REU Site: Hybrid Design and Fabrication

REU 站点：混合设计和制造

• 批准号: 2150321
• 负责人: Cesar Torres
• 金额: $ 40.22万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150321&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Hybrid; Design; Fabrication

Over three years, this maker-centered Research Experiences for Undergraduates site will recruit 30 students from diverse and interdisciplinary backgrounds to participate in developing smart material toolkits, AI-assisted and sensor-driven tools, and smart creative environments. This project will create an authentic undergraduate research experience that incorporates elements of maker culture to develop positive coping mechanisms needed to overcome the ambiguity of open-ended research questions, foster personal identity formation within the research community, and bolster scientific and creative curiosity. Its research builds on craft-based methods to design digital fabrication practices that allow users to maintain agency in the making process which has been shown to democratize access to advanced materials and fabrication techniques, enable grassroots innovation from hobbyist and professional communities, and broaden participation in STEM fields. Each research activity is situated within a community of practice and designed to engage REU students with stakeholders and peer researchers, including external mentors from internationally recognized human-computer interaction programs. Students will benefit from professional development in design thinking, additive and subtractive fabrication, and human subjects research. The interdisciplinary research experience and training will contribute to a high-demand research skill set for REU participants portable to a variety of science and technology disciplines. Projects will focus on a diverse range of underdeveloped materials within digital fabrication including clay, silicone, glass, biomaterials, and textiles which will provide both an experiential and collaborative learning substrate and attract underrepresented and underserved students in communities peripheral to science and engineering education. While a core advantage of digital fabrication is automation and abstraction, it has also contributed to removing users from directly interacting with a material. These material-based interactions are central to how experiential knowledge develops and are core contributors of creative cognition. Collectively, undergraduate researchers will help develop and disseminate digital fabrication toolkits and user interface systems to further promote material and technological literacy in both academic and independent "do it yourself" communities. Exemplar artifacts developed under the mentorship of professional art and design faculty will be disseminated through social and popular media and generate inspiration, excitement, and critical reflection around interdisciplinary collaborations between art and technology. Evaluation of the site using a Maker Competencies framework will provide valuable knowledge to the REU community on the effects of maker-centered training on the undergraduate research experience.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.

在三年内，这个以创客为中心的本科生研究体验网站将招募 30 名来自不同跨学科背景的学生参与开发智能材料工具包、人工智能辅助和传感器驱动工具以及智能创意环境。该项目将创造一种真实的本科生研究体验，其中融入创客文化的元素，以开发克服开放式研究问题的模糊性所需的积极应对机制，促进研究社区内个人身份的形成，并增强科学和创造性的好奇心。其研究基于基于工艺的方法来设计数字制造实践，使用户能够在制造过程中保持代理权，这已被证明可以民主化先进材料和制造技术的获取，实现业余爱好者和专业社区的草根创新，并扩大对STEM 领域。每项研究活动都位于一个实践社区内，旨在让 REU 学生与利益相关者和同行研究人员（包括来自国际公认的人机交互项目的外部导师）互动。学生将受益于设计思维、增材和减材制造以及人体研究方面的专业发展。跨学科研究经验和培训将为 REU 参与者提供高要求的研究技能，使其能够适应各种科学和技术学科。项目将重点关注数字制造中各种尚未开发的材料，包括粘土、硅胶、玻璃、生物材料和纺织品，这些材料将提供体验式和协作式学习基础，并吸引科学和工程教育周边社区中代表性不足和服务不足的学生。虽然数字制造的核心优势是自动化和抽象，但它也有助于消除用户与材料的直接交互。这些基于材料的交互对于体验知识的发展至关重要，并且是创造性认知的核心贡献者。总的来说，本科生研究人员将帮助开发和传播数字制造工具包和用户界面系统，以进一步提高学术和独立“自己动手”社区的材料和技术素养。在专业艺术和设计教师的指导下开发的典型艺术品将通过社交和流行媒体传播，并围绕艺术和技术之间的跨学科合作产生灵感、兴奋和批判性反思。使用创客能力框架对该网站进行评估将为 REU 社区提供宝贵的知识，了解以创客为中心的培训对本科生研究经验的影响。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识进行评估来支持优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。