-MRS-
Chairs
Reza Abbaschian John Baglin, Univ of Florida K19/D1
Kristen Constant Thomas Stoebe, Iowa State Univ Univ of Washington
Symposium Support
-
NSF Advanced Technology Education Program
through Grant #DUE 9602360 at the University of Washington
* Invited paper
SESSION OO1: INNOVATIONS IN MATERIALS CURRICULA/ASSESSMENT
Chairs: Merton C. Flemings and Thomas G. Stoebe
Tuesday Morning, December 2, 1997
Regis/Boston Univ (M)
8:30 AM *OO1.1
EXPERIENCE WITH INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS SCIENCE LECTURES ON CD-ROM. Charles McMahon, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
We are in the process of constructing a one-semester set of interactive multimedia lectures for a course in introductory materials science that are being disseminated on CD-ROM and a local network. We have tested the concept in several ways and have gotten valuable feedback from our students. More such feedback is sure to come as we go farther, but our status as of the meeting will be reported. At this point, we are certain that the concept is viable. The main challenges will be to optimize the presentation and to devise the best kind of in-class format to take advantage of the fact that students will have received the lecture before coming to class.
9:00 AM OO1.2
A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIALS COURSE. Blair London, Linda Vanasupa, Materials Engineering Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.
Among the major goals we addressed in our newly redesigned materials science and engineering curriculum were: (1) to create a more solid foundation in materials engineering than could be obtained from the traditional broad-based introductory (survey) course, and (2) to focus on learning outcomes and effective educational methods in light of recent studies on education and especially in line with the new ABET 2000 criteria. This presentation will focus on one aspect of our new curriculum: a new sophomore-level course called The Structure of Materials. Designed to immediately follow the introductory course, it takes a unified look at crystalline and amorphous materials investigating the structure and associated key properties of metals, polymers, and ceramics. The course has both a lecture and laboratory component. The combination of the Introductory course and the Structure of Materials course will create a solid, in-depth foundation for later study in materials science and engineering. We believe that a strong foundation is one of the keys to developing effective engineers and scientists for the future. Meeting the second major goal of our new curriculum makes this course rather unique. The course is designed to tie in closely with the new ABET 2000 criteria which focuses on learning outcomes and various outcomes assessment metrics. The lectures, laboratories, and activities are approached with these learning outcomes in mind. We have also devised some unique assessment tools for this course in collaboration with other departments on our campus.
9:15 AM OO1.3
PUTTING SOME E INTO MSE: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE UNDERGRADUATE INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS COURSE. Kevin Trumble, Purdue University, School of Materials Engineering, W. Lafayette, IN.
Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is unique among undergraduate engineering disciplines in that is has a broad, field-defining introductory course. This course has evolved for nearly 40 years primarily as a service course for the larger engineering departments and still the vast majority of students who take it are non-MSEs. Despite the importance of Materials in the core education of every engineer, less than one-half of all engineering students take any formal Materials course. One long-term trend in the introductory course has been a shift away from Engineering and toward so-called Materials Science. Problems with this approach from the standpoint of the customers (the students) will be discussed. Specific driving forces include: the relative ease of teaching Science vs. Engineering, the increasing influence of non-Materials faculty, and the failure of Materials (Science) educators to carefully consider the needs of their Engineering customers. A brief overview of how the introductory course has evolved through implementation of the new general MSE curriculum at Purdue University will highlight some of these issues. The remainder of the talk will focus on recent efforts to revitalize the applications approach to the introductory Materials course.
10:00 AM *OO1.4
OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES. Chrysanthe Demetry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Materials Science and Engineering Program, Worcester, MA.
The goal of this tutorial is for participants to leave with a framework, the conviction, and ideas for assessing student learning to evaluate and improve their educational approaches. In this context, assessment goes beyond the limited traditional view of administering exams, assigning grades, and reflecting on student course evaluations. Rather, outcomes assessment is used as a means of shifting the focus from what we do as teachers to informing ourselves and our students about what is being learned and in some cases, how. A model for outcomes assessment will be outlined that can be applied daily in the classroom, to small elements of a course, to an entire course, or to a complete curriculum or program of study. The model can also be used for a variety of purposes from informal feedback, to classroom research, or in support of accreditation efforts. The importance of defining specific objectives and performance criteria at the outset of the assessment process is stressed. Examples will be provided specific to the materials science and engineering discipline, as well as to broader educational goals such as communication, problem solving, and teamwork skills. Participants will have the opportunity to critique and modify an assessment strategy for a typical course activity.
10:45 AM *OO1.5
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE COURSEWARE. Dan Dizon, Lawrence Tech Univ, Southfield, MI; James Lenze, Univ of Michigan-Dearborn, MI; Lyn Mowafy, Maricopa Adv Tech Educ Center, Phoenix, AZ.
As cybercourses, asynchronous learning, chatroom, and html become common parlance in our campuses, a systematic assessment plan is essential in harnessing the power of these innovations as effective teaching and learning tools. This session will review the various ways online courseware have been used and their impact measured.
SESSION OO2: COMPUTERS IN MATERIALS EDUCATION
Chairs: John E.E. Baglin and Tom P. Pearsall
Tuesday Afternoon, December 2, 1997
Regis/Boston Univ (M)
1:30 PM *OO2.1
NEW MODELS FOR SHARED EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AMONGST THE MATERIALS EDUCATION COMMUNITY. Darcy J.M. Clark, University of Michigan, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI.
In the same way that new educational technologies should not be used to copy existing resources to a new medium, the publishing model for new educational technologies should not simply follow the models defined by previous distribution media. Current and emerging networks and media such as the Internet and the World Wide Web offer us the opportunity to vastly expand the distribution, development and implementation of educational technology developed for materials education. Now that these technologies have matured, we need to think about how we create, innovate, and distribute resources, such as products, technologies, and ideas within the new educational and technological environment. The Educational Object Economy model provides a framework for significant sharing of resources and development costs, while at the same time ensuring reduced duplication of developmental effort. The model is based on open sources and an on-line community of contributors and users. Models such as this will be evaluated against the existing market-driven models and examined as possible methods to enable the development of a broader range of materials education resources.
2:00 PM OO2.2
INTERACTIVE LEARNING OF BASIC CONCEPTS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE. Laszlo Mihaly and Carlos Rivera, SUNY-Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY.
The widely available, platform-independent WEB-browsers offer the opportunity for creating universally accessible software in the Internet. The JAVA and VRML pages developed by us for illustrating basic concepts in materials physics will be reviewed and demonstrated. The goal of developing these educational tools is twofold: we want to provide opportunities for the students to practice and learn in an entertaining, multimedia environment, and we want to help the teachers in their effort to motivate and grade the students. We will also discuss ways to connect these novel methods to more traditional educational approaches, like how to create homework and exam problems and how to connect the computer- based material to the standard textbooks on the subject matter.
2:15 PM OO2.3
COMPUTER-BASED INTERACTIVE MODULES USING MATHCAD. Peter M. Anderson, Dept. MSE, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Graphical user interfaces for math software such as MathCad make it relatively simple to demonstrate many physical phenomena interactively in class. Two examples from a graduate course on mechanical properties of materials will be demonstrated. The first example is a dislocation segment pinned at each end, that bows due to a local resolved shear stress. The user may interactively change the resolved shear stress and dislocation line tension, and the differential equation is solved and the new segment shape is replotted. The second example models the hysteresis in stress-strain behavior of a standard linear solid, as a function of the temporal frequency of applied stress and also elastic and dissipative properties of the solid. The computer-based demonstrations help address the needed integration of mathematical concepts and materials science phenomena. The resulting form lets students see and change the underlying mathematics, so that a black box computer approach is avoided. Further, students are able to ask what if type questions concerning the role of various input parameters on the outcome.
2:30 PM OO2.4
PCMATERIAL: A PROGRAM PACKAGE FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH. Ge Yu, S.T.Lee and J.K.L. Lai, City University of Hong Kong, Dept Physics and Materials Science, Kowloon, HONG KONG.
PCMATERIAL: A PROGRAM PACKAGE FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH The Multi-Media techniques have been triumphing in the entertainment industries just for a couple of years. The next field they will advance to is the education in different levels. They will bring the evolution of the teaching methods in the near future. Many lecturers may have had bad experiences in explaining to students how the Brillioun zones or the Fermi surfaces look like. A number of concepts, such as stacking faults, partial dislocations, are known to be very difficult both for teaching and learning. The situation may change soon, when the textbooks are written by combining all features of the modern Multi-Media techniques. The software package PCMaterial involves
(1) demonstration of microscopic concepts and structural problems using animation;
(2) simulation of physical processes and chemical reactions by graphic programming;
(3) simulation of experiments;
(4) presentation in the form of hypertext;
(5) establishment of different kinds of data-bases: terminology, questions and answers, materials properties and others. You can obtain images for any kind of crystal planes, pole figures and arrangement of grain boundaries.
3:15 PM OO2.5
DEVELOPING WEB-BASED TOOLS FOR MATERIALS EDUCATION. Darcy J.M. Clark, University of Michigan, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI.
Web-based multimedia and programming technologies, including JAVA and VRML, are capable of providing significant interactivity to educational web-sites. JAVA is an object-oriented programming language specifically designed to provide powerful interactivity within networked environments such as the Internet. VRML, or Virtual Reality Modeling Language, provides a compact method for visualizing 3-dimensional data, objects and environments. Both technologies are platform-independent and standards-based, enabling educators to author once and publish to many platforms and operating systems. Within the context of Materials Education, significant application exists for these tools. Methods of developing and implementing these technologies into educational applications will be discussed. Examples and experiences of the curricula use of these tools will also be also be presented.
3:30 PM OO2.6
DEVELOPMENT OF JAVA APPLET RESOURCES FOR SOLID STATE MATERIALS. Chu R. Wie, State University of New York, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Amherst, NY.
We have developed a set of Java applet programs for use in teaching/learning semiconductor materials and devices. These applet programs are useful in materials-related undergraduate courses in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics. These applet programs show visual simulations of the physical processes in semiconductor materials and/or devices. Some of them have been used in various courses at SUNY-Buffalo and at other Universities. The feedbacks obtained from students at SUNY-Buffalo and the feedbacks obtained from instructors at other Universities generally indicate a positive and encouraging effect of these tools in student's learning. A more quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the applet programs is necessary in order to justify for the time-consuming development efforts. Also, many more Java applet programs can be developed to facilitate the learning of various concepts in the solid state materials and devices area. We plan to carry out assessment on our already developed programs and to develop more applet programs for other important device and material concepts. Assessment will be carried out by comparing the student performance between two control groups in a Junior-level Electrical Engineering course. For developing additional applet resources, the programming productivity was improved by developing and accumulating Java class libraries in the earlier programming works. We shall present our development experiences, the feedbacks from student users and faculty users, utility of the applet resources within a traditional course structure, and if available, our assessment results.
3:45 PM OO2.7
SPECIALIST GRADUATE TEACHING USING THE WEB. John A. Venables, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Institut de Physique Experimentale, EPFL, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND; and CPES, University of Sussex, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM.
Use of the web can be advantageous for specialist graduate and research-based teaching in a number of ways. Positive points include: 1) the teacher can consult students interactively about the choice of material; 2) students can download notes and interact with the teacher, anywhere, anytime; 3) students can access material put up by other groups working in related areas, and can incorporate such material into course projects; 4) the fact that specialist courses cannot be given in person each semester/ year matters less than for other delivery methods; 5) further material, including working programs/ models can be prepared/ explored as part of ëResearch Experience for Undergraduateí programs, and/or in collaboration with other institutions. Points for discussion/ resolution include copyright, accreditation and costing, and useful forms of student-student interaction. These features will be described using experience gained in delivering graduate courses and individual lectures on surface and thin film physics during 1996 and 1997 in an international context.
4:00 PM OO2.8
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY FOR MATERIALS SCIENTISTS- AN INTERACTIVE CAL APPROACH. Peter J. Goodhew, Materials Science and Engineering, University of Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM; T. Ann Fretwell, MATTER Project, University of Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM.
The MATTER* team have developed a new module, entitled Crystallography for inclusion in the second version of Materials Science on CD-ROM, due for publication in January 1998. As with other MATTER materials, the prime objective in developing this module was to exploit fully the interactive and graphical capabilities of the computer in presenting those concepts which are of key importance to students of materials science. These include symmetry operations, lattices, point and space groups, indexing of planes and directions, and the building of common structures (e.g. fcc, bcc and hcp) using space-filling spherical atoms. The approach adopted in this module is to start from a two dimensional consideration of symmetry operators and lattices, which is easier for the student to master. There are only five fundamental plane lattices, and a more limited set of symmetry operators applies in two dimensions. Once the 2-D systems have been covered, three dimensional lattices are developed up to the 230 space groups. The frequent use of interactive exercises ensures that understanding is developed as the student proceeds. Graphical interactions are used where they can be most effective, examples include the drag and drop placing of rotational and mirror symmetry elements and the rotation of atom crystal models until particular symmetry directions have been found. First-year crystallography classes are currently being taught using this module and this experience will be reported at the meeting.
4:15 PM OO2.9
A DISTRIBUTED NETWORK-BASED COURSE IN ORGANIC MOLECULAR CONDUCTORS. Janice Lee, Maya Preiss, Guofeng Li, Janice Musfeldt, SUNY-Binghamton, Dept of Chemistry, Binghamton, NY; Kevin Mooney, Michael Naughton, SUNY-Buffalo, Depts of Physics and Chemistry, Buffalo, NY; Carlos Rivera, Laszlo Mihaly, SUNY-Stonybrook, Dept of Physics, Stonybrook, NY; Patrick Naughton, Starwave Corp, Seattle, WA.
In order to expand the use of technology in the classroom, we have developed a graduate level Web-based distance learning course in materials science. We have concentrated on exploiting the interactive capabilities of the Web as well as harnessing the combined expertise of our own research collaborators in the field of organic molecular conductors. This network-based distance education prototype has the potential to be replicated elsewhere within the SUNY system and at other campuses as well.
4:30 PM OO2.10
VISUALIZING THE ANISOTROPY OF CRYSTALS: NYE PLUS 3-D GRAPHICS. Darrell G. Schlom, Penn State University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University Park, PA.
A graduate-level course on crystal anisotropy has been enhanced allowing students to tensor properties and variables in three dimensions (3-D). Using , graduate students form a graphical link between equations and their physical significance both inside and outside the classroom. The availability of computerized classroom facilities for visual lectures and visual homework makes this possible. Examples include magnetic point groups, pyroelectricity, thermal expansion, piezoelectricity, elastic stiffness, and piezoresistivity. Such visualization is extremely helpful for comprehending the spatial variation of properties that occurs in important low-symmetry materials, e.g., quartz and orthoclase, and in identifying the directions in which a particular tensor quantity will be maximal or minimal. Use of also aids with the extensive matrix manipulations used to deduce the form of the tensor property matrices for specific point group symmetries using Neumannís Law.
4:45 PM OO2.11
SEE HIGH-Tc: VISUALIZATION OF CUPRATE SUPERCONDUCTORS. John T. McDevitt, Chris E. Jones, Chris T. Jones and Sheila Warren, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
Although the field of solid-state chemistry has been targeted as one of the most important new areas of science, lack of familiarity with the subject matter has slowed the incorporation of such material into conventional chemistry courses. Moreover, students in chemistry classes have traditionally found it very difficult to visualize and conceptualize the complex structural properties of solids. Computer graphic illustrations provide an innovative and excellent tool to overcome the traditional obstacles to learning about solid-state chemistry. The material collected has been compiled on a CD-ROM devoted to the subject of solid-state chemistry of copper oxide superconductors. We have chosen this interesting class of superconducting materials to demonstrate the basic concepts of solid-state chemistry visualization methods. The novelty of this approach is that simple concepts are explained through the visualization of highly complex materials with interesting properties. The new tool not only solves the challenge of introducing students to the basic concepts of solid-state chemistry, but also exposes them to a class of compounds that is technologically relevant to today's scientific research.
SESSION OO3: DEMONSTRATIONS-SOFTWARE AND TEACHING RESOURCES
Hands-on demonstrations of new resources being discussed during regular talks.
Chair: Kristen P. Constant
Tuesday Evening, December 2, 1997
8:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Regis/Boston Univ (M)
SESSION OO4: INNOVATIVE COURSES AND PROGRAMS I
Chairs: Ronald Gibala and Jagdish Narayan
Wednesday Morning, December 3, 1997
Regis/Boston Univ (M)
8:30 AM *OO4.1
POPULARISING MATERIALS. Philip Ball, Nature, London, UNITED KINGDOM.
Materials education requires an environment of broader public understanding as to what materials science is about and what it contributes to our technology and culture. But the relationship between applied science and society remains an uneasy one, in part because the image of science portrayed by popularisers both within and without the scientific community has traditionally emphasised discovery at the expense of invention and creativity. The publication in 1997 both of my book Made to Measure and of Ivan Amato's Stuff may help to redress this imbalance. I will talk about these and other attempts to render materials science accessible to the general public.
9:00 AM OO4.2
15 MINUTE LECTURE-"CLIPS" ON MATERIALS ENGINEERING. Albert Polman, Utrecht University and FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS.
The average attention span of present day's materials science student is 15 minutes. Therefore, to optimize the use of class-time in a materials engineering course, it is essential to regularly change the format of the lecture. Recent experience with the use of a 15 min. Iecture-``clip'' format at the undergraduate student coarse on atomic scale materials engineering a Utrecht University will be described. Each weekly 90 min. lecture is divided into 15 min. blocks of 1) home work quiz, 2) in-class presentation of homework exercises, 3) in-class experiment demonstration, 4) student presentation of a recent paper in the literature, 5) description of new homework, 6) news of the week. In this course the weekly class lecture is complemented with 8 hours of home work. Using this format, the lecture time is mostly spent on issues that can not be studied at home, while the home work time is efficiently used to study the chapters of the book that is used for this course, and to perform exercises. The student evaluation for this course shows that this new format is well-received, that the students take full advantage of home work time, while the material presented in class stimulates them to consider a career in materials science.
9:15 AM OO4.3
ALUMNI-CONTRIBUTED MATERIALS SELECTION PROJECTS IN AN INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS SCIENCE COURSE. Chrysanthe Demetry, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Materials Science and Engineering Program, Worcester, MA.
Materials selection projects supplied by alumni in industry have been introduced to a large enrollment introductory materials science course for all engineering majors. The rationale for introducing this project was multifold: 1) for students to integrate and go beyond course topics by addressing a real, open-ended materials selection problem recently faced by an alumnus in industry; 2) for students to demonstrate teamwork and oral communication skills; and 3) to generate more interest in materials science among students of all majors. Projects were conducted in assigned teams, with checks for individual accountability. Each team prepared a written report and oral presentation, which together accounted for 25% of the overall course grade. Student response and performance on these projects will be compared to previous iterations of the course's project component, which included reverse engineering dissection projects and instructor-generated materials selection topics. The question of whether materials selection is an appropriate activity in an introductory course will be addressed.
9:30 AM OO4.4
STRUCTURE AND BONDING IN CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS: A TEXT BOOK FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS. Gregory S. Rohrer, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pittsburgh, PA
Most Materials Science and Engineering curricula contain a course on structure and bonding in the crystalline state. While relevant materials for such a course can be found in existing texts on crystallography, solid state physics, or solid state chemistry, no single text is entirely appropriate for the materials student. Thus, the instructor is challenged to present a unified view of the topic and highlight the principles and ideas most relevant for materials scientists. In this presentation I will describe a text that has been developed over the last 5 years to combine important elements of crystallography, physical models for chemical bonds, and crystal chemistry. The text begins with a discussion of crystallography, then turns to diffraction, and then to descriptive crystal chemistry. The following chapters are devoted to secondary, ionic, metallic, and covalent bonding models. The tenth and final chapter concentrates on the development of structure-bonding relationships and includes topics such as Pauling's rules, bond valences, Phillips ionicity, Hume Rothery rules, Miedema rules Mooser-Pearson plots, and Villar's plots. Having been developed over a number of years while teaching a first year graduate level course, the complete text now features worked examples and numerous exercises that require quantitative calculations.
10:15 AM OO4.5
FAB LINETM: THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PROCESSING GAME. Russell F. Pinizzotto, ZZotto Enterprises, Dallas, TX.
Fab Line is a non-traditional board game designed to demonstrate the interrelationships of integrated circuit processing steps, the economic impact of management and technical decisions, and the influence of outside forces on corporate profitability and process yield. Fab Line consists of a board, playing pieces, money, cards, dice, etc., and is similar in play to the well-known board game Monopoly. It has been play tested by graduate students at the University of North Texas, undergraduate students at Texas Christian University, and lower division students of the Dallas County Community College District. Fab Line provides a competitive/cooperative instructional environment that is both educational and engaging. It is based on the concept of ``edutainment,'' the blending of education and entertainment. Judged by student and teacher response, the game is a tremendous success and is an exciting way to enliven the classroom. The spirit of competition in a non-threatening game environment led to lively discussions and interactions among the students and faculty. The classes became boisterous enough that faculty from other classes found it hard to believe that learning was in progress. Improvements suggested by the students have been incorporated for greater playability. There are very few science and technology-based games, so Fab Line fills an educational niche that is essentially empty. It can be used in a wide range of courses at all grade levels and by the general public. Customized versions have been developed for corporate applications. A multi-player, networked, CD-ROM version is under development.
10:30 AM OO4.6
AN INNOVATIVE COURSE SEQUENCE IN ELECTRONIC MATERIALS AND PROCESSING. E.L. Allen, A.J. Muscat, Dept of Chemical and Materials Engineering, E.D.H. Green, Dept of Electrical Engineering, P.G. Gwozdz, Dept of General Engineering, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA and L.S. Vanasupa, Dept of Materials Engineering, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA.
A two-semester, interdisciplinary course sequence on electronic materials and processing has been developed by faculty in several departments and two universities. The courses utilize an innovative teaching and learning methodology which we call ìCooking without Recipesî. The first course of the sequence, ìElectronic, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Materialsî (MatE 153), is a large enrollment, lecture/lab course and is taught using a modified studio mode with active and cooperative learning. It is required for electrical and materials engineering majors, as well as for other students taking a minor in electronic materials. The second course of the sequence, ì Electronic Materials Processingî (MatE/ChE/EE 129), is a team-based, lecture/lab, elective course which is taught as a fictional start-up company, Spartan Semiconductor Services, Inc. The course is interdisciplinary, with teams composed of electrical, materials, chemical, mechanical and industrial engineering majors as well as a few chemistry and physics majors. The students are organized into heterogeneous teams by the instructors, who weight them by major, GPA, work experience, and gender and ethnic identification. This ì entrepreneurial approachî provides a culture and environment for learning which far exceeds that of a typical undergraduate course. During the 15-week semester, integrated circuits are fabricated using a 5-mask metal gate PMOS process. Two-week projects focusing on process characterization, design, and development are threaded into the lab sequence.
10:45 AM OO4.7
A PROPOSED B.S. PROGRAM IN MICROELECTRONICS PROCESS ENGINEERING. E.L. Allen, A.J. Muscat and M.B. Jennings, Dept of Chemical and Materials Engineering, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA.
The Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at San Jose State University is developing a new undergraduate, interdisciplinary B.S. degree program in Microelectronic Process Engineering (µProE). This program will educate students in the required materials science, process design and process engineering which is specific to microelectronics, information storage, flat panel and other technologies relying on thin film and surface fabrication techniques, as well as in the broad engineering fundamentals expected of any undergraduate engineering degree. Graduates of the program will be positioned for entry level process engineering jobs in semiconductor and other industries which rely on similar process technology; they will also be prepared for graduate study in materials science and engineering or chemical engineering. The program is interdisciplinary, including upper division coursework in relevant areas of chemical, materials, and electrical engineering, as well as a strong component of applied statistics and experimental design. Four elements define the Process Engineering program: flexible curriculum, laboratory experience, innovative teaching methodology, and industry partnerships. A major aspect of the program is the Industry Partnerships, a multi-level interaction with industry through lab support, human resource exchange, and industry-based, team-oriented process design projects.
11:00 AM OO4.8
THE ''TEC'' PROGRAM: INNOVATION IN GRADUATE EDUCATION. Angus I. Kingon and M. Zapata III, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and S. Markham, Department of Business Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
This paper describes an innovative experiment in graduate education which is embodied within the Technology, Education, and Commercialization (TEC) Program at NCSU. The program addresses the issue that Ph.D. graduates in science and engineering programs are often not well equipped for their starting position in industry, as discussed in the COSEPUP Report issued by the National Academies of Science and of Engineering. The program provides an optional, high technology entrepreneurial experience for these students in a one-year three-course sequence. Most of the activities are conducted within teams consisting of the science/engineering students, Masters students from the College of Management, technical and business faculty, and Executives-in-Residence. These teams follow a comprehensive and unique process which includes searching for technologies, creating or identifying product concepts, evaluating and screening these, developing business concepts, developing a commercialization strategy, and writing business proposals. While the Program encompasses a broader range of students, a high percentage of students have been from Materials Science and Engineering and related disciplines, and the experience is pertinent to this forum. The impact of the program on the students has been monitored both quantitatively and qualitatively, and these results are briefly presented. The importance of the educational methodology is emphasized. The Program clearly has a secondary purpose of technology commercialization, both in terms of commercial startup and licensing to an existing business. We describe several projects which have had commercial outcomes.
SESSION OO5: INNOVATIVE COURSES AND PROGRAMS II/ASSESSMENT
Chairs: Reza Abbaschian and Stephen Antolovich
Wednesday Afternoon, December 3, 1997
Regis/Boston Univ (M)
1:30 PM *OO5.1
ENLIVENING SCIENCE EDUCATION WITH DATA FROM THE INTERNET. Edward A. Friedman, Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education and Matthew Libera, Materials Science and Engineering Department, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ.
The Center for improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) has been leading an NSF funded state-wide program in New Jersey on applications of Internet in science education for all pre-college levels from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. This program has reached approximately 3,000 teachers and administrators from more than 500 schools. The emphasis has been on using unique and compelling resources from the Internet. In particular, projects have focused on access by students to real-time data. Lessons have been developed that explore data from three sources: (I) student-student collaborations; (2) utilization of public on-line data bases, and (3) data from scientific laboratories. An example from category (I) involves 4th grade students who measure the boiling point of water at sea level and discover that their peers in mountain locations obtain different results. Popular category (2) examples involve satellite data relating to meteorology, oceanography, and environmental studies. Category (3) examples developed through the CIESE project include data from molecular biology laboratories at Rutgers and fusion research studies at Princeton. An innovative project at Stevens that is under development utilizes remote Scanning Electron Microscopes for study of samples from student projects, Work is ongoing in which particulate matter from air samples is analyzed as well as the surfaces of materials whose hardness is being investigated by middle and high school students. During this presentations the various projects mentioned above will be demonstrated. Results of impact studies being conducted by Educational Testing Service on student learning and motivation will also be presented.
2:00 PM *OO5.2
PATHWAYS TO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. Angelo Otterbein, William B. Russel, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.
Pathways to Science and Technology is a software system designed to create customized learning environments using the latest multimedia and database technologies over the Internet. Pathways, which will eventually be housed at the Invention Factory Science Center in Trenton, NJ, will allow visitors to learn more about science and technology through a self‚guided approach to exhibits, activities, and opportunities both within the science center and throughout the region. Prototypes for on‚line materials science modules and a virtual reality exhibit have been developed with the help of faculty and researchers at the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI) and Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM). A six‚week summer program for sixth graders from Trenton is also underway to test and prototype the system. This system should enable industry, academia, and government to collaborate in a meaningful way toward improving scientific literacy. Pathways is funded under the National Science Foundation1s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center grants.
2:30 PM OO5.3
PACKAGING: CEREAL BOX MATERIALS SCIENCE. Thomas G. Stoebe, University of Washington, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seattle, WA; Charles W. Wright, Bethel High School Science Department, Spanaway, WA.
Packaging of retail goods is a subject of practical interest for all of us. Milk is in a cardboard box or a plastic jug. Cereal is in a box and soup in a can. Why? Does it make a difference? These and many more are the type of questions that students from kindergarten to twelfth grade ask, and are a great way to get them to focus on materials science and materials technology. Materials properties, marketing, manufacturing and cost are all relevant to the development of packaging of retail goods. Teachers find many ways to use these concepts in their classrooms, depending on the grade level. An elementary teacher can take a class to the grocery store and collect samples for analysis and simple testing. In high school, students can research these points and develop an analysis that focuses on the relationship of material properties to their uses, then carry out experiments, such as the measurement of heat loss through a foam plastic hamburger container vs. a paper one. This paper will develop this theme to include both the practical applications of packaging that motivate the student and the basic materials and engineering principles. Specific modules will be presented along with their application to several grade levels. This work is an extension of the discussion presented in Packaging, Materials Science for All of Us, MRS Bulletin vol. 22, p. 43, April 1997, and is partially supported by the National Science Foundation under its Advanced Technology Education Program.
2:45 PM OO5.4
POLYMERS FOR PRIMARIES: INTRODUCING POLYMER CHEMISTRY IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM. JoAnn Ratto, U.S. Soldier System Command, Natick, MA; Patricia A. Jacobs, Framingham Public Schools, Framingham, MA.
This workshop will demonstrate how elementary classroom teachers can be trained to teach the basic concepts of polymer chemistry to their students in an appealing and understandable format. The concepts covered include: I) What is a polymer 2) the structure and properties of polymers, 3) the processing of polymers, 4) recycling issues, and 5) the application and design process. This training model, designed by an elementary science specialist and a polymer chemist, offers teachers a concrete introduction to polymer chemistry with an emphasis on instructional strategies and activities appropriate for students in Kindergarten through grade 5. The organization of this teacher-training experience also serves as a model for developing partnerships between industry and schools to improve the quality of science education for students, their teachers and the community at large.
3:30 PM OO5.5
TEACHING RESEARCH METHODS IN LARGE UNDERGRADUATE LABORATORY COURSES: A MATERIALS PROCESSING EXAMPLE. N. Jiang, R. Hwang, E. Dulberg, T. Jones and J. Clum, Mechanical Engineering Department, SUNY-Binghamton, Binghamton, NY.
Learning how to do research at the undergraduate level is often the focus of enhanced funding from agencies, e.g., NSF REU, but is aimed at individual, students with above average academic records. At the same time engineering (and science) laboratory courses, designed for larger groups and to include all student abilities, frequently focus on learning specific techniques and/or demonstrating specific phenomena. Nonetheless, learning the methods of scientific research, or inquiry, e.g., Planning, Observation, Recording and Evaluation (P.O.R.E.), should be of value to all engineering and science students; especially, in view of our attempts to foster an attitude of self reliance and life-long learning. In this presentation we describe a materials processing laboratory course in which we have employed the concept of original research involving all students. The course has incorporated all of the phases noted above, i.e, Planning (using design of experiments), Observation (during the actual physical experimentation), Recording (with special emphasis on legal and ethical issues regarding format and content of research notebooks), and Evaluation (the interpretation of microstructure - property relations using the designed experiment analysis for predictive model building). Attainment of the course objectives has been assessed on the general level in terms of the publications that have been based on the data obtained and the students that have gone on to do related graduate research. More specific assessments are expressed in terms of the favorable students' course evaluations which have been collected at the end of each course offering. Additionally, specific questioning in examinations on laboratory related observations showed that the retention of information was uniformally high among the students of all academic levels. Procedures for the introduction of the P.O.R.E. original research concept into a wide range of laboratory courses is discussed.
3:45 PM OO5.6
A DECADE OF EXPERIMENTS & DEMONSTRATIONS FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY ON CD ROM. James A. Jacobs, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA.
At the Fall '96 MRS meeting we introduced the alpha version of our CD ROM set and explained the methodology for producing the CDs. Following the presentation, attendees interacted with the CDs and one of the design team. This interaction and subsequent similar sessions lead to the beta version and further testing and improvements in the CDs. This presentation will provide an overview of the now completed CD set and a demonstration of how to use the CD to support teaching of materials science and engineering. The experiments and demonstration are indexed under the following categories:
- Testing and Evaluation
- Polymers
- Metals
- Ceramics
- Composites
- Electronic Materials
- Materials Curriculum.
The CDs operate on the popular computer platforms. Video clips offer movies on Scanning Tunneling and Atomic Force Microscopy, High Performance Polymers, Advanced Ceramics, and Advanced Composites.
The contents of the CDs resulted from a decade of annual National Educators' Workshop that focused on strengthening materials science, engineering, and technology education. Sponsors of the on-going annual workshops include NASA, U.S. Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Norfolk State University, with support from corporations and technical societies. Building on the workshops, a collaborative effort among educational institutions, federal research laboratories, private industry and a publisher resulted in the development of two CD ROMs, entitled EXPERIMENTS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (EMSET) ON CD ROM .
The structure of the CDs allows materials educators to select from over 213 experiments and demonstrations. These experiments can be accessed from the tables of contents or by using search engines. Once selected, the user has the latitude to manipulate individual papers in a variety of ways for both hard copy or digital outputs. They can edit their selection to fit their own environment and to suit their students' needs. The movies can be viewed individually or presented as a part of a lecture, and provide insights into emerging materials science topics.
4:00 PM OO5.7
INTEGRATION OF LABORATORY AND CLASSROOM WORK IN AN INTERACTIVE FIRST-YEAR CHEMISTRY/MATERIALS COURSE. John B. Hudson, Linda S. Schadler, Mark A. Palmer, Dept of Materials Science and Engineering; James A. Moore, Chemistry Dept, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
A major problem with laboratory courses, or laboratory sections of a course, is that experiments are often performed at a time remote from that at which the relevant theory is developed in class. As a result, students often fail to see the connection betweeen theory and experiment. We are attempting to circumvent this problem by incorporating laboratory work into the two-hour interactive classroom sessions of the Freshman-year Chemistry of Materials course at Rensselaer. This has required development of laboratory experiences that can be completed in 30 to 50 minutes, and that are tied directly to the subject under discussion that day. We will describe a number of these experiments, and the student response to this approach.
4:15 PM OO5.8
PERFORMANCE OF A COMBINED SCANNING TUNNELING/CAPACITANCE MICROSCOPE. Stefan Lanyi, Emil Pincik, Inst of Physics, Slovakian Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, SLOVAKIA; Miloslav Hruskovic, Faculty of Electrical Engng and Information Technology, Slovak Univ of Technology, Bratislava, SLOVAKIA.
Scanning capacitance microscopes can image the topography of conducting surfaces, surfaces covered with an insulating film or its inhomogeneities. Some of them may detect also dielectric losses. Although they cannot compete in lateral resolution with scanning tunneling microscopes, they have certain advantages over them when imaging large conducting surfaces. The pixel size can be simply adjusted to the actual raster of scanning and prevent creation of some artefacts possible in STM. Due to the larger distance from the surface the scanning speed may be significantly increased. A combination of SCM with STM, using the same probe, may be a powerful new imaging tool. Our combined SCM/STM, using an input stage with virtual input capacitance of 8 fF and probe stray capacitance less than 0.5 fF, ensures an excellent sensitivity of SCM at 2 MHz, and a standard STM stability and noise figure. Examples of GaAs surfaces treated in oxygen plasma as well as of larger areas on evaporated metal films, imaged using SCM and at high resolution using STM, will be presented.
4:30 PM OO5.9
QUANTUM MECHANICS FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE CURRICULA. John M. Vail, University of Manitoba, Department of Physics, Winnipeg, MB, CANADA.
An increasing fraction of the materials in modern engineering and technology require understanding at the atomic scale for their development and application. This goes beyond the vague notion that, of course, all materials consist of atoms, to an understanding of the quantum mechanical structure and processes of specific atomic systems. We suggest that modern engineers and materials scientists need a formal background in quantum mechanics, comparable to that which is given to physics majors. Ideally, this would be a part of the undergraduate engineering curriculum, on a par with present engineering courses in electromagnetism, thermodynamics and continuum mechanics, where the grounding in fundamentals is at least comparable to that of physics students at the B.S. level. Rather than begin with the undergraduate curriculum, where huge difficulties of implementation can be expected, we propose to begin with a B.S. (Physics) - level course for graduate students of engineering. We suggest that the fundamental scientific principles and methods of quantum mechanics be strongly emphasized, rather than technological applications. Nevertheless, we propose a brief introductory section in which examples are given from modern technology, for which quantum-mechanical understanding is required. In addition, we propose a brief section at the end of the course in which the students would undertake projects applying quantum mechanics to technological or engineering materials problems. The remaining preponderance of the course would be guided by the postulational approach, with a practically-oriented physics textbook, supplemented by a couple of more purely theoretical books. Progress in organizing such a course will be reported.
4:45 PM OO5.10
TEACHING CRYSTAL GROWTH AS A PART OF MATERIALS SCIENCE PROGRAM. Nikolai Leonyuk, Moscow St Univ, Dept of Geology, Moscow, RUSSIA.
New methodologies in teaching crystal growth have emerged from a number of different Universities' departments and faculties with deverse backgrounds and interests. This presentation is based on the author's educational and research experience in this field at Moscow State University (MSU) within more than two past decades. The crystal growth is being taught in the physical, chemical and geological departments of MSU. It is a self-consistent course of lectures, seminars and practices. As a rule, this course includes the following sections: 1)fundamentals (nucleation and theoretical forms of crystals; mechanism and kinetics of the growth of real crystals; stability of growth forms), 2)crystal growth in nature, 3)classifications of crystals and growth methods, 4)growth of high-Tc single crystals, 5)growth of semiconductor crystals (bulk crystal growth, thin films and epitaxy), 6)growth of magnetic crystals, 7)growth of piezoelectric and acoustoelectric crystals, 8)growth of dielectric laser, non-linear and electro-optical crystals, 9)growth of gemstones. Traditions and innovations in teaching this course depend on the specific profile of the department. This topic will be discussed also. In summary, teaching crystal growth as an interdisciplinary course is going to be analized. An attempt will be made to present various aspects of the recent achievements in the physical, chemical and geological materials science to improve this course. Cross fertilization plays an significant role in the development of any teaching and scientific methods, and it is important to keep abreast of new approaches as they arise. The diversity of the methodologies now available to the teaching crystal growth as a part of materials science program invites combination, and that will be possible if we are aware of the possibilities.