About This Site

Start to Finish sculpture. This statue depicts scientists and engineers collaborating to solve a problem.
'Start to Finish' sculpture by George Greenamyer

This Internet site was originally created in the early 2000's by the Collaboration for Nondestructive Testing, a group of educational institutions including Iowa State University and five community colleges. The site was renovated and updated in 2021 by Iowa State University with support from the American Society of Nondestructive Testing and the National Science Foundation.

Contributions and suggestions for improvement are highly encouraged. It is hoped that the site will continue to grow and increase in value based on contributions and recommendations from academic and industry users. Partial support for the original site was provided by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education through grant DUE 0101709. The 2020 update was funded under NSF grant DUE #1801010. This site would also not be possible without the hard work and generous support of content contributors and industrial sponsors; ASNT, AWS, and Weld-Ed. We would also encourage you to visit another NSF-supported site on welding education at https://www.weld-ed.org.

Background Information

In 1996, four Midwest colleges (Cowley County, KS, Northeast Iowa, IA, Ridgewater, MN, and Southeast, NE) and Iowa State University joined to form the North Central Collaboration for Education in Nondestructive Testing. This collaboration was started as a National Science Foundation ATE program to enhance the quality of NDT technician education and strengthen the ties between these Midwest institutions. This program has successfully developed advanced teaching methods and new science-based materials at the junior/senior high school and community college levels.

A major part of the Collaboration's efforts was the development of new, science-based course materials for community college students. These materials supplement the materials already in use and help student learn important concepts with visual and interactive tools. Another project involved the development of science-based materials for both middle/high school and community college students. Since most of the materials are computer-based, the Internet became a very useful tool for distribution of the materials. These materials have been very well received and are being used by individuals and groups across the nation.

In 2001, the collaboration was expanded to become the Collaboration for NDT Education and, received additional funding from the NSF to create a national focal point for NDT education on the Internet. The establishment of this site is one of the main product of collaboration. While collaboration members have been major contributors to this site, a number of other individuals, companies, institutions have contributed as well. While the Collaboration is unfortunately no longer active, these materials remain widely used nationally and internationally. As of 2021, Iowa State University's Center for Nondestructive Evaluation performed a major NSF-funded renovation of the site in collaboration ISU's College of Engineering, ISU Library, and the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). The goals of the renovation were to update and expand the technical content and make the site sustainably maintainable for twenty more years.

Members of the Collaboration of for NDT Education were:

  • Cowley County Community College, Arkansas City, Kansas
  • Iowa State University, Ames, IA
  • Northeast Iowa Community College, Peosta, IA
  • Ridgewater College, Hutchinson, MN
  • Salt Lake Community College, Salt Lake City, UT
  • Southeast Community College, Milford, NE

Contact Us

Your comments and suggestions for improvement are very important to us. This site is intended to serve as a resource to students of NDT, and the NDT community as a whole. This site is the product of the Collaboration for NDT Education and primarily maintained by the Center for NDE at Iowa State University. It is our goal to make this site as useful and technically accurate as possible. Any assistance that you can provide in helping to reach this goal will be greatly appreciated.

E-mail:nde-ed@iastate.edu

Coordinator and Liaison: TBD

Phone: (515) 294-8152

Fax: (515) 294-7771

US Mail

Center for Nondestructive Evaluation
Iowa State University
1915 Scholl Road
111 ASC II
Ames, Iowa 50011-3041