This grant provides funding to support a workshop on "Faculty Development Needs for Advanced Manufacturing in the USA". The workshop will be held in January 2014 in Arlington, Virginia. The objective of this workshop is to provide the academic community with insights into areas where the development of faculty scholarship is needed in order to support future US manufacturing enterprise. The workshop will provide the opportunity for academic faculty development in advanced manufacturing through interactions with program directors of NSF and program managers of other agencies (such as Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and Department of Commerce) involved with manufacturing research and innovation. Major activities of the workshop include presentations by program directors of federal agencies, as well as interactions among workshop attendees.
US global competitiveness in manufacturing will require significant advances in research and curriculum development at universities across the country. The workshop will help establishing a strong, innovative faculty cohort to enable a more sustainable US manufacturing base. It is expected that interactions of the participants at this workshop will contribute to a better understanding of the future needs for manufacturing faculty human resource development, and will positively impact academic growth in educators and researchers for the manufacturing enterprise.
