The project is developing instructional materials and teaching strategies on nano-computing that easily integrate into the standard electrical engineering courses dealing with electronics, logic design, and circuits. The goal is to develop educational material on nano-computing that can be understood by undergraduate students and taught by faculty not currently engaged in nano-computing research. The investigators are creating materials for (a) an introductory nano-electronics unit consisting of motivational material and descriptions of various nano-devices (CNT, SET, QCA, RTD) and their functionality and challenges, (b) a digital logic unit illustrating the important principles in nano-domain logic design including majority, minority, multi-valued logic, and (c) a nano-domain circuits unit covering circuit behavior and design using SPICE models of CNTs or SETs. These materials are designed to foster cooperative learning, learning by doing, and sensory-mode sensitive active learning. They are especially targeted towards women who are severely under-represented in computer engineering. The evaluation component, with assistance from two campus centers on teaching excellence and evaluation, is measuring student perceptions of the material using survey instruments, faculty perceptions of the unit through interviews, and assessments of student learning using surveys specifically developed for this project. Dissemination includes postings on a website, presentations at engineering education conferences, publications in the appropriate journals, and faculty workshops at design automation conferences, such as the IEEE MSE. The broader impacts include the dissemination of project results, the faculty workshop, and focused efforts on women and minority engineering students.
