This award provides funding for a three year standard award to support a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site program at North Carolina State University (NCSU) entitled, "Wearable Nanodevices, Linking Health and Environment: RET in Engineering and Computer Science Site", under the direction of Dr. Veena Misra.
The NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center (NERC) for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST), led by NCSU's College of Engineering in partnership with three local school districts and NCSU's Kenan Fellows Program, will provide a total of 42 middle and high school STEM teachers (14 per year) with a 7-week summer engineering research experience focused on developing and employing nano-enabled energy harvesting, energy storage, nanodevices and sensors to create innovative battery-free, body-powered, and wearable systems that monitor both internal health indicators and environmental conditions.
This project combines exceptional research experiences in NCSU's cutting-edge facilities with professional development to build teacher content knowledge and curriculum development and pedagogical skills. The program will build on the successful experiences of the ASSIST Center and individual mentors with RET teachers and the strength of the NCSU Kenan Fellows model for teacher research experiences developed through two previously funded RET Site programs. The project design includes experiences with ASSIST research mentors and will take place in exceptional nanofabrication and analytical instrumentation facilities. It incorporates teacher leadership development activities while also developing important pedagogical and instruction design skills. Participating teachers will create engaging and innovative activities based on wearable nanosensors to bring back to their classrooms.
ASSIST is developing new technologies that will lead to a paradigm shift in health informatics by allowing doctors, patients, and scientists to correlate health indicators with environmental conditions to better predict, manage, and treat diseases. The wearable nanodevice research in this project will be exciting for K-12 STEM teachers and their students while facilitating integration of nanoscience and systems engineering concepts into their science curricula. This RET Site will attract underrepresented students, including minorities and females, to engineering by engaging teachers and their students in exciting research experiences linked to personal health topics and global health issues. Partner school districts serve high numbers of high needs and underrepresented in STEM students; they will ensure participation of teachers serving in some of the highest needs schools.
