2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

NSF RET: Empowering STEM Educators and Revitalizing Manufacturing in the U.S. Midwest

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

The National Science Foundation (NSF) award (2206952) establishes a new Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site, enhancing their knowledge and skills in advanced manufacturing/robotics at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). The primary objective of this project is to play a transformational role in preparing future leaders in advanced manufacturing by instilling advanced manufacturing/robotics research experience within STEM educators through six-week summer workshops dedicated to hands-on research projects/experiences. In these workshops, participants engaged with highly qualified researchers using cutting edge robotics technology and augmented by industry access. The research projects focused on contemporary advanced manufacturing topics including modern sensors and actuators, advanced robot programming, CNC programming, CAD/CAM, 3D printing, and e-factory. At the end, participating educators translated their research experiences and knowledge into classroom practice. As part of this research experience, participating educators developed working robots/models, instructional modules, and course materials that they used in their classrooms and share with other educators at their institutions.
The project cements the partnership among BGSU, local high schools, and community colleges to address the common need of producing STEM graduates in advanced manufacturing area. BGSU RET site provided research experience to 28 regional high school and community college educators during 2023-2024. During the 6-week summer workshops, these 28 educators conducted advanced manufacturing research at BGSU eFactory lab and developed curriculum modules for their students. After completion of the summer workshop, many of these educators implemented their curriculum modules at their respective institutions. They will continue to implement these modules in the future and create a sustained wave of awareness among future students in the U.S. manufacturing heartland.

Authors

Dr. Md B. Sarder http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5502-7276 Bowling Green State University [biography]

Dr. Sarder is a professor & director of the School of Engineering at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Prior to joining BGSU, he worked at the U.S. Air Force Academy as a distinguished research fellow. He served as an associate professor, and graduate director of the logistics, trade, and transportation program at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). Dr. Sarder has a record of excellence in research, teaching, and services as evidenced by the number of funded grants, list of publications, outstanding teaching evaluations, and professional services in the national and international arena. Dr. Sarder spent more than 15 years in administration as a school director, department chair, graduate director, program coordinator, and assistant director of a research center. During his academic tenure, he developed a school of engineering, a school of aviation, two new engineering programs, a graduate logistics transportation program, and two university centers. Dr. Sarder authored 5 books and 7 book chapters. Two of his textbooks including Fundamentals of Economics for Applied Engineering (2nd edition) with CRC Press and Logistics Transportation Systems with Elsevier are being used in many universities nationally and internationally. Dr. Sarder published more than 100 scholarly articles predominantly on logistics and supply chain domains. He served as a PI and Co-PI on more than 30 grants ($5+ million) funded by several agencies including the US Department of Transportation, the US Department of Commerce, the US Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation. He received numerous awards in research, teaching, and professional services.
Apart from academic pursuits, he is deeply involved in institutional and professional society activities. Dr. Sarder is actively engaged with the AABI and ABET. He serves or has served on the editorial board for several journals including Transportation Research Records, Complexity, and Journal of Enterprise Transformation. He also served as the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Logistics Transportation Research. He founded the logistics & supply chain division within the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE) and served as the founding president of that division. He also served as Technical Vice President of IISE for three terms. Currently, Dr. Sarder is leading a student leadership board (SLB) and chairing the Future Faculty Fellows (3F) programs at IISE. He served on the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) board, the academic committee of the Association of Operations Management (APICS), the Transformation Team on the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), the Research Committee of Intermodal Freight Transport committee, Freight Transportation Planning and Logistics committee of Transportation Research Board (TRB) among others. Dr. Sarder chaired the Industrial & Systems Engineering Annual Conference in 2016 and 2017, and the Engineering Lean Six Sigma Conference (ELSS) in 2013.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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