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Abstract: The EvaluateUR Method supports the assessment of undergraduate research programs in different educational settings, from independent undergraduate research ("EvaluateUR") to classroom-based research ("EvaluateUR-CURE") and robotics design competitions ("Evaluate Compete"). The method provides statistically reliable assessments of student growth in a wide variety of outcome categories identified as essential to success in the workplace. It differs from traditional approaches to assessing student outcomes because it is integrated directly into the research experience. A unique feature of the method is its emphasis on metacognition. Thus, it also serves as a learning tool for students, helping them to become more aware of their academic and professional strengths and weaknesses while supporting their efforts to identify strategies for expanding their knowledge and improving their metacognitive skills. 

Engineering Technology (ET) programs at community colleges and colleges/universities play a vital role in meeting the growing national demand for STEM graduates. Many accredited ET programs feature design projects that allow students to apply content knowledge and gain valuable workplace skills. Undergraduate research, especially inquiry-based projects, helps students take ownership of their own learning and see the real-world relevance of research as they learn problem-solving skills. EvaluateUR-CURE, an evidence-based method developed at SUNY Buffalo, measures a broad range of desirable outcomes that include both content knowledge and outcomes that are critically important in the workplace, such as communication skills, creativity, autonomy, an ability to overcome obstacles, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. EvaluateUR-CURE also provides students opportunities to develop metacognitive skills as a way to identify how much academic progress they have made or still need to make. This paper addresses the process of development of performance indicators and presents the results of assessment and evaluation of ETAC ABET student outcomes and outcome categories of EvaluateUR-CURE. 

Melting gels are a class of hybrid organic-inorganic silica based gels prepared via the sol-gel process that are solid below their glass transition temperatures, near room temperature, but show thermoplastic behavior when heated. While this phase change can be repeated multiple times, heating the gel past its consolidation temperatures, typically above 130 oC initiates an irreversible reaction that produces highly crosslinked glassy organic-inorganic materials via hydrolysis and poly-condensation. This ability makes melting gels uniquely compatible with processing techniques inaccessible to other sol-gels. By properly tuning their properties, it should be possible to create protective coatings for electronics and anti-corrosive coatings for metals that are highly hydrophobic and insulating. However, melting gel consolidation reactions are highly dependent on charge interactions, raising the question of how these materials will respond to a processing technique, like electrospray deposition (ESD), which is dependent on charge delivery. In this study, we focus on the role that substrate temperature and charge polarity play on film morphology, consolidation chemistry, and surface properties. Optical images, film thickness measurements, nanoindentation, and FTIR were used to characterize the sprayed melting gel with the goal of developing a robust processing space for producing highly cross linked, hydrophobic, dielectric coatings.