This is how we celebrated! A special thank you to the College of Textile’s Dean, Louis Martin-Vega for hosting this event.
The NSF Nanosystem Engineering Research Center (NERC) announces a 5-year renewal funding with ASSIST Center. The center was subject to rigorous evaluation from NSF Board members during the Y6 Site Visit held in Raleigh, North Carolina. ASSIST research students and faculty introduce key accomplishments and new discoveries to board members during this 3-day event. The ASSIST center was created in 2012 with five affiliated universities and headquartered at NC State University.
During the center’s five years of operation, ASSIST has taken a leading role in textiles integration of health sensing technologies. The team developed a new scalable printing process with a speed eight times quicker than the fastest report in smart textiles. In addition, the center has introduced a unique microfluidic osmotic approach as a platform for long-term sweat, ISF, and non invasive biochemical sensing. As of now, it is the only sweat collection device that could be used for multiple days. A patent has been filed for this device and received a publication with Lab-on-a-Chip. In addition to engineering and technology achievements, the center also reported a mechanical harvester with the highest performance seen in their lab. Power output has increased from 43 uW in Year 4 to 142 uW in Year 5.
In the university education sector, the center has demonstrated a strong number of student participation in research. A total of 121 undergraduate students were reported in Year 6. From this pool, many students were engaged in non-paid research opportunities including the summer REU program. About 64% students pursue STEM degrees. On the other hand The ASSIST Wearable Device Challenge, stemming from our education outreach, has had continuous success over the past three years in reaching middle and high school students to compete in engineering design. In 2016, about 17 teams participated in the competition and in the following year 23 teams competed. The center expects an increase in remote school participation for next year’s competition.
ASSIST commemorates much of its success and continuous research achievements to researchers, leaders, faculty, and members at each individual center. During Year 8, ASSIST was able to gain eight new industry partners and hopes to foster more relationships in the coming years. If you would like to know more about our research click here. Are you interested in being part of our education programs? Check it out here.