The Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP) is the third campus of the South Orange County Community College District and offers courses from Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College and the Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT). Subject areas include advanced technologies such as photonics, design model making and rapid prototyping and some supporting general education courses such as health sciences, business, languages, computer information management, and others.
The Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT)
The Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) at ATEP is one of 12 workforce development centers in California that is committed to training for manufacturing and high tech industries in order to keep jobs in California. ATEP's CACT is a National Center for Photonics Education and a National Science Foundation Center of Excellence. The prestigious designation was awarded to thirteen centers across the U.S. that have committed to increasing the pool of well-trained technicians in optics and photonics by creating a secondary-to-postsecondary "pipeline" of highly qualified and strongly motivated students. The selected centers will receive grant funding for four years from the National Science Foundation to create one- and two-year postsecondary programs devoted specifically to lasers, optics, and photonics technology as well as high demand technologies that are enabled by optics and photonics, such as biomedicine, manufacturing, information technology, and engineering. The CACT at ATEP is an Irvine Valley College program.
Design Model Making & Rapid Prototyping (DMP)
Rapid model making and prototype design is a valued part of many industries, including transportation, architecture, product and packaging, media, and entertainment. The growth of digital technology has opened up new areas of development in design representation, such as digital simulation and rapid prototyping. Courses in the program study the elements of creative thinking and interpretation used in the design process, including the techniques and methods used to construct prototypes and models. In advanced courses, students choose a field of specialization to explore methods and materials in a number of options in digital simulation, modeling and rapid prototyping. The DMP program is an Irvine Valley College Program.
Other General Education Courses
Some of the general education courses from Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College are offered at the ATEP location.