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Training future engineers and scientists for the research-oriented careers necessary to deliver solutions to the challenges of hypersonic flight is important task for the aerospace community at-large. A number of programs and initiatives at the University of Central Florida (UCF) contribute to this need. Among them is the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site framed on HYpersonic, Propulsive, Energetic, and Reusable Platforms (HYPER) an program housed withing the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery Energy Research (CATER). This residential summer program convening on the UCF main campus prepares a group of undergraduate students to pursue doctoral-level degree programs in aerospace engineering and related disciplines. During the Summer 2021, the second term of the program, HYPER hosted fourteen students. Students conducted intensive research under the guidance of faculty mentors and their graduate student assistants. To support their complete development, HYPER students participated in industry tours, software training, technical seminars, and more. This paper reports the impact of the program in its second year. Data are derived from pre- and post-experience surveys, study groups, and technical assessment activities. Feedback from the first year were implemented in the second year.
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Leveraging philosophy to cultivate a culture of ethical and responsible conduct in chemistry and beyond
This contribution reports how the investigators are bridging across chemistry, philosophy, and other disciplines to study the landscape of ethics and responsible conduct (ERC) of research at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and to develop ongoing initiatives that cultivate a campus-wide culture of ERC in science. A multi-modal approach is employed to assess the ethics landscape at UCF, which is one of the most populated, rapidly emerging, minority-serving metropolitan universities in the United States. Stakeholders are consulted to develop new initiatives. In one example, the team created case-study driven workshops that help students discover through discussion how decision making and the sense of what is right can be affected by culture, discipline, past experience, and the availability or lack of information. Participants discuss topics closely related to chemistry -- including CRISPR, climate science, putative links between autism and vaccination, recalls related to vehicle emissions systems, and other examples from science, technology, and industry -- that help them understand how ERC impacts society at all levels and why it must be central to their professional practice. Philosophical arguments, like the Trolley Problem and normative theory, are used to focus students' thinking on the key value judgements that define the moral landscape and lead to ethical or unethical outcomes. The investigators are exploring means for bridging across hierarchies that are inherent in higher education -- and which create natural but often unhelpful divisions between students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni -- so that all stakeholders develop and contribute to a shared sense of ERC. The investigators examine how chemistry students engage with interdisciplinary colleagues and how faculty in chemistry and closely related disciplines are engaging with the initiatives. Advances in the assessment of ERC and the development of vehicles for promoting a culture of ERC are described.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1711356
- PAR ID:
- 10155818
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 257th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
- Volume:
- 257
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- CHED 1860
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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