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1. STEMAmbassadors: Developing Communications, Teamwork, and Leadership Skills for Graduate Students

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--35207  

   Briliyanti, Astri; Rojewski, Julie; Colbry, Dirk; Luchini-Colbry, Katy (January 2020, Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   null (Ed.)

   STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduate programs excel at developing students’ technical expertise and research skills. The interdisciplinary nature of many STEM research projects means that graduate students often find themselves paired with experts from other fields and asked to work together to solve complex problems. At Michigan State University, the College of Engineering has developed a graduate level course that helps students build professional skills (communications, teamwork, leadership) to enhance their participation in these types of interdisciplinary projects. This semester-long course also includes training on research mentoring, helping students work more effectively with their current faculty mentors and build skills to serve as mentors themselves. Discussions of research ethics are integrated throughout the course, which allows participants to partially fulfill graduate training requirements in the responsible conduct of research. This paper will discuss the development of this course, which is based in part on curriculum developed as part of an ongoing training grant from the National Science Foundation. 18 graduate students from Engineering and other STEM disciplines completed the course in Spring 2019, and we will present data gathered from these participants along with lessons learned and suggestions for institutions interested in adapting these open-source curriculum materials for their own use. Students completed pre- and post-course evaluations, which asked about their expectations and reasons for participating in the course at the outset and examined their experiences and learning at the end. Overall, students reported that the course content was highly relevant to their daily work and that they were highly satisfied with the content of all three major focus areas (communications, teamwork, leadership). Participants also reported that the structure and the pacing of the course were appropriate, and that the experience had met their expectations. The results related to changes in students’ knowledge indicate that the course was effective in increasing participants understanding of and ability to employ professional skills for communications, teamwork and leadership. Statistical analyses were conducted by creating latent constructs for each item as applicable and then running paired t-tests. The evaluation also demonstrated increases in students’ interest, knowledge and confidence of the professional skills offered in the course. 

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2. Learning Trajectories through Undergraduate Engineering Curricula and Experiences

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34905  

   Lande, Micah (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   This NSF EAGER research paper investigates how undergraduate STEM and engineering students’ learning trajectories evolve over time, from 1st to senior year, along a novice to expert spectrum. We borrow the idea of “learning trajectories” from mathematics education that can paint the evolution of students’ knowledge and skills over time over a set of learning experiences. Curricula for undergraduate engineering programs can reflect an intended pathway of knowledge construction within a discipline. We intend our study of individual students within undergraduate STEM and engineering programs can highlight how this may happen in situ and how it may be similar or might differ from a given, prescribed programs of study among disciplines. We use a theoretical framework based in adaptive expertise and design thinking adaptive expertise to develop a design learning continuum further. Envisioned routes through disciplinary undergraduate curricula and student conceptions of their design process are explored through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with undergraduate 1st year and senior year students across STEM, engineering and non-STEM field such as computer science, mechanical engineering, general engineering, mathematics, science, English, and art. We also conduct similar interviews with faculty in these fields who are responsible and knowledgeable for undergraduate programs about their perceived benefits for the structure of their program’s curriculum. Additional information is collected from noticing the organizational and pedagogical structures of the relative undergraduate curriculum. Initial findings/outcomes suggest that traditions to knowledge construction both differ across disciplinary approaches and have similarities across non-obvious disciplinary relationships. Faculty have a firm understanding of how one class chains from one to another; students have less of a field of view for how mindful chunks of knowledge combine together. 

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3. Multidisciplinary Research and Teaching by Means of Employing FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging System and Characterization Techniques

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34988  

   Alavi, Zahrasadat (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   This paper focuses on discussing the efforts made to engage students in multi-disciplinary research and integrate teaching and research in the areas of FTIR Spectro- microscopy and image processing and analysis. The author (PI) and co-PIs acquired a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopic Imaging equipment through the National Science Foundation- Major Research Instrumentation (NSF- MRI) grant (#1827134). This project aims to use the equipment to conduct undergraduate and graduate research projects and teach undergraduate and graduate classes. The NSF awarded the California State University Chico (CSU Chico) $175,305 to acquire an FTIR spectrometer and microscope, which are important tools for chemical characterization of samples with infrared active molecules. FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging System especially provides accurate chemical images that reveal the variations in images’ pixels which are mappings of constituent materials of samples rather than a single visible image with slight variations. By employing this equipment in research and the Image Processing course, students can learn how to collect, process and analyze the imaging data of samples and the corresponding spectral data. The students not only will learn how to process a single chemical image, but also will work with the data cubes to consider the pixel intensities along the IR spectrum, experience working with big data, hone the skills to design experiments, analyze larger data sets, develop pre- and post-image processing techniques, and apply and refine math and programming skills. Image processing course conventionally is based on math, digital signal and systems, and requires programming skills such as Matlab, C++, and Python. along with the mentioned knowledge. Additionally, the research conducted by this equipment promotes collaboration between engineering major students and science major students. In this paper, the author will explain how collecting data through running experiments with the FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging equipment helps students visualize theory and relate it to real world problems. This paper also discusses the results of engaging undergraduate students from various majors in research. Moreover, it will discuss some of the projects that were conducted by undergraduate students and their learning outcomes. The objective of the research projects was material characterization towards contribution to health by employing FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging System. 

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4. Transcending disciplines: Engaging college students in interdisciplinary research, integrated STEM, and partnerships

   https://doi.org/10.3926/jotse.1139  

   Kilty, Trina; Burrows, Andrea; Welsh, Kate; Kilty, Kevin; McBride, Shawna; Bergmaier, Philip (February 2021, Journal of Technology and Science Education)

   An authentic, interdisciplinary, research and problem-based integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project may be ideal for encouraging scientific inquiry and developing teamwork among undergraduate students, but it also presents challenges. The authors describe how two interdisciplinary teams (n=6) of undergraduate college students built integrated STEM projects in a research based internship setting, and then collaboratively brought the project to fruition to include designing lessons and activities shared with K-12 students in a classroom setting. Each three person undergraduate team consisted of two STEM majors and one Education major. The Education majors are a special focus for this study. Interviews, field observations, and lesson plan artifacts collected from the undergraduate college students were analyzed according to authenticity factors, the authentic scientific inquiry instrument, and an integrated STEM instrument. The authors highlight areas of strength and weakness for both teams and explore how preservice teachers contributed to integrated STEM products and lessons. Teacher educators might apply recommendations for teacher preparation and professional development when facilitating authentic scientific inquiry and integrated STEM topics with both STEM and non-STEM educators. Undergraduate college students were challenged to fully integrate the STEM disciplines, transitions between them, and the spaces between them where multiple disciplines existed. By describing the challenges of integrating the spaces between STEM, the authors offer a description of the undergraduate college students’ experiences in an effort to expand the common message beyond a flat approach of try this activity because it works, to a more robust message of try this type of engagement and purposefully organize for maximum results. 

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5. Interdisciplinary Convergence in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

   Dutta, Prashanta; Seo, Soobin; Probst, Tahira; Hewa, Joseph M (June 2024, ASEE)

   While the demand for interdisciplinary knowledge is undeniable, there are formidable challenges when offering graduate education to Engineering students. To address that, we designed an educational research project that delves into the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Trainee (NRT) program for engineering students studying robotics and autonomous systems. This newly funded NRT program aims to train next-generation scientists and engineers with professional skills through interdisciplinary courses such as leadership, business, and psychology in addition to cutting-edge technical knowledge in the field. We are using retrospective surveys and content analysis to identify student experience with interdisciplinary training and education programs. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis evidenced an increased level of confidence in soft skills such as interdisciplinary understanding, communication, and collaboration skills throughout participating in the interdisciplinary NRT program. 

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