The focus for National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) is research investigating how students learn technological concepts and skills, how students learn creative thinking and problem solving, how best to prepare technology and engineering education teachers, how information technology can be applied to improve technology and engineering education, and how the interdisciplinary, integrative nature of technology can be exploited positively to improve learning across the curriculum. As a collaborative partner, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will prepare new Ph.D. candidates to integrate engineering content and practices into teacher education programs that prepare high school technology teachers.