especially true at the high school level where students are just beginning to think about their career paths. With many electronics and other "shop" programs being phased out at high schools and colleges because of funding cuts and a shortage of technical expertise to support them, the situation does not seem to be improving. Further, despite our nation's interest in and reliance on the ocean environment for energy, food, telecommunications, transportation, and exploration, students are often unaware of the many career opportunities available to them in the marine workplace.

In 2000, the MATE Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee joined forces to help remedy this situation and create a program that would:increase awareness of marine industry, technology, research, and exploration;highlight marine-related career opportunities;promote the development of higher-level technical, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills;provide students with technical and financial support; andproduce a pool of skilled individuals who can meet marine work force needs.

With these goals in mind, the MATE Center and the ROV Committee developed the framework for their national student ROV design and building competition program.

Today the ROV competition program involves more than 500 students from high schools, home schools, community colleges, and universities from across North America and includes four regional events, with more being planned for the future. The program also involves partnerships with nearly 60 marine-related organizations, including MTS, Oceaneering International, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Ocean Engineering Society, and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration, that donate funds, building supplies, equipment, facilities, and technical expertise to help support it. In addition, more than 60 working professionals from organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the U.S. Navy are involved as team mentors, sharing their knowledge and guiding students through the design and building process.

With the support of its industry, government, research institution, and professional society partners, the MATE Center's goal is to continue to expand the competition program, challenging more students to apply their skills to creatively solving problems in the marine arena. In this way, the competition program will also contin