FHTCC NEWS RELEASES

FHTCC’s techPATH Program Honored with STEM Award

HEATHROW, Fla. (July 26, 2010) –The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) has been selected as a winner of STEMflorida’s 2010 Business-Education Partnership Award.  The award recognizes FHTCC’s techPATH program for its outstanding efforts in bridging industry with academia to promote the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the state of Florida. 

techPATH was developed in order to cultivate tomorrow’s workforce by increasing students’ interest in high tech industries.  The main initiative of techPATH is its techCAMP program, a series of high tech workshops that are offered to middle and high school math, science, technology and career education teachers. 

Through hands-on experiments and tours of high tech facilities, techCAMP provides teachers with real-world information they can share with their students, motivating them in the pursuit of high tech careers.  To date, the techPATH program has held 62 techCAMPs with 2,320 teacher and student attendees.  Previous techCAMPs have focused on such diverse high tech fields as Life Sciences, Optics and Photonics, Modeling, Simulation & Training, Information Technology, Microelectronics/Semiconductors, and Microscopy.

“We are very honored to be among the ranks of Florida organizations across the state honored for excellence in STEM programming,” said Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.  “We believe that a major part of fulfilling our mission to grow high tech industry is developing the workforce that supports it, and introducing students to the many careers in STEM fields available in the Corridor region is a key ingredient in doing this.”

techPATH has hosted programs in nearly every corner of the 23-county Corridor, partnering with industry leaders CAE, SAIC, and the Army’s RDECOM; community colleges; the Museum of Science and Industry; the Orlando Science Center; and, the three Corridor universities, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Florida.  The program hosted its first-ever Life Sciences techCAMP with the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute this past April.

STEMflorida announced the award at a special recognition luncheon today during its STEM Business & Education Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.  Other award winners include Corridor partners Daytona State College, Harris Corporation, Lockheed Martin, the Orlando Science Center, the PRISM Project, Progress Energy and Workforce Central Florida.

About techPATH
An initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, techPATH is focused on cultivating tomorrow’s workforce.  Through this initiative, representatives of the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, local community colleges and K-12 systems develop programs aimed at encouraging students to pursue high tech careers. The signature offering of techPATH, techCAMPs are high tech workshops offered to middle and high school math, science, technology and career education teachers, to provide information about the industrial sectors that make up the Corridor.

About FHTCC
The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) is an economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF).  The mission of FHTCC is to grow high tech industry and innovation through research, workforce and marketing partnerships.

A partnership involving more than 20 local and regional economic development organizations (EDOs) and 14 community colleges, the Council is co-chaired by the presidents of UCF, USF and UF.  The Council includes the presidents of two of the community colleges, the president of the Florida Institute of Technology and representatives of high tech industry. 

The unique partnership has resulted in a strategic approach to high tech economic development that involves matching funds research, workforce development and a marketing program leveraging governmental, EDO and corporate budgets on a regional rather than local basis.

For more information, visit www.floridahightech.com.