2023 SSG Awards

In 2023, six projects were funded totaling to $96,567.00

Designing and Piloting an Urban Field Camp Course
Principal Investigators:
Gregory Druschel - Associate Professor, Department of Earth Science
Kathy Licht - Professor and Chair, Department of Earth Science

Abstract:
​​​​​​​ Preparing students to work in geological and environmental science should include the urban settings where most of the planet’s population lives. Existing capstone experiences, required by 99% of earth science departments for graduate work, are taught mostly in rural and mountainous settings, creating barriers to student participation in these disciplines. Creating capstone experiences in urban settings will allow participants to understand the environment in which they live and help redress continuing racial and ethnic disparities in these fields. We propose to develop an Urban Field Course, having now gathered information from survey instruments and in-person interviews to identify and prioritize career-oriented core concepts and skills needed for a capstone experience. Development of teaching modules to address learning of these core concepts and skills will be done in tandem with efforts to create a community of belonging to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion of underrepresented groups, integration of ethical practices for personal development and experience in working at the intersection of science and society, and significant community engagement. This will represent a first-in-the-nation capstone course on urban Earth sciences, to test and develop starting summer 2023, with launch of a pilot course set for summer 2024 and the submission of a National Science Foundation GeoPaths proposal to further develop our course as a regional model to support nationwide capacity for this training. Our intention is to provide a model for attracting underrepresented students into the geosciences using innovative, career-focused concepts and skill development to transform urban settings into useful geoscience learning spaces. 
Back to top of page

Live Links, Live Integration Across Technology Courses: Designing and Developing Functional Apps with Dynamic Instructional Building Blocks Across the Curriculum

Principal Investigators:
Jacqui Kane – Lecturer, Department of Computer, and Information Technology

Abstract:
​​​​​​​ There is a gap between supply and demand for highly qualified information technology (IT) professionals in the national workplace. College programs that support critical student learning are of vital importance, as this is needed to close the gap between the supply of qualified IT practitioners, and the demand. IT programs are challenging, it is important to retain the students and support their progression through the program. Traditional higher ed curricula can be fragmented, even in a series of classes in the same pathway. Classes are often disjointed, taught by different professors and in different semesters. This can lead to student disengagement and misunderstanding of the relevance of all courses in a pathway, which in turn can lead to lower student retention in the program. We need to show students the holistic combination of our courses. In IT, the Agile methodology provides a framework for distributing a larger project into discrete segments undertaken by employees with a specific focus. This project proposes the realignment of four courses in our IT curriculum to develop a functional software product using Agile methodology. Students in each course will create a segment of the product that corresponds with the content of that course and acumen of the students at that point in the curricular pathway. The purpose of this project is to discover if we can positively impact students’ holistic understanding of the overall IT curriculum via cross-curricular collaboration, and development of an impactful software deliverable driven by an external client. By allowing students to engage in “big picture” solutions from the outset of their college career, we could more meaningfully engage them and lead to higher retention and graduation rates for students in the IT domain. Engagement and retention of students in historically underrepresented demographics is of particular importance and interest to this study. 
Back to top of page

Building Toward a Health Equity Framework for Biomedical Engineering Education

Principal Investigators:
Sharon Miller – Associate Chair, Director of the Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Program, and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Steven Higbee - Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Jennifer Hatch – Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Abstract:
​​​​​​​With recently strengthened engineering and medicine partnership efforts in Indianapolis, our biomedical engineering program has an opportunity to impact healthcare innovation and delivery in Indiana. To advance and promote equitable innovation, we need to train engineers to consider health equity and health disparities in practice. Our work aims to advance health equity through engineering innovation by developing an evaluation tool and coursework to inform an educational framework. This framework will bridge health equity education and engineering design. Our work will be foundational in developing a health equity education framework for biomedical engineering and will be achieved by gathering perspectives from diverse stakeholders, by building partnerships, and by performing initial evaluation. We aim to elevate student awareness and inspire actions by biomedical engineers to lessen healthcare disparities and improve health equity in the State of Indiana by facilitating implementation of inclusive practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the biomedical engineering curricula.
Back to top of page

Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Experiences: Community Engaged Research for Student Success

Principal Investigators:
Patrick Gentry – Lecturer, Department of Biology
Jim Marrs - Professor, Director of Graduate Studies
Kathy Marrs - Professor, Department of Biology
Forrest Brem - Lecturer, Department of Biology

Abstract:
We present an innovative approach to senior capstone projects in Biology that emphasize cross-disciplinary collaboration and community-focused research. Our Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Experience includes projects such as habitat restoration, genetic environmental surveillance, studying antibiotic resistance in the soil, and investigating zebrafish developmental biology. This transformative model aligns with PLUS criteria and engaged learning principles, preparing students for meaningful impacts in their campus and community. Workshop participants will explore the importance of diverse perspectives by forming interdisciplinary teams to address simulated problems, and brainstorm ideas for capstone projects that benefit both campus and community, outlining actionable steps for implementation.
Back to top of page

Reliability of Using a Progressive Learning Autonomy Assessment to Improve Surgical Performance in a Periodontics Residency Program

Principal Investigators:
Monica Prasad Gibson - Associate Professor, Director - Advanced Education Program in Periodontology, Department Periodontology
Hawra AlQallaf – Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Periodontology
Vanchit John – Professor, Department of Periodontology

Abstract:
Periodontics is a dental specialty that is involved in complex dental disease management. Residents specializing in periodontics are required to perform different types of surgical procedures. Residency programs aim to train specialists to perform complex procedures independently. To achieve this goal, we plan to introduce a new progressive autonomy learning model that allows supervising specialists to provide frequent feedback to the residents after every surgical procedure. The residents will be able to review this feedback after each procedure, allowing them to improve the quality of care they can provide to their patients at each surgery. All periodontal faculty and postgraduate residents will participate in this new assessment system. For every surgery, three supervising faculty will enter their assessment that will consider the case complexity, resident preparedness, and level of independence of the operator. Residents will also enter self-assessments of their performance. Inter-rater reliability between faculty assessments will be tested to validate this method. Resident and faculty assessment correlations will be done to evaluate resident’s perceptions of their performance. Together, these data will provide a robust metric for establishing a novel training model at the Indiana University Dental School’s Periodontics postgraduate program. This will facilitate the residents achieving surgical independence during their training and can be applied to other dental specialty programs across the country, improving the quality of care offered to the patients in the community.
Back to top of page

Integrating the Nature of Geoscience into Earth Sciences Introductory Courses

Principal Investigators:
Sammy Nyarko – Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
Anna Jessee – Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences
Kathy Licht – Professor and Chair, Department of Earth Sciences
William Gilhooly III - Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences

​​​​ Abstract:
The current vision and changes for undergraduate geoscience education emphasize the need to train students, especially those taking introductory courses to understand the nature of geoscience work. Training students to understand how geoscience works does not only promote their interest and community engagement in the field, but also has the potential to promote awareness about what geoscientists do. To address this, some instructors are using implicit practices such as “picture or draw an Earth scientist” and “thinking like a geologist”. The implicit approach places a strong emphasis on practicing science, with the idea that students would gain a more accurate understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and knowledge just by engaging in real scientific inquiries. Implicit instruction helps students think critically, think for themselves, and make sense out of given information, however without clear learning objectives and concrete opportunities to apply learning leads to frustration, confusion and heavy cognitive load for students. We will implement a two-aim project that will document undergraduate students’ conceptions about the nature of geoscience and implement an innovative, intervention lesson using geo-history and an explicit reflective approach. We anticipate that by the close of this project, other introductory courses in our department and other disciplines in the School of Science will introduce the nature of science concepts into their introductory courses.
Back to top of page