2019 SSG Awards

In 2019 awards, five projects were funded totaling to $149,632.20

Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Clinical Immersion: Training Engineers to Identify and to Develop Solutions for Indiana's Urban Health Needs

PI: Sharon Miller, Associate Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI, sm11@iu.edu

Abstract: A clinical immersion experience in an urban setting would provide biomedical engineering (BME) students a community-based opportunity to realize where medical device translation occurs and an opportunity to build integrative engineering skills. The goals of such clinical immersion are to foster better student understanding of urban healthcare needs, provide students genuine interaction with clinical professionals, and extend engineering analysis to include economic and societal impact. This work will develop and refine an undergraduate, junior-level clinical immersion experience to be implemented in a required 300-level BME course and to be monitored by coursework deliverables, focus groups, and surveys. By creating a scaffold for students to identify clinical user needs, students will be able to invest in and to identify their own possible next steps in their academic training (e.g. senior capstone projects). No program that combines BME engineering education with clinical immersion exists to our knowledge in the city of Indianapolis, providing a unique opportunity for this biomedical engineering discipline-based educational research.

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Study of Effectiveness of Integrating Virtual Reality Education Modules into Additive Manufacturing Instruction

PI: Jing Zhang, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI, ude[dot]iupui[at]92zj

Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) presents a new opportunity for engaging students in learning additive manufacturing (AM) knowledge. However, it is not clear how to design VR experiences that have comparable results as real-world laboratory experiences. The objective of this SEIRI project is to develop the best practices for integrating VR into AM education. The project includes: (1) development of a series of VR modules for AM process and materials testing; (2) conducting a comparative study between the VR module based and conventional courses; (3) assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of VR experiences; and (4) disseminating of the knowledge through presentation, publication and student thesis. Three engineering courses are proposed to be the pilot platform of the study, where students will benefit from the developed VR modules, including ME59700 – Additive Manufacturing, ME56900 – Mechanical Behavior of Materials; and ME34400 – Introduction to Engineering Materials. In addition to these direct benefits, this work has the potential to improve learning outcomes for most students in other STEM classroom as the role of VR in education expands. If successful, this project will allow faculty and students to benefit from the unique advantages of adopting VR techniques for the academic research community across the campus. Next, a long-term research agenda can be established to fully realize the full capabilities of VR applications. Finally, this work will promote identification of new applications and societal benefits associated with VR applications beyond education, such as in manufacturing, defense, and medical fields.

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Engaging Undergraduates, Non-majors, and Citizen Scientists to Survey Our Urban Ecology

PI: Patrick Gentry, Lecturer, Biology Department, Purdue School of Science, IUPUI, ude[dot]anaidni[at]yrtneglp

Abstract: In every objective measure of how the public views science and scientists, we can say that we are losing the fight for trust in us and our work. From climate science, to evolutionary theory, we can see a general mistrust and, in some instances, an outright denial of scientific findings. If scientists are going to win the hearts and minds of the public, we must do a better job of relaying the process and power of the scientific method to the majority lay-public. What a better way to start this process than having non-majors undergraduate students and members of the public take part in authentic and meaningful science as lay scientists? This project will incorporate Ecological Surveys in the form of Fall, Spring, and Summer Semester "Bio-blitzes", where students from several disciplines, including non-majors, will take part in surveying local biodiversity, water and soil quality, on and around the IUPUI campus. The overlying concept studied being, "Human impact on biodiversity and climate". Lay scientists taking part in this research will be asked questions from a scientific concept inventory on their perceptions of science and science processes, pre- and post- participation in this research. In addition to the incorporation of this project into traditional lecture and lab courses, we will be engaging the public to participate in this research, through the iNaturalist Application for smart phones, and sharing results through a partnership with The daVinci Pursuit: Connecting Art, Science, and Community, where study results will be shared and public participation and interaction will be mediated.

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Design and Evaluate the Factors for a Flipped Classroom for Data Management Courses

PI: Shamima Mithun, Lecturer of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI, ude[dot]iupui[at]nuhtims

Abstract: The flipped classroom is gaining prominence among educators to improve students' learning and satisfaction. Variants of flipped classroom have been employed in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields with great success on students' learning outcomes. The design of flipped classroom varies based on various aspects such as learners' need, availability of resources (faculty, technology), and others. Research shows that flipped learning would improve students' learning if it is implemented following rigorous procedures of an efficient instructional design. As a result, one of the critical focus of current flipped classroom research is what factors educators need to consider when designing a flipped learning environment. Currently, educators incorporate various factors such as "pre-recorded video lecture," "group activity" as trial and error basis and adjust these factors based on their own experience and students' feedback. On the other hand, the emergence of big data expects a new graduate to demonstrate mastery of concepts and skills for data acquisition, management, analysis of inference from data when they enter the workforce. A group consisted of 25 undergraduate faculty with different background from a variety of institutions in the U.S. provide a guideline of how to develop modern undergraduate mathematics, statistics, and computer science for data-driven programs. The goal of this project is to investigate the influential factors for a flipped classroom for both sophomore and senior data management courses to be successful. We will investigate how to systematically design a flipped classroom by selecting effective and efficient approaches (factors). Then a flipped classroom for two courses will be designed using selected factors. To evaluate the effectiveness of different factors, students' performance data, interviews, and surveys will be conducted, and the qualitative and quantitative analysis will be performed. This process is transformative and can be employed by other STEM disciplines to find the most significant factors to design effective flipped learning classroom to improve students’ learning, motivation, and retention.

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Examining Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness of Adaptive Technologies and the Quality Matters Rubric for Online Courses

PI: Angela Murillo, Assistant Professor, Library and Information Science, School of Informatics and Computing, IUPUI, ude[dot]ui[at]llirumpa

Abstract: Educational tools such as Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards have been created to mitigate the technological challenges for students taking online courses and to improve the overall quality of online courses, as well as the effectiveness of student learning. However, online education is still undergoing transitions as these new teaching tools and techniques are increasingly utilized throughout online courses, and students are learning to interact with these new techniques. The purpose of this study is to test the usefulness of Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards from the theoretical perspective of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM provides a useful set of factors to consider, notably perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease-of-use (PEOU). This project will implement Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards into an existing online course, Foundations of Data Studies (S201) which is a required course for all students in the undergraduate Applied Data and Information Science Program and is taught every semester. Effectiveness of Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubrics Standards will be measured through TAM-based surveys and focus groups, and summative and formative assessments will measure students learning to evaluate any changes in student learning when implementing Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric Standards. The outcome of this project will provide feedback not only to other courses in the Applied Data and Information Science program but also to the greater community of online and distance educators and STEM educators.

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