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This project uses an ecological belonging intervention approach [1] that requires one-class or one- recitation/discussion session to implement and has been shown to erase long-standing equity gaps in achievement in introductory STEM courses. However, given the wide social and cultural heterogeneity across US university contexts (e.g., differences in regional demographics, history, political climates), it is an open question if and how the intervention may scale. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team across three strategically selected universities to design, test, and iteratively improve an approach to systematically identify which first and second year courses would most benefit from the intervention, reveal student concerns that may be specific to that course, adapt the intervention to address those concerns, and evaluate the universality versus specificity of the intervention across university contexts. This systematic approach also includes persuasion and training processes for onboarding the instructors of the targeted courses. The instructor onboarding and the intervention adaptation processes are guided by a theory-of-action that is the backbone of the project’s research activities and iterative process improvement. A synergistic mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods is used throughout the study. In this paper, we describe our theoretical framing of this ecological belonging intervention and the current efforts of the project in developing customized student stories for the intervention. We have conducted focus groups across each of the partner institutions (University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University, and University of California Irvine). We describe the process of developing these contextually relevant stories and the lessons learned about how this ecological belonging intervention can be translated across institutional contexts and for various STEM majors and systemically minoritized populations. The results of this work can provide actionable strategies for reducing equity gaps in students' degree attainment and achievement in engineering. 

Coreless axial-flux permanent-magnet (AFPM) machines may be attractive options for high-speed and high-power density applications due to the elimination of core losses. In order to make full use of the advantages offered by these machines and avoid excessive eddy current losses in windings, advanced technologies for winding conductors need to be employed to suppress the eddy effect, such as the Litz wire and printed circuit board (PCB). In this paper, the best practices for designing Litz wire/PCB windings are discussed and a brief survey of state of the art PCB winding technology is provided. Three coreless AFPM machines are mainly considered. A design optimization procedure based on the multi-objective differential evolution algorithm and 3-dimensional (3D) finite element analysis (FEA) is proposed to take into account the ac winding losses of Litz wires and PCB traces in the machine design stage. Selected designs are being prototyped and will be tested with a customized test fixture. 

Microstructure evolution modeling using finite element crystal plasticity (FECP), Monte- Carlo (MC), and phase field (PF) methods are being used to simulate microstructure evolution in Ti-6Al-4V under thermomechanical loading conditions. FECP is used to simulate deformation induced evolution of the microstructure and compute heterogeneous stored energy providing additional source of energy to MC and PF models. The MC grain growth model, calibrated using literature and experimental data, is used to simulate α+𝛽 grain growth. A multi-phase field, augmented with crystallographic symmetry and orientation relationship between α-𝛽, is employed to model simultaneous evolution and growth of all twelve α-variants in 3D. The influence of transformation and coherency strain energy on α-variant selection is studied by coupling the model with the Khachaturyan-Shatalov formalism for elastic strain calculation. This FECP/MC/PF suite will be able to simulate evolution of grains in the microstructure and within individual 𝛽- grains during typical thermomechanical processing conditions.