The National Science Foundation (NSF), Advanced Technological Education (ATE) division, has awarded a grant worth $599,997 to East Grand Forks, Minnesota’s Northland Community and Technical College (NCTC), in partnership with St. Cloud State University (SCSU), which is located in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

As an independent federal agency, the NSF supports research and education throughout the United States in all fields of engineering and science.

According to its website, the NSF receives “more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding,” each year, and makes “about 12,000 new funding awards.”  

“Receiving a grant from the NSF is significant as I’m certain that most people aren’t aware of how difficult it is to qualify for such an award,” says Dr. Dennis Bona, President, NCTC.

“This prestigious honor is a tremendous statement regarding the rigor of our curriculum, our capacity to research as well as the excellent preparation and qualifications of our faculty. We will be using the funds to complete specific work requested by government agencies in the aviation sector, which will also serve to further the knowledge of the industry as a whole.”

Specifically, the grant that the NSF ATE has awarded to NCTC will go towards the advancement of UAS and geospatial information technology (GIT) education and training. NCTC has the only accredited UAS maintenance program in the country, and also has the first two-year Associate of Arts degree program in Geospatial Intelligence Analysis.

NCTC’s awarded project, called “Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Geospatial Information Technology Integration into Technician Education,” aligns with “several of the priorities and developments in the UAS and Geospatial technology program at NCTC.”

Over the course of the project’s three-year life span, the focus will be on developing “new capabilities in Geographic Information Science at both institutions while creating educational pathways through dual credit enrollment and 2+2 articulation agreements for Northland students.”

“Amazing opportunities are created when industry and education become partners to advance a skilled workforce,” says Jonathan Beck, UAS Instructor and Program Manager at NCTC.

“The NSF ATE community fosters these partnerships, leading to engaging technical education.”

Beck adds, “NCTC and St. Cloud State University, with the support of the NSF ATE community, are proud to be leading partners in the development of models incorporating these technologies into programs across Minnesota State.”

In an effort to develop a highly skilled GIT and UAS workforce, the grant will be used to continue forward on “ground breaking UAS innovations,” while also creating new educational opportunities for students.