Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI)

这个项目正在彻底改变向所有工科学生教授材料科学和工程基础实验室的方法。主要目标是航空航天、土木工程、工业和机械工程专业的二年级学生，每年大约500人。此外，每年约有50名主修和/或辅修材料科学与工程的学生受到影响。所有这些学生都有一个共同的强烈需求，那就是了解固体的力学性质。其理念是赋予用于日常产品工程设计的复杂和抽象数据的实际意义。过去，大多数实验主要局限于观察和数据收集。这个问题是通过使用多个站点来解决的，每个站点都有一个小的学生团队，并使用一台连接到复杂实验设备的计算机。实验将实际应用(例如，现实环境中紧固件或焊缝的强度)与从标准测试和样品(例如，从拉伸机或冲击机)获得的数据的限制联系起来。使用多个成像和采集系统的显微结构数据在每一种情况下都与机械性能相关。

This is a project which is making a radical shift in the methods by which basic laboratories in Materials Science and Engineering are taught to all engineering students. The primary targets are second year students from: Aerospace, Civil, Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering, numbering about 500 per year. In addition, about 50 students per year with majors and/or minors in Materials Science and Engineering are being affected. All these students have in common a strong need to understand the mechanical properties of solids. The idea is to impart the practical meaning of complex and abstract data used for the engineering design of every day products. In the past, most experiments were confined primarily to observation and data gathering. This problem is overcome using multiple stations, each with a small student team and employing a computer interfaced to sophisticated experimental apparatus. Experiments are relating practical applications (e.g. the strength of fasteners or welds in realistic environments) to the limits of data obtained from standard tests and specimens (e.g. from tensile or impact machines). Microstructural data using multiple imaging and collection systems is being correlated to mechanical properties in every instance.