Equipment: CHIPS: Additive Manufacturing in 3D: precision digital manufacturing

The National Science Foundation Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) supports projects that enhance undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research at HBCUs, as means to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce. This project aims to integrate research and education in the chemistry and engineering of multifunctional materials and 3D printing to educate the next generation of STEM scientists.

This HBCU-UP equipment award provides Florida A&M University with funding to support the purchase of a nScrypt 6-axis 3D printing system which will be utilized to produce novel devices and structures of interest to meet critical needs. The equipment expands capacities to conduct precision manufacturing of finished products in true 3D, such as integrated circuits and electronic components, like sensors, in helmets and other wearables, or in projectiles, rocket ships, drones, or medical devices as well as producing conformally printed materials for high temperature applications of interest.

The newly established access to this equipment will increase student engagement and training at undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels and train the next generation scientists in an area of national need. This project also plays a key role in expanding faculty scholarship in the newly formed Materials Science and Engineering Department at Florida A&M University, thus expanding the research capacity at an HBCU in alignment with the goals outlined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

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.