On June 18, 2018, DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)-funded Algae Technology Educational Consortium (ATEC) announced its first graduates from the algal certificate program at Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  DOE states that these first ATEC graduates “received their Associate Applied Science Degree in Controlled Environment Agriculture with a certificate in Algae Cultivation” on May 12, 2018. The program was conceptualized and designed by ATEC members, including professors, algal commercial leaders, community college instructors, and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL).  The announcement states that the ATEC curriculum was designed “with inputs from America’s leading algal companies to include education and training in specific job skills, thus allowing students’ skills to transfer immediately into professional careers.”

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