Sponsor:

National Science Foundation

Research Team:

Maria E. Mayorga

Universities Involved:

Clemson University

Start Date:

05/15/08

End Date:

05/31/09

Summary:

Through Clemson University, one teacher will learn about engineering logistics and production planning and its applicability to the Gateway to Technology program; an advanced science and “pre-engineering” curriculum for 6th through 8th grade environments. During their stay, special topics modules, active-learning activities, and materials will be developed that provide authentic experiences for students to integrate applications of logistics and production planning.

Specifically, efforts will focus incorporating problems and their potential remedies into course modules and projects. The problems will be in the areas of
o Material-handling
o Production-planning
o logistics issues special to automotive manufacturing

An example is creating a model of an autonomous reconfigurable flexible assembly line using Lego MINDSTORMS NXT build kits. We will leverage Clemson University’s relationship with National Instruments (developer of the NXT software) to allow students access to advanced programming features not available to the public. The model will be used as a basis for defining a new education module for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students enrolled in Anderson County, SC Gateway to technology program. Students will additionally be given opportunity to visit the newly-constructed Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research to witness first-hand advanced manufacturing assembly line research for major automotive OEMs.

Furthermore, the teacher will make contributions to the research agenda of a current research project within CELDi that is of mutual interest to the teacher and the Co-PI’s.