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The goal of the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program is to provide high quality educational experiences for small groups of U.S. students through active research participation in collaboration with foreign researchers at an international site and provide students with international collaborative research training and a personal network on which to build future collaborations. Interdisciplinary Research in Korea on Applied smart systems (IRiKA) is an NSF IRES Track I program that commenced in 2019. Over the lifetime of this 3-year project (2019 - 2021), a cohort of 5 students selected from three participating U.S. institutions are to be supported each year, making the total number of participants 15. In Summer 2019, the first cohort of five students completed their 8-week immersive research internship at Korea’s top-ranked university. COVID-19 affected most, if not all, in-bound and out-bound international programs. IRiKA was no exception. In late February 2020, the program was canceled altogether because no viable alternative could be offered for Summer 2020, as institutions world-wide were grappling with disruptive challenges the pandemic brought on. In Fall 2020, with contingency plans in place and an additional Korean host site aboard, the project team solicited applications. However, in early 2021, before the final selection of the 2021 cohort was complete, two of the U.S. participating institutions announced that international travel would not be permitted for their faculty and students. The project team went on to select a cohort from one U.S. institution only and continued to monitor the travel health notice level for Korea. While some modifications were made to the in-country program to comply with the COVID-19 regulations in Korea, the 8-week research experience was in-person and remained largely uncompromised for the 2021 cohort. In this Work-in-Progress paper, the three US-based lead investigators compare the two versions of the IRiKA program – before and during the pandemic – and share the lessons learned. The no-cost-extension will allow IRiKA to continue until Summer 2022. Selection of the Summer 2022 cohort will be complete by early March of 2022.
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Development and contribution to students’ intercultural skills: A case study of an international collaborative site.
This work-in-progress research paper presents our experiences with a NSF-sponsored International Research Experiences for Undergraduates (IRES) program hosted by an a large land grant university in the United States. A major component of the program is implemented at an international laboratory in China. The lab has been established in 2010 as a collaborative research platform, for a large land-grant university in the U.S. and a public comprehensive university, to study the biosonar sensing and flight of bats from an engineering perspective. The lab has pioneered work on the diversity and dynamics of the structures (noseleaves and ears) that bats use to emit and receive ultrasonic pulses In addition, the lab has hosted research experiences for international (primarily U.S.) students and collaborative BS/MS and MS/PhD educational programs. In the last two years, two cohorts of IRES scholars completed the 10-week IRES program. In addition to research and technical experiences, the IRES students participated in several field trips and seminars and were exposed to Chinese culture. To better understand the impact of the program, students were invited to complete pre- and post-program surveys and a post-program interview. The surveys included cultural intelligence assessment, Global Competency Activity, and Sojourn Readiness Assessment. In addition, students answered a few open-ended questions about their technical and cultural experiences. In this paper, we first explain the history of the lab and its research and educational contribution to date. Then, we describe the IRES program and program evaluation measures. Finally, we focus on the influence of the program on students’ intercultural skills and present the assessment results.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1658620
- PAR ID:
- 10132006
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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The goal of the National Science Foundation’s International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program is to provide high quality educational experiences for small groups of U.S. students through active research participation in collaboration with foreign researchers at an international site and provide students with international collaborative research training and a personal network on which to build future collaborations. Interdisciplinary Research in Korea on Applied smart systems (IRiKA) is an NSF IRES Track I program that commenced in 2019. Over the lifetime of this 3-year project (2019 - 2021), a cohort of 5 students selected from three participating U.S. institutions are to be supported each year, making the total number of participants 15. In Summer 2019, the first cohort of five students completed their 8-week immersive research internship at Korea’s top-ranked university. COVID-19 affected most, if not all, in-bound and out-bound international programs. IRiKA was no exception. In late February 2020, the program was canceled altogether because no viable alternative could be offered for Summer 2020, as institutions world-wide were grappling with disruptive challenges the pandemic brought on. In Fall 2020, with contingency plans in place and an additional Korean host site aboard, the project team solicited applications. However, in early 2021, before the final selection of the 2021 cohort was complete, two of the U.S. participating institutions announced that international travel would not be permitted for their faculty and students. The project team went on to select a cohort from one U.S. institution only and continued to monitor the travel health notice level for Korea. While some modifications were made to the in-country program to comply with the COVID-19 regulations in Korea, the 8-week research experience was in-person and remained largely uncompromised for the 2021 cohort. In this Work-in-Progress paper, the three US-based lead investigators compare the two versions of the IRiKA program – before and during the pandemic – and share the lessons learned. The no-cost-extension will allow IRiKA to continue until Summer 2022. Selection of the Summer 2022 cohort will be complete by early March of 2022.more » « less
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