National Center For Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing Technologies (RAPIDTECH)

国家快速成型和增材制造技术中心（RAPIDTech）是一个由社区学院，大学和行业组成的全国性联盟。领先的社区学院具有领导快速成型行业和保持快速成型和增材制造技术人员教育在行业前沿的不寻常的区别。快速原型是一种支持设计，开发和制造许多行业和学科的众多产品的技术。该中心正在与美国各地的行业合作伙伴、专业组织和NSF项目和中心建立关键联盟。这些联盟正在为RAPIDTech中心的增长和可持续发展奠定基础。一个强大的顾问基础正在指导研究如何在教育界的各种方案中利用这些技术。该中心为教师提供最新快速原型技术的开发研讨会，并向教师介绍基于项目的课程材料，这些材料展示了在整个产品演变过程中快速原型的正确部署。因此，该中心正在使用国家标准以文本和数字格式创建不同大小和内容的课程。学习对象、小型模块、完整模块和案例研究被用来帮助教师将快速原型引入各种STEM学科。最后，该中心正在帮助行业和学校选择快速原型设备，并培养能够维护该设备的技术人员。该中心正在利用快速成型和增材制造的内在兴趣和兴奋，吸引更广泛的学生群体，特别是代表性不足的群体。

The National Center for Rapid Prototyping and Additive Manufacturing Technologies (RAPIDTech) is a nationwide consortium of community colleges, universities, and industry. The lead community college has the unusual distinction of leading the rapid prototyping industry and keeping technician education in rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing on the cutting edge of industry. Rapid prototyping is an enabling technology that supports design, development, and manufacturing of numerous products across many industries and academic disciplines. The center is making key alliances with industry partners, professional organizations, and NSF projects and centers throughout the United States. These alliances are forming the foundation for growth and sustainability of the RAPIDTech Center. A strong consultant base is guiding the research into how these technologies can be utilized by various programs within the educational community. The center is providing faculty development workshops on the latest rapid prototyping technologies and introducing faculty to project-based curriculum materials that demonstrate proper deployment of rapid prototyping throughout the product evolution process. Thus, the center is creating curriculum of varying size and content in both text and digital formats using national standards. Learning objects, mini-modules, full modules and case studies are being used to assist faculty members with introducing rapid prototyping into a variety of STEM disciplines.Finally, the center is helping industry and schools select rapid prototyping equipment and advancing technicians who can maintain that equipment. The center is leveraging the intrinsic interest and excitement of rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing to engage a broader audience of students particularly underrepresented groups.