NRT: Transformative Research and Graduate Education in Sensor Science, Technology and Innovation

Sensors impact the lives of nearly every human being, from image sensors that have revolutionized digital cameras and social communication to biosensors that rapidly detect and monitor disease. Our understanding of life, our planet, and the universe has constantly improved through new sensor technology, from astrophysics to cell biology. Advances in sensor technology rely on understanding the fundamental physics of sensing, developing advanced materials and electronics, and creating methods for processing data.

This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Dartmouth College will create a comprehensive graduate traineeship that integrates basic and applied research in sensor science and technology with student-centered STEM research and education focused on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The research will integrate the foundations of sensor physics and materials with device development and sensor applications across the science and engineering disciplines.

This will enable trainees to perform research needed to develop new sensors and platform technologies for scientific discovery, health and medicine, remote sensing, transportation, sustainable energy, defense, and many other fields. The education component will provide depth in an engineering or science discipline as well as professional development that emphasizes technology transfer and innovation to prepare trainees to become global leaders in the sensor technology arena.

New pathways in STEM graduate education across Dartmouth will focus on translating science and technology research to commercial products or services that ultimately benefit society. This NRT program will train 129 MS and Ph.D. students, including 19 funded trainees across biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, and physics.

Faculty members from Dartmouth’s biology, chemistry, and physics departments will join computer science and engineering faculty to prepare trainees to carry out transdisciplinary research. Research topics will span the continuum from the fundamental understanding of sensor physics and materials science (e.g., quantum information and the quantum limits of sensing; interactions of small molecules with materials; and development of optoelectronic materials, nanomaterials, and nanostructures) to the applications of sensor innovations.

The student-centric program will be supported by training of faculty in mentoring and by adoption of a comprehensive professional development curriculum. Informed by assessment data, the project team will disseminate outcomes, insights and practices through publications and attendance at meetings, and by providing access to online resources.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.