RET Site: Innovation-based Manufacturing

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This award provides funding for a three year continuing award for a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site Program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT) entitled, RET Site: Innovation-based Manufacturing, under the direction of Dr. Christopher B. Williams. In the last decades, the North American manufacturing sector has been continuously challenged by competition from low labor cost countries. In order to remain competitive, the manufacturing sector is in urgent need of fundamental research efforts that are dedicated to enabling the efficient transition of innovative laboratory research to full-scale production. To address this need, VT has formed the Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing (CIbM), which is composed of a multidisciplinary team of researchers that are exploring new manufacturing technologies, improvements to traditional technologies, and improved methods for managing innovation, information, manufacturing processes and their related supply chains. The mission of the CIbM is to create a foundation for innovation in manufacturing systems as a means to accelerate the commercial development of innovative technologies and thus transform and advance the country's manufacturing infrastructure while training the next generation of manufacturing leaders. In this vein, the CIbM proposes to host a RET site (RET:IbM) that will provide a total of 36 science, math, and pre-engineering middle and high school teachers (12 per year for 3 years) with a 6-week summer research and professional development experience. The primary goal of the RET:IbM is to make significant steps towards improving young people's perception of engineering and manufacturing by providing opportunities for teachers to engage in cutting-edge manufacturing research topics that are rich with contextual examples of STEM principles. This goal clearly advances discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training and learning. In-service and pre-service teacher participants will be recruited from counties of southwest Virginia, which contain both rural and urban areas, thus impacting a wide socio-economic spectrum. The manufaturing focus of the proposed RET:IbM program will resonate well with the region's established history, but recently diminishing presence, in this vital portion of our nation's economy. The sum of the proposed program's initiatives will result in a pipeline of educated and motivated students eager to enter STEM disciplines.