ATE PI Checklist for Getting Started with Your Evaluation Post-Award

About the Authors

Elaine Craft

Elaine Craft has served as Director of the National Science Foundation-funded South Carolina Advanced Technological (SC ATE) Center of Excellence since 1994. Currently, she serves as Principal Investigator (PI) for the NSF ATE-funded Mentor-Connect: Leadership Development and Outreach for ATE project and as Co-PI for the SC ATE National Resource Center for Expanding Excellence in Technician Education both based at Florence-Darlington Technical College, Florence, SC. She also serves as Co-PI for the NSF ATE Regional Center for Aviation and Automotive Technology Education using Virtual E-Schools (CA2VES) based at Clemson University, SC, and co-leader for the Community College Technical Assistance project based at Collin County Community College, Frisco, TX. In addition, Craft is President/CEO of SCATE Inc., a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit corporation created in 2005 to promote systemic change in Advanced Technological Education and help sustain the SC ATE Center of Excellence. For SCATE Inc., Craft conducts and/or oversees external evaluation of projects funded by the National Science Foundation, US Department of Education, US Department of Labor, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and US Department of Agriculture as well as curriculum development, program improvement, and faculty development focused on problem-based learning. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mississippi and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.

Kelly Robertson

Kelly has a Ph.D. in evaluation and more than eight years of experience in the field of evaluation. She works as a Senior Research Associate at The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University. Dr. Robertson has worked on evaluations at the local, regional, national, and international levels, spanning a wide variety of sectors (e.g., STEM education, adult education, career and technical education, and evaluation capacity development). Her research interests primarily focus on evaluation as it relates to equity, cultural competence, and making evaluation more user-friendly. She, along with Dr. Lori Wingate, led the development of The Evaluation Center's online training program, Valeo (valeoeval.com).