The development of the silicon chip fifty years ago was the materials science innovation that sparked the information technology revolution. Such new materials do more than transform technology, they change behavior and shape the urban landscape, from our cities, to our hospitals, to our homes, to our art. Thus, materials are a defining characteristic of society: its history, culture and economic welfare. As a result materiality is one of the central themes of study in every university. However in contemporary universities the scientists involved in making new materials (e.g. physicists, chemists, materials scientists) very rarely get involved with those who study the cultural & environmental significance of materials (e.g. humanities academics and social scientists), and are often further distanced from those who use materials (e.g. nurses, medics, engineers, architects, designers). This has a serious detrimental effect on the teaching culture of universities and their capacity to engage with the wider world, since many of the important issues of contemporary society, such as health, security, climate change and economic sustainability, require a multidisciplinary approach. This talk describes a project to build a Materials Library, and to use the stuff it contains as a material language to engage in a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and outreach.

Introductory materials courses not only provide a stepping stone for materials science and engineering majors to subsequently go in depth with their coursework, they also serve to educate the general engineering student population about the field. As content delivery continues to evolve with the advent of online education and MOOCs, it is important to determine the effectiveness of incorporating advanced content delivery into the on-campus student experience. This study evaluates the effectiveness of using a “flipped classroom” in a large lecture introductory materials course by directly comparing assessment to a “traditional” lecture format.
During a sophomore-level “Fundamental of Materials” course taught to most all engineering majors in Spring Quarter 2013, the effectiveness of two delivery methods was assessed. During this particular quarter, all engineering majors except for materials science and engineering take the course. The class of 421 students was divided into two lectures (Lecture A - 214 students; Lecture B - 207 students) each of which met during a 50-minute time slot three days a week. In addition, recitations of ~32 students met for two hours, once a week. For Lecture A, the class was taught in a “traditional” format where all content delivery was during the lecture periods. For Lecture B, the class was taught in a “flipped classroom” format where lectures were recorded so that students could watch the appropriate lecture prior to class. Class time was used for answering questions, reinforcing important points, showing multimedia clips and in-class demonstrations. In addition, an audience response system was used in both of the lectures.
The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach to student learning in an introductory materials science and engineering course. Data were collected to determine the viewership rates of the online lectures. In addition to exams and quizzes, in-class clicker questions which were posed to both lectures were used for assessment. Initial correlations demonstrate that students in Lecture B who watched lecture prior to the class discussion performed much better on exams. However, the overall performance of students in Lecture A was better than those in Lecture B. Additional analysis will correlate performance based on major and gender.

Over the past two years Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has integrated computation into the core of materials eduction through two innovations. JHU now requires all first year MSE students to take a discipline-based computing class in MATLAB. Following this, computational modules are integrated within all six core classes to build computational capacity amongst students and reinforce computing skills while using computing to teach materials concepts. These interventions were accompanied by surveys that gauge student perception of computing according to the Technology Acceptance Model. In addition pre- and post- tests were used to assess learning gains from computational modules in core classes. This data indicates that the discipline-based computing introduction increases student acceptance of computation more than multiple non-disicipline-based courses. While learning gains were associated with most computational modules, modules that involved the use of packages resulted in more instances of conceptual advancement than programming focused exercises.

The Next Generation Science Standards make scientific discourse a vital part of the classroom and arguing with evidence needs to become a common practice for students. Analysis and interpretation of data are an integral part as well. We present an approach to this using 21st-century technology combined with collection of laboratory data that is suitable for middle school through college. In an experiment using common nuts and bolts where students are determining the bolt mass indirectly, they collect mass data, enter the data into an online form that compiles the data into a spreadsheet in Google Drive, a free cloud-based application. Once all the groups have submitted their data, they access the spreadsheet online and start an emulated online discussion in the laboratory as if the groups were globally dispersed using the chat feature available in Google Drive and six laboratory group email accounts. Groups are identified by a group number and so there is a semi-anonymous sense among the members that allows for a fairly free discussion among students.
The chats are guided by the instructor, who must act as a moderator to keep students on track. Depending on the group of students, the level of prompting will vary. Even though directions require students to support all claims, they must be frequently reminded. Student data and chat excerpts are used to illustrate how the process works as the students try to interpret the data set and give evidence to support their statements. The method described here would work with any experiment where students can pool the data, whether similar or different for each group, and then compare and discuss it. Students discover errors or the lack of errors in consistent data, but novice students have a difficulty finding consistency in data. In another experiment students investigate systematic errors. Students have found the use of Google Drive to support this activity overwhelmingly positive. Many of our students, who are in first-year general chemistry, have never used Google Drive or a similar application. We have started using the documents feature in Google Drive for collaborative writing by groups trying to solve a chemical mystery.

Collaborative student research (CSR) takes place in educational settings where the teacher directs the laboratory (traditional) or allows the students to research a topic (non-traditional). This study examines the role of CSR in two separate settings: in high school (9-12) and college (undergraduate) institutions. Students in this study have participated in non-traditional, research-based experiences ranging from 6 weeks to 4 years. These experiences include summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), internships, fellowships, and authentic science research programs in the high school. These programs promote collaboration not only among student peers, but include teachers, professors, graduate students, post-docs, community members, and industry experts. Benefits of these CSR programs include developing skills, which are expected to align with educational standards such as Common Core State Standards (CC) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As part of this study, we focus on effective science and engineering practices necessary to succeed in the modern day workforce as reflected in the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) for Global Competitiveness. MGI is a national initiative that recognizes the importance of materials science by integrating all aspects of the materials continuum. By measuring the short and long-term outcome of student engagement in CSR experiences, we hope to gain new insight regarding the impact that these unique experiences have on 21st Century Skills such as [communication, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership, innovation, creativity, technological fluency, time management, goal setting and accomplishment, teamwork, ethics, scientific literacy, mathematics, etc.] Pre-post student survey data from these studies will be examined qualitatively and quantitatively as it relates to 21st Century Skills. Ideally, a new instrument to measure students&’ gains from CSR in the context of 21st Century Skills will be created based on combined preliminary, retrospective survey data.

Attendees will learn about some of the innovative informal science education projects that are making it easier to share programming ideas, program, exhibit, multimedia, and professional development resources. Topics will include sharing of free educational materials that can be easily adapted and modified by your institution to reach public audiences. The session will feature an introduction to Creative Commons, standards for open source sharing, and designing products for each adaptation.
The presentation will also include examples of online materials that material scientists may use for educational and public outreach programs. Projects featured will include the Nano Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network) online catalog of educational materials and tools; the Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE) Pathway of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) collection of STEM materials; the Open Exhibits initiative to provide modular, easy-to-use software & tools; and other collections of high-quality educational materials.
The session will be designed to appeal to conference attendees who are interested in collaboratively developing educational products and resources as well as those who want to use STEM educational products developed by others.

Since 2009, a New Jersey public high school, Bergen County Academies, has been offering an in-house chemistry/nanotechnology independent research program. The elective program allows participating students to develop and carry out their own research projects utilizing in-house research facilities. High school students in the program spend a minimum of two hours a week in the laboratory for up to 2.5 years. All the research students are given opportunities to engage in student-initiated projects starting from posing their own research questions, planning their experimental design, collecting scientific data, and finally formulating results under minimal guidance. This year, the first batch of enthusiastic research students graduated from the 4-year-old program with huge success, mostly deciding to major in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at college. Details of the program such as lessons learned during implementation will be discussed using different student cases with different perspectives, i.e. school administrators, research mentors, students, and parents.

Introductory materials science courses are fundamental curricula for vast majority of engineering majors [1]. However, many engineering undergraduates were discovered to have difficulty to learn this course [2]. The traditional content-based instructional design for introductory materials science courses simply let students exposing to large collections of facts, concepts and ideas without strong emphasis on organizing and applying these contents. After finish the one-semester introductory course, many students still fail to build up a cognitive structure and lack of intuition to apply the learned knowledge to real world problems with a high level of expertise.
To compensate for the defects of content-based teaching, the present authors redesigned some sections of the introductory materials science course required for all sophomore mechanical, industrial and nuclear engineering majors at Texas A&M University. They incorporated the student active and cooperative learning techniques into the traditional lecturing. Besides the traditional homework assignments and exams, all students were required to group into small teams and to complete a research project under the supervision of the instructors. They hypothesize that variety instructional approaches would enhance the student learning in classroom.
Based on three years implementation of this redesign, this paper/poster will present the preliminary findings on its effectiveness. The mainly focus is how incorporated undergraduate research experience affect student&’s concept understanding, motivation and attitude towards Engineering. To validate our research findings, a control section with only traditional content-based teaching were also studied. The difference of knowledge gain between the redesign and traditional lecturing will be provided.
Reference
1. Grand Challenges for Engineering, http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/, 05/05/2008.
2. C. Demetry, Understanding interactions between instructional design, student learning styles, and student motivation and achievement in an introductory materials science course, Frontiers in Education, 2002. FIE 2002. 32nd Annual, 3 (2002) pp.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has developed a successful educational outreach program whereby undergraduate students participate in extensive communications training, develop engaging technical presentations and hands-on activities and then take the message on the road to 6 - 12 grade classrooms. This educational outreach program is called the Engineering Ambassadors Program. It was initially developed at four pilot schools including Penn State, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Connecticut in Spring 2010 with the encouragement and support of a key corporate partner - United Technologies Corporation (UTC). UTC&’s started the program to build a pipeline of future generations of engineers to meet its workforce needs. The original four partner schools have established programs embracing a common set of core objectives: (i) teaching of advanced communication skills; (ii) communicating messages from Changing the Conversation¹, (iii) outreach to middle and high school students, and (iv) being an academic-based program rather than a club. Though these four programs have common core objectives, the programs differ from school to school according to institutional structures and other STEM outreach programs available on their respective campus or regional community. Each school leverages their own core strengths to make their programs sustainable and successful.
RPI&’s program includes 30 undergraduate/ graduate “Ambassadors". During the 2012-2013 academic years, the RPI Engineering Ambassador program reached out to 16 schools that exposed engineering to over 4000 students within a 60 mile radius of Rensselaer&’s home in Troy, NY. The program has introduced multiple engineering topics including materials science related subject matter to the 6-12 grade audience. The presentation will describe many facets of the RPI Engineering Ambassador program; the development and building a sustainable program, effectiveness on the 6-12 grade participants & the undergraduate RPI Engineering Ambassadors as well our next steps to align the program with the National Common Core Learning standards. A highlight of the presentation will be a demonstration of a RPI Engineering Ambassador - Materials Science presentation and hands-on activity designed by RPI Engineering Ambassadors.
References
1. National Academy of Engineering, Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering (Washington, D.C.: NAE Press, 2008).

In 2011, in response to a call for outreach coalitions to promote the NOVA program, Making Stuff, the Drexel/Penn Making Stuff Outreach Coalition was formed. The coalition, comprised of faculty and staff at Drexel University (Drexel), the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), and the Franklin Institute, hosted a series of events to introduce the general public in the Philadelphia region to the field of materials. This initiative has both served to form an alliance among the materials programs at Drexel and Penn and the Franklin Institute and to bring awareness of materials to the region. Nearly four years later, “Philly Materials Day” is a growing fruitful collaboration that serves as a model for other urban universities to broadly expose the general public to materials science and engineering and specifically to instill an excitement for science and engineering in the K-12 population.

Philly Materials Day consists of a free Saturday day-long, large-scale event held at Drexel with activities appropriate for all age levels. Hands-on demos including materials in sports equipment, bioplastics, a larger-than-life balloon carbon nanotube, and a “Nano Nook” for the youngest attendees form the backbone of the event. Talks with interactive activities focusing on topics such as biomaterials and societal impacts of materials are also given throughout the day. Tours and demonstrations of laboratory facilities give the public exposure to state-of-the-art materials characterization equipment including SEMs and x-ray microtomography. Additionally, local high school science fair winners are featured.
The event has grown from nearly 1000 people the first year to approximately 2000 attendees in 2013. Promotion includes print and website calendar listings, local news coverage, Facebook ads, a Twitter feed, e-mail lists of the participating organizations, a PECO Crown Lights announcement, and flyers to over 1,000 local science teachers.Surveys are administered to attendees upon leaving the event and the feedback has been used to improve the event annually. The majority of feedback, both formal and informal, has been overwhelmingly positive, including words such as “fun,” “interesting,” “awesome,” and “inspiring.”
This presentation will summarize our assessment of Philly Materials Day while providing information to other institutions for implementation of their own event. By creating a network of institutions throughout the country, our goal is to develop a “National Materials Day.” Ultimately, this day will be beneficial by expanding the general public&’s knowledge of materials science and engineering while instilling renewed interest in all science and engineering. By presenting a free family-friendly event accessible for all ages in cities around the country, “National Materials Day” will provide a forum in which families and K-12 populations alike will walk away with new knowledge about materials science and engineering.

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network has shared educational products and practices with over 300 science museums and research institutions in the United States. Some of our most surprising success stories come from working with a surprisingly young audience.
The presentation will provide a fun and interactive overview of ways that we&’ve successfully engaged young children and families. NISE Network will share a variety of partner experiences including events, hands-on activities, programs, and exhibits. Our examples will focus on the cutting-edge field of nanotechnology, and our approaches and strategies will be more generally applicable to engaging young audiences in STEM topics. We&’ll share key tips for success, as well as lessons learned from a few less-than-successful experiments.
Presenters will also describe opportunities for Materials Research Society members to get involved with local museum partners and engage the public in science, engineering, and technology topics through a variety of public engagement initiatives.

This partnership among 5 universities, community colleges, K-12 and industry offers tremendous benefit and potential for improvement of K-12 academic outcomes in one of the most economically challenged regions in the nation. The project provides an opportunity for science-rich institutions to engage their surrounding communities to share these important benefits to ultimately provide students access and opportunity for academic achievement in STEM, and specifically in Materials Science.
As a partner in this MSP project, SECME provides a delivery vehicle for the innovative content being developed by the MSP partners; utilizes its framework for professional learning communities led by Master Teacher Mentors to follow participants&’ progress and support implementation; and extends the project impact with its student competitions and projects and parent engagement strategies.
This session will provide examples of the content modules in Nano science developed by participating faculty geared toward middle school. We will discuss strategies used to integrate the Materials Science concepts with 6th, 7th and 8th grade teaching standards and the process for training educators. The session will provide data from the first two years&’ evaluation of the SECME Summer Institute and discuss adjustments made as a result.
The Tuskegee Nano Bio Math Science Partnership for the Alabama Black belt offers a unique opportunity for research, evaluation and improvement of the content, tools/processes for delivery of professional development and the evaluation of its efficacy and impact over time and in the classroom.

In this paper we will discuss the development of a curriculum module for eighth grade (middle school) students entitled, Is There Nano In Your Cell Phone? This module was developed as part of our ongoing effort in conjunction with the NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership at Tuskegee University. The activities incorporate multiple aspects of physical science, including chemistry (ion exhange), physics (device fabrication), mathematics (exponential growth), and materials science (the relationships among structure, processing and properties). Specifically, two new interactive classroom activities have been developed in connection with this module.
In the first activity, students explore the physical properties of a piece of Gorilla glass, such as its resistance to scratching and its toughness. Then, the ion stuffing process used to temper the glass is discussed in terms of the relatioship between structure, processing and properties. Three experiments using commonly available materials are then used in hands-on labs that allow the students to explore these relationships more carefully.

The second activity explores integrated circuit miniaturization (Moore's Law) as the foundation of the modern smart phone, using the metaphor of replacing a machine with a material. As a counterpoint, we explore the the reasons why batteries are much more difficult to miniaturize, and how we may supply power to hand held devices in the future.

Osmosis and diffusion are included in the Alabama Course of Study; however, middle school students continue to have difficulty understanding these concepts. Due to a lack of funds and resources, hands-on activities involving osmosis and diffusion are very limited. In response, a 5-E teaching module has been developed which treats these topics using inexpensive and readily available materials. This module development is part of a program directed to the Alabama Black Belt funded through a Math Science Partnership award from NSF (0832129). A summer teacher training workshop using the module was conducted on the campus of Alabama State University, during which feedback from teachers suggested module adjustments making it more appropriate for the classroom. The module was also implemented in a college microbiology lab setting. Pre and Post Tests revealed a twelve percent increase in the understanding of the concepts introduced during the hands-on lab. The module will be further evaluated with middle school students during the summer of 2013.

The United Kingdom aims to decarbonize its national electricity generation in order to transition to a low carbon economy. Solar, wind, hydro and thermal energy generation are renewable alternatives to fossil fuels currently being explored that may form part of the future generation mix of the country.
How does materials scientist's work addressing energy research challenges for solar and storage (for example) translate into the adoption of new technology? How appropriate are the technology usage visions of the scientists? How can technology users better inform the materials science motivations? This report will focus on how a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and University of Durham, community members and industry representatives are jointly developing renewable energy projects to try to answer these and other questions. The history of the project will be presented as well as the methodology used to collaboratively engage the community participants.
This work is supported by a grant provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the United Kingdom.

The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) is a national community of researchers and informal science educators dedicated to fostering public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. Working through the Network, the Inclusive Audiences team seeks to increase awareness, engagement, and understanding of nano among diverse public audiences.
The NISE Net Inclusive Audiences (IA) team has focused their work on increasing professional and institutional capacity to effectively engage under-served and under-represented audiences, including girls, bilingual audiences, and people with disabilities, in informal learning experiences related to nano. In the summer of 2013, the IA team hosted two workshops for their Network partners. In June, NISE Net partners representing twenty informal education centers around the country explored how to better engage Hispanic/Latino audiences in nanoscale science, engineering and technology at the Children&’s Museum of Houston Bilingual Audiences Workshop. In July at the Museum of Science in Boston, over twenty partners participated in a charrette-style workshop on Universal Design in Public Programs. Both workshops sought to inspire confidence and build capacity for NISE Net partners to engage their diverse public audiences.
This presentation will share lessons learned from the 2013 workshops as well as workshop resources and recommendations to Materials Research Society members on ways engage the public in science, engineering, and technology topics.

What do fiber optics, superconductors, memory wire, polymers, solid state devices, ferrofluid, rare earth magnets, carbon-based electroacoustic devices, and photonic crystals have in common? They are all products of materials science research. Many of these advances have played an important role in improving daily life; all are capable of enhancing the teaching of physics. This paper will address how topics from materials science can be used to ignite student interest by providing the basis for engaging hands-on activities.

We have been developing a collection of low-cost experiments for exploring the science of glassy materials through hands-on activities with sucrose based glass (a.k.a. hard candy). This innocuous and easy to synthesize model glass system provides a vehicle for quantitative exploration of the materials properties and behavior exhibited by both commercial oxide and polymeric glasses, but at much more accessible temperatures. This mini-curriculum of glass science consists of inter-related experiments and home built apparatuses. It provides an environment to develop an understanding of glassy materials through active, prolonged engagement. The individual components always capture the attention of a wide range of audiences from elementary school to graduate level and serve as effective materials outreach to the general public. Some of our earlier experiments were reported four years ago [1], including the synthesis, phase diagrams, refractive index measurement, a fiber drawing tower, crystallization kinetics and a rudimentary version of a DTA. Since that report we have made substantial improvements and added new topics, including electrical and thermal conductivity, improved DTA apparatus, and improved methodology and apparatus for crystallization kinetics. All of our experiments are designed to be low-cost (typically <$100) and the apparatuses are designed for assembly by students or teachers. These resources are all available at no cost on our website (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/), which also includes interesting and informative video lectures on glass and materials science to complement the learning experience. The expended curriculum and our experience with its implementation in the classroom will be discussed in this presentation.
This work is supported by the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass through the NSF Grant (DMR-0844014).
1. W. Heffner and H. Jain, Mat. Res. Symposium Proc., Vol. 1233, Fall 2009.

The growing societal importance of nanotechnology makes it increasing important that K-12 students, undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and parents al develop an awareness of nanotechnology. There are an ever increasing number of resources for nanotechnology education available. However, they are often viewed as discrete items for discrete audiences. This increases the burden on nanoeducation leaders and creates missed opportunities for dialogue among various groups. Content that can be readily adaptable based on time constraints, number of participants, age, and education level increases dissemination efficiency. This talk describes the development of a module on abalone&’s nanoscale structure, strength and optical properties. Successful adaptations for different time formats, students from K-20 , teachers, and parents are also described. The core of the module enables participants to compare abalone and common synthetic forms of calcium carbonate, namely chalk, antacids and vitamin supplements. A simple drop test using PVC pipe and fishing weights is used to enable ranking the toughness of the materials. Comparing the friability of baked abalone shells whose proteins have been denatured enables participants to literally feel the importance of both the “bricks” and “mortar” in abalone&’s structure. The iridescence of the abalone shells provides further insights on structure and connections for student interested in art.

The growing role of the nano-perspective in contemporary technologies naturally calls for the inclusion of nanoscience in high school curricula. In addition to rising student consciousness about such a pervasive topic, and to the huge technological interest, which naturally appeals to students, nanosciences are a natural playground to introduce modern physics in a hands-on interdisciplinary way. Indeed, owing to the fact that nano-systems set themselves between the quantum scale of atoms and the classical macroscopic scale, they easily couple to several controllable external fields (temperature, pressure, visible light, electrostatic fields, etc), but often respond to such fields in different, or even opposite ways with respect to 'classical' materials. This opens the possibility to expose intrinsically quantum phenomena even in school laboratories. The unusual properties of nano-systems can in some cases be probed by simple experiments, including systematic data collection, in contrast to spectacular but qualitative-only demonstrations, which can be employed even at the early stages of scientific education, when treating the simplest phenomenology of matter (electrical conduction, elasticity, friction, etc.) to convey that there is more to be understood with respect to 'classical' cases. This, in addition to the very recent history of many nano-materials, with many applications still to be envisioned and others which are being studied but did not yet hit the market, makes the investigation performed by students to reflect the research that is presently being done in laboratories around the world. This clearly favors an inquiry based approach to Science.
NANOLAB www.nanolab.unimore.it is an open project aiming at including nano-inspired hands-on activities in high schools.It consists of simple, cheap, robust and safe experimental protocols, currently covering four areas of nanoscience: smart metals, nanoparticles, conductive polymers, nano-friction. Within each area, integrated hands-on activities are offered, from manual to digital data collection and elaboration, including use of pupils&’ own mobile devices (cell and smart phones, tablets) which turn out to be powerful, low-cost, sensitive multi-purpose lab tools, with an added impact on student motivation and active involvement in what we could rightly call a hi-tech hands-on approach.The experimental protocols, including videoguides, students' sheets, and a large sets of supporting materials for teachers, focused on the new physics behind the phenomena, are published under Creative Commons license in an open website
In such a picture the role of teachers undergoes a dramatic change compelling them in a not artificial way to focus more on experimental method and research skills. To give them adequate support and provide solid background knowledge a first teachers coaching course was held in autumn 2011 in Modena and a new one will run in September 2013.

SCIENCoutnErs, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) and The Boys and Girls Clubs of Dane County, is a hands-on after school program to excite and engage middle school students about science and engineering topics. SCIENCountErs was established in 2005 to help change attitudes toward science and engineering and encourage students from underrepresented groups to purse careers in science and engineering fields. To date the SCIENCountErs program has impacted close to 1000 students in the Madison area. In 2012 the NSEC began nationwide expansion of the SCIENCountErs program, currently SCIENCountErs has sites at eight locations nationally. This presentation will highlight the history and goals of program, including the SCIENCountErs pedagogical model, SCIENCoutnErs curriculum, student assessment strategy, and program evaluation.

A visual demonstration of the difference between hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces is presented. The demonstration involves placing a shadow mask, such as thick stickers, on an optically clear hydrophobic plastic dish, and then corona treating the dish to convert hydrophobic surfaces to hydrophilic ones only on the unmasked areas. When the stickers are removed, the dish still appears optically clear. However, because of the difference between the hydrophobic masked areas and hydrophilic unmasked areas, the invisible encrypted message can be seen when water is applied. This demonstration is called “hydroglyphics” from combining “hydro”, meaning water, and “glyph”, a mark or carved element in a writing system, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics. The hydroglyphics demonstration is appropriate for all levels.The middle school and younger age groups were “wowed” by seeing their initials. One student said the hydrophobic state “was like waxing Dad&’s car”. Older students (to the graduate level) were also impressed and could understand the reasons for it. Students tend to make more than one hydroglyphic sample and wanted to keep them to show this effect to their friends and parents later. Some students wanted to learn more details for what is actually happening with the corona treatment. Overall, it is a very engaging demonstration.

We developed a scientific module on “how catalyst works in water splitting” to promote STEM education for K-12 grade students in Black Belt region of Alabama. In this module, electrocatalytic activities of platinum (Pt) in water splitting are clearly demonstrated by comparing reaction rate (number of bubbles) between simple stainless steel wires and Pt wires as metal electrodes. Since surface area is important for catalyst to speed up chemical reactions, we made the surface of catalyst Pt wires rough using sand paper. It was evident from the visual observations that the scratched platinum electrodes generated more bubbles in comparison to the regular (unscratched) platinum wires.
To promote student-centered learning, the module utilizes the 5E instructional model consisting of engage, explore, explanation, elaborate, and evaluation. Through hands-on activities, PowerPoint presentation, and 3D visualizations, middle and high school students will be given a set of knowledge tools to fully understand how a catalyst works in water splitting.

Scientists and educators at university research centers have worked with science museum professionals for eight years under the umbrella of the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network. Recent survey data has identified 138 partnerships of this kind, which have included working together to present nano content to the public through programs, events, and exhibits; working together to reach new and under-represented audiences; and seeking funding to work together. At the network-wide level, the University of Wisconsin at Madison was an early key contributor to hands-on nano educational activities that were distributed throughout the US to introduce museum educators to key concepts in nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. And just last year, the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University worked with NISE Net to integrate nanotechnology and society concepts fundamental to the work of their center to science center professionals, and through them to the public nationwide.
The Materials Research Society has been a strong member of the NISE Net since it&’s inception. MRS leaders helped potential NISE Net leaders to prepare for the defense of their proposal before the NSF review panel charged with making the award decision. Conversely the principal investigator for the now retired nanoscale science and engineering center at Harvard University reported that the Museum of Science&’s presentation on its public outreach and engagement work in support of the NSEC helped to elevate the response of its annual NSF site visit panel. MRS has supported the development of a volunteer corpse to support NISE Net public engagement activities and informal science educators have helped to staff professional development workshops and symposium sessions at MRS meetings to build participants&’ science communication and public engagement skills. By working together to offer programs and exhibits to the public about nanotechnology, research centers have been able to add content to the programs relevant to their own work and personnel with expertise in nanoscale science and engineering to interact with the public, while the science students have gained training and experience in communicating their research to others who are not specialists in their own field. The Museum of Science in Boston has developed workshops both for graduate students and for REU students that are designed to elevate their science communication skills.
This same pattern of collaboration has occurred throughout the country where university research centers and science or children&’s museums have worked together to engage the public, raise the capacity of each organization to do a better job of its own work. This presentation will illustrate the benefits accrued and best practices generated with example drawn from the field.

A Materials Engineering course was developed and taught as a General Education (GE) course on technology for non-engineering students at a comprehensive polytechnic undergraduate university. The course traces the link between historical and technological developments enabled by materials from the Stone Age to the Electronic Age, and contains a theme of the interplay between science and technology with society and the environment. Nano-scale science and technology is also a major topic, along with the associated risks and benefits.
Due to the varied (and nontechnical) backgrounds of the students, a combination of informal and formal education techniques was utilized. For instance, several resources from NISEnet were utilized and were found to be highly effective in achieving awareness and excitement of nanotechnology to a population that had very little or no knowledge of nano before the course. There was also great response to videos from InsideScienceTV and the NOVA program, Making Stuff.
Assignments were designed to encourage self-directed learning and to make the learning meaningful for individuals. As an example, students would create and share posters on how materials connected to their field of study and their lives. Other assignments included researching an example of biomimicry or bio-inspired materials and writing a report that discussed the impact of materials on society for an artifact that has historical and modern counterparts. The culmination of the course was a Materials Mini Maker Faire with teams of students presenting creative projects that involve materials.
Students were surveyed before and after the course on their definition of engineering and their conception of engineers as a means to examine the potential impact of the course. The goals of improving science literacy of the general public, as well as improving the conception of engineers were achieved.

Very often engineering courses draw students from many different fields and disciplines. This becomes even more frequent nowadays that the traditional walls between disciplines become obsolete and techniques, theories and methods in one discipline find application in other disciplines, once thought irrelevant. This becomes very challenging for the teachers that not only have to adjust their courses to fit the many different educational backgrounds, but also draw the attention and increase the interest to the taught material.
The years 2008-2010 we were teaching the graduate course of the “Interfacial Phenomena” focused on theories and models that explain physical phenomena at liquid-solid, liquid-liquid, solid-air and liquid-air interfaces. Naturally the application of these phenomena are found in many different fields attracting students from a large number of disciplines such, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Soil and Water Science, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmacy and Food Science & Human Nutrition. The emphasis was given through the course was not only to teach the material, but also to develop (i) appreciation for synergistic integration of knowledge, (ii) critical thinking and (iii) team work. The goal was to attain these aspects, while maintaining the high level of the engineering aspects involving calculations and development of procedures for specific outcomes. To achieve this goal we introduced a paint lab where the students had to work in teams and create a painting of a photograph depicting the sunset on the beach by using different textures to paint the different elements of the composition (sand, rocks, sky water etc.). The students had to design the paint they wanted to use based on the course material and then use the Particle Engineering Research Center labs to synthesize it. Guest lecturers introduced the students to elemental concepts of painting.
In this project art was used to engage students of very different and diverse backgrounds to learn how to integrate knowledge - an important goal of the Interfacial Phenomena course.

Course viability requires dealing with issues of adequate class size, diversity of academic background and goals, English fluency, heavy content and more. To this end, for twelve years a consortium of five Virginia universities, including an HBCU, has shared a first-year graduate course on materials characterization. The journey began with just classroom co-presence. The present state includes common-server availability of materials (presentation slides, background articles, e-books), of content-delivery lectures (“full flip”) and of recorded class sessions (all). Current issues include improving access for hands-on lab sessions and effective use of the extensive in-class discussion time made available by flipping.

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is a relatively small discipline of engineering in terms of the number of professionals engaged in its pursuit. On the other hand, it encompasses perhaps the broadest list of technical topics that should be taught, ranging from basic sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology, to highly applied manufacturing of complex structures with exceptional properties, to long-term performance with minimal environmental impact, etc. Thus, there is a major disparity between the educational resources, the needs of the MSE discipline and the number of students interested in specific specialized topics that can be taught at a given institution. An example of this challenge of MSE education pertains to glass, which is a small subsection of materials, yet the one that enabled several of the 20 greatest inventions of the 20th century and is needed to solve most of the greatest technological challenges of today.
During the past nine years, International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass (IMI-NFG - see www.lehigh.edu/imi) has promoted glass education in some 30+ countries with support from NSF. Through IMI-NFG we have experimented with three different models to address above issues by pooling both the expertise that exists at various universities and glass companies, and the student body that is scattered at many more institutions across the globe: (1) Model A (multi institution team teaching or MITT), where professors at several universities in USA taught a graduate level course by giving lectures on topics of their expertise while the students from their as well as additional universities took the course [1]. (2) Model B, where an international professor invited by IMI-NFG as a sabbatical faculty to teach a narrowly focused course at a US university, which was attended by students at US and foreign universities and private companies. (3) Model C, where an expert at a glass company in Germany taught a highly specialized course to the students in USA and other countries. These 1 to 3 credit courses were offered at the level of a first year graduate student of MSE. All lectures were delivered with two-way live communication between the instructor and students anywhere in the world. All the lectures were videotaped and made available to the students who could not participate due to inconvenient time difference or other personal reasons. Notwithstanding the commonalities of the three models, there were significant differences in the logistics and outcome of the three models. These will be identified and discussed in this presentation along with the feedback from the students and instructors of this exercise in international education.
[1]. W. Heffner, H. Jain, S. Martin, K. Richardson, E. Skaar, ‘Multi-institution team teaching (MITT): a novel approach to highly specialized graduate education&’, Proc. Ann. Conf. ASEE. 2009, 14 pages: http://soa.asee.org/paper/conference/paper-view.cfm?id=12383

Over the past ten summers, forty deaf or hard of hearing undergraduates participated in a
six-week research internship at Tufts University. The goal is to prepare the students for participation in the scientific community and to provide positive scientific experiences at a formative time in their educational lives. This on-going program includes course work in polymer materials science, writing workshops, and scientific ethics. Sign language interpreters were provided for the classroom sessions. In the laboratory we used computers connected to LCD projectors, white boards, and paper writing tablets for communication.
Most of the students' time was spent in the laboratory of the Polymer Physics Group, where the interns learned the practical fundamentals of materials science and engineering. These included: nanocomposite sample preparation and heat treatment, examination of microstructure, characterization of different crystallographic phases, and property measurement. The interns contributed to the scientific knowledge base through their study of nanocomposites of poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, with organically modified silicate, OMS. During the internship, the students used wide angle X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, and polarizing light microscopy to study PVDF/OMS in various composition ratios. A major outcome of their work was the discovery that even very low concentrations of OMS result in formation of the polar beta crystal phase of PVDF.

The ever increasing importance of advanced materials has made it imperative to accelerate the speed with which they proceed from the laboratory to the marketplace. As a result, the Material Genome Initiative (MGI) has been proposed to speed up this pace, through the development of a materials innovation infrastructure that is heavily reliant on collaboration between computation and experiment. Our work aims to provide an environment for interdisciplinary team-based research that effectively integrates materials science and computational analysis as a mechanism to expose undergraduates to the research process. The research group includes students and faculty from the Department of Physics at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) in collaboration with Center for Research on Interface Structures (CRISP) Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) program. CRISP is an NSF MRSEC at Yale and SCSU. Samples were fabricated in specialized CRISP facilities at Yale while the characterization took place in the CRISP NanoCharacterization Facility at SCSU. Binary and ternary thin film samples with a compositional gradient were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to ascertain information about the surface structure and composition, respectively. The focus of this work is the development of a general methodology to facilitate the consistent and rapid collection of data, using software to automate the SEM/EDS system to determine composition as a function of position. Data collected will be organized in databases, suitable for online retrieval, as well as the creation of composition maps of thin film deposits. Undergraduates exposed to such methods develop a dynamic skill set crucial to their success in future graduate endeavors.

In executing the educational mission relating to biomaterials, its difficult to identify areas in published textbooks that point to the future in harnessing the true nature of nanobiotechnology. Usually, what is highlighted for example of crystallites found within cortical bone which is on the nanoscale, or perhaps trafficking through eukaryotic membranes that can also have a antigen-antibody binding that is also on the nano-scale. In the realm of imaging and the development of phase contrast, this sub-discipline has been relegated to departments of radiology in the medical school focused on individual modalities (MRI vs X-ray CT vs PET scanning) and electrical and biomedical engineering who have been developing algorithms to increase throughput without compromising resolution. Teaching aids such as typical textbooks used in typical biomaterials classes generally never present the challenge or the need, nor do they identify the attributes of promising new candidate phase contrast enhancement agents which for MRI include Gadolinium-based chelate compounds, true nanomaterials in their own right. I argue that the biomaterials sub-discipline would benefit from including these high-value and important solutions and dispersions within the regular classroom experience, and articulating the financial incentive to indicate why safer and more effective phase contrast agents are the true textbook example of nanobio within the MSE curriculum.

Enhancing diversity in STEM fields in general and in the Materials Science profession in particular requires reaching out to and engaging college students, both graduate and undergraduate, in the experiences that professional societies and meetings provide. Ultimately, outreach efforts must be extended to include students from high schools and eventually K-8 levels. Early exposure to role models and mentors, through experiential learning opportunities at colleges and universities across the U.S., remains a critical ingredient to the development of a diverse STEM community.
Professional societies play a key role in facilitating networking, professional development, mentoring, outreach, and exposure to role models for underrepresented minorities and women in the science and engineering fields. A panel of leaders and organizers will present several diversity initiatives, including collaborations with Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), NSF support, Industry Partners, the MRS Graduate Mentoring Program and the concept of the mentoring circle of success, training, and awards and recognitions. The goals of this panel discussion are to create awareness about the diversity, equity, and outreach programs being developed and implemented by the MRS and other societies, and to engage the larger community in these efforts.

Thermal conductivity is an important property in the materials selection for many applications, and the values are well known for the common engineering materials. However for the material scientist making new formulations, such as glass-polymer composites, thermal conductivity data will not be known and an experimental determination will be required. For insulating materials, the Modulated DSC Method [1] is one common ASTM approved approach for measuring thermal conductivity in the range of 0.1 to 1.5 W/m°K. However, a simpler, low-cost method could provide a much broader access for students and researchers to this important property.
As a part of our larger effort to develop inexpensive apparatus for students to engage in “real” material science and research, we have designed and built an apparatus for the accurate measurement of the thermal conductivities of glass and polymer samples. It is simple to construct, consisting of a heated aluminum block placed on the top side of the flat sample, and two tiered pedestal base on the cold side which provides an independent measurement of heat flow through the sample. Differential thermocouples pairs are used to sense both the temperature difference across the sample as well as the heat following through the base pedestal. Two inexpensive instrumentation amplifier ICs are used to convert the small signal from the thermocouples into a voltage range appropriate for measurement with a conventional meter. The cost of parts for the basic apparatus is less than $100 and requires only modest mechanical and electronic fabrication skills. A home-built vacuum chamber has also been included as an improved option for the apparatus. A good correlation was obtained for a collection of glass and plastic materials with thermal conductivity ranging from 0.15 to 1.1 W/m°K. We also measured the thermal conductivity of a silica filled epoxy and showed a linear increase with fill fraction to 20%. Finally, we also measured thermal conductivities using the ASTM standard MDSC Method on a TA Q2000 Modulated DSC for comparison. Our apparatus was found to be much simpler to use and gave more consistent sample to sample variation than the MDSC approach.
1. ASTM Standard E1952, 2011, "Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity by Modulated Temperature Differential Scanning Calorimetry,"

There are about 5000 kinds of S&T journals in China. Since 2001, their average IF has increased by 5.6% every year. However, the China S&T journals are less influential because of the weak basic research, excellent papers being creamed off, and low standards of the journals. Now the China government is trying the best to improve the international impact of the journals, such as reforming the publishing system, establishing funds, founding English journals, establishing official awards and encouraging international cooperation.
There are 153 journals of materials science in China. Among them SCI includes 17 and EI includes 21. Since 1997 three kinds of funds for publishing science from China Association for Science and Technology, Natural Science Fund of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences have injected yen;178,900,000, yen;40,300,000, and yen;3,500,000, respectively. 19 journals of materials science received the fund support.
Materials science is dominant in China. From 2002 to 2012 the number of SCI papers of materials science is up to 112155, No. 2 in the world. In 2011 and 2012, NSFC injected yen;3.7 billion to support 5335 materials research programs totally. The average support is yen;700,000/program.

A NanoBio Science Partnership for the Alabama Black Belt Region
Shaik Jeelani and Carol Banks
Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088
The primary goal of the NanoBio Science Partnership for the Alabama Black Belt Region, funded by the National Science Foundation, under the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program, is to enhance the science achievement of 6th through 8th grade students in the Alabama&’s Black Belt region, a region that is most socioeconomically disadvantaged. The partnership, which is led by Tuskegee University, includes five universities, five community colleges, state department of education and ten school districts in the Black Belt Region, and other supporting partners including materials research science centers and K-12 agencies.
The program elements that are being successfully implemented include: 1) development of grade specific course modules, which include 3-D simulations and inquiry based teaching and learning methodology in the course modules, 2) training the teachers in the delivery of the modules, 3) recruiting highly motivated students in the education departments at the participating universities to become certified science teachers, and 4) carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of all five elements of the program.
The evaluation team has used assessment instruments to examine the progress of project participants. Students were evaluated on their attitudes and motivation to learn science. Teachers were assessed on their content knowledge, their ability to apply the content knowledge in their classroom and their approaches to help motivate students to learn science. This data is still being analyzed and will be used to determine if teacher knowledge and performance have improved. Institutional data has been collected to examine the motivation and progress of students enrolled in science education certification, to become science teachers.
Subject specific nanobio content tests and teacher knowledge tests have been completed and field tested with the first group of students and teachers. The evaluation team has coordinated with the research team to conduct statistical analyses that indicate the tests are valid and reliable. These tests will continue to be used over the remaining years of the project.
A major accomplishment of the research team has been on-site classroom observations and interviews. Initial data has been collected for eight case study teachers to profile their teaching beliefs about the purposes of teaching science, their teaching strategies, their beliefs about reform-based teaching, including inquiry, and their perceptions of promoters and barriers to effective instruction. We now have data on the teachers&’ initial practices and beliefs, as well as, changes to these practices and beliefs since beginning participation in the project. This initial data will serve as a baseline against which to compare teaching practice changes over the next three years.