MRI: Acquisition of a Photonic 3D Printer

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持购买光子3D打印机，用于快速制造纳米到宏观尺度部件和无掩模光刻。作为该州唯一的同类系统，它将使普渡大学和整个地区的用户能够通过消除制造瓶颈和设计限制来追求新的基础研究方向。该团队将把仪器集成到正在进行的教育和推广活动中，并将利用工程学院的暑期本科生研究员计划和路易斯斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟计划，使用该系统进行本科生研究。pi将与中学生和高中生合作，与聋哑儿童代码合作，使学生能够设计和3D打印自己的微型机器人，并编写代码来控制它们，使学生接触到微技术，控制和微型机器人的世界。该仪器将在一系列领域进行跨学科基础研究，包括微型机器人、材料、传感器、设备、超材料和可编程结构。这项潜在的革命性基础研究可以通过制造纳米级蒸发的纳米孔，促进对从液体到气体相变过程中纳米级物理的理解。对材料和超材料的基础研究可以产生新型相变材料，用于设计和制造纳米尺度的能量吸收系统。微型机器人的研究可以通过基于视觉的微力传感系统来推进微型机器人的导航和控制的基础知识，以及如何将这种机器人缩小到生物医学应用。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 Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a photonic 3D printer for the rapid fabrication of nano- to macro-scale parts and maskless lithography. As the only system of its kind in the state, it will enable users at Purdue and throughout the region to pursue new fundamental research directions by eliminating fabrication bottlenecks and design limitations. The team will integrate the instrumentation into ongoing education and outreach activities and will leverage the College of Engineering’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow program and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program for undergraduate research using the system. The PIs will work with middle and high school students -- in collaboration with Deaf Kids CODE--enabling students to design and 3D print their own microrobots and to write code to control them -- exposing the students to the worlds of microtechnology, controls, and microrobotics.The instrumentation will enable interdisciplinary fundamental research in a range of fields including microrobotics, materials, sensors, devices, metamaterials, and programmable structures. The potentially transformative fundamental research can advance understanding of nanoscale physics during phase change from liquid to gas by enabling fabrication of nanopores for nanoscale evaporation. The fundamental research on materials and metamaterials can lead to novel phase transforming materials that can be used to design and fabricate energy absorption systems at the nano-scale. The research on microrobotics may advance fundamental knowledge on the navigation and control of micro-robots through vision-based micro-force sensing systems and how such robots might be scaled-down for biomedical applications.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.