NER: Nanoscale Environmental Sensors and Societal & Educational Implications for Native Americans

0508521 Van Wie这项建议是对NSF04-043NSF04-043类纳米科学与工程倡议的响应。这项研究属于“环境中的纳米尺度过程”和“纳米尺度进步对社会和教育的影响”两个领域。越来越多的水体污染物会生物积累并对人类健康造成不利影响，这给环境、经济和国家安全带来了严重的担忧。对于美洲原住民来说，由于狩猎和采集的生活方式，环境污染带来的健康风险更加严重，而对于外来务工人员来说，由于除草剂和杀虫剂的暴露，环境污染带来的健康风险更加严重。这项调查将使用纳米级传感器进行初步研究，以了解有关持久性环境污染物的运输和传感的基本原理，并考虑影响美洲原住民和西班牙裔移民社会和经济基础设施的环境和社会风险因素。社会背景下的早期教育是吸引和培训未来部落和拉美裔科学家的关键，这些科学家可以帮助他们的社区理解和处理环境问题。重要的是要教育少数族裔社区的知识领袖，他们能够：了解社会影响；在困难的项目上以团队形式工作；并与非专家和公众进行良好的沟通。这位NER将发展对纳米级环境传感器的基本理解，并利用这项研究创建一种教育模式，培训毕业生在纳米科学和教学教育学方面，与高中教师和未被充分代表的学生互动，以激发对高等教育的兴趣。少数族裔社区的许多高中生不一定要上大学；该项目计划通过直接与这些学生接触来改变这一点。这包括微加工，以制造支持长期稳定的双层类脂膜(BLM)的纳米孔，用于快速、灵敏地监测水环境；利用免疫原性分子竞争来识别不带电的有机污染物；通过利用极端细菌的脂类改变纳米结构来稳定BLM；以及采用动手合作教学法，重点关注美洲原住民和西班牙裔移民社会面临的社会环境问题。主要的教育特色包括与CTUIR的Nixyawii部落特许学校和西班牙裔小/老Mabton高中合作，将基本科学内容纳入他们的科学课程；开发学生友好和坚固的手持可现场电子组件以协助研究的教育部分，以及与高中教职员工互动，以纳米技术的环境和社会相关性为中心制定学生友好的科学课程。主要的学术价值是关于离子选择性膜瓶颈领域的尖端基础和应用研究，以制造环境纳米级传感器，以及在社会背景下测试一种新模式的教育实验，以鼓励代表不足的部落和西班牙裔群体考虑接受中学教育。成果将包括可供同行机构采用的研究和教育模式，以吸引来自代表性不足的少数族裔的新一代本科生，以及先进的纳米生物传感器，以更好地监测土著部落土地和移民工作的农业环境。

0508521 Van Wie This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 04-043, category NER. This research falls under the areas of "Nanoscale Processes in the Environment" and "Societal and Educational Implications of Advances on the Nanoscale." Growing numbers of aqueous pollutants are known to bio-accumulate and adversely affect human health, which creates serious concerns for the environment, economics, and national security. Health risks from environmental contamination are even more serious for Native Americans, due to a hunting and gathering lifestyle, and for migrant workers, due to herbicide and pesticide exposure. This inquiry will perform preliminary studies with nanoscale sensors to understand fundamental principles governing transport and sensing of persistent environmental contaminants, and consider environmental and social risk factors as they impact Native American and Hispanic migrant society and economic infrastructure. Early education in a societal context is the key to attracting and training future Tribal and Hispanic scientists who can help their communities understand and deal with environmental concerns. It is important to educate intellectual leaders in minority communities who can: understand social implications; work in teams on difficult projects; and communicate well with non-specialists and the public. This NER will develop fundamental understanding on nanoscale environmental sensors and use the research to create an educational model that trains graduates in nanoscience and teaching pedagogy, to interface with high school teachers and underrepresented students to stimulate interest in higher education. Many high school students in minority communities are not college bound; the project plans to alter this by directly interfacing with these students. This NER includes micromachining to make nanopores that support long-term stable bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) for fast, sensitive ISEs to monitor the aqueous environment; using immunogenic molecular competition to identify non-charged organic pollutants; stabilizing BLMs by changing nanostructure with lipids from extremophile bacteria; and employing a hands-on cooperative pedagogy focused on socio-environmental problems facing Native American and Hispanic migrant societies. Key educational features include collaborating with the Nixyaawii Tribal Charter School of the CTUIR and Hispanic Mabton Jr./Sr. High School to incorporate basic scientific components into their science curriculum; developing student friendly and robust hand-held fieldable electronic packages to assist in the educational component of the research, and interacting with the high school faculty to develop student friendly scientific curricula centered on environmental and societal relevance of nanoscale technology. Of major intellectual merit are cutting-edge basic and applied research on ion selective membrane bottleneck areas, to make environmental nanoscale sensors, and an educational experiment to test a new model in societal context for encouraging Tribal and Hispanic underrepresented groups to consider secondary education. Results will include research and educational models that can be adopted by peer institutions in attracting a new generation of undergraduates from under-represented minorities, and advanced nanoscale biosensors for better environmental monitoring of Native Tribal lands and agricultural settings where migrants work.