CAREER: Research into Self-Aware Optics within a Broad Program for Education

9502288绿色研究计划旨在通过在新兴技术领域培养硕士和学士级别的工程师--这些工程师是工业和研究环境日常运作所必需的--来加强国家的研究基础设施。这项名为“自感知光学元件”的研究课题将推动光学系统技术的进步。所描述的各个子项目的统一特征是，作为一个整体，它们都旨在推进具有集成传感器和致动器的光学部件制造的技术水平。通过这个项目的成功，光学系统将变得更加坚固，因为有了可以测量自己性能的元件。因此，光学技术将变得更容易获得，使光学在信号处理、计算、传感和通信方面的巨大能力进一步从实验室桌面领域进入日常使用。由此产生的MEMS制造和器件设计技术的进步将对新兴的MEMS技术领域具有重要意义。课程开发工作将致力于在实验室教学框架内整合工程设计技能。课程开发的早期努力已经导致了本科生的实验室序列，它教授工程设计作为一系列练习，涵盖成功项目所必需的基本技能。基本设计技能包括沟通技能、数据解释技能和处理开放式问题的重要实践。向学生强调，工程学是一门创造性的学科，解决难题的方法来自于技术训练和预测和解释未知海洋的能力的结合。***

9502288 Green The program of research is intended to strengthen the country's research infrastructure through the education of M.S. and B.S. level engineers - those engineers who are necessary for day-to-day operation of industrial and research environments - in an emerging field of technology. The proposed research topic, "Self-Aware Optical Elements," will result in advances in technology for optical systems. The unifying feature of the various sub-projects described is that they are all intend, as a whole to advance the state of the art in manufacture of optical components with integrated sensors and actuators. Through the success of this project, optical systems will become more robust because of elements which can measure their own performance. Optical technology will therefore become more readily available bringing the vast powers of optics for signal processing, computing, sensing and communication further from the laboratory table-top realm into everyday use. Resulting advances in MEMS fabrication and device design techniques will be important to the emerging MEMS technology field. Course development efforts will be directed towards the integration of engineering design skills within the framework of laboratory instruction. Early efforts in course development have resulted in an undergraduate laboratory sequence which teaches engineering design as a series of exercises covering fundamental skills necessary for successful projects. Fundamental design skills include communications skills, data interpretation skills, and significant practice in approaching open-ended problems. It is emphasized to students that engineering is a creative discipline, and solutions to difficult problems come from a combination of technical training and ability to anticipate and interpret the vast sea of the unknown. ***