Authors: 

Vanina Ghossein has a Special Education Teaching Degree from Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon. She has teaching and SpEd Program coordinator experience of over 15 years. Currently, she is the IUCRC Program Administrator at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). Along with Dr. Uday Vaidya, she leads the K-12 workforce development activities in collaboration with IACMI – The Composites Institute, and serves as the liaison between the K-12 schools and UT.

Romeo S Fono Tamo has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He has teaching and research experience of over 10 years and has worked with Bells University of Technology, Ota, Nigeria; The University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae in Papua New Guinea. His research focus is in the area of composite materials, and he is currently a staff at the Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Uday Vaidya received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University in 1993. He has served on the faculty at four U.S. institutions – Tuskegee University (TU), North Dakota State University (NDSU), University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), and Biomedical Composites Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Tennessee. Vaidya serves as the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing and is a lead composites researcher in the Tennessee ecosystem. Vaidya serves as the Chief Technology Office (CTO) for IACMI-The Composites Institute, a Manufacturing USA Institute. Vaidya has a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematic education and has engaged hundreds of K-12 students in experiential learning in plastics and composite technologies.

Contributors

Hannah Thompson, M.A.E.d
Temvelo Matsebula, M.S.
Joseph Epperson

Graduate Students

Samuel Pankratz, Georges Chahine, Marc Al Ghazal, Eonyeon Jo, Abdallah Barakat, Sanjita Wasti, Yalcin Meraki, Adwoah Owusu, Akash Phadatare, Kaustubh Mungale, James Daffron, Chinmay Mungale, Warren Smith

IACMI—The Composites Institute® in partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is pleased to present InnoCrate, an innovative hands-on learning experience designed to inspire students and introduce them to the world of advanced materials and manufacturing.

The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the contributing students and staff of the Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF), and IACMI-The Composites Institute for the support and participation in the creation of InnoCrate.

We are thankful to have the opportunity to work alongside K-12 educators in order to provide students opportunities to engage with fibers and composites, and lay the groundwork for 21st century skills in order to create the next generation of builders and makers.