Collaborative research: Creating an Upper Division Additive Manufacturing Course and Laboratory For Enhancing Undergraduate Research and Innovation

美国经济和社会理论家预测，自19世纪末以来主导制造业的生产线装配之后，加法制造(AM)预示着第三次工业革命的开始。AM，也被称为3D打印，是指在计算机控制下通过打印连续的材料层来创建三维人工制品的过程。3D打印机的价格在过去十年中显著下降，这使得3D打印机在本科工程实验室中变得相对常见，从而为学生提供了扩展AM的第一手体验的机会该项目的目标是帮助K-12学生和工程学本科生了解AM，以便他们更好地为美国制造业的复兴做好准备。学生的学习将得到实验、项目、课程材料和将在该项目期间开发的关于AM的教科书的支持。涉及的机构是德克萨斯理工大学(TTU)，这是一所研究活动很活跃的大学(RU/H)，加州州立大学，北岭大学，一所既是HSI(拉美裔服务机构)又是AANAPISI(亚裔美国原住民太平洋岛民服务机构)的非授予博士学位的机构，以及堪萨斯州立大学(KSU)，既是EPSCoR机构，也是RU/H机构。通过开设AM课程，将实现下列目标：(1)开发智力严谨的课程材料(如教科书、实验手册、课堂讲稿)，可通过硬拷贝和虚拟课堂网站向公众开放；(2)就新的AM课程对STEM学生态度变化和自我效能的影响进行重要的教育研究，其结果将发表在工程学和教育期刊上；(3)为K-12学生和Maker Space用户开发简化的3D打印项目。工程学本科生通过一对一的指导关系接触K-12学生，将有助于建立K-12 STEM渠道，创造对工程作为职业的兴奋和兴趣。

American economic and social theorists have predicted that Additive Manufacturing (AM) heralds the beginning of the Third Industrial Revolution, succeeding the production line assembly that has dominated manufacturing since the late 19th century. AM, also known as 3D printing, refers to a process used to create a three-dimensional artifact by printing successive layers of material under computer control. The significant drop in price of 3D printers over the last decade has made them relatively common in undergraduate engineering labs, thereby opening up the opportunity to provide students with extended first-hand experience of AM. The goal of the project is to help K-12 students and engineering undergraduates learn about AM so that they are better prepared for the renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. Student learning will be supported by the labs, projects, course materials, and a textbook on AM that will be developed during this project. The institutions involved are Texas Tech University (TTU), a university with high research activity (RU/H), California State University, Northridge, a non-PhD-granting institution that is both an HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) and an AANAPISI (Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution), and Kansas State University (KSU), both an EPSCoR and an RU/H institution. Through creation of the AM course, the following goals will be met: (1) the development of intellectually rigorous course materials (e.g., textbook, lab manual, lecture notes) that will be publicly accessible via hard copy and a virtual classroom website; (2) the conduct of important educational research on the impact of the new AM curricula on changes in student attitudes and self-efficacy in STEM, the results of which will be published in engineering and education journals; (3) the development of simplified 3D printing projects for K-12 students and Maker Space users. Outreach by engineering undergraduates to K-12 students through one-on-one mentoring relationships will help to build the K-12 STEM pipeline by creating excitement and interest in engineering as a career.