RET Site: Integrated Nanomanufacturing

这个由波士顿大学光子学中心（BUPC）主办的更新RET站点：集成纳米制造的主要目标是让教师沉浸在为期六周的跨学科研究经验的暑期项目中。通过跨学科的研究，教师们沉浸在设计，制造和应用纳米级元件在光学，电子，机械和生物医学系统的探索。教师将通过他们的参与加强他们在科学和工程实践方面的能力，使他们能够与科学中的工程概念吸引学生。指导的研究项目挑战参与者参与工程问题的解决，所获得的知识将帮助参与者开发可持续的STEM教育课程和活动。RET教师将带着改进的相关技能回到教室，培养学生对工程学科的兴趣，并成功实现马萨诸塞州适应下一代科学标准（NGSS）雄心勃勃的教育目标。这个RET网站专注于大波士顿地区服务不足的学校，目标是从不同群体中招募参与者，80%的教师来自资源有限（高需求）的学校。此外，将鼓励来自STEM中代表性不足学生比例较高和/或低收入家庭比例较高的学校的教师参与。RET网站将直接与来自大波士顿地区和马萨诸塞州东部的STEM Nexus合作，针对对STEM感兴趣但资源有限的学校和教师个人实施这些活动。该网站还将吸引当地波士顿地区的公司作为RET参与者和K-12外展活动的长期合作伙伴的潜在研究地点。集成纳米制造研究是微电子学、光学科学、材料工程和生物医学交叉前沿的一个本质上跨学科的知识领域。三个专题研究领域将作为这个RET站点的基础：集成纳米制造的三个广泛主题：纳米光子学、纳米结构和纳米医学。在指导下发现新设备和纳米级制造以探索光学系统的同时，参与者将发展关键技能，意识和信心，以推动未来的学术和研究。暑期体验包括培训课程、动手纳米制造工具培训活动、合作实验室的科学研究、课堂整合研讨会和教师教学讨论。学员还将了解到“社会工程师”（social Engineers）的理念，这是波士顿大学（Boston University）的一个核心概念，旨在培养工程师，使他们能够将自己的培训与反映科学与工程如何在现实世界中实践的内容和应用相结合。这是案例研究课程的基础，最初的RET网站在马萨诸塞州的当地学校开发和试点，更新后有望广泛传播课程，并更加关注物理和化学。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。

The primary objective of this renewal RET Site: Integrated Nanomanufacturing, hosted by the Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC), is to immerse teachers in a six-week summer program that focuses on interdisciplinary research experiences. Through the interdisciplinary research, teachers are immersed in an exploration of the design, fabrication, and application of nanometer-scale components in optical, electronic, mechanical and biomedical systems. The teachers will strengthen their capacity in science and engineering practices through their participation, enabling them to engage their students with engineering concepts within the sciences. Mentored research projects challenge participants to engage in engineering problem solving, and the knowledge gained will help participants develop sustainable curricula and activities in STEM education. RET teachers will return to their classrooms with an improved and relevant skill set to foster their student's interest in engineering disciplines and to succeed with the ambitious educational goals of the Massachusetts Adapted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This RET Site is focused on underserved schools in the greater Boston area with the goal of recruiting participants from a diverse group with 80% of the teachers coming from resource-limited (high needs) schools. Additionally, teachers from schools with high percentages of underrepresented students in STEM and/or high percentages of low-income families will be encouraged to participate. The RET Site will work directly with STEM Nexus from the Greater Boston area and Eastern Massachusetts to target schools and individual teachers that have interest in STEM but have limited resources to implement these activities. This site will also engage local Boston area companies as potential research locations for RET participants and longer-term partners in K-12 outreach activities. Integrated nanomanufacturing research is an inherently interdisciplinary intellectual area that is evolving rapidly at the intersecting frontiers of microelectronics, optical science, materials engineering, and biomedicine. Three thematic research areas will serve as the foundation for this RET Site: three broad themes of integrated nanomanufacturing: nanophotonics, nanostructures, and nanomedicine. While engaged in mentored discovery of new devices and fabrication at the nanoscale level to explore optical systems, participants will develop critical skills, awareness and confidence necessary to advance in academics and research in the future. The summer experience involves training sessions, hands-on nanofabrication tool training activities, scientific research in partner laboratories, seminars on classroom integration, and faculty pedagogy discussions. Participants will also be introduced to the idea of Societal Engineers, a core concept at Boston University to develop engineers who can connect their training to integrate content and applications reflecting how science and engineering is practiced in the real world. This is the basis of the case study curriculum developed and piloted from the initial RET Site at local schools in Massachusetts, with the renewal promising to disseminate the curriculum widely and develop more focus on physics and chemistry.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.