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Supported by the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (IUSE-HSI) Program, a collaborative summer research internship initiative united a public four-year institution with two local community colleges to offer community college students significant engineering research opportunities and hands-on experiences. In summer 2023, four students from the community college in computer science and engineering participated in a eight-week research internship project in a research lab at the four-year university. This internship project aimed to develop and implement of real-time computer vision on energy-efficient cortex-m microprocessor. This projet explores a unique approach to engage community college students in the realm of artificial intelligence research. By focusing on the development and implementation of real-time computer vision on energy-efficient Cortex-M microprocessors, we offer a practical and educational avenue for students to delve into the burgeoning field of AI. Through a combination of theoretical understanding and practical application, students are empowered to explore AI concepts, gain proficiency in low-power computing, and contribute to real-world AI projects. Furthermore, the project offered student interns a valuable opportunity to refine their research capabilities, particularly in the realms of scientific writing and presentation, while simultaneously boosting their self-assurance and enthusiasm for pursuing STEM careers in the field of AI.
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Lighting a Pathway to Energy Transitions: Collecting, Interpreting and Sharing Engineering Designs and Research Data Across a School-based Agrivoltaics Citizen Science Network (Pre-College Resource/Curriculum Exchange)
SPV Lab is developing an innovation model for school-based citizen science that supports a networked approach to community-centered knowledge building. Students and teachers on each SPV Lab campus interact through sharing of data and lab reports, using an online platform to facilitate collaboration at a distance. Students not only learn, but also contribute to scientific knowledge of a new area of engineering research, i.e., agrivoltaics, and to their communities, providing social value through clean energy and food production. Creation of an SPV Lab citizen science network that supports and sustains student and community learning in the area of sustainable food and energy. 10 teachers were trained in 2022 and 10 more teachers were trained in 2023. The reach of these two cohorts is vast as they impact more than 30 students per year each. Conservatively this translated into nearly 1000 K-12 students gaining knowledge in the area of agriPV. The inclusion of the youth population in sustainability science and initiatives is necessary with increasing climate concerns and the push for cleaner energy. Introducing the younger populations to collaborative learning experiences about sustainable energy production is the goal of the Sonoran Photovoltaic Lab (SPV Lab). SPV Lab is a network of students, teachers, scientists, engineers, and community partners encouraging equitable, lasting, sustainable energy transitions. This group is working to increase photovoltaic systems and educate the next generation of energy researchers, knowledgeable citizens, and students to ensure that underserved students in Arizona have equitable opportunities to participate in experiential learning programs to gain a newfound understanding of sustainable systems and their impact on the environment. Members of the SPV Lab work collaboratively to achieve active engineering citizen science for K-12 students in agrivoltaics engineering research. Agrivoltaics is a mixed energy source where solar panels are raised above agricultural crops or livestock. This creates a symbiotic relationship between the photovoltaic panels and the plants or animals that are located underneath. A cooling microbiome is generated beneath the solar panels that reduces the temperature in the area, thereby providing a more hospitable home for plants while increasing panel efficiency while collecting useful energy. Due to the complexity of agriPV systems, students benefit most from working side-by-side with other students, teachers, and experts to reach innovative solutions. This project represents the importance of intergenerational collaboration as the main contributors to this project included a college professor, a college student, and a high school student, all of whom contributed equally to the success of this project. Students participate in the construction of the garden beds, mapping activities, data collection, and more. Through the introduction and implementation of these activities, the students have become more invested in the success of their agrivoltaics system and are eager to support the project. The mapping activity has led to a newly cultivated understanding of These activities promoting the significance of engineering sustainable energy solutions, as well as local food systems and healthy community relationships. In a pre-college resource exchange session, SPV Lab teachers and engineering education researchers, and at least one student representative, will co-present to represent our SPV Lab network. The team will share knowledge, resources, practices, and protocols that support SPV Lab students to (a) conduct community ethnography to inform crop choices, (b) collect data in the garden using simple digital tools and time series monitoring systems, (c) analyze and interpret data from their own gardens, and (d) share lab reports and analyze data across multiple campuses. Attendees will learn how to design and build agriPV garden spaces, build a network of collaborators, and conduct citizen science in their own regions.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2055726
- PAR ID:
- 10553689
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Observations from a citizen science engineering research project revealed implications for the formation of engineering students. Citizen scientist participants engaged in a months-long project to design, build, and use rainwater harvesting tanks. Their perceptions toward engineers and engineering were gathered from interviews and focus groups conducted at the start, interim, and conclusion of the project. Through a domain analysis of the transcripts, the authors found that the citizen scientists’ perceptions toward engineering as a process were greatly influenced by their participation in the project. However, their perceptions of engineers as persons did not change. Interestingly, the citizen scientists volunteered their own “funds of knowledge” about engineering skillsets and “habits of mind” but did not connect their personal traits and skills to engineering or engineers. Since the rainwater harvesting project of the citizen scientists was similar to the open-ended, project-based learning experiences of many engineering students, we posit that student perceptions of the engineering process are strongly influenced by project-based learning, but the impact on their engineering identity is limited. We explore the theoretical possibility of using asset-based community development (ABCD) mapping techniques to connect personal student strengths to communities in the context of open-ended, project-based engineering design.more » « less
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Citizen scientist efforts, wherein members of the public who are not professional scientists participate in active research, have been shown to effectively engage the public in STEM fields and result in valuable data, essential to answering pressing research questions. However, most citizen scientist efforts have been centered in colleges of science, and a limited number have crossed into research areas important to chemical engineering fields. In this work we report on the results of a project to recruit high school and middle school students across Utah’s Salt Lake Valley as citizen scientists and potential engineering students who work in partnership with chemical engineering researchers in an effort to create a distributed online network of air quality sensors. Middle and high school students were trained by undergraduate mentors to monitor and maintain their own outdoor air quality sensor with the help of teaching materials that were co-developed with Breathe Utah, a local community group concerned with air quality. With the help of these tailored teaching modules, students learned about the science behind air quality research and the difficulties common to physical measurements to better prepare them to analyze their data. Once trained, students are expected to become semi-independent researchers in charge of monitoring and maintaining their piece of a larger air quality map. We describe in this work the hurdles inherent in citizen science engagement within a chemical engineering research program and the means to address them. We describe successful means of engaging classrooms, training citizen scientists, obtaining faculty buy-in within the confines of state curricular demands, and addressing school administration concerns. With this model, we have directly engaged over 1,000 high school and over 3,000 middle school students. The project has resulted in a growing network of citizen-maintained sensors that contributes to a real-time air quality map. Student scientists may also use the sensors to participate in active research or conduct science fair projects. Student response to this citizen scientist project, where it may be measured, has been enthusiastic and almost wholly positive.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--47747
