Investigador: Juan M. López Encarnación (Matemática-Física)
Descripción: The vision of the Center for the Advancement of Wearable Technologies (CAWT) is to (1) advance the fundamental and applied science of biosensors, portable power/storage, and data analytics to enable nextgeneration wearables; (2) provide an engaged and diverse workforce for the Nation’s wearable technology (WT) sector; and (3) stimulate economic development in Puerto Rico. By 2019, the market value of wearables will reach $25B worldwide. This number is expected to increase as advances in nanoscience and technologies are used to build devices with functionality and physicochemical characteristics that can then be adapted to WT. PR EPSCoR seeks to leverage existing strengths in nanoscience, nanotechnology, and cyberinfrastructure as well as a host of academic, industry and government partnerships to discover new knowledge and technologies in the basic science underlying WT. CAWT brings together 41 scientists and engineers (including 12 new faculty hires) from five University of Puerto Rico campuses: Mayaguez, Rio Piedras, Medical Sciences, Humacao and Cayey – and one private institution, Universidad del Turabo. Also participating in this effort are 23 partner institutions, including 6 national laboratories and the recently formed NSF ERC for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT) based at the Georgia Institute of Technology. CAWT is aligned with 2 of the NSF 10 Big Ideas: (a) Work at the HumanTechnology Frontier and (b) Harnessing Data for 21st Century Science and Engineering as well as the PR S&T Policy.