nanoHUB.org: A Gateway to Undergraduate Simulation-Based Research in Materials Science and Related Fields

2015 ◽  
Vol 1762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya A. Faltens ◽  
Peter Bermel ◽  
Amanda Buckles ◽  
K. Anna Douglas ◽  
Alejandro Strachan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Interdisciplinary Problems ◽  
Faculty Mentors ◽  
Computational Nanotechnology

ABSTRACTOur future engineers and scientists will likely be required to use advanced simulations to solve many of tomorrow's challenges in nanotechnology. To prepare students to meet this need, the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) provides simulation-focused research experiences for undergraduates at an early point in their educational path, to increase the likelihood that they will ultimately complete a doctoral program. The NCN summer research program currently serves over 20 undergraduate students per year who are recruited nationwide, and selected by NCN and the faculty for aptitude in their chosen field within STEM, as well as complementary skills such as coding and written communication. Under the guidance of graduate student and faculty mentors, undergraduates modify or build nanoHUB simulation tools for exploring interdisciplinary problems in materials science and engineering, and related fields. While the summer projects exist within an overarching research context, the specific tasks that NCN undergraduate students engage in range from modifying existing tools to building new tools for nanoHUB and using them to conduct original research. Simulation tool development takes place within nanoHUB, using nanoHUB’s workspace, computational clusters, and additional training and educational resources. One objective of the program is for the students to publish their simulation tools on nanoHUB. These tools can be accessed and executed freely from around the world using a standard web-browser, and students can remain engaged with their work beyond the summer and into their careers. In this work, we will describe the NCN model for undergraduate summer research. We believe that our model is one that can be adopted by other universities, and will discuss the potential for others to engage undergraduate students in simulation-based research using free nanoHUB resources.

scholarly journals Increasing Research Productivity in Undergraduate Research Experiences: Exploring Predictors of Collaborative Faculty–Student Publications

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. ar42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle X. Morales ◽  
Sara E. Grineski ◽  
Timothy W. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Student Collaboration ◽  
Student Publications ◽  
Faculty Commitment ◽  
Faculty Mentors

Little attention has been paid to understanding faculty–student productivity via undergraduate research from the faculty member’s perspective. This study examines predictors of faculty–student publications resulting from mentored undergraduate research, including measures of faculty–student collaboration, faculty commitment to undergraduate students, and faculty characteristics. Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze data from 468 faculty members across 13 research-intensive institutions, collected by a cross-sectional survey in 2013/2014. Results show that biomedical faculty mentors were more productive in publishing collaboratively with undergraduate students when they worked with students for more than 1 year on average, enjoyed teaching students about research, had mentored Black students, had received more funding from the National Institutes of Health, had a higher H-index scores, and had more years of experience working in higher education. This study suggests that college administrators and research program directors should strive to create incentives for faculty members to collaborate with undergraduate students and promote faculty awareness that undergraduates can contribute to their research.

Theory of quantum chemistry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Kostyukov
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Chemistry ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Relativistic Quantum ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Chemical Effects ◽  
Resource Intensity ◽  
State Educational

The textbook summarizes the basic theories of quantum chemistry. A comparative analysis of the computational efficiency of computational algorithms implementing these theories from the point of view of the ratio "accuracy — resource intensity" is performed. Considerable attention is paid to the problem of accounting for electronic correlation, as well as relativistic quantum chemical effects. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. It is intended for undergraduate students of higher educational institutions; it can be used by graduate students studying materials science, structural, organic and physical chemistry, molecular biology and biophysics, biotechnology.

Three-Year Study of the Impact of a Research Experience Program in Aerospace Engineering on Undergraduate Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Jacques C. Richard ◽  
So Yoon Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Research University ◽  
Aerospace Engineering ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Public Research University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Engineering Career

This study reports results from a three-year implementation of a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program funded by the National Science Foundation in aerospace engineering at a public research university in the southwestern United States. Students’ perceptions of research knowledge, skills, and engineering career paths were all positively affected.

scholarly journals A Framework for Implementing Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in Freshman Biology Labs

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 448-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arundhati Bakshi ◽  
Lorelei E. Patrick ◽  
E. William Wischusen
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Research University ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Implementation Barriers ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Widespread Implementation ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
Large Research

There have been many calls to make research experiences available to more undergraduate students. One way to do this is to provide course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), but providing these on a scale large enough to accommodate many students can be a daunting undertaking. Indeed, other researchers have identified time to develop materials and course size as significant barriers to widespread implementation of CUREs. Based on our own experiences implementing CUREs at a large research university, we present a flexible framework that we have adapted to multiple research projects, share class materials and rubrics we have developed, and suggest logistical strategies to lower these implementation barriers.

scholarly journals Early year undergraduate researchers’ reflections on the values and perceived costs of their research experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaye D. Ceyhan ◽  
John W. Tillotson
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Expectancy Value ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Background Prior research reported that motivational beliefs that individuals attach to specific tasks predict continuing interest and persistence in the task. A motivational approach may be particularly useful for understanding undergraduate students’ engagement with research in their first and second years in college. The current study utilizes the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation to qualitatively explore how much and in what ways early year undergraduate researchers value their research experience and what kinds of costs they associate with it. Results The results revealed that intrinsic value had the highest expression in participants’ motivation to engage in research. The second most expressed value type was the utility value of undergraduate research with regards to obtaining the desired outcomes, and attainment value played the least important role in participants’ motivation to engage in research. Findings also indicated that some of the participants associated a cost(s) to their research experience. The highest mentioned perceived cost was opportunity cost, where participants commented on losing other valued alternatives when engaging in research. Participants commented on the time, effort, or amount of work needed to engage in research, and a few participants commented on the emotional cost associated with their research experience in terms of the fear of failure. Conclusion As perceived cost is the least studied in the expectancy-value framework, this study contributes to cost values within college students, particularly about early year undergraduate researchers. The findings of this study can form the basis for future work on exploring ways to increase the values and decrease the costs students experience in their undergraduate research experiences.

scholarly journals SASS: South African Simulation Survey – a review of simulation-based education

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-20
Author(s):  
R Swart ◽  
R Duys ◽  
ND Hauser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Survey Tool ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
The Impact

Background: Simulation-based education (SBE) has been shown to be an effective and reproducible learning tool. SBE is used widely internationally. The current state of SBE in South Africa is unknown. To the best of our knowledge this is the first survey that describes the use and attitudes towards SBE within South Africa. Methods: An online survey tool was distributed by email to: i) the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists (SASA) members; and ii) known simulation education providers in South Africa. The respondents were grouped into anaesthesia and non-anaesthesia participants. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Ethics approval was obtained: HREC REF 157/2017. Results: The majority of the respondents provide SBE and integrate it into formal teaching programmes. There is a will amongst respondents to grow SBE in South Africa, with it being recognised as a valuable educational tool. The user groups mainly targeted by SBE, were undergraduate students, medical interns, registrars and nurses. Learning objectives targeted include practical skills, medical knowledge, critical thinking and integrated management. Amongst anaesthesia respondents: the tool most commonly used to assess the quality of learner performance during SBE, for summative assessment, was ‘expert opinion’ (33%); the most frequent methods of evaluating SBE quality were participant feedback (42%) and peer evaluation (22%); the impact of SBE was most frequently assessed by informal discussion (42%) and learner feedback (39%). In anaesthesia SBE largely takes place within dedicated simulation facilities on site (47%). Most respondents report access to a range of SBE equipment. The main reported barriers to SBE were: finance, lack of trained educators, lack of equipment and lack of protected time. A limited number of respondents report engaging in SBE research. There is a willingness in both anaesthesia and non-anaesthesia groups (96% and 89% respectively) to collaborate with other centres. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge this publication provides us with the first cross-sectional survey of SBE in anaesthesia and a selection of non-anaesthetic respondents within South Africa. The majority of respondents indicate that SBE is a valuable education tool. A number of barriers have been identified that limit the growth of SBE within South Africa. It is hoped that with a commitment to ongoing SBE research and evaluation, SBE can be grown in South Africa.

Mentoring Undergraduate Students in Computational Materials Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 1762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Zou
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Computational Materials Science ◽  
Undergraduate Institutions ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Computational Research ◽  
Computational Materials ◽  
Eastern Illinois University ◽  
Physics Department

ABSTRACTComputation has become an increasingly important tool in materials science. Compared to experimental research, which requires facilities that are often beyond the financial capability of primarily-undergraduate institutions, computation provides a more affordable approach. In the Physics Department at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), students have opportunities to participate in computational materials research. In this paper, I will discuss our approach to involving undergraduate students in this area. Specifically, I will discuss (i) how to prepare undergraduate students for computational research, (ii) how to motivate and recruit students to participate in computational research, and (iii) how to select and design undergraduate projects in computational materials science. Suggestions on how similar approaches can be implemented at other institutions are also given.

Inclusivity in the Archives

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Amy J. Lueck ◽  
Beverlyn Law ◽  
Isabella Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Hidden Curriculum ◽  
Public Memory ◽  
Writing Studies ◽  
Archival Research ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
University Archives ◽  
Conducting Research

This chapter uses the experience of two undergraduate students conducting research in their university archives to consider the “hidden curriculum” entailed in archival research at some institutions. When diverse identities and experiences are not represented in our archives, we run the risk of communicating a lack of value for those identities, producing a feeling of marginalization and exclusion for some students and foreclosing an opportunity to build solidarity across difference for others. In light of the limited holdings at many university archives and the increased prevalence of archival research in the undergraduate classroom, the authors draw on research from writing studies, anthropology, archival research, and public memory to produce recommendations for students, faculty, and institutions working to compose inclusive archives and research experiences.

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