NSF Award
0088400
Engineering - Materials Science (57) <br/><br/>With advances in materials in fields as diverse as microelectronics, mechatronics and intelligent structures, the current undergraduate materials science curriculum falls short of providing students a solid interdisciplinary platform for coping with challenges to come. The project is developing an innovative Materials Engineering Laboratory at Cooper Union to engage students in exploring scientific concepts for all classes of materials in this interdisciplinary field. An objective of this project is to improve the existing materials engineering laboratory at Cooper Union in conjunction with the development of a materials science laboratory course to meet industry's current needs for bachelor's level engineers with an interdisciplinary background. The equipment being adapted by this project is usually found in research institutions or graduate level labs; the complete set is not normally found in undergraduate labs. In a novel step towards implementing a design approach to undergraduate materials science education, the new lab includes a sample fabrication system and electro-mechanical properties testing system, where students can iteratively synthesize and analyze their own samples. The design of the new course promises to fully integrate research in materials science within undergraduate education in an interactive, experiential way. Adding to the traditional undergraduate materials science laboratory course curricula, the project is adapting and implementing new experiments from the Electroceramics Research Group at the Department of Ceramics & Materials Engineering of Rutgers University. The new laboratory will thus advance efforts to establish a unique materials science and engineering laboratory that fosters a close interaction among mechanical, electrical and civil engineering curricula. Students are able to explore the fundamentals for all types of materials including polymers, metals, ceramics and some specific materials used in intelligent structures such as actuators and sensors. Project results will be disseminated through workshops, presentations at conferences, and journal publications.
