Mechanical Engineering Technology : NSF

NSF Materials Technology Education

Craig Johnson is representing CWU as a Partner in an NSF ‘National Resource Center' on Materials Technology Education. A need for K-12 and Lower Division STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) led NSF to create the Resource Centers http://www2.aacc.nche.edu/atecenter/map.html Tom Stoebe (Emeritus, UW) proposed this effort in Materials Technology. Over the next four years appropriate curricula will be gathered, assessed, integrated into education programs and a venue for continued, sustainable access will be created.

This grant builds on previous projects such as EMTECH (regarding Manufacturing) supported by CWU Professor Tim Yoxtheimer. The grant is administered by Edmunds CC where workshops in materials education have been offered to high school teachers for the last few years.

Partners will create, use and modify appropriate curriculum while interacting with a master database. Current information can be found at http://www.materialseducation.org/ Sub-awards will support some of these efforts, and other opportunities may lead to separate NSF awards. Dr. Johnson is particularly interested in applications related to his field of metallurgy and casting processes. CWU is currently involved in ‘service learning' with students making bronze plaques, and a similar casting process/curricula may be appropriate in support of the Materials Technology Education Resource Center