Engineering Research Center (ERC) on Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE)

智力优势：麦乐斯将开发基于中红外光谱的知识、技术和工程系统，为环境监测、国土安全和医疗诊断提供前所未有的光学和化学传感能力。在五次推进中，米尔斯将发明和优化可调谐的激光光源、探测器和超灵敏传感器系统，将这些设备发展到成熟水平，具有无处不在和负担得起的技术特征。这些器件利用了未得到充分利用的中红外光谱，这是由于最近量子级联激光器的突破性发明和腔增强光学计量学的进步使之成为可能。欢乐将加速这一新兴技术的发展，为许多领域和应用的科学研究、工业和消费者创造新的工具。欢乐将通过试验台展示中红外激光、传感器和系统在环境传感(城市空气质量控制或碳循环化学)以及医疗诊断(肝肾功能障碍或氧化应激)中的具体应用。这些技术将创造更好的生活水平，提高我们对人类生理和环境的了解，从而帮助改变社会，并为半导体、测试和测量、化学和石化以及医疗设备等重要行业创建新的产品线。更广泛的影响：米思的研究和教育项目范围广泛，包括电气、生物、土木和环境工程、物理、化学以及医学；该中心的影响将从城市规划到空间科学，从细胞生理学到床边病人护理。欢乐学院将在对国家财富和福祉至关重要的领域提供广泛的跨学科教育。在一项旨在产生最大影响的外联战略中，欢乐国际将开发教育单元(K-12/14)和新的本科生和研究生课程，将研究成果纳入课堂。MALTH将为学生和教师提供通过暑期实习(REU/RET)获得研究经验的机会，支持科学博览会，为公共科学中心开发活动和展品，为公共电视制作故事片，并通过网络通信收费来传播新发现的知识。Comth的多元化战略将扩大其核心合作伙伴现有的LSAMP和AGEP计划，将其不同的学生群体直接整合到Grath的核心研究、学习、培训和教学活动中。在合作伙伴之间以及与行业之间积极的学生交流计划将优化学生对职业发展的支持。愉悦将吸引教职员工参与人才识别、职业发展和指导。欢乐的外展和多元化计划与研究努力紧密结合在一起，使整合的团队能够在性别、种族和民族方面多样化。通过这样做，愉悦将为具有国际竞争力的劳动力培养新一代多样化的工程专业人员。欢乐将实施一个充满活力的行业拓展计划，并为新的产品线提供新的专业知识和“交钥匙”原型。米思将与政府实验室合作，为远程大气监测和国土安全应用提供前所未有的传感能力。

Intellectual merit: MIRTH will develop knowledge, technologies and engineering systems based on mid-infrared spectroscopy that will provide unprecedented optical and chemical sensing capabilities for environmental monitoring, homeland security and medical diagnostics. In five thrusts, MIRTH will invent and optimize tunable laser sources, detectors, and ultra-sensitive sensor systems, developing these devices to a maturity level characteristic of ubiquitous and affordable technologies. These devices, which take advantage of the underutilized mid-infrared spectrum, are made possible by the recent breakthrough inbentions in quantum cascade lasers and advances in cavity-enhanced optical metrology. MIRTH will accelerate the development of this nascent set of technologies, creating new tools for scientific research, industry and consumers across many fields and applications. MIRTH will demonstrate specific applications of mid-infrared lasers, sensors and systems through testbeds in environmental sensing - urban air quality control or carbon cycle chemistry - and in medical diagnostics - liver and kidney dysfunction or oxidative stress. These technologies will create better standards of living and improve our understanding of human physiology and the environment, thus helping to transform society, and creating new product lines for significant industry sectors, such as the semiconductor, test and measurement, chemical and pestro-chemical, and medical equipment sectors. Broader impacts: MIRTH's wide range of research and educational programs includes electrical, bio-, civil, and environmental engineering, physics, chemistry, as well as the medical sciences; the center's impact will reach from urban planning to space science, and from cell physiology to bedside patient care. MIRTH will provide a broadly interdisciplinary education in fields essential for the wealth and well-being of the nation. In an outreach strategy designed for maximal impact, MIRTH will develop education modules (K-12/14) and new undergraduate and graduate level courses that integrate research findings into the classroom. MIRTH will provide opportunities for students and teachers to gain research experience through summer internships (REU/RET), support science fairs, develop activities and exhibits for public Science Centers, produce feature films for public television, and Web-based communication tolls to disseminate the newfound knowledge. MIRTH's diversity strategy will amplify its core partners' existing LSAMP and AGEP programs by directly integrating their diverse student populations into MIRTH's core research, learning, training, and teaching activities. A vigorous student exchange program among the partners and with industry will optimize the students' propsects for career advancement. MIRTH will engage its faculty and staff in talent identification, career development, and mentoring. MIRTH's outreach and diversity programs are closely coupled with the research thrusts, enabling integrated teams that are diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity. By so doing, MIRTH will educate a new, diverse generation of engineering professionals for an internationally competitive workforce. MIRTH will conduct a dynamic industrial outreach program and deliver new expertise and "turn-key" prototypes for new product lines. MIRTH willpartner with government labs to provide unprecedented sensing capabilities for remote atmospheric monitoring and applications in homeland security.