NUE: An Integrated Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education Program at the University of New Mexico

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) in Engineering program at the University of New Mexico, entitled "NUE: An Integrated Multidisicplinary Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education Progarm at the University of New Mexico", under the direction of Dr. Zayd C. Leseman, is to educate undergraduate students at UNM about the history and current state of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (NS&NT) via hands-on approaches in order to produce an informed citizenry and competitive work force for the 21st century. To achieve this goal four new courses will be developed and three new modules on nanotechnology will be introduced into existing courses. This project will institutionalize nanotechnology into UNM-SOE's curriculum by creating a concentration in this area. Between the two UNM departments leading this effort, Mechanical Engineering (ME) and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), more than 328 undergraduate students will be exposed to the NS&NT material including a significant number of Hispanic and Native Americans students. In addition, K-12 Shareable Content Objects (SCOs) will be developed and presented by the minority undergraduate students who constructed them and the co-PIs' will present components of the NS&NT material developed at 2 to 4 STEM Educator Workshops per year and show the participants how to adapt these into STEM high school courses. The co-PIs also plan to impact approximately 100 teachers over the course of this program who in turn will impact several hundred students at local/rural public schools and from New Mexico's Native American Reservations.