SCME: Scaling Microsystems Support

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

Microsystems, also known as Micro Electro Mechanical systems (MEMS), are becoming prevalent in daily life (e.g., wearable sensors, gaming consoles, sporting gear, smart phones, medical devices, and autonomous vehicles). This trend is driven by increasing functionality, decreasing device costs, and the Internet of Things (IoT) that need billions of sensors, actuators and communications devices. Given this increasing demand for microsystems, which has been growing at double-digits annually, there is both a jobs gap and a skills gap for such technologies, as well as STEM at large. The Southwest Center for Microsystems Education (SCME) will transition to a Support Center to work with community colleges and professional organizations to infuse microsystems educational materials into standardized job training and educational systems across several STEM disciplines. The STEM students benefit by being presented with alternative high technology microsystems career paths and having the knowledge to pursue them. SCME has built a large portfolio of microsystems-based STEM educational materials and the supporting delivery infrastructure that have benefited hundreds of educators and thousands of their students. As a support center, SCME seeks to increase this impact several fold by providing asynchronous online and hands-on adaptable resources and the technical mentoring support needed for educational organizations to adopt and adapt SCME materials into their traditional STEM curricula. The SCME support center will provide a vehicle for partners to share their integration experiences and curricular modifications through conferences and online sharing opportunities. UNM will partner with the Lone Star College (LSC) system initially to pilot the introduction of microsystems into STEM courses. Historically, SCME has provided targeted professional development and microsystems courses to both Hispanic and Native American serving secondary and post-secondary institutions. SCME, with LSC and its Office of Diversity Initiatives, and student and industry professional associations, will provide scaled MEMS education, mentoring and career advisement targeted at underrepresented groups. This effort will inform SCME as it extends its reach using the standard of "Scaling Educational Innovations", and illustrates possible career pathways for technician students in the expanding microsystems arena.