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

国家快速成型和添加剂制造技术中心(RAPIDTech)是一个由社区学院、大学和行业组成的全国性联盟。Lead社区学院拥有领导快速成型行业的独特之处，并使快速成型和添加剂制造方面的技术人员教育保持在行业前沿。快速成型是一种使能技术，它支持跨许多行业和学术学科的大量产品的设计、开发和制造。该中心正在与全美的行业合作伙伴、专业组织以及NSF项目和中心结成关键联盟。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项目中利用这些技术。该中心正在提供关于最新快速成型技术的教师发展研讨会，并向教师介绍基于项目的课程材料，这些材料展示了在产品演变过程中正确部署快速原型技术。因此，该中心正在使用国家标准创建不同大小和内容的文本和数字格式的课程。该中心正在使用学习对象、微型模块、完整模块和案例研究来帮助教员将快速原型技术引入各种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和能够维护这些设备的高级技术人员。该中心正在利用快速成型和添加剂制造的内在兴趣和兴奋，吸引更广泛的学生受众，特别是代表不足的群体。

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.