David F Bahr - US grants

9876937
Bahr
Washington State University establishes a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site with a focus on characterization of advanced materials. Ten undergraduate students are recruited nationwide for a ten-week summer research experience, with a recruitment focus on students from predominantly undergraduate institutions in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions.

Students are involved in materials research that includes thin film growth, mechanical properties measurements, and solid freeform fabrication of composites. Undergraduate students work in teams to determine the correlation between processing parameters and resulting material structure, as well as the effect of structure on the properties of the materials studied. In addition, students participate in a forty-hour instrumentation course, weekly seminars and social activities. Providing students at both the lower and upper undergraduate level with exposure to advanced processing and characterization techniques motivates talented undergraduates to enter or remain in the field of materials research.

The goal of this Engineering Microsystems: "XYZ" on a Chip project is to investigate the fabrication of a micro heat engine, which will use commonly available liquid hydrocarbon fuels, to efficiently generate electric power to be used by Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and microelectronic devices. This micro heat engine is expected to deliver electric power in the range of milliwatts to watts while supplying voltages from 1 to 30 volts. The research involves the creation of a totally new class of heat engine, which takes advantage of thermophysical phenomena unique to small scales.

The result will be a heat engine that is efficient and that can be mass-produced with techniques developed for microelectronics and MEMS. The proposed engine is an external combustion engine, in which thermal power is converted to mechanical power through the use of a novel thermodynamic cycle which approaches the ideal vapor Carnot cycle. Mechanical power is converted into electrical power through the use of a piezoelectric generator. The generator, which takes the form of a flexible membrane, can be readily manufactured using MEMS fabrication techniques but still delivers high conversion efficiency. This approach eliminates the requirement to manufacture complex micromachines such as rotary compressors and turbines, resulting in a very simple but highly efficient device. In addition, since the micro heat engine is an external combustion device, it will have broad fuel flexibility, making it useful in a wide range of applications including military, space, biomedical, and consumer products.

Engineering - Materials Science (57)
We have developed a textbook and accompanying CD-ROM for a course in materials specifically designed for non-science majors. This work builds on the success of a course developed at Washington State University for non-science majors that addresses the manner in which materials impact society on a regional, national, and global scale. The course "Materials: The Foundations of Society and Technology" is targeted at third and fourth year undergraduates and is a "capstone" course in our General Education Curriculum. This textbook is based on the extensive notes we have prepared in developing the course and on research we have undertake under the auspices of this proposal. The textbook has been written in such a way that it can readily be used by the general college population. To assist faculty that decide to teach similar courses at their own institution we have developed a CD-ROM. Our CDROM has links to important educational and informational resources. In addition it contains homework problems and suggested assignments as well as background information regarding basic engineering and scientific principles.

Washington State University continues operating a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site. The REU Site has been in operation since 1999. The theme of the proposed REU Site is Characterization of Advanced Materials. Students participate in research projects that use modern characterization techniques to understand the relationships between the processing, structure and properties of materials. These projects are done under the supervision of faculty in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Department of Civil Engineering. Twelve undergraduate students are recruited nationwide every year for a ten-week summer research experience, including students from community colleges in the region. In addition to participating in individual research projects, students attend a series of teaching workshops on the use of various characterization instruments and tools.

A thermal-source field-emission SEM (FESEM) will be acquired to perform structural characterization on nano-scale and nano-crystalline materials. Specifically, projects in the development and optimization of functional thin films will be enabled by this instrument. The WSU MEMS based engine which operates on layers of piezo-electric films (lead zirconate titanate, PZT) currently produces power sufficient to operate small electrical devices (such as a wrist-watch). Optimization of the structures through strategic processing will boost the power output to tens of watts. This will be accomplished through complete structural characterization of the grain structure and local crystallographic texture. Such analysis is only possible through electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) on an FESEM. Cu interconnects for integrated circuits have enabled continued miniaturization of the interconnect structure that now requires maximum spatial resolution for adequate crystallographic analysis of the structures. Local crystallogaprhic texture and grain boundary structure (including twin boundary content and morphology) are important for improved manufacturability and resistance to electromigration that now has driving forces on the order of 106 A/cm2. Finally, mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials are controlled by mechanisms that are not considered to be important in conventional polycrystals. Investigation of the mechanisms controlling the performance of nanocrystalline metals requires complete structural characterization on the scale of the crystallites that can be accomplished using the FESEM. The instrument will add significant new strength to existing funded research areas such as MEMS, structures and properties of metal films for microelectronics applications, the study of radiation induced structures in wide bandgap materials, and nano-materials for biological applications.

In addition to the several graduate students that will be primary users of the FESEM, there will be access to the instrumentation for various undergraduate students working on specific topic areas under one of the principal or ancillary users, or as part of the requirements to complete undergraduate research projects. The instrument will be used by undergraduate students in a Materials Characterization Laboratory course, and will be highly utilized in our NSF sponsored REU program in Characterization of Advanced Materials (in which about 50% of the participants are women or minority students). The proposed FESEM can easily be adapted for remote operation and will be remotely operated for training purposes. This will benefit existing courses on our main campus. In the future, this remote access will be offered to the various high school and community colleges in Washington State that may have an interest.



A field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) will be purchased for use in characterization of nano-scale materials. Advances in SEM technology have enabled superior imaging resolution, via the field emission electron source. Electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis enables crystallographic information (phase and orientation) to be obtained in the SEM. These enhancements have empowered researchers to embark on an entirely new class of research that previously could not be reasonably approached with any other analytical instrumentation. Fine structures in crystalline materials ultimately control the macroscopic properties of materials. The FESEM will be used to develop microstructure-property relationships and processing/synthesis-microstructure relationships in several key application areas. It will be used to further develop and optimize the world's smallest engine currently in development at WSU. This micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device is only millimeters in total dimension, and can generate power on the order of tens of watts. The power-generating films in this device are sub-micron in thickness, with structural features on the order of 50 nm. Local structure analysis can only be performed using an FESEM in concert with EBSD technology. Additional major research projects require the characterization power of the FESEM. Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials are generally superior to conventional materials. Optimizing the structures of such materials will allow for stronger, more efficient materials that will result in lighter, stronger materials for use in automotive, aerospace, and structural applications. Finally, modern integrated circuits require highly optimized interconnect structure with minimum feature sizes on the order of 100 nm and shrinking with each new generation. This research will continue to further the understanding of optimal structures, particularly in the copper interconnect wires, that will lead to increased speed and reliability of computer chips.

In addition to the several graduate students that will be primary users of the FESEM, there will be access to the instrumentation for various undergraduate students working on specific topic areas under one of the principal or ancillary users, or as part of the requirements to complete undergraduate research projects. The instrument will be used by undergraduate students in a Materials Characterization Laboratory course, and will be highly utilized in our NSF sponsored REU program in Characterization of Advanced Materials (in which about 50% of the participants are women or minority students). The proposed FESEM can easily be adapted for remote operation and will be remotely operated for training purposes. This will benefit existing courses on our main campus. In the future, this remote access will be offered to the various high school and community colleges in Washington State that may have an interest.

Abstract

Proposal Number: CTS-0404370
Principal Investigator: Cecilia D. Richards
Affiliation: Washington State University
Proposal Title: NIRT: Nanotube based structures for high resolution control of thermal transport

This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 03-043, category NIRT. The focus of this work is the use of mixed-scale architectures to bridge scales from nanometer level structures to micrometer level components to millimeter level devices and materials. We propose to incorporate carbon nanotubes into microscale composites to create a new kind of mesoscale device, a thermal switch. Arrays of thermal switches will then be produced in batch to create sheets with spatially and temporally controllable "digital" thermal conductivity.
Mixed-scale architectures can be used to bridge scales from nanometers to micrometers to milimeters in order to manufacture materials and devices whose pertinent dimensions range from nanoscale to microscale to mesoscale. Carbon nanotubes (CNT's) are inherently one-dimensional mixed-scale structures, with diameters in the range of nm and lengths in the range of mm. We take advantage of this 103 aspect ratio to bring superior thermal and mechanical properties (due to the CNT's nanometer scale diameters), to micro-scale components (making use of the CNT's micrometer scale lengths). Many microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are also inherently two-dimensional mixed-scale structures with thicknesses in the range of mm and planar dimensions in the range of mm. We take advantage of this 103 aspect ratio, to bring the superior thermal and mechanical properties of the micro-scale components to effective use on the meso-scale.
Carbon nanotubes will be synthesized and then extensively characterized. The nanoscale thermal and mechanical properties of the CNT's will be modeled. The CNT's will then be assembled into aligned arrays within a matrix and formed into micron scale blocks. The thermal and mechanical properties of the aligned CNT composite blocks will then be characterized and modeled. Finally, the CNT composite blocks will be utilized to fabricate prototypes of thermal switch devices.
The educational plan targets undergraduates, under represented groups, K-12, and teachers. This work will result in strong interactions between a large, rural research institution and two urban campuses, making it easier for students from a wide range of demographics to participate in cutting edge research projects. Instrumentation for characterizing thermo-mechanical responses of nanotube assemblies will be created, allowing future work to proceed in these areas. High school teachers from the Northwest will be able to get hands on tools to bring nanotechnology back to their schools, helping to motivate future generations of scientists and engineers. Research on this project will closely couple undergraduates and graduate students, helping to foster integrating research into all levels of education, particularly in groups traditionally under-represented from science and engineering.

The research is being funded by the Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Program of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division.

Engineering - Materials Science (57)

This project is focused on increasing student involvement in active undergraduate research activities across engineering disciplines, primarily in the freshmen and sophomore years. This is being done by developing a two stage program. The first aspect is an intensive summer camp to provide basic information about research skills and techniques that are broadly applicable to science and engineering. After successfully completing the week-long summer program, students enter the second stage of the program; a mentoring and seminar program during the school year to pair students with faculty on campus. Faculty members from four engineering disciplines are participating in both the camp and school year programs. Up to 20 students per year are participating in the program. The program is creating new teaching strategies while providing a core group of faculty from several engineering programs an opportunity to develop expertise in a unique format of education not commonly carried out at universities. The program is being evaluated via a control group to assess measurable outcomes that include increased student participation in research and retention in engineering.

ARI-MA: From Ce:YAG to Ce:GGG for High Energy Resolution High Efficiency Gamma Detection - A Novel and Powerful Class of Scintillators

The objective of this research is to transfer and strengthen knowledge of intrinsic defects linked to a material's performance as a radiation detector in cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet and other garnet materials. Defects will be linked to the crystal growth process in a fully integrated process from crystal growth, furnace temperature profiling, doping schemes and post-growth treatments to the characterization of detector performance. Neutron detection capability may be implemented during the latter part of the project.
The intellectual merit of the project is the anticipated academic foundation for significant improvements in compounds through "defect engineering". It is anticipated that the advances will lead to a dramatic improvement in the energy resolution of garnet scintillating radiation detectors, competitive with the best crystal materials available, while superior in chemical and mechanical properties and easier to fabricate. The proposed work will also provide crucial understanding of microscopic defects.
There are several anticipated broader impacts of the research. The project will educate expert crystal growers, a skill in dire need for the US economy and national security, and materials scientists who will understand the tight correlation of growth conditions to the quality of the crystals in applications. Students will also be exposed and educated in the use of a broad range of diagnostic tools. Open houses and general presentations to potential students and visiting high school classes are envisioned to increase the visibility of high quality crystal growth in academic and non-academic communities. Research experiences for undergraduates will also be incorporated in the project. Finally, the expected insights from "defect engineering" will, hopefully, also bring about new applications in other fields such as nuclear medicine and diagnostics through positron emission tomography.

Recent developments in nanostructures have brought to light exceptional electromagnetic, thermal and optical properties of a class of foam-like nanostructures formed of disordered intertwined structural units (nanowires, nanobelts, nanotubes). Such disordered assemblies are named turfs. Applications include thermal switches, flat panel displays, hard discs drives, and, chemical and biological sensors.
Although the mechanical properties are usually not the primary service characteristic of turfs, they are nevertheless of paramount importance. Irrespective of application, the turfs are often subjected to mechanical loads, either as service load as in thermal switches, or, as accidental contacts. Under externally forced deformation, the nano-topology of the turf changes, which, in turn, affects all the other effective properties: electrical, thermal, optical, sensing and permeability.
We will develop an integrated approach to the problem: multiscale modeling, nanomechanical experiments, and, nanostructure characterization, with the following objectives:
Understanding and quantification of the behavior of turfs as materials on the basis of the physical and geometrical properties of the individual units and their collective behavior in the assembly.
Development of the nanoscale characterization methods that reveal the relevant parameters of the nanostructure.
Practical technological impact of the project is that the results will enable rational design of nanoturfs tailored for particular application in sensors, thermal switches and other devices. The REU component of the program is carefully structured and includes assessment methods, developed and proven at the Center for Teaching and Learning at WSU. Our pilot student mentoring program will provide graduate students with mentoring experience a skill that PhD graduates need, but is sorely missing in most graduate programs.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Traditional methods of strengthening materials often focus on increasing the resistance to plastic deformation by decreasing dislocation mobility. In many of the rapidly developing metallic materials that exhibit enhanced strengths, such as multilayered metals and ultrafine grained metals, the limiting factor is likely the creation and multiplication of dislocations, rather than the motion of dislocations. While there is substantial work on this topic by many groups around the world, most studies focus on pristine or extremely controlled structures, whereas most engineering alloys are complex, multicomponent systems that have prevalent defect structures. Exposure to radiation and existing non-equilibrium processing is particularly likely to generate excess vacancies and other point defects. This project will provide a fundamental study of the nucleation of and operation of sources dislocations with a wide range defect structures in metals using both experimental and computational studies. The team will experimentally quantify the impact of vacancies, impurities, and grain boundaries on dislocation nucleation and plasticity at extreme stresses in a variety of metallic systems using indentation techniques to probe the onset of plasticity. Point defect concentration will be assessed by positron porosimetry. Nanoindentation studies will also be used to demonstrate the impact of existing defects on the propagation of dislocations at the nm scale at high stresses, and these results will be compared to computational simulations using both molecular statics and dynamics. This coupling will develop stronger relationships between computational models of incipient plasticity and experimental studies through the development of multi-scale modeling techniques addressing both length and time scales.

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Of the many methods used by engineers and scientists to strengthen metallic materials there is increased emphasis on developing nanoscale structures that exhibit the -smaller is stronger- paradigm, where having a smaller length scale in the material provides more resistance to deformation. This project will focus on determining the fundamental effects of existing defects in metals on the onset of plasticity. There will be an experimental component, wherein the onset of plasticity is measured in a variety of metallic materials to quantify the ultimate strength of the material. These results will be compared to computational simulations developed to address both time and length scale issues in modeling the onset of permanent deformation. The graduate students supported will be partnered with a group of materials science and engineering undergraduates that have developed an outreach kit of materials for junior high students, and will gain experience in organizing teams of engineering students and distributing the kits to dozens of underserved classrooms around the region.

Of particular interest in this project are the mechanical properties of metals in systems that consist of structural components whose dimensions, or the dimensions of their substructure, lie in the range of tens of nanometers to tens of micrometers. The investigators will develop experiments, models and computational platforms to pursue reliable mechanical properties and prepare maps for use in the design and analysis of such systems. Innovations include advancements in bulge testing techniques for studying submicron structures, advancements in multiscale modeling based on molecular dynamics and dislocation dynamics analyses, and development of a crystal plasticity hardening law for submicron elements.

The potential performance levels of miniaturized systems made of submicron components, such as microelectormechanical systems and lightweight metal panels for automotive and aerospace application, can lead to new performance level and energy efficiency not achievable with current materials. The outcome of this project would have major impact on these emerging technologies by providing scientific bases for designing of such systems. Additionally, this project will involve graduate and undergraduate students in mentoring primary and secondary school students through a unique outreach program. The goal is to increase students' interest in science and engineering, broaden the background of doctoral students in outreach activities, and address issues of disparity that may be underlying concerns in attracting women and minorities to doctoral research.

The Boyer Report (Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in Research Universities, "Reinventing Undergraduate Education; A Blueprint for America's Research Universities," 1998) identified three challenges that still permeate many public research universities: the need to start students in research activities earlier, providing quality research experiences for more students, and creating experiences that can be delivered to increasing numbers of transfer students. The second America COMPETES Act (January 2011) urged that undergraduates be included in standard NSF grants. However, increasing participation in early undergraduate research continues to be a challenge at many institutions of higher education. This project is developing a collaborative approach to increasing early undergraduate participation in significant research activities. This is being accomplished through courses and programs designed to teach general research skills, rather than only engaging students in specific disciplinary research activities. By focusing on "research oriented" or "research skills" experiences, more students can be economically included early in their undergraduate studies. The project is a partnership comprised of Washington State University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Alabama, with faculty members from the University of Wisconsin-Madison participating in an advisory role. The partners are adapting each others' existing research skills courses (one per institution, three in total). All three courses are being made available to students at each partner institution. The three models are:
- A faculty led boot camp short course, running one week in the summer as an intensive program (developed originally at WSU)
- A peer mentored short course for transfer students just prior to the beginning of the academic year (developed originally at UCF)
- A semester long seminar course that meets during the academic year using asynchronous delivery of lecture material (developed originally at Wisconsin).

The intellectual merit of this proposal is increased by an ongoing, comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness and cost of these programs at three universities, as undertaken by a centralized evaluation team. The assessment is addressing the following questions:
- Do these three skills programs increase the number of students participating in undergraduate research while maintaining the quality of existing experiences?
- Do skills programs decrease the "incubation period" of new undergraduate researchers in the laboratory and increase faculty participation campus-wide?
- What are the costs and benefits of implementing sustainable research-oriented teaching and training modules at three public research universities?
This information is of potential value for institutions considering efforts to institutionalize or grow their undergraduate research programs.

Nanoscale metal foams exhibit several remarkable properties. The most common nanostructured foams are currently made of pure metals, and they demonstrate exceptional performance in areas such as catalysis, batteries, and optics. These metal foams are, however, often fragile and difficult to integrate into engineering applications. The ability to mechanically strengthen foams to create robust materials has heretofore been limited in pure metals. This award supports research aimed at creating a new class of materials - composite nano foams - which display the same remarkable properties as pure metal foams, but with significantly enhanced structural integrity. The new materials designed through this work will allow researchers and engineers to exploit unique properties without suffering failure during mechanical handling or service. The fundamental knowledge gained from this research may be used in designing and manufacturing catalysts with low cost and high strength, fuel cells with higher capacity and faster charging times, biomedical implants with high fatigue resistance, and lighter and stronger hydrogen storage units. A team of researchers at two universities, Clarkson and Purdue, will carry out this work, exposing students at both schools to the increasingly common long-distance collaborations needed for advancing research.

The research team will couple computational methods of materials engineering at the atomistic and mesoscopic scales (molecular dynamics and finite element analysis) to experimental methods of manufacturing and characterizing composite nanostructured foams. The working hypothesis is that coating individual foam ligaments with nanostructure multilayers will result in the formation of stronger foams. To create these materials, copper and nickel will be electroplated to form core-shell layers on templates of paper-like mats of eletrospun polymers, which will be oxidized and then subsequently reduced to form nanoscale copper metal wires. Pulsed-laser thermoelastic excitation will be used to determine the dispersion and vibrational resonance to obtain the foam's bulk elastic properties. These results will be compared directly to finite element simulations of the composite to isolate the effects of geometry and ligament properties. Foam strength will be predicted based on molecular dynamics simulations of the ligaments, which will provide information to feed into the finite element models, and finally compared to experimental studies of the yield strength using nanoindentation with a flat punch geometry. The intellectual significance of this work will be the development of a new class of materials guided by computational materials engineering, and the development of novel techniques for manufacturing and testing nanoscale metallic foams.

This project is supporting a workshop to nationally disseminate the educational materials and lessons learned during the PIs' earlier NSF-funded project, "EURO: Enhancing Undergraduate Research Opportunities" (award 1123068). In this earlier project, faculty from 3 large institutions collaborated in developing coursework to provide lower division undergraduate STEM students with research experiences that were less costly than traditional methods involving labs. EURO met the considerable challenge of increasing participation in early undergraduate research in an affordable way. This was done through the creation of courses and programs designed to teach general research skills, rather than only engaging students in specific disciplinary research activities. By focusing on "research-oriented" or "research skills" experiences, more students can engage research early in their undergraduate studies without major increased expense. The target audience for the current project is comprised of faculty and administrators interested in increasing the number of students involved in undergraduate research at their institution. The workshop organizers are drawn from the EURO team. All of them have taught these courses over the past four years. The workshop has a capacity for 27 participants who are expected to become trainers in this method. The organizers are committed to following up with the participants to support adaptation of this approach at the participants' home institutions.

The PI team is continuing to solicit and develop modules and information to share with practitioners of undergraduate research. Workshop participants will be expected to contribute to the research concept inventory problems previously developed, adding content from a broad range of institutions. By holding the workshop concurrently with the short course taught at the lead institution, the PI team is also planning to measure the effectiveness of this method of dissemination and determine if it is more effective than the conventional methods. If most of the participants follow through and set up their own regional training programs, using materials that the project team will make accessible, the train-the-trainers aspect of this project will have a substantial impact and also become self-sustaining.

Non-technical description

Exceptional materials will, almost by definition, be used in exceptional applications, which can include exposure to elevated temperatures, and therefore the design of ultra-strong metals requires consideration of the strength of materials in extreme conditions. Bulk metals often become mechanically softer after exposure to high temperatures; one exception to this rule is materials that are designed to age harden. Aluminum alloys are the classical example of age hardening, where after heating the strength of the aluminum alloy increases due to local re-arrangements of impurity atoms that lead to an internal nanoscale network of strengthening particles. Stronger materials benefit society on several levels; in particular they allow us to develop lighter weight structures that carry the same loads (i.e. more fuel efficient cars, lower materials costs in bridges, or higher performance in aerospace applications). Ultra-strong metals often use many closely spaced nanoscale particles within the metal to increase strength, but often these particles grow upon exposure to high temperatures and their relative spacing increases, which decreases strength. A new method is proposed in this study to strengthen metals that relies upon forming layers of alternating two different metals which creates a material with many internal interfaces. By confining the strengthening particles to nanoscale slabs the maximum particle growth will be constrained, and at the same time that the particle-to-particle spacing increases the interface-to-particle spacing decreases, resulting in retained strength and thermal stability. The students working on this project will also design classroom materials and accompanying lesson plans for middle school science classrooms to help teachers provide students engaging activities that fulfill Indiana learning standards while teaching college students how to effectively support local educational outreach.


Technical description

Annealing precipitate-strengthened metals increases the spacing between second phase particles, and the structure will soften. By adding second phase precipitates within layers, annealing will change both the particle-particle and particle-interface spacing. This work will examine the effects of two dimensional confinement on precipitation of Cr particles within a metastable Cr-Cu system. As precipitation occurs within the FCC layer, the nanolaminates with precipitates are expected to have a higher strength than single phase laminates. During annealing the spacing between the particles may increase, but the distance between the particles and the Cu-Cr interfaces will decrease as the precipitates grow. This provides a strengthening mechanism that should lead to increases in strength after annealing, rather than decreasing strength after annealing, and is possible only due to the two dimensional architecture of these materials. The system should also be resistant to over-aging, adding a level of thermal stability not possible in 3D architectures. However, the confined layer slip mechanism of strengthening relies on dislocation core spreading and shear at the FCC/BCC interface; it must also be determined if precipitates at interfaces, rather than in the layer, accentuate or attenuate strength enhancements. The goal of this proposal is to test and verify the possible strengthening mechanisms, determine if the nanoscale features of planar systems provides additive synergistic strengthening with other hardening mechanisms (i.e. are precipitation hardening, confined layer slip, and solid solution hardening additive in 2D confined systems?), and develop strengthening models for this 2D architecture that will predict the strength of new metallic multilayer alloy structures that strengthen when annealed and exhibit smaller decreases in strength at elevated temperatures than other nano-featured metals. This work is motivated in part from recent molecular dynamics simulations that suggested nanolaminate strength increases as precipitate size increases, providing a new direction in strengthening metallic systems for use under elevated temperatures and or subjected to thermal conditions that would traditionally degrade their strength.

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Materials science and engineering students are in high demand from industry in areas ranging from steel fabrication to semiconductor manufacturing to advanced composites for automotive and energy generation. Graduates need to be able to use sophisticated tools, think critically and innovatively, and be adaptive to a rapidly changing world. Now is the time for the materials research and education community to explore advances in pedagogy, effective learning principles, and educational content delivery to better serve students. While the primary focus of this workshop is undergraduate materials degree programs and introductory materials courses used by a wide range of science and engineering majors, community college and graduate education is also being addressed. This workshop is identifying the current best practices in providing innovative and inclusive teaching methods and tools. The results, distributed through a consensus report, will better prepare science and engineering college graduates for using modern tools across all materials science and engineering industry sectors.

TECHNICAL DETAILS: The workshop brings together leaders and practitioners from the broadly defined materials research and education field for a two-day workshop to share new innovations in educational content delivery to impact the widest range of students possible. The workshop includes demonstrations of new online learning modules, the incorporation of computational simulation tools into both lectures and labs, and the addition of active learning and entrepreneurship components to the curriculum to foster a more inclusive student body and workforce of the future. The workshop"s focus is on how these innovations are implanted in the materials curriculum at the college level, and builds on prior meetings that helped shape the continuously evolving content in materials courses across several science disciplines. The organizers, drawn primarily from an international organization of university materials science and engineering department chairs, are committed to ensuring attendees represent all sectors and dimensions of the materials research and education community.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.