RET Site: Atomic Scale Design and Engineering

北卡罗莱纳州立大学（NCSU）的教师研究经验（RET）站点项目将为教师提供他们向学生教授纳米技术所需的知识、工具和资源，包括用于在纳米尺度上制造或制造的设备和技术，在制造结构中观察和识别原子的方法，以及将研究与现实世界应用相关联的能力。纳米技术正在影响着医药、纺织、电子和能源等各个领域。然而，纳米技术的概念往往是复杂的，教师不容易接触到工具和技术，因为它们的费用或可用性。这个RET计划将使教师沉浸在最先进的大学研究实验室中，学习纳米技术概念，并为研究项目做出贡献。该项目将帮助他们开发独特的课程，与他们所在班级、学校和学区的数百名学生共享。这项研究的重点是及时的，因为科学的进步使工程师们能够更好地控制纳米尺度上材料的创造和分析，比如使用透射电子显微镜。该项目为教育工作者提供了有效沟通基础科学所需的经验、知识和工具，使他们能够培养一代更好地理解纳米技术及其在解决社会重大挑战中的作用的学生。教育工作者的经验将通过参与大学研究项目、参观和使用研究三角纳米技术网络（RTNN）内的纳米技术核心设施以及与公司的接触而得以实现。美国国家科学基金会资助的RTNN是国家纳米技术协调基础设施的16个站点之一，是北卡罗来纳州立大学、北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校和杜克大学之间的合作项目。参与者将从当地学区和社区大学招募，这些学区和社区大学的学生人数很多。将组建2-3名教师组成的团队，以实现跨多个年级的纳米课程开发。每个团队将由RTNN机构的一名教师研究导师指导。参与者将创建和表征纳米级材料或器件，将他们的工作与现实世界的应用联系起来，并获得最先进的研究工具和技术的经验。目前，大多数K-12和社区大学的学生进入这个领域的机会有限，也没有必要的资源来支持纳米技术的制造和发展。第一周是迎新活动；接下来的几周将把项目工作与课程发展交织在一起。为了完成这个项目，教育工作者团队将最终确定课程材料，并在研讨会上与其他RET参与者分享他们的研究经验。在回到自己的学校后，教育工作者将实施他们的课程，并继续在参与大学的开放用户设施中工作。通过传播工作，该项目有可能影响成千上万的学生，其中许多是来自低财富社区的少数民族，并鼓励他们追求STEM职业。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 Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Site program at North Carolina State University (NCSU) will equip teachers with the knowledge, tools, and resources they need to teach nanotechnology to their students including the equipment and techniques that are used to fabricate or manufacture at the nanoscale, ways to see and identify atoms in a manufactured structure, and the ability to relate research to real-world applications. Nanotechnology is impacting sectors as diverse as medicine, textiles, electronics, and energy. However, concepts in nanotechnology are often complex and teachers are not readily exposed to tools and techniques because of their expense or availability. This RET program will immerse teachers in state-of-the-art university research laboratories to learn nanotechnology concepts and contribute to a research project. The program will help them to develop unique curricula that will be shared with hundreds of students in their classrooms, schools, and districts. The research focus is timely as scientific advances have given engineers greater control over the creation and analysis of materials at the nanoscale using tools like transmission electron microscopes. This program gives educators the experiences, knowledge, and tools needed to communicate the underlying science effectively, allowing them to train a generation of students who better understand nanotechnology and its role in addressing societal grand challenges.Educators' experiences will be enabled through participation in university research projects as well as tours and usage of nanotechnology core facilities within the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network (RTNN) and engagement with companies. The NSF-funded RTNN, which is one of 16 sites in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, is a collaboration between North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University. Participants will be recruited from local school districts and community colleges with high populations of underrepresented students. Teams of 2-3 teachers will be assembled to enable nano-focused curriculum development integrated across multiple grades. Each team will be advised by a faculty research mentor at one of the RTNN institutions. Participants will create and characterize nanoscale materials or devices, connect their work to real-world applications, and gain experience with state-of-the-art research tools and techniques. Currently, most K-12 and community college students have limited access to this field and the resources necessary to support nanotechnology fabrication and development. The first week is dedicated to orientation activities; the following weeks will intertwine project work with curricular development. To cap off the program, educator teams will finalize curricular materials and share their research experiences with fellow RET participants in a symposium. Upon return to their home institutions, educators will implement their curricula and continue to work with open-access user facilities at the participating universities. Through dissemination efforts, this program has the potential to impact thousands of students, many of whom are minorities from low wealth communities, and to encourage their pursuit of STEM careers.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.