This proposal involves the offering of a program for facilitating and enhancing the teaching in engineering and technology of the relatively new fields of fiber optic sensors and smart structures. This program is intended to give undergraduate faculty a chance to explore these technologies where teaching loads and institutional resources have prevented such exploration in the past. The goals of the program are: 1) to introduce primarily undergraduate faculty members in the various engineering and technology disciplines to these technologies through both discussion and practice, 2) to allow these faculty to consider and discuss how to include the study of these technologies in their courses and laboratories, and 3) to collect and distribute participants' experiences in the teaching of these technologies. Theory, application, and hands-on exposure will be provided during the workshop, with specific attention paid to sensors of major interest in engineering, such as force/strain sensors, gyroscopes, electromagnetic sensors and chemical sensors. The program consists of a series of participation events; a summer workshop wherein the technologies will be introduced both technically and in terms of educational applications; enhanced interaction over the following year among the participants for the exchange of ideas and preliminary results; and a follow-up workshop for the exchanges of experiences of program participants, as well as updates on the technologies. In addition, formal dissemination of results will be achieved through appropriate publications and workshop presentations.
