The Cullen College of Engineering of the University of Houston has received a $429,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to finance ‘Innovations in Nanotechnology’, a research experience for teachers (RET) program.
According to the program, selected middle and high school science teachers across the Houston region will work with the engineering professors of the University of Houston on nanotechnology research projects starting next summer. They will be working on current nanotechnology research projects being conducted by the faculty members of the university. 12 teachers will be participating in the RET program during each of the subsequent three summers. Nearly 15 engineering faculty members of the university have agreed to participate in the RET program.
For instance, the teacher allocated to work with Debra Rodrigues, the grant's co-principal investigator and an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Houston, will help in her work to devise effective water purification systems based on nanotechnology. The development of large-scale nanostructure production technologies and a research project on a detection device for the Norwalk ‘Cruise Ship’ virus are some of the other projects.
Rodrigues stated that such RET programs are aimed at meeting the alarming deficit of science and engineering talent in the US. The teachers will create a poster describing their individual research work. With the help of the university faculty members, teachers will also design engineering education modules, which they can utilize in their own schools.
Source: http://www.uh.edu