Ret Site For Structured Organic Particulates

This award provides funding for a three year standard award to support a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site program at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) entitled, 'RET Site for Structured Organic Particulates', under the direction of Dr. John D. Carpinelli and Dr. Rajesh N. Dave. This proposal seeks funding to build upon the current RET Site for Structured Organic Particulates program at NJIT, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation -sponsored Engineering Research Center (ERC) on Structured Organic Particulates (C-SOPS). A total of 36 teachers, twelve high school teachers per year for three years, will engage in a six-week research program under the guidance of faculty supervisors, with follow-up programs during each school year. Participants will be high school science and technology teachers from school districts in northern and central New Jersey, with an emphasis on teachers from districts that serve large numbers of students from underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). NJIT, through its Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP), is very actively engaged with the K-12 community in New Jersey, and works with urban districts and their teachers that serve the targeted student population. CPCP works with dozens of teachers every year through various programs; its work has an immediate impact on thousands of students each year, with the vast majority from underrepresented populations.

The proposed program stems from cutting-edge C-SOPS research projects dealing with topics in pharmaceutical materials structure, function, performance, and processing, geared towards a unifying goal of improving pharmaceutical products. The fundamental knowledge from research that leads to improved design, manufacturing and quality of pharmaceutical products, will help high school teachers better understand the role of engineers and develop curriculum materials that will help their students better appreciate science and engineering. The program trains teachers in inquiry-based research, and in concepts of product design and engineering through examples from pharmaceutical engineering.

The broader impacts of this proposal are multifaceted. The RET program will significantly impact a large number of underrepresented minority students from the selected urban school districts, several of which have a large number of African-American and/or Hispanic students. Based on the results of a prior RET program at NJIT, it is anticipated that this number will be in the thousands during the course of the program, and many times more after the program ends as teachers continue to use and build upon the materials they develop through this program. As participating teachers bring their experiences and educational materials into their own classrooms, this program will ultimately reach thousands of students, and will contribute towards development of a well-trained, diverse workforce in this area of national importance. Modules will be placed in several on-line repositories available at the disposal of the C-SOPS ERC, making them accessible to scores of other educators across the country, and will be easily adaptable to meet the incoming common core standards, thus facilitating their use on a national scale.