Ryan B. Wicker - US grants

This project expands the area of Dynamic Systems and Control in the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering disciplines at The University of Texas at El Paso. Student learning is to be enhanced by:
1. incorporating laboratory experiments into the present lecture-only Electrical Engineering (EE) Controls course, and
2. by updating the current set of Mechanical Engineering (ME) Controls laboratory experiments.

The new laboratory is adapted from a Controls laboratory concept that was originally implemented at The University of Texas - Pan American. Several changes to the original formulation result in an improvement in the laboratory's functional and cost effectiveness. Students in the two (EE and ME) Controls courses will use state-of-the-art software and hardware in this lab to:
1. practice a model-based simulation-oriented approach to control systems design and development, and
2. implement Digital Signal Processor (DSP)-based controllers and physically demonstrate their implemented controllers on both educational and industrial hardware, such as electromechanical actuators, inverted pendulums and simple robots.

The project aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students and graduates in the field of Engineering. Actual and/or videotape demonstrations of the more 'exciting' experiments as well as dissemination on the World Wide Web will be carried out to motivate lower-level Engineering students and to influence pre-college students in the region (the majority of whom are Hispanic) to study Engineering. Finally, this project serves as an improved Dynamic Systems and Control model for other schools.

0730750
Wicker
The main goal of the project is to use sterolithography (SL) to manufacture unique nerve guide conduits (NGC) for repair of peripheral nerve damage. Specifically, the investigators will develop multi-lumen conduits from photopolymerizable poly ethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels that are laden with growth factors and produced with geometry that is presently unavailable from commercial SL systems. It is hypothesized that the bioactive NGCs produced using this technology will be a significant improvement over single-lumen and other existing approaches by providing greater surface area available for supporting cells, additional pathways for axons and potential for increased nerve ''communication'' through precise placement of bioactive agents and cells. The research as four specific aims: (1) Install a SL unit within a biosafety cabinet and make specific modifications that will improve the micro-fabrication capabilities, (2) Synthsize and characterize the PEG scaffolds, (3) Fabricate bioactive scaffolds and conduct in vitro cell viability evaluations, and (4) Examine ability for PEG scaffolds to support nerve generation using a rat model.

The project has the potential to lead to ''tailored'' nerve guidance channels that would advance the state of the art in this field significantly. The educational and outreach activities include support for underrepresented Hispanic students, through University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the W.M. Keck Center.

The project is redesigning and developing a set of Cyber Based Rapid Manufacturing (CBRM) related courses covering the topics of quick response, additive and advanced manufacturing, and establishing a Cyber Based Rapid Manufacturing Lab with virtual facilities to serve academic engineering programs and to support the development of multidisciplinary educational activities. The project goals include: 1) incorporate applied research themes in rapid manufacturing and technology into lecture and laboratory classes to engage students as active participants in web based courses; 2) Implement the most up-to-date technologies in virtual reality, 3D image and rapid manufacturing production systems to improve the learning environment; and 3) recruit high school students, especially minority and women, through web-accessible courses and laboratories, to increase their awareness and participation in science and engineering by stimulating their interest from early stages.

The project enhances undergraduate engineering education in advanced manufacturing technologies by developing a CBRM curriculum with hybrid instructional approach and by appraising its effectiveness on student learning. The development of virtual facilities has great potential to resolve the issue of lacking manufacturing resources, particularly in remote areas. The program helps to produce well-prepared students with high-tech skills in the areas of automation, production and rapid manufacturing technologies and can serve as a national model for teaching network-based manufacturing.

This NUE in Engineering program entitled, "NUE: Printing Innovative Nano Technology Research and Elite Education (PINE TREE) Program", at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), under the direction of Dr. Namsoo Kim, will be a supplemental program for the Printing Nano Engineering (PNE) concentration option available at UTEP beginning in the Fall of 2014. The goal of this proposal is to design and implement a 24-credit-hour PNE concentration (with opportunities for international experiences) under the Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (MME) program, which will prepare graduates for advanced, high-tech engineering and manufacturing careers in printed electronics. The PINE TREE Program has established three objectives to achieve its goal: 1) Recruit and prepare lower-division pre-engineering students to pursue a career option in Nanotechnology. 2) Modify, evaluate, and refine upper-division PNE courses to ensure that students are prepared to enter careers in printing nano-engineering. The strategic actions include the assessing and evaluating of the upper-division curricula and refining courses based on assessment results. 3) Integrate research and development into undergraduate education to reinforce the concepts acquired in the PNE curricula. The PINE TREE program builds on nano-scale and pedagogical research that is already established at UTEP, as well as on the newly established program between UTEP and Seokyeong University (SKU) in Seoul, South Korea that offers upper-division PNE courses to SKU students who transfer to UTEP in their junior year. This international collaboration between UTEP and SKU will help advance PNE education in the U.S. and has the potential of serving as a model which can be replicated by other universities and strengthen the U.S. global manufacturing position.

The students who complete the PINE TREE program will be experts in the field of printed electronics and able to manufacture printed electronics in the areas of printable material development, system manufacturing, and development of flexible electronics. Since the UTEP MME Department has an undergraduate student population that is 81% Hispanic and 31% Female, the PINE TREE Program will create a diverse group of engineers with the skills and qualifications needed in industry for printed electronics; the students will be diverse not only in ethnicity and gender, but in educational background. The program also features international collaborations that will help advance PNE education in the U.S.

This award supports fundamental research on the electron beam melting process, an additive manufacturing technology that builds three-dimensional shapes out of powder metals. The layer-by-layer fabrication process promotes distinct microstructural features dependent on cooling rates that are affected by part dimensions, among other factors. Mesh and foam cellular structures are a particular benefit of additive manufacturing and can be used to improve or increase the strength-to-weight ratio of production parts in the aerospace and other industries. Previously, these mesh and foam cellular structures fabricated by electron beam melting using a titanium alloy contained a titanium martensitic brittle phase that, hypothesized in this research, can be avoided by controlling the cooling rates during fabrication. Cooling rates will be measured with a multi-wavelength pyrometer to obtain point-specific, layer-by-layer part temperatures; and the smallest part dimensions that can be fabricated without compromising mechanical properties and microstructural architectures will be determined.

Research results and dissemination of these results will provide recommendations and strategies to the broad additive manufacturing and metals fabrication communities to avoid the occurrence of brittle microstructures regardless of part dimensions. The lack of the titanium martensitic brittle phase will allow freedom in the design of parts containing mesh and foam cellular structures without compromising mechanical properties, which will provide an unprecedented benefit for using additive manufacturing technologies to directly fabricate next generation metallic components. The research will be performed at the University of Texas at El Paso, a minority serving institution with a Hispanic-majority student population, providing an unparalleled experience for the students involved in the program in the growing field of additive manufacturing.

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a novel open-source electron beam powder bed fusion (EPBF) system. As the first system of its kind in the US, this instrument will enable University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) investigators and a large network of collaborators to perform fundamental research in key areas of metal additive manufacturing—enabling new material systems and enhanced process understanding and control. This knowledge can lead to lighter, stronger, higher quality and more versatile materials and parts--enabling more fuel-efficient cars that can be produced at lower cost, minimally invasive medical instruments and implants, and advanced aircraft engines with higher efficiencies and significantly reduced emissions and fuel consumption. The instrumentation will also enhance training for the next generation advanced/smart manufacturing workforce through use in undergraduate research and education and K-12 outreach activities. The instrumentation will enrich outreach activities in regional middle and high schools, to recruit students from predominantly underrepresented Hispanic backgrounds to pursue STEM careers.

The instrumentation will enable researchers to gain insight into processing-structure-property links for the EPBF process and, together with the capability for novel scan strategies, will provide knowledge needed to fabricate complex materials such as refractory alloys, high strength aluminum alloys, Ni-Ti shape memory alloys and metal matrix ceramic composites. The instrumentation’s process monitoring capabilities will enable researchers to gain fundamental insight into physically relevant process phenomena such as powder ejecta, powder charging and oxidation that can cause defects. The instrumentation’s high temperature processing capabilities will enable researchers to better understand the intricacies of phase changes, defect formation, and microstructural evolution in relation to the thermal history during processing. This will provide a foundation for advances in fabrication of materials that withstand harsh conditions and the development of more durable and resilient smart parts and novel materials needed for energy, aerospace, defense, transportation and medicine.

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.