DNET: The Drexel Nano Engineering Track
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DNET: The Drexel Nano Engineering Track. Christopher Y. Li1, Kishore Tenneti1, Dan Solari1, Antonios Zavaliangos1, Surya Kalidindi1, Yury Gogotsi1, Karl Sohlberg2, N. John DiNardo3 Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104; Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104; Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104. ABSTRACT Early exposure of Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) to undergraduate students is anticipated to play a pivotal role in recruiting highly qualified professionals for industry and in preparing future faculty and researchers for graduate education. Focusing on early undergraduate education in NSET, the newly launched Drexel Nano Engineering Track (DNET) program at Drexel University addresses the urgent need for early NSET education at the University level. The primary objective of the DNET program is to expose freshmen and sophomores in Drexel's College of Engineering to basic concepts in NSET. It is envisioned that the career decisions of a large fraction of students will be directed as they learn the vocabulary of NSET and see potential engineering applications. The current DNET program activities include (1) updating/modifying a series of freshmen/sophomore courses / laboratories to infuse NSET into early undergraduate curriculum. Because of the size of the established tDEC program, this initiative has been able to reach a remarkably large body of students immediately. Over 700 students are enrolled in NSET-revised freshmen courses, and they will progress to NSET-revised sophomore courses the next year. (2) developing a number of modules for NSET education and (3) launching /maintaining a DNET web for information dissemination, performance assessment and outreach activities. The DNET program, together with the existing Nanotechnology Institute and Drexel/Upenn IGERT program that focus on the NSET research and graduate education, offer a stream of NSET education from college to graduate school at Drexel University. INTRODUCTION The emerging field of Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) has become an extremely active and vital area of research extending into almost every facet of engineering and science. The need to educate young students in NSET by incorporating its aspects into many levels of curricula is essential for the preparation of future faculty, researchers and professionals and as such, critical for the progression of NSET. Coupled with basic and applied research, the majority of the educational activities in NSET have been carried out at the graduate level.1,2 NSET is a relatively new area that might not be familiar to pre-college students’ parents and their school teachers; many students have little access to information about this new and fascinating field at a time when they are making career decisions as they apply to universities. Given these circumstances, early exposure of NSET to undergraduate students and high school seniors is even more important
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