Search for: university

Computing is everywhere, and it's here to stay. Computing is crucial in many disciplines and influences every discipline. It’s unlikely we'll willingly return to a society unmediated by computing. How do our institutions proceed? This BoF asks, "Should computing be a requirement for all college and university students?" Some say yes, citing potential for improving equity-of-access, for expanding students' capabilities, for diversifying the people who understand and critique computing, and for increasing the diversity of computing participation. Some say no, citing the lack of equity-of-outcomes, the infeasibility of teaching all students equitably, and students' need for freedom in choosing what they study. Some say, "Let's consider the spectrum of possibilities... ." This session will discuss these possibilities, expressed and constrained by 2024's forces. Is computing's value saturated - or soon to be? Or is computing a meta-skill, whose practice in learning-to-learn amplifies individual efficacy along all paths? Is Computing1 too gate-kept to be as equitable a GenEd as Composition1? Or does requiring computing, in fact, help dismantle those gates? Can students adequately learn about core computing concepts via non-CS courses that use computing? What might required computing entail? We invite and welcome all with an interest in computing-as-degree-requirement, program-requirement, or GenEd offering. The session's seed materials will highlight evidence against the idea, for the idea, and across its vast, uncertain middle. Our BoF proposers include researchers and educators, both non-CS-requiring and CS-requiring, as well as non-CS-required and CS-required "educatees." Join us! 

This work seeks to provide postsecondary engineering stakeholders (e.g., faculty and administrators) with information that can bolster their support of neurodivergent engineering students by exploring how sense of belonging influences their academic experiences and outcomes. 

Abstract City governments and urban universities are well-positioned to play critical roles in advancing urban sustainability transformations. However, in partnering, cities and universities often focus efforts on discrete sustainability-related projects, neglecting the development of long-term relationships and deep, inter-organizational ties that can allow for collaboration on lasting and transformational change. Yet, at both cities and universities there are often individuals who are deeply interested in developing better partnerships that contribute to the sustainability and livability of their communities. This research develops and tests an evidence-based and facilitated process to guide sustainability researchers and municipal practitioners in the development of transformational City-university partnerships for sustainability. The Audacious Partnerships Process was tested by four City-university partnerships including Arizona State University and the City of Tempe, Dublin City University and the City of Dublin, King’s College London and the City of Westminster and the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Mexico City. The Audacious Partnerships Process as well as results from post-surveys and interviews following implementation are elaborated. We conclude with key lessons for modifying and implementing the process to contribute to transformative partnership development. 

The University of Alaska Fairbanks T Field is a legacy farm field that is part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Funded Permafrost Grown project. We are studying the long-term effects of permafrost thaw following initial clearing for cultivation purposes. In this regard, we have acquired very high resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and digital photography from a DJI M300 drone using a Zenmuse L1 and a MicaSense RedEdge-P camera. The Zenmuse L1 integrates a Livox Lidar module, a high-accuracy inertial measurement units (IMU), and a camera with a 1-inch CMOS on a 3-axis stabilized gimbal. The MicaSense RedEdge-P camera has five multispectral bands and a high-resolution panchromatic band. The drone was configured to fly in real-time kinematic (RTK) mode at an altitude of 60 meters above ground level using the DJI D-RTK 2 base station. Data was acquired using a 50% sidelap and a 70% frontlap for the Zenmuse L1 and an 80% sidelap and a 75% frontlap for the MicaSense. Additional ground control was established with a Leica GS18 global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and all data have been post-processed to World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) universal transverse mercator (UTM) Zone 6 North using ellipsoid heights. Data outputs include a two-class-classified LiDAR point cloud, digital surface model, digital terrain model, an orthophoto mosaic, and a multispectral orthoimage consisting of five bands. Image acquisition occurred on 18 August 2023. 

Opportunities for undergraduate research in STEM programs at community colleges can be few where lower-division science curriculum emphasizes classroom and laboratory-based learning and research laboratories are limited in number. This is particularly true in the geosciences where specialized programs are extremely rare. Urban serving academic research institutions have a unique role and opportunity to partner with regional community college programs for undergraduate research early-on in student post-secondary educational experiences. Programs built for community college transfer students to urban serving undergraduate programs can serve to integrate students into major programs and help reduce transfer shock. The benefits of exploring research as an undergraduate scholar are numerous and include: building towards mastery of technical skills; developing problem-solving in a real-world environment; reading and digesting scientific literature; analyzing experimental and simulation data; working independently and as part of a team; developing a mentoring relationship with a research advisor; and building a sense of belonging and confidence in a scientific field. However, many undergraduate research internships are targeted towards junior-level STEM majors already engaged in upper-division coursework and considering graduate school which effectively excludes community college students from participating. The Center for Climate and Aerosol Research (CCAR) Research Experience for Undergraduate program at Portland State University serves to help build the future diverse research community. 10-week intern research experiences are paired with an expert faculty mentor are designed for students majoring in the natural/physical sciences but not necessarily with a background in climate or atmospheric science. Additional programmatic activities include: 1-week orientation and training using short courses, faculty research seminars, and hands-on group workshops; academic professional and career development workshops throughout summer; journal club activities; final presentations at end of summer CCAR symposium; opportunities for travel for student presentations at scientific conferences; and social activities. Open to all qualifying undergraduates, since 2014 the program recruits primarily from regional (Northwest) community colleges, rural schools, and Native American serving institutions; recruiting students who would be unlikely to be otherwise exposed to such opportunities at their home institution. Over the past 9 cohorts of REU interns (2014-2019), approximately one third of CCAR REU scholars are community colleges students. Here we present criteria employed for selection of REU scholars and an analysis of selection biases in a comparison of students from community colleges, 4-year colleges, and PhD granting universities. We further investigate differential outcomes in efficacy of the REU program using evaluation data to assess changes over the program including: knowledge, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, science identity, program satisfaction, and career aspirations. In this presentation, we present these findings along with supportive qualitative analyses and discuss their implications for community college students in undergraduate research programs in geosciences. 

Most work on social identity, defined as one's sense of self derived from membership to social groups, focuses on a single identity and its behavioral consequences. But a central insight of social identity theory is that people belong to multiple social groups, derive self-esteem from multiple identities and care to conform to the norms for those identities. However, very little work has turned its attention to understanding when and how multiple social identities interact. We motivate hypotheses with a framework that extends a social identity model to include multiple identities.

Using a longitudinal sample (N> 600) of university students located primarily in Texas and throughout the US, we use university social identity, and the associated university norms, to characterize COVID related social distancing norms between April and October of 2020 and then unpack how another identity, the student's political identity, impacts perception of those norms.

Despite incentives to do otherwise, we find that beliefs about university norms differ depending on the respondent's political identity. We interpret this as a spillover effect of attitudes from one identity to another.

We relate our results back to a model of social identity, to the literature on spillovers where such psychological spillovers are hard to empirically identify, and to methods for future work on identity and spillovers.

 

The growing popularity of progressive education pedagogies combined with the continued rise of the maker movement has propelled knowledge and interest in makerspaces across education. As a result, makerspaces have become a common sight on college campuses around the world. These spaces offer students a unique opportunity to apply the hard and soft skills learned in the classroom to projects with real consequences. Students learn to take ownership of their work and experiment and iterate until they are proud of their results. Through this process they grow in design self-efficacy, innovation, and collaboration skills. Makerspaces are a powerful tool in the hands of university professors, but not all students benefit from them equally. Many students still face real or perceived barriers to entry caused in part by a lack of comfort and confidence in the space. This study seeks to examine students’ sense of belonging at a university makerspace and determine how gender, major, study locations, and classes affect this sense. Online surveys were distributed to students who used the makerspace in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. Students answered a series of Likert style questions about how they feel in the space and statistical tests were used to determine correlation and significance of the results. It was found that sense of belonging in the space overall was high, but that females, non-mechanical engineering majors, and students who did not study in the space reported statistically lower sense of comfort. Suggestions are given to makerspace administrators of how to address and avoid these gaps in belonging and make the space more inclusive and welcoming to all students. 

Going to university is a huge change from going to high school. At the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in the US, biologists Barbara Barnhart and Dr Olivia Long are using their Science Seminar programme to ease this transition for first year students studying biology, chemistry and biochemistry degrees. 

On August 9-10, 2023, the Thomas J. O’Keefe Institute for Sustainable Supply of Strategic Minerals at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) hosted the third annual workshop on ‘Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals’. The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and was attended by 218 participants. 128 participants attended in-person in the Havener Center on the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla, Missouri, USA. Another 90 participants attended online via Zoom. Fourteen participants (including nine students) received travel support through the NSF grant to attend the conference in Rolla. Additionally, the online participation fee was waived for another six students and early career researchers to attend the workshop virtually. Out of the 218 participants, 190 stated their sectors of employment during registration showing that 87 participants were from academia (32 students), 62 from the private sector and 41 from government agencies. Four topical sessions were covered: A. The Critical Mineral Potential of the USA: Evaluation of existing, and exploration for new resources. B. Mineral Processing and Recycling: Maximizing critical mineral recovery from existing production streams. C. Critical Mineral Policies: Toward effective and responsible governance. D. Resource Sustainability: Ethical and environmentally sustainable supply of critical minerals. Each topical session was composed of two keynote lectures and complemented by oral and poster presentations by the workshop participants. Additionally, a panel discussion with panelists from academia, the private sector and government agencies was held that discussed ‘How to grow the American critical minerals workforce’. The 2023 workshop was followed by a post-workshop field trip to the lead-zinc mining operations of the Doe Run Company in southeast Missouri that was attended by 18 workshop participants from academia (n=10; including 4 students), the private sector (n=4), and government institutions (n=4). Discussions during the workshop led to the following suggestions to increase the domestic supply of critical minerals: (i) Research to better understand the geologic critical mineral potential of the USA, including primary reserves/resources, historic mine wastes, and mineral exploration potential. (ii) Development of novel extraction techniques targeted at the recovery of critical minerals as co-products from existing production streams, mine waste materials, and recyclables. (iii) Faster and more transparent permitting processes for mining and mineral processing operations. (iv) A more environmentally sustainable and ethical approach to mining and mineral processing. (v) Development of a highly skilled critical minerals workforce. This workshop report provides a detailed summary of the workshop discussions and describes a way forward for this workshop series for 2024 and beyond. 

Economic preferences are often taken as given, yet evidence shows that preferences respond to life events and change over time. We examine the evolution of other-regarding preferences for a cohort of university students over 5 years, starting before they matriculate and extending one year beyond graduation. Using survey and incentivized measures of preferences, we show that altruism declines over the university years. This decline is reflected in changes in charitable giving over three donation opportunities. We rule out several alternative explanations for the observed change, including cohort differences, perceptions of the charities, and experience with experiments. We show evidence of a ‘giving type’ in charitable giving, with consistency in behavior across giving opportunities. Methodologically, we also show that the incentivized and survey measures are similar at predicting giving types. We conclude that preferences reflect common tendencies over time, while simultaneously showing an overall decline in generosity during the university years.