More Like this

1. Undergraduate Hypersonics Research: The Second Year of the REU Site HYPER

   https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-0932  

   Gordon, Ali; Kauffman, Jeffrey L.; Burke, Robert F. (January 2022, AIAA SciTech 2022 Forum)

   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. 

   more » « less
2. Undergraduate Hypersonics Research: the Fourth Year of the REU Site HYPER

   https://doi.org/10.1115/GT2024-121717  

   Kauffman, Jeffrey L; Gordon, Ali P (June 2024, American Society of Mechanical Engineers)

   Progress towards future modes of transportation and energy production has uncovered significant knowledge gaps impeding technical progress. Realizing aircraft that regularly operate in supersonic and even hypersonic regimes and turbomachinery supporting carbon neutrality can be addressed only through multi-disciplinary research. The University of Central Florida (UCF) equips future engineers and scientists for research-oriented careers through a variety of programs and initiatives. One key initiative is a Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site housed within the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Now hosting its fifth cohort, the site unites multi-disciplinary projects around HYpersonic, Propulsive, Energetic, and Reusable Platforms (HYPER). Beyond graduate-level research with expert faculty, participants engage in a professional development series, industry tours, and computational software training. UCF plays a key role in preparing a workforce of young scientists for research careers in hypersonics. This paper presents data drawn from the four completed cohorts of HYPER participants on how exposing participants to the various disciplines has impacted their self-efficacy, as well as a brief summary of lessons learned along the way. With this site, UCF plays a key role in preparing a workforce of young scientists for research careers in hypersonics. 

   more » « less
3. Evaluating the Impact of Enrichment and Professional Development Activities on REU Students

   1. Nepal, B. (July 2022, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs have been credited for attracting and retaining students in science and engineering who otherwise may not have considered disciplines in science and engineering as their career choices. In addition to core research activities, REU programs generally provide multiple enrichment and professional development activities for participants. While the nature and the number of professional development activities vary from one REU program to another, the most common activities include ethics and safety training, research and industry seminars, GRE workshops, writing workshops, graduate school application preparation, and industry visits. Furthermore, some of these professional development activities are also conducted in large group settings with students from other research programs beyond the REU cohort. The rationale behind combining REU students with other researchers is to create a community of learners and provide them with an opportunity to build/extend their professional network. Although professional development activities are an integral part of the REU sites, there is often very limited coverage of such activities in the existing literature on REU projects. This paper presents the impact of professional development activities on the experience of REU participants in a manufacturing REU site at a major research university in the southwestern United States. For this study, data was collected from participants by an external evaluator by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. This paper presents and describes the cumulative data from three REU cohorts. The analysis and results of the data are disaggregated by the student academic level (sophomore, junior, senior), gender, ethnicity, the type of their home institutions (research or teaching institution), and desired career paths in the future (graduate school or industry). The paper also provides a detailed discussion and implications of these findings. 

   more » « less
4. Early Career Perspectives to Broaden the Scope of Critical Zone Science

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005238  

   Warix, Sara; Johnson, Keira; Adamchak, Clifford; Dumont, Marc; Kerins, Devon; Knapp, Abigail; Sarup, Ojas; Miller, Hannah; Newman, Connor; D'Arcy, Sophie; et al (February 2025, Earth's Future)

   Abstract Critical Zone (CZ) scientists have advanced understanding of Earth's surface through process‐based research that quantifies water, energy, and mass fluxes in predominantly undisturbed systems. However, the CZ is being increasingly altered by humans through climate and land use change. Expanding the scope of CZ science to include both human‐ and non‐human controls on the CZ is important for understanding anthropogenic impacts to Earth's surface processes and ecosystem services. Here, we share perspectives from predominantly U.S.‐based, early career CZ scientists centered around broadening the scope of CZ science to focus on societally relevant science through a transdisciplinary science framework. We call for increased training on transdisciplinary methods and collaboration opportunities across disciplines and with stakeholders to foster a scientific community that values transdisciplinary science alongside physical science. Here, we build on existing transdisciplinary research frameworks by highlighting the need for institutional support to include and educate graduate students throughout the research processes. We also call for graduate‐student‐led initiatives to increase their own exposure to transdisciplinary science through activities such as transdisciplinary‐focused seminars and symposiums, volunteering with local conservation groups, and participating in internships outside academia. 

   more » « less
5. Minority Student Preparation for STEM PhD Study: Impact of NSF Bridge to the Doctorate Programming

   https://doi.org/10.46328/ijtes.v4i3.122  

   Preuss, Michael D.; Merriweather, Samuel P.; Walton, Shannon D.; Butler-Purry, Karen L. (June 2020, International Journal of Technology in Education and Science)

   The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) project in 1991 as one of the six initial awardees. As part of these efforts and upon reaching eligibility, the TAMUS LSAMP applied for and received additional funding to support a Bridge to the Doctorate (BTD) program. BTD programming provides financial, educational, and social support to incoming STEM master’s degree and PhD students for the first two years of their graduate study. BTD cohorts consist of up to 12 fellows who participate in a program of academic and professional development seminars and workshops. In project evaluation, annual interviews were conducted with the TAMUS BTD participants, the vast majority of whom were underrepresented minorities (92%). During the interviews, the BTD students were asked to discuss ten topics some of which addressed concerns specific to the implementation of the BTD project. This report considers answers provided in the five topic areas which have broader applicability: 1) the learning achieved by participants through participation in BTD, 2) the personal impact of participation in BTD, 3) the influence of BTD on informants’ educational goals, 4) the influence of BTD on informants’ career goals, and 5) barriers the BTD participants perceived to pursuing a PhD. Eighty project participants responded to the questions between 2009 and 2018. They were from eight distinct cohorts of BTD students and represented 32 different areas of STEM specialization. Qualitative analysis of their responses confirmed that students perceived the elements of the TAMUS BTD project to be efficacious and that there was a set of nine seminars from which participants consistently reported benefit. Additional findings were eight key areas in which learning was reported by participants, four areas in which the programming  had personal impact, five influences on educational goals,  nine impacts on career goals, and a detailed list of barriers graduate students who are underrepresented minorities (URM) perceive to pursuing a doctoral degree. The proven and easily replicated pattern of support programming, the demonstrated results of this programming, and insight into barriers URMs perceive to pursuing a STEM doctorate are immediately applicable to URM graduate student support at many institutions of higher education. 

   more » « less