The College of Technology at South Bend has an enrollment of about 175 students from St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall and Kosciusko counties.

Press Release

December 18, 2008

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Beginning in the spring semester, students at the Purdue College of Technology at South Bend will learn about nanomanufacturing, which could one day have far-reaching applications in industry.
Sarah Leach, an associate professor of mechanical engineering technology at South Bend, is one of 25 faculty nationwide selected as a field-test instructor as part of a National Science Foundation project to develop curriculum modules about nanomanufacturing for students at associate-degree granting institutions.

Leach will attend a workshop in Las Vegas from Jan. 7-9 and will begin incorporating what she learns into College of Technology at South Bend courses that begin Jan. 12.

The modules are being developed as part of the Nanoscale Manufacturing Curriculum for Advanced Technological Education project, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by high school, community college and university faculty in New York state and Arizona State University.

At the workshop, Leach will attend sessions on subjects such as synthesis and assembly, carbon nanotubes, molecular electronics, introduction to bottom-up manufacturing and top-down manufacturing, self-assembly, and deposition.

"This is part of an overall strategy to keep our curriculum relevant with respect to changes in technology and regional manufacturing trends," Leach said. "We have a diverse manufacturing base in the South Bend area — including everything from RVs, aircraft components, sensors and switches, pistons for automotive engines, and musical instruments — and we anticipate that advanced manufacturing technologies, such as those based on nanotechnology, will become a part of this base. It's important for students to learn about this emerging technology."

She will incorporate what she learns from the workshop into the manufacturing processes course she teaches in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology and will collaborate with faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology to provide nanotechnology-related instruction in an advanced digital systems course.

As a field-test instructor, Leach will be given access to Web-based resources and other instructional tools and also will utilize other Purdue resources, such as nanoHUB and various research being conducted by faculty on nanotechnology. At the end of the semester, she will provide evaluation data to the National Science Foundation. The end goal of the project is to develop nanotechnology curriculum for upper high school and community college-level science and technology education programs.

The College of Technology at South Bend has an enrollment of about 175 students from St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall and Kosciusko counties. Students can earn bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering technology, industrial technology, and organizational leadership and supervision, and associate degrees in computer graphics technology, electrical engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology, and organizational leadership and supervision.

Source: Purdue University