Midwest Regional Center for Nanotechnology Education (Nano-Link)

该项目建立了中西部地区纳米技术教育中心（NANO-LINK），建立在达科他县技术学院与明尼苏达大学合作的ATE MnNANO项目成功的基础上。该项目开发了一个开创性的多学科原子吸收系统学位课程，旨在帮助毕业生为纳米科学领域正在兴起的市场做好准备。NANO-LINK旨在为从北达科他州到密歇根州的中西部走廊沿线的大学提供资源和支持，因为他们开发了类似的项目，以培养熟练的纳米科学技术人员，从而促进该地区纳米科学和技术的经济增长。北达科他州、明尼苏达州、威斯康星州、伊利诺伊州和密歇根州的六所两年制大学与该地区的两所研究型大学——明尼苏达大学和西北大学——合作开发了NANO-LINK。NANO-LINK专注于七个关键目标：建立中西部地区工业咨询委员会；发展多学科纳米科学项目；与明尼苏达大学合作，在顶点预科和顶点课程中提供纳米科学经验的远程访问；与西北大学的NSF国家纳米科学与工程学习与教学技术中心（NCLT）合作，为中学教育工作者和大学教师提供专业发展；建立本科教学资料交换中心基础设施；开展外展活动，加强招收纳米科学项目的学生，重点是代表性不足的学生；并为教师、学生、校友和业界提供包括年度纳米科学会议在内的传播场所。这个项目的智力价值是基于在新兴的科学和工程领域广泛提供多学科纳米科学技术人员教育课程，这极大地影响了我们国家的竞争力和未来许多行业的就业增长，如生物技术、医疗设备、农业、材料和电子。它还在地区教育机构和行业之间建立协调的伙伴关系，使他们能够提供高质量的纳米科学教育计划以及对在职工人的培训。该项目的更广泛影响是，它支持协调适应多学科纳米科学技术计划，用于整个地区社区和技术学院的技术人员教育。它正在与NCLT合作，为教育工作者提供专业发展机会，并为他们将模块注入纳米科学和STEM课程做好准备。它正在与明尼苏达大学合作，提供高水平的顶点体验，以及独特的远程访问教育体验，重点是顶点和顶点预科课程中的仪器仪表。该信息交换中心提供最佳实践纳米科学讲座和实验室课程材料，供教师在本科课程教学中使用。正在开发材料和活动，以加强对纳米科学项目学生的招募。对社会的好处是，高质量的教育计划准备纳米科学技术人员，以满足工业的新兴需求。

This project establishes the Midwest Regional Center for Nanotechnology Education (NANO-LINK), building upon the success of Dakota County Technical College's ATE MnNANO project in partnership with the University of Minnesota. That project developed a pioneering multidisciplinary AAS degree program designed to prepare graduates for markets where the broader field of nanoscience is emerging. NANO-LINK is designed to provide resources and support to colleges along the Midwest corridor from North Dakota to Michigan as they develop similar programs to grow a skilled nanoscience technician workforce that will foster economic growth in nanoscale science and technology in the region. Six two-year colleges in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan have partnered to develop NANO-LINK along with two research universities in the region--the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University. NANO-LINK focuses on seven key goals: establish a Midwest Regional Industry Advisory Board; develop multidisciplinary nanoscience programs; partner with the University of Minnesota to provide remote access delivery for nanoscience experiences in pre-capstone and capstone courses; partner with the NSF National Center for Learning and Teaching Technology in Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NCLT) at Northwestern University to provide professional development for secondary educators and college faculty; establish a clearinghouse infrastructure for undergraduate instructional materials; develop outreach activities to enhance recruitment of students into nanoscience programs, with an emphasis on underrepresented students; and provide venues for dissemination including an annual nanoscience conference for faculty, students, alumni, and industry. The Intellectual Merit of this project is based on the wide availability of a multidisciplinary nanoscience technician education curriculum in an emerging field of science and engineering, which greatly impacts our nation's competitiveness and future job growth in many industries, such as biotechnology, medical devices, agriculture, materials, and electronics. It is also building coordinated partnerships among regional educational institutions and industries that enable them to offer quality nanoscience educational programs as well as training for incumbent workersThe Broader Impact of this project is that it supports coordinated adaptation of a multidisciplinary Nanoscience Technology program for technician education at community and technical colleges throughout the region. It is partnering with NCLT to provide professional development opportunities for educators and preparing them to infuse modules into nanoscience and STEM curricula. It is partnering with the University of Minnesota to deliver a high level capstone experience as well as unique remote access educational experiences with a focus on instrumentation in capstone and pre-capstone courses. The clearinghouse offers best practice nanoscience lecture and laboratory curricula materials for use by faculty teaching courses in undergraduate programs. Materials and activities are being developed to enhance the recruitment of students into the nanoscience programs. The benefit to society is that high quality educational programs prepare nanoscience technicians to meet the emerging needs of industry.