Folding and Unfolding: Making Contemporary Research in Computational Geometry Accessible to a Broad Spectrum of Students

这个项目建立在PI在计算几何方面的研究基础上，计算几何是计算机科学的一个分支，具有深厚的数学基础，并与许多应用领域联系在一起，包括计算机图形、机器人和制造。PI最近对折叠和展开的研究，是一个充满了容易理解的未解决的数学问题的主题，与蛋白质折叠、金属板材弯曲制造以及许多其他应用领域有关。这个项目旨在将这个发展中领域的最新研究纳入从小学到研究生院的教育水平和工业研究：小学的折纸结构，在中学创造折叠玩具，为期两周的暑期高中课程，一个新的跨学科大学课程，涉及从航天飞机机械臂的设计到汽车安全气囊展开的主题，一本可在几个水平上阅读的学术专著，以及满足工业需求的软件。该项目的目标是将前沿研究的深度、探索前沿研究的喜悦及其实用价值传达给所有这些不同的群体，利用研究难得的可及性。

This project builds on the PI's research in computational geometry, a branch of computer science with deep mathematical roots and ties to many applications areas, including computer graphics, robotics, and manufacturing. The PI's recent research on folding and unfolding, is a topic brimming with easily comprehended unsolved mathematical problems, and with connections to protein folding, to manufacturing by sheet metal bending, and to a host of other application areas. This project aims to incorporate the latest research in this developing area into educational levels from grade school through graduate school and industrial research: origami constructions in grade school, creating folding toys in middle school, a two-week summer high school course, a new interdisciplinary college course, "Folding and Unfolding in Engineering" touching on topics from design of the Space Shuttle robotic arms to automotive air bag unfurling, an academic monograph readable at several levels, and software addressing industrial needs. The goal of the project is to communicate the depth of frontier research, the joy of exploring it and its practical usefulness, to all these different constituencies, capitalizing on the rare accessibility of the research.