This collections project builds on the advances in information technology, the Internet, and the World Wide Web that provide opportunities to create and disseminate rich scientific content to many people. To capitalize on these advances, this project provides bridges for novice and expert users to find useful content. The project researches the best delivery of a materials digital library using a three-pronged approach which consists of use of materials digital library content in the curriculum, collection of materials content with an emphasis on soft matter, and construction of authoring tools for improved delivery. Submission, editing, and composing tools enable experts and novices to characterize their contributions to the Materials Digital Library, as materials scientists would, using metadata schemas such as Dublin Core and IEEE Learning Object Metadata as well as domain-specific markup languages such as Materials Markup Language. Metadata records are stored in XML based format to support generation of other materials resources such as automated classification schemes, glossaries, and thesauri.
Initial content of the Materials Digital Library is based on existing resources selected from the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Students and educators in three Materials Science Engineering (MSE) courses use and contribute to the Materials Digital Library utilizing the proposed domain-specific tools. Two courses are part of MIT's newly revised undergraduate MSE curriculum and its OpenCourseWare Initiative. The first MIT course (Introduction to Solid State Chemistry) is a large freshmen undergraduate chemistry course with no laboratory component. The second MIT course, Introduction to Modeling and Simulation, is a multidisciplinary science course team-taught across seven engineering departments. The third course, Computational Nanoscience and Soft Matter taught at the University of Michigan, introduces students to cutting edge research on building new nanomaterials. MatWeb.com, the project's industrial partner, is working with the investigators to build a business plan and to host the Materials Digital Library as a sustainable enterprise.
The Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) is providing significant co-funding of this project in recognition of the importance of materials science education within the goals of MPS.
