PFI: Consortium for Spectroscopic Sensor Systems (CoS3): An Integrated Systematic and Entrepreneurial Approach to Engineering Education

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project is a Type II (A: B) partnership involving two universities, SUNY at Stony Brook, an NSF PFI graduate (0332605) and the site of the Center for Advanced Technology in Diagnostic Tools and Sensor Systems (Sensor CAT), and Princeton University, which is participating in another NSF partnership program: Engineering Research Center (ERC) on Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and Environment (MIRTHE) (0540832). This project addresses the need to stimulate interest in the field of sensor technology. Sensor technology engineering is a field ready for rapid growth and innovation, but the high level of specialization needed for a student to get into the field means that there are few students in the pipeline. Sensor-related technology provides an exciting platform for developing an entrepreneurial-learning environment, and can have far reaching multidisciplinary implications. Combining students from both Stony Brook and Princeton in E-Teams, the approach taken in this project to entrepreneurial learning builds on both institutions' technical strengths in sensing and detection in general, their and in spectroscopic sensing in particular, and will support expansion of the sensor research community drawing, recruitment of undergraduate students into engineering, and enrichment of undergraduate training with multidisciplinary team-work experience and entrepreneurial skills. The project seeks to provide an educational model that will produce well-rounded engineers who are adaptable to the business world and who are capable of thriving in the face of new challenges. Sensor technologies have been undergoing rapid transitions as is a result of a convergence of forces in along several dimensions, including miniaturization, intelligence and mobility. Sensor technologies are poised to be applied in the real world in various applications such as environment and civil, industry and commerce, health, safety, and security. Moreover, the area of sensor systems can provide a far-reaching, multidisciplinary technology "pull" that can fascinate and inspire engineering students. The project seeks to contribute to the sensor revolution by building a technology workforce, a pipeline of engineering graduates with entrepreneurial and business skills. At the same time, it will serve to revitalize engineering education with an integrated, systematic and multidisciplinary approach. The coursework developed in this project is applicable elsewhere in the U.S., where sensor technology is important, e.g.,especially, Florida and California. The methodology (e-teams, web based courses, entrepreneurship training) is widely useful in other engineering disciplines. Partners at the inception of the project are Academic Institutions: SUNY at Stony Brook (lead institution) and Princeton University; and Private Sector Organizations: Lockheed Martin; Veeco; Servo Corporation of America; MTI Instruments; Princeton Technology Advisers Company; GHO Ventures, LLC; and LaserMax.