A “Bottom-Up” Approach to Engineering Education in Nanotechnology

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a pilot project for a “bottom-up” approach to reform of undergraduate engineering education in nanotechnology, supported by a planning grant from the National Science Foundation (Engineering Education and Centers, Award #0431970). A core principle is to have individuals from different disciplines be the ones not only to build concise modules, but also to share them with content developers in other disciplines under a common organized framework. This bottom-up approach is an efficient way of introducing new content in existing curricula, and is especially helpful in university environments that may have no comprehensive “experts” in nanotechnology per se. Having individuals work together to develop bottom-up pieces from their own specialized fields provides a mechanism not only for curriculum enhancement but also for faculty professional development. In this work, pilot modules are developed as new content infused into existing courses in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and materials engineering at San José State University. Topics span different aspects of nanoscale materials, phenomena, devices, and manufacturing, and the content is structured in a framework such that components may be packaged as modular entities. We present pilot work accomplished in this work-in-progress, with emphasis on how lessons learned can be applied to expandability and sustainability of this bottom-up approach.