NER: Nanoscale Environmental Sensors and Societal & Educational Implications for Native Americans

0508521 Van Wie本研究收到于纳米尺度科学与工程计划，NSF 04-043， NER类别。这项研究属于“环境中的纳米尺度过程”和“纳米尺度进展的社会和教育意义”这两个领域。已知越来越多的含水污染物具有生物蓄积性并对人类健康产生不利影响，这对环境、经济和国家安全造成了严重关切。由于狩猎和采集的生活方式，环境污染对印第安人的健康风险更为严重，而对移民工人的健康风险则更严重，因为他们接触了除草剂和农药。这项调查将对纳米级传感器进行初步研究，以了解控制运输和感知持久性环境污染物的基本原理，并考虑影响美洲原住民和西班牙裔移民社会和经济基础设施的环境和社会风险因素。社会背景下的早期教育是吸引和培训未来的部落和西班牙裔科学家的关键，这些科学家可以帮助他们的社区了解和处理环境问题。教育少数民族社区的知识领袖是很重要的，他们能够：理解社会影响；在困难的项目中与团队合作；并与非专业人士和公众进行良好的沟通。这个NER将发展对纳米尺度环境传感器的基本理解，并利用这项研究创建一个教育模型，培养纳米科学和教学教育学的毕业生，与高中教师和代表性不足的学生交流，以激发对高等教育的兴趣。少数族裔社区的许多高中生没有考上大学的打算；该项目计划通过直接与这些学生接触来改变这一点。该NER包括微加工，以制造纳米孔，支持长期稳定的双层脂质膜（BLMs），用于快速，敏感的ise，以监测水环境；利用免疫原性分子竞争识别非带电有机污染物利用嗜极细菌脂质改变纳米结构来稳定BLMs；并采用动手合作教学法，重点关注美洲原住民和西班牙裔移民社会面临的社会环境问题。主要的教育特色包括与CTUIR的nixyaawi部落特许学校和Hispanic Mabton Jr./Sr.合作。高中将基础科学内容纳入科学课程；开发学生友好且坚固的手持可实地电子包，以协助研究的教育部分，并与高中教师互动，以开发以纳米技术的环境和社会相关性为中心的学生友好的科学课程。主要的智力价值是离子选择膜瓶颈领域的前沿基础和应用研究，制造环境纳米级传感器，以及一项教育实验，以测试在社会背景下鼓励部落和西班牙裔弱势群体考虑中等教育的新模式。结果将包括同行机构可以采用的研究和教育模式，以吸引来自代表性不足的少数民族的新一代本科生，以及先进的纳米级生物传感器，以便更好地监测土著部落土地和移民工作的农业环境。

0508521 Van Wie This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 04-043, category NER. This research falls under the areas of "Nanoscale Processes in the Environment" and "Societal and Educational Implications of Advances on the Nanoscale." Growing numbers of aqueous pollutants are known to bio-accumulate and adversely affect human health, which creates serious concerns for the environment, economics, and national security. Health risks from environmental contamination are even more serious for Native Americans, due to a hunting and gathering lifestyle, and for migrant workers, due to herbicide and pesticide exposure. This inquiry will perform preliminary studies with nanoscale sensors to understand fundamental principles governing transport and sensing of persistent environmental contaminants, and consider environmental and social risk factors as they impact Native American and Hispanic migrant society and economic infrastructure. Early education in a societal context is the key to attracting and training future Tribal and Hispanic scientists who can help their communities understand and deal with environmental concerns. It is important to educate intellectual leaders in minority communities who can: understand social implications; work in teams on difficult projects; and communicate well with non-specialists and the public. This NER will develop fundamental understanding on nanoscale environmental sensors and use the research to create an educational model that trains graduates in nanoscience and teaching pedagogy, to interface with high school teachers and underrepresented students to stimulate interest in higher education. Many high school students in minority communities are not college bound; the project plans to alter this by directly interfacing with these students. This NER includes micromachining to make nanopores that support long-term stable bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) for fast, sensitive ISEs to monitor the aqueous environment; using immunogenic molecular competition to identify non-charged organic pollutants; stabilizing BLMs by changing nanostructure with lipids from extremophile bacteria; and employing a hands-on cooperative pedagogy focused on socio-environmental problems facing Native American and Hispanic migrant societies. Key educational features include collaborating with the Nixyaawii Tribal Charter School of the CTUIR and Hispanic Mabton Jr./Sr. High School to incorporate basic scientific components into their science curriculum; developing student friendly and robust hand-held fieldable electronic packages to assist in the educational component of the research, and interacting with the high school faculty to develop student friendly scientific curricula centered on environmental and societal relevance of nanoscale technology. Of major intellectual merit are cutting-edge basic and applied research on ion selective membrane bottleneck areas, to make environmental nanoscale sensors, and an educational experiment to test a new model in societal context for encouraging Tribal and Hispanic underrepresented groups to consider secondary education. Results will include research and educational models that can be adopted by peer institutions in attracting a new generation of undergraduates from under-represented minorities, and advanced nanoscale biosensors for better environmental monitoring of Native Tribal lands and agricultural settings where migrants work.