• University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

• Offers technician education enrichment programs to support microsystems research, design, fabrication, and commercialization.
• Provides professional development opportunities ranging from 1-day introductory workshops to 1-week micro-sensor and actuator fabrication experiences in a research grade microsystems clean room.
• Creates and promulgates educational materials and models for microsystems and STEM education.
• Collaborates with synergistic educational, government, and industry organizations to identify and meet emerging technology workforce needs.

SCME Engages Students with MEMS

SCME provides educational resources to excite and engage students about microsystems and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The use of MEMS in consumer products is pushing demand for well-prepared technicians to design, manufacture, and integrate these devices for fast-growing, multidisciplinary enterprises. SCME’s curricula catches students’ attention by making them aware of where microsystems are used and how they are made. By raising students’ awareness of MEMS, the center encourages science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in general.

Manufacturing technology students and graduates of Central New Mexico (CNM) Community College, SCME’s community college partner, have performed successfully as interns and technologists for companies and government laboratories. Employers of technicians from CNM’s associate degree program with a MEMS concentration include Intel Corporation, Sandia National Laboratories, University of New Mexico’s Manufacturing Training Technology Center, TPL, Inc., Emcore Corporation, AgilOptics, Thunder Scientific Corporation, and Avago Technologies. Many of the CNM alumni are continuing their education at UNM’s School of Engineering.

SCME Kits Put MEMS Lessons in Instructors’ & Students’ Hands

SCME enhances industry’s capacity to integrate MEMS in mass market and specialized devices by preparing technicians for careers in research and the production of high-tech products. A key way the center develops technicians is by teaching community college instructors and high school teachers about MEMS fabrication.

The center has created hands-on microsystems kits that make it possible for educators to show students the wide array of STEM applications involved in MEMS production. Anisotropic etching, cantilever dynamic crystallography, pressure sensors, and gene chips are among the dozen topics educators can teach with the kits.

SCME’s professional development programs provide the foundation from which educators can customize the center’s materials to meet the needs of their students and local employers. More than 300 educators from across the nation have participated in SCME’s week-long workshops or 1-day, conference-based professional development programs. The workshops give educators firsthand experience fabricating MEMS devices in a university clean room. The secondary and postsecondary educators return to their classrooms with hands-on microsystems kits, educational learning modules, assessments, and educational animations to integrate into their curricula. The innovative educators who have attended SCME’s programs have reported back to SCME that they have taught about MEMS to more than 1,600 secondary and 1,500 postsecondary students. Altogether SCME workshops have added more than 80,000 hours of MEMS instruction to U.S. students’ classroom experiences.

SCME Helps Start-Ups

SCME also assists small, start-up companies that research, develop, and manufacture MEMs devices at SCME’s home institution—the University of New Mexico’s Manufacturing Training Technology Center (MTTC) within the mechanical engineering program.