REU SITE: Interdisciplinary Micro/nano/additive-manufacturing Program Addressing Challenges Today - Next Generation (IMPACT-NG)

路易斯维尔大学的本科生研究经验（REU）项目在先进制造领域培养了一批跨学科的STEM学生，特别强调微/纳米制造和增材制造（即3D打印）。正如最近向美国总统提交的《2018年美国先进制造业领导战略报告》所述，“美国在20世纪的全球经济主导地位主要归功于我们国家在制造技术和战略方面的创造性进步。然而，本世纪发生了巨大的变化，从20世纪90年代开始，美国制造业生产率显著下降，并在2008年经济衰退期间加速损失。报告进一步强调，需要通过鼓励有关新制造技术和战略的教育和培训下一代工人的项目来扭转这一趋势。这个REU项目正是通过结构化的动手微/纳米/添加剂培训课程，个性化的独立研究项目，专业的教师指导，学生的专业发展，以及在健康，医学，国防，安全，能源，可穿戴设备和制造领域的广泛应用来实现这一目标。先进制造领域最具颠覆性的两项技术是微/纳米制造和增材制造（即3D打印）。此外，随着最近3D打印材料和分辨率的进步，我们正在经历两种技术的融合，这有望开辟一套全新的应用程序和一系列以前从未想过的产品。路易斯维尔大学的IMPACT-NG REU项目正好处于这个有趣的领域。该项目旨在满足国家培养下一代学生掌握这些融合技术的需求，方法是通过密集的实验室实践经验对他们进行正式教育，然后进行为期九周的个性化独立研究，涉及健康、医药、国防、安全、能源、可穿戴设备和制造领域的一系列有趣的跨学科先进制造项目。项目范围从用于人类健康的诊断芯片实验室设备，到用于环境的先进自主微型机器人，再到用于物联网的下一代可穿戴设备。最后，我们的项目补充了他们的技术经验，提高他们的口头/书面沟通能力，有机会了解研究生院，关于创业的研讨会，与技术和政府领导人的午餐会议，参观工业制造设施，道德培训，以及各种有组织的社会活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program at the University of Louisville trains a diverse cohort of interdisciplinary STEM students in the field of Advanced Manufacturing, with a special emphasis on micro/nano-manufacturing and additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing). As described in the recent 2018 Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing Report to the President of the United States, “America’s global economic dominance in the 20th century was primarily due to our nation’s creative advances in manufacturing techniques and strategies. However, this century has seen dramatic changes with significant declines in U.S. manufacturing productivity starting in the 1990s and accelerating losses during the 2008 recession”. The report further emphasizes the need to reverse that trend by encouraging programs that educate and train our next generation of workers about new manufacturing technologies and strategies. This REU program does exactly that through structured hands-on micro/nano/additive training classes, personalized independent research projects, professional faculty mentorship, student professional development, and exposure to a wide variety of applications in the fields of health, medicine, defense, security, energy, wearables, and manufacturing. The two most disruptive technologies in the field of Advanced Manufacturing are micro/nano-manufacturing and additive manufacturing (i.e. 3D printing). Furthermore, with recent material and resolution advances in 3D printing, we are experiencing the convergence of the two technologies, which promises to open up a completely new set of applications and range of products never before thought possible. The IMPACT-NG REU program at the University of Louisville sits squarely in that interesting space. It addresses the national need to train the next generation of students about these converging technologies by formally educating them through intense hands-on laboratory experiences, followed by nine supervised weeks of personalized independent research involving an interesting interdisciplinary set of Advanced Manufacturing projects in the fields of health, medicine, defense, security, energy, wearables, and manufacturing. Projects range from diagnostic lab-on-a chip devices for the human health to advanced autonomous micro-robots for the environment to next-generation wearables for the Internet of Things. Finally, our program supplements their technical experiences with programs to improve their oral/written communication skills, opportunities to learn about graduate school, seminars about entrepreneurship, lunch meetings with technical and government leaders, tours of industry manufacturing facilities, ethics training, and a wide variety of organized social activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.