STEER STEM ED Travel Grant Report

Laura Anderson, Ph.D.

Instructor, Department of Chemistry

Conference: 24th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, BCCE. Greeley, CO July 31-

Aug 4, 2016

This conference brought together more than a thousand high school and college chemistry teachers from several parts of the U.S and the world. By attending it I was exposed to current research

practices in teaching and learning chemistry and learned about a few new activities that I can

incorporate into the General Chemistry Laboratory Program. I was also able to expand my

professional network and reconnect with colleagues. Below is a description of the most influential

topics for my STEM courses from the several talks and poster sessions I attended:

Workshop “Integration of cooperative, project-based, authentic experiments in the General

Chemistry Laboratory Programs at the University of South Florida and Northeastern University”

(organized by Dr. Adrian Villalta-Cerdas and Dr. Vasiliki Lykourinou).

I had the opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas with Dr. Lykourinou from Northeastern

University about topics, materials, and strategies that are currently in practice in her institution,

but not necessarily in the University of South Florida despite the similar programs in both

universities. For example, I learned that Dr. Lykourinou is integrating experienced undergraduate

students (have completed the pilot lab course) as co-developers in the curriculum redesign. Her

team is currently working to improve the experimental parameters for each project, incorporate

green chemistry projects, use modern instrumentation in the labs, and create online modules. The

undergraduate students also serve as peers to support the teaching assistants in facilitating the labs.

I would be interested in exploring this idea at the University of South Florida in order to understand

the needs of the undergraduate students to improve their learning outcomes and seek out feedback

from their experience while enrolled in the lab courses. Likewise, it would be interesting to work

with undergraduate students that can serve as peer leaders for the lab courses. I would also like to

reform current experiments or design safer new multi-week projects that use less toxic materials

and minimize waste to support sustainability initiatives.

Symposium- cCWCS as a catalyst for curriculum and pedagogical reform: Faculty development

and communities of scholars-Case studies and new pedagogies (presided by Dr. David Collard,

Georgia Institute of Technology)

Several talks in this symposium provided me with interesting ideas to incorporate in the lecture

and labs. A few examples are the management of large sets of data and the implementation of case

studies in lectures or lab. Large data sets can be integrated using Google forms. With the Google

forms students can submit their lab results, the instructor collects the data in a spreadsheet and

sends it back to the students for data analysis. Students already do this in our labs among groups

within a lab section using Excel spreadsheets; however, using Google forms would allow for data

to be shared among the instructors in different sections. Students would then get the opportunity

to compare results, perform calculations using Excel, and provide statistical analysis with larger

sets of information.

I also learned that you can develop real life case studies in the chemistry courses (lecture and

labs at any level) to make the material relevant to the students. This would most likely increase

students’ motivation to investigate, apply prior knowledge, think of current problems, and solve

them within the context presented.

Symposium “Addressing underrepresented groups in STEM” (presided by Dr. Daniel Cruz, USF).

From Dr. Cruz’s talk, I learned about common themes that LGBTQ members of STEM disciplines

identified to be beneficial or not beneficial in their careers based on their disclosed identity,

workplace experiences, and their perspective of the value of an inclusive work environment. I

want to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in our campus, and I want all students in my

courses to feel welcome and safe regardless of their background and identity. As a follow up, I

asked Dr. Cruz for his help to create a statement that supports my vision of diversity and he kindly

provided the following statement, which I already incorporated in my General Chemistry Labs

syllabus this semester: “The University of South Florida considers the diversity of its students,

faculty, and staff to be a strength and critical to its educational mission. USF expects every member

of the university community to contribute to an inclusive and respectful culture for all in its

classrooms, work environments, and at campus events. Dimensions of diversity can include sex,

race, age, national origin, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, intellectual and physical

ability, sexual orientation, income, faith and non-faith perspectives, socio-economic class, political

ideology, education, primary language, family status, military experience, cognitive style, and

communication style. The individual intersection of these experiences and characteristics must be

valued in our community. Our goal is to help you be successful in a classroom where everyone

feels safe and welcome.”

I would like to thank the STEER STEM ED Travel Grant and the Department of Chemistry at

the University of South Florida for providing the funds to attend this conference.

REPORT ON MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAMATHFEST AUGUST 4-6, 2016

THOMAS BIESKE

1. Mini-Course “Creating a Purposeful Student Learning Experience”

The mini-course LaTex Beamer presentation will be sent to me so that I may share it withcolleagues and in particular with Catherine Beneteau and Department Chair Les Skryzpek.In addition, various handouts will be shared and discussed. (See included pages.) I learnedfrom talking with the organizers that they are willing to come to USF to discuss the topicsof the mini-course with the faculty. The mini-course discussed a variety of co-curricularactivities to help improve mathematics majors’ experiences and help increase their chancesof success in industry and graduate school. These activities will be part of the discussion Iwill have with colleagues.

2. Inquiry-Based Learning Forum–19th Annual Moore Conference

Attended adjoining conference to learn about IBL techniques and ideas. The poster sessionwas particularly informative as it gave me some ideas for IBL activities to use in MGF3301,Bridge to Abstract Mathematics, the introductory proof-writing course.

3. General Talks

In addition to the mini-course, I attended a variety of talks concerning instruction incalculus classes and introductory proof-writing classes. Some of the talk topics included thefollowing:

• Getting students to read the textbook via concept-based quizzes• Using videos in mathematics classes to facilitate student learning• In-class assignments for proof-writing classes.• Incorporating real-world problems into the calculus curriculum• Improving proof-writing via reading guides• Incorporating writing assignments into the calculus curriculum

4. Next Steps

The MAAMathFest mini-course and talks have provided me with numerous teaching ideasand strategies that I will be sharing with departmental colleagues over the next few monthswith the goal of strengthening the mathematics majors’ experiences while at USF.

STEER – STEM Ed Travel Grant Report

Conference: 24th

Biennial Conference on Chemical Education at Greeley, CO (July 31st – August

4th

, 2016)

Report prepared by: Daniel Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano, Department of Chemistry

Addressing underrepresented groups

During the conference, I had the opportunity to preside over a symposium entitled “Addressing

underrepresented groups in STEM”. During this symposium, I learned specific ways in which

chemistry can be made more accessible to certain underrepresented groups. Specific examples

include: (1) how to construct chemical demonstrations that build upon the cultural traditions of

Native Americans, so that those students see the connection between the chemical knowledge of

their culture and the chemical knowledge taught in a typical general chemistry course, (2) how to

make chemistry accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing students through the use of classroom

interpreters trained in chemical knowledge, and (3) how to improve the performance of

underrepresented students (race/ethnicity) through the use of out-of-classroom interventions and

extra tutoring. I plan on incorporating the things I learned to try to make my lectures more

inclusive and diverse.

Important mathematical concepts for general chemistry courses

At USF, I am the course coordinator for CHM 2023 (Chemistry for Today), which is an

introductory chemistry course that aims to prepare students to be successful in general chemistry.

It had been my observation that the major deficiencies of students in this course had to do with

mathematical concepts. I spent a lot of my time at the conference attending symposia that

identified and addressed these mathematical deficiencies. Gathering information from the

symposia, I was able to compile a specific list of mathematical skills that students need in order

to be successful in general chemistry. The list includes: (1) using positive and negative numbers

in calculations, (2) calculating percentages, (3) manipulating algebraic equations to isolate the

variable of interest, (4) plugging in numbers (with units) into a mathematical formula with

chemical meaning, (5) interpreting graphs with scientific data, (6) using scientific notation, (7)

adequate calculator usage, (8) applying the rules of significant figures, and (9) performing unit

conversions. Starting this fall semester of 2016, I decided to start the course with a 4-week Math

Skills Overview that addressed all of these mathematical skills. I have received good feedback

from the students and I believe this math overview will help them be more successful in future

chemistry courses and in any other STEM course that employs mathematical skills.

Special class projects for CHM 2023

I also attended symposia that described special projects that have been designed for introductory

chemistry courses (such as CHM 2023), in which students apply the learned concepts to new

scenarios and put their chemical knowledge to practical use. I identified two particular projects

that I liked, one of which I would like to incorporate into CHM 2023 in upcoming semesters. (1)

The first one was a project in which the students chose a common, simple chemical from a list

prepared by the instructor. The task is for the student to use information resources to find out

specific ways in which that chemical is used either in industry, food products, hygiene products,

or any other scenario. After finding out what it is used for, it asks students to propose some new

application for the chemical. Students at this level will not necessarily come up with a thorough

research proposal, but it is a good introduction to how new applications are discovered by

building off of what is already known. (2) The second one was a project in which a current

scientific issue is chosen (e.g. climate change, water purity, drug discovery) and students are

presented with two articles that address the issue. One of the articles is from a popular news

source that writes about science without looking at actual evidence and scientific data. The

second article would be more of a scientific research paper based on the scientific method. The

purpose is for students to compare and contrast both articles so they understand how to be critical

consumers of science information, stressing the importance of researching evidence-based

information sources as opposed to opinion-based information sources. As I continue refining the

curriculum of CHM 2023, I hope to incorporate one of these two projects into my course, or at

least use them as a starting point to design a project that is better tailored for the course.

Nonetheless, hearing other instructors’ project ideas gave me appreciated inspiration for what I

can do in my own course.

I am sincerely grateful for the financial support obtained from this travel grant in order to attend

the conference. I am confident that the things I learned will help me continue to improve my

teaching in introductory chemistry and general chemistry courses.

STEER STEM ED Travel Grant Report

Dr. Ushiri Kulatunga

Department of Chemistry

The Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) is a national conference sponsored by

the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The conference is designed

for chemistry educators are at different levels (secondary school science teachers, undergraduate and

graduate students and university chemistry faculty). The BCCE conference provides many symposia

designed for both chemical education researchers and practitioners. This conference also allows

opportunities for interactions among researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and collaborate to

improve chemistry education.

The Biennial Conference on Chemical Education provided multiple symposia specific for

incorporating current chemistry education research to better inform instructional design and methods.

In the symposium “Using chemical education research to inform teaching strategies and the design of

instructional materials”, presentations by Dr. Monika Siepsiak, Dr. Ted Clark, and Dr. Arlene Russell

discussed student misconceptions on general chemistry topics such as acid-base chemistry. Various

methods to identify such misconceptions and effective teaching strategies that can be used to address

such alternative conceptions were presented. I also presented a study conducted in my General

Chemistry for the Engineer course, titled “Exploring student incorrect ideas about hydrogen bonding

using online assessment in a general chemistry for engineers course” in this symposium. The feedback

that I received for my presentation from scholars allowed me to brainstorm new ideas that I can

incorporate to assess other student alternative concepts significant for the engineering student

population that I teach. As educators it is important that we identify and address alternative

conceptions students have during the early stage of general chemistry to prevent them from carrying

these misconceptions to higher level chemistry and engineering courses where their learning is

hindered.

The symposium “Knowledge is constructed in the mind of the learner: Commemoration of the

70th birthday of George Bodner” had insightful presentations by highly recognized chemical education

scholars such as Dr. Roy Tasker (Purdue University) and Dr. Vicente Talanquer (University of Arizona).

The presentation by Dr. Tasker “Scaffolding molecular level visualization using a cognitive learning

model” emphasized the importance of scaffolding when using animations during instruction. The

Vischem.edu website developed by his research team provided proficient interactive multimedia

resources that I will use in my current and future chemistry courses. It is crucial that we use effective

animations especially when teaching chemistry topics such as chemical bonding, molecular structures,

and gas laws since visualization of atoms, molecules, and chemical bonds are quite challenging for the

students without the presence of multimedia resources.

The “Chemical Education Research: Graduate student research symposium” also provided

research tools that I plan to implement in my chemistry for the engineer course. Currently I am

conducting group activities with a global sustainability component in an effort to enhance student

engagement in the chemistry concepts and to stimulate their interest in the chemistry and engineering

concepts. A presentation given by Adam Zabih gave me some insight into an instrument that can be

used to assess student understanding of chemistry concepts related to climate change. I plan to

possibly give this instrument (CCSI) developed by Dr. Marcy Town’s research group to evaluate the

engineering student population on their interest and learning of chemistry concepts related to

sustainability and climate change.

I deeply appreciate the STEER STEM ED travel grant that allowed me to attend the Biennial

Conference on Chemical Education. Attending the BCCE conference was an excellent opportunity for

me to gain insight on current chemistry education research that is applicable to my classroom teaching.

I gained valuable information on student misconception evaluation strategies, methods to combat

them, effective animation models that can enhance student learning of chemistry concepts, and

strategies to evaluate the new classroom group activities that I am implementing in my current and

future chemistry courses.

STEER STEM Ed Travel Grant Report

Submitted by

Dr. Ajit Mujumdar Mechanical Engineering Department

University of South Florida

Executive Summary:

Solidworks World conference 2016 in Dallas was recently concluded with more than 5000 Computer Aided Design (CAD) developers and professionals including academicians around the world. This report highlights the details of some events from the conference in terms of the development and innovations in computer aided design with 3D solid modeling design of consumer products as well as industrial designs, which is a direct indication of constantly growing need for the STEM education. Author of the report would like to acknowledge the support from Mechanical Engineering Department and the STEER STEM Travel grant for attending this conference. The benefits from the experiences at the conference, the newer ideas into the classroom to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education are also discussed in the report.

General session meeting arena at Bay Hutchinson Convention Center, Dallas, TX (Photo credits: www.solidowrks.com/sww)

Report:

Solidworks World conference is an annual meeting of CAD developers, industry professionals, programmers, and academicians that enables the exchange of newer ideas, innovations and development in the 3D solid modeling design software “Solidworks” by Dassault Systèmes. Solidworks World conference SWW16 event took place in the Bay Hutchinson Convention Center, Dallas, TX during Feb 1 - 3, 2016. In the 21st century, where almost every industry requires developing an innovative, efficient and sustainable green product, Solidworks - a CAD modeling software plays an important role to bring in the newer generation of industrial and consumer products to the society. Solidworks, 3D CAD solid modeling software, Dassault Systèmes was founded by a MIT graduate John Hirschtick in 1995, is the leading design software in industries as well as academia and controls 51.3% of market share over the period of last five years as per the research done by NAVSTEM.

In the 21st century, there is a great demand for professionals working in the STEM field, so that the challenges in the area of engineering design, science and technology behind the product development aided by the sound knowledge of mathematics can be tackled by tomorrow’s workforce. In order to prepare such industry-ready workforce proficient in STEM, Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of South Florida have put significant efforts in training engineers, a graphics design course CAD that utilizes the Solidworks software to create 3D components and assemblies for the product development. Students enrolled in this course are ready to take the Associate level of certification examination (CSWA) offered by Dassault Systèmes. Over the past couple of years, 407 students have passed various certification examinations in the engineering department, because of which many of these students have been able to find internships and jobs around the country in wide variety of industries.

Hands-on sessions at SWW16 conference, Dallas TX (Photo credits: www.solidowrks.com/sww)

SWW16 had several technical sessions starting with the general session in the morning with a key note lecture followed by academic (EDUCATION), hands-on, and other informational sessions including DESIGN, CREATE, VALIDATE, SIMULATE, MANAGE etc.

In academic sessions, Prof. David Nobles from the University of Alberta discussed the importance of using the solid modeling in training new users in an undergraduate engineering program and shared his experiences in managing the theoretical technical aspects of engineering graphics and design with the use of solid modeling software Solidworks. Importance of utilizing modern tools with the concepts-focused drawing was highlighted. As the classes keep getting larger in size with easy access to modern tools including smartphones and laptops, the mode of education delivery in STEM courses also needs to be modified and improvised. As an Instructor of STEM content course such as CAD, with the modern technologies and powerful graphics capabilities, there is need for giving equal emphasis on all the available resources. A better assessment tool for the effectiveness of such modern tools (such as CAD software) integrated with fundamental knowledge is required. In order to make STEM related courses more interesting and meaningful, Chris Chapman, Project Manager and CAD technologist at Richland LLC emphasized the importance of having a variety of technical training aids, students’ competitions such as SkillUSA, GrabCAD etc. Prof. Micic, Department chair and professor of Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA discussed the exciting opportunities emerging from the STEM education towards the applications in interdisciplinary subjects such as Fluid Dynamics. Knowledge gathered from the theory of fluid mechanics can be effectively applied in simulating and analyzing interesting real world problems such as modeling of airplane wings, wind tunnels, etc.

Exhibitor pavilion at SWW16 conference, Dallas TX

(Photo credits: www.solidowrks.com/sww)

Many examples of interdisciplinary STEM research were on the display in the exhibitor pavilion such as mechanical design, electronics and computer aided analysis of the robotic arm, smart cars without the need of drivers to navigate the difficult terrain with pinpoint accuracy and control. Also, the medical science and engineering field were integrated in the study of human heart blood flow. It was quite clear from several sessions that the emphasis now is on moving from 2D drawing to 3D interactive drawings that helps to understand solid models and assemblies in a clear way as well as it aids in the manufacturing of such parts with relative ease.

Experience from attending this Solidworks world 2016 conference is very rich in terms of bringing in some of the newer trends, tools and technologies into the classroom here at the University of South Florida. Influenced by the discussions in one of the academic sessions regarding the need for understanding the importance of a sustainable design, a topic on the design using environmental concerns will be introduced in the future semesters which will teach students the newer techniques used in the modern world design that considers the product lifecycle management including the end-of-life of a product (recycling, reusing etc.) Also, a new approach to teach CAD using Solidworks using a video tutorial based program “SolidProfessor” will be introduced to students in the classroom that is very interactive, self-paced and self-assessed module. Students historically are known to learn quicker and faster as well as have a better retention of the material that is taught in a more interactive manner using several videos and online graphics mode. A new course on the advanced Computer Aided Design will be developed and offered to students who are looking to enhance their skills in using CAD modeling software’s by offering them advanced level certifications such as Professional certification (CSWP), Sheet metal design, Weldments, Surface modeling, advanced drawing tools certification etc. Upon successfully completing the requirements for advanced level certifications, students from University of South Florida will stand out among others for securing internships and jobs in industries.

Report for the STEER STEM Ed travel grant:

I had a chance to attend the Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop, June 20-23, 2016 at the American Center for Physics (ACP) in College Park, Maryland. I am thankful for the STEER (System Transformation through Evidence-Based Education Reform) STEM Ed Travel Grant that I received to attend this workshop.

The overall experience of this workshop in terms of exchanging ideas turned out to be quite positive. We were exposed to quite a few interesting teaching techniques that have been demonstrated to be effective in several institutions and various course levels. I personally learnt some effective ways of implementing even the standard Think-Pair-Share (TPS) and Just in Time Teaching. I am definitely planning on using TPS using color coded cards in my large introductory classes during Fall 2016. I also learnt about Open Source Physics Resources and Tools especially ComPADRE repository) that I was not aware of. These tools are quite impressive.I will most likely use these resources for increasing classroom engagement. I also got an opportunity to take a look at PhET interactive simulations from close and got to talk to the developers. These are are useful tools as well, especially for students to work outside the classroom. I am planning to expose my students in the General Physics class to these tools.

Gauri Pradhan

Report on American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) 123rd Annual Conference themed “Jazzed About Engineering Education” in

New Orleans, June 26-29, 2016

By Ismail Uysal, Electrical Engineering First of all, I would like to thank the STEER Stem Ed Travel Grant committee for supporting my travel to the first conference of my professional career specifically dedicated to education and education research. In this report I will briefly summarize some of the most interesting things I have learned in the 123rd annual conference of ASEE – the largest academic society dedicated to improving the engineering education nationwide. I had three separate but equally important objectives going into this conference to i) both improve the courses I currently offer and ii) to chart a research path as I plan to apply for education research proposals in the near future. These objectives were:

i) Fresh out of ATLE’s summer workshop “Flip It!”, to hear about the experiences and outcomes of faculty from engineering schools nationwide as they attempted flipping their classrooms for a more engaging experience for their students.

ii) Get the latest status update on massive-open-online-courses (MOOCs) and some of the interesting learning pedagogies applicable to MOOCs.

iii) Learn more about how to write competitive proposals for education research by fusing my own research on data analytics and machine learning.

The main focus of the conference was about improving classroom engagement. Before I list some of the things I have learned in regards to my three objectives above, I have to say that this was by far one of the largest conferences I have ever attended. In fact, the most challenging part of participating in this conference was my daily morning routine of trying to identify which presentations I would attend out of the hundreds scheduled for every day. The conference website had a great scheduling tool – which I made extensive use of to attend approximately thirty different oral presentations as well as various poster sessions by the end of the conference.

Flipped Classrooms

ð In a graduate “probability and statistics for engineers” course (one of the graduate courses I teach is directly on this topic) where flipped classroom was tried for the first time, they found out that the student perception of this approach has turned towards negative as the semester progressed. In fact, by the end of week 12, majority of the students thought they preferred traditional lecturing to flipped classroom although almost the same percentage of students thought it was more engaging. The percentage of students who regularly complete preliminary work before classes dropped to 69% on week 12 from 92% on week 5. I came out of this talk with a future research question in mind: what can be done to keep student engagement outside the classroom high throughout the semester for a flipped classroom?

ð On a number of presentations, instructors shared the same idea that hybrid (or blended) approach might work better instead of completely flipped classrooms. In a blended approach, the instructor does not abandon face-to-face lecturing completely where one hour every week is dedicated to traditional lecturing while the rest of the sessions are flipped.

ð One of the most successful stories of semi-flipped classrooms I have heard at the conference was from an instructor at the Colorado School of Mines who has applied the concept of “skeleton notes”. In this approach, the instructor of the course distributes several slides before the class with minimal conceptual information provided. During the course, the instructor and the students work together to complete these “skeleton” notes together. This provides an environment where the student engagement is far better compared to traditional lecture delivery but not necessarily as high as a fully flipped classroom. However, they found out that both learning and engagement were higher compared to other sections where traditional methods were applied.

MOOCs

ð A recent study done on completion rates of MOOCs have found out that the completion rate is around %4 during Spring and 2% during Summer. This is an exceptionally low percentage and the presenter discussed several reasons for it, but no solutions except that he indicated this remains the most challenging aspect of MOOCs – “keeping student retention high”.

ð One of the poster presentations had a clever approach that is applicable to MOOCs – many of which simply apply peer-grading for HW assignments. Instead, the proposed solution is to blend peer-grading with self-corrected HW assignments. In this

approach, the students submit their HW assignments, and when the solutions are posted they grade themselves and correct their assignments before submitting again for instructor grading. This work was initially done at a small classroom in Western Washington University and implementation in larger sections and ultimately MOOCs (by replacing instructor grading with peer-grading) remain as future work.

ð Texas A&M has tried the gaming approach for one of the introductory engineering classes but did not see a statistically significant increase in student success (in terms of the questions answered correctly at the end of a test) but this is likely due to only a very small percentage of students choosing not to play the game (obviously!) and thus the control group being much smaller than intended.

Education Research

ð I am very new to this area, having submitted my first educational research proposal to NSF this year with other PIs from my department. One of the biggest takeaways from this conference for me was just how suitable my own research area of data analytics and machine learning was to conduct exciting research in analyzing and improving student success.

ð In one of the keynote speeches, the presenter (a frequent grantee of NSF) discussed how important it was to include the three pillars of the research question for the proposal – the “type” (as in electrical engineering), the “work” (as in designing hands-on projects) and the “pedagogy” in clear and concise terms.

ð In another presentation on writing better education research proposals, I learned about the concept of “radar plots” such as the one shown in one of the pictures, to analyze before-after changes on hard to quantify impacts of the proposed methodology, such as “design process” and “empathy required” simultaneously in a multi-dimensional plot.

ð In one of the poster sessions, I met with researchers from George Mason University who work in a similar research area as I do (data analytics) who have done some fascinating work on understanding how important course trajectories are for student success. They found out, with statistical significance, that low-performing students take too many courses together which are not traditionally taken together by successful students. They have also observed that low-performing students delayed taking some foundational courses more than the successful students. They are now working on sharing these findings with their advisory faculty to create a better course plan for low-performing students and increase their retention rate. I found this line of research to be very exciting not only because of closeness to my own research field but also because it results in tangible solutions to improve student success.

Matlab As a side note, and perhaps from a more practical standpoint, the conference also had a very large collection of companies who support engineering education with their products/software/etc. One such company for our discipline is Mathworks with their product called Matlab. I use Matlab in two of my classes extensively so I attended a special session from them introducing two new additions to their software package. One of them is the auto-grading capability, which should certainly come in very handy next semester when I will have 50+ students submitting assignments exclusively in Matlab. Another feature was the “Live-Editor” which helps increase student engagement by allowing for a much more interactive software environment than before.

In summary… Attending this conference was an invaluable experience for me – not only because of the things I have learned at the conference but also, and maybe more importantly so, because I am now a new member of this great society which specifically focuses on improving engineering education nationwide. In fact, I’m planning to submit my own experiences of using trivial quizzes as attendance taking measures in large classrooms as a paper for next year’s conference. More concretely:

i) I am already in the process of applying the blended approach I learned at the conference in my graduate probability course and I will hold a survey at the end to see what students thought

ii) I’ve been using note-taking slides for a while now in my undergraduate course. I am now working on converting them into “skeleton note” slides hopefully for better classroom engagement as was observed in Colorado School of Mines.

iii) I will be using the new functionalities of Matlab I learned at the introductory session for two of my classes going forward.

iv) Most importantly, I’ve already started looking into publicly available datasets and federal grant opportunities where long term and historical data trends can be analyzed to identify key bottlenecks in student success and engagement.

Dear STEER Travel Grant Committee, It is with great pleasure that I write this report about my experience at the Esri User Conference that I attended in May 2016 thanks to the STEER STEM Travel Grant. The field of geographic information systems (GIS), science and technology is exceptionally dynamic in that new data are always being created, new scientific methods and advances are being developed, and overall the technologies and new applications are difficult to not only track, but to get additional training, if necessary, and overall exposure to the new possibilities they bring to the table. My attendance at the Esri Conference allowed me to participate in “hands-on” training of several new GIS applications and to review their potential use in my GIS undergraduate courses. The first of these was the CityEngine application which allows city managers to implement a tiered approach that will allow city planners, utility departments, tax assessors, police departments, emergency responders, refuse collection departments and many other city departments to access spatial data from one

geodatabase. The most unique feature about this application is that not only does it support a city-wide tracking of services to its constituents, it can also render these sites in 3D. This will allow city planners to visualize new buildings, to change the construction material and number of windows in each building, to

determine how shadows will be cast on adjacent structures, and to implement zoning and land use policies. Many of my students will work in planning departments in their future positions and my ability to prepare them for these positions as a result of my experience with this new technology, will not only strengthen their success in a STEM course, it will position them to be among the most qualified students to fill positions in planning or engineering departments that would benefit from this technology. I also attended the Getting to Know ArcGIS Pro workshop. While we are using ArcGIS 10.3 or 10.4 here at USF, the folks at Esri would like to eventually see everyone migrate to ArcGIS Pro in the next few years. This new software system will provide our students with the most advanced applications of GIS. This new 64-bit format provides greater processing speed, better map renderings, and a new means of incorporating multiple displays and layouts into final products used for visual presentations and spatial analyses. While still quite similar to the older ArcGIS 10.XX versions, ArcGIS Pro allows the user to set up a “project” that will house many different individual map projects that can be viewed in 2D or 3D and yet the user can still perform various analyses. I attended several talks that incorporated GIS projects into the course curriculum to further engage students in meaningful spatial analyses with significant outcomes. One such presentation was by Dr. Linda Hopson who her asked students to analyze the impact of crime on student success using End-of-

Grade test scores and crime incidents within a specific radius of the schools. Results of these analyses were given to county commissioners, thus students were providing information to real-life problems. Another study looked at short-term hot spots of criminal activity and how GIS software could be used as a predictive tool to assist police efforts to quell emerging crime trends before criminals could significantly impact a region within the jurisdiction. There were many more presentations that covered a variety of applications and disciplines:

Applying GIS with spatial autocorrelation in academic achievement

Mapping storm intensity

Using X-ray to migrate data to a geodatabase

Accessing rapid transit information

Hotspot analysis for radon concentrations

Creating an enterprise geodatabase for an international airport

While the list goes on and on, what was central to my take-away from the conference experience was the novel ways in which GIS technologies were being applied in various disciplines. This has improved my understanding of the many different applications of GIS beyond the discipline of Geography. As a result, I have been better prepared to talk to my students about the different options that are available to them in the form of internships and careers in a variety of fields. I also have a better sense of new technologies being offered by Esri, our primary mapping software developer, and I can help to inform my department of upcoming software needs. Ultimately, it is my ability to engage the students in such a manner that they are not intimidated by the use these new technologies. After learning about the new software programs offered by Esri, I can assure my students that they, too, can become proficient in its use with the proper training and hands-on experience. The investment by the STEER STEM Committee allowed me to attend a conference that speaks directly to my discipline and my area of specialization. It was a condensed training seminar; an engaging round of talks and presentations; and the most recent advances put forth by our primary software developer. In turn, this translates into my ability to pass this information along to my students in ways which will provide them with this same level of current training as well as ideas of the many ways in which they can capitalize on their specialized education and training in GIS as they seek permanent positions and careers. This makes your investment quite unique as the dividends will keep accruing long after one or two semesters. And not only have I gained from this experience, but the students and university have as well. I am grateful to the STEER STEM Committee for providing me with this travel grant. It was a great conference and one in which I came back with many ideas that I have incorporated into the undergraduate course I am teaching. Thank you for your generous support of this endeavor. Best regards, Beth Walton

Date: August 22, 2016

STEER STEM Leadership team

Re: Green Chemistry Workshop Report

I have attended a workshop on Green Chemistry on July 16-22, 2016 in the University of

Oregon, Eugene, OR.

The Green Chemistry in Education Workshop was for educators in the chemical sciences

interested in incorporating green or sustainable chemistry concepts into the organic chemistry

curriculum and laboratory. This five-day workshop held on the University of Oregon campus

was a combination of lectures, discussion, and hands-on time in the laboratory. Leaders in the

field addressed the need for green chemistry in the undergraduate curriculum and provided

strategies for designing, adapting and incorporating new green experiments into existing organic

chemistry curricula. During the laboratory sessions, we had an opportunity to perform and

evaluate greener organic laboratory experiments developed at the University of Oregon and

elsewhere. Educational materials used in teaching the green organic chemistry lab were

distributed during the workshop, including our recently published textbook, "Green Organic

Chemistry: Strategies, Tools, and Laboratory Experiments," by Kenneth M. Doxsee and James

E. Hutchison, published by Brooks/Cole.

The workshop has significantly influenced my teaching of the organic labs. The organic

experiments with green perspectives avoid hazardous chemicals, reagents and solvents. The

reactions can be performed with environmental friendly and benign chemicals and with less

energy. Some reactions can also be done solvent-less and this avoids the need to use fumehoods.

As a result of attending a very efficient and important workshop, we have now incorporated 5

green experiments into our organic chemistry laboratory curriculum starting this Fall. Three of

the experiments are adapted in Orgo I lab and two of them in Orgo II labs. We have tested the

experiments and all we tested use safe, inexpensive and efficient reagents affording better and

higher yields.

Green experiments incorporated into our Orgo I laboratory for Fall 2016

To be specific, we have replaced the traditional steam distillation technique which is

usually used to isolate limonene from citrus fruits with liquid carbon dioxide extraction

technique. The former technique uses a large amount of chlorinated solvents which can

cause short-term or long-term health effects, while CO2 is useful as a green alternative

solvent because it provides environmental and safety advantages; it is nonflammable,

nontoxic, readily available, and environmentally benign. This energy sufficient and safe

extraction technique has been integrated in the Orgo I lab curriculum in experiment #5.

The other experiment we have incorporated has replaced the use of bromine solution which

is highly corrosive, causing severe burns upon contact with the skin and extremely irritating

upon inhalation. In the new experiment (exp.#10), bromine is generated in situ through the

oxidation of hydrobromic acid with hydrogen peroxide and used to brominate an alkene.

We have also incorporated one experiment that teaches students to be aware of using

renewable resources and to make products that can supplement our energy supply. To this

effect, we used a vegetable oil and prepared biodiesel in a greener and safer way in

experiment #11.

Green experiments incorporated into our Orgo II laboratory for Fall 2016

In the organic chemistry laboratory II curriculum, we have replaced the experiment that

uses the toxic and environmentally harmful chromium reagents with a better and safer

experiment that employs Oxone® as a safe alternative powerful oxidizing agent. The

secondary alcohol, borneol can easily be oxidized to camphor with the use of Oxone®

affording a high yield in experiment #3.

We have also introduced an experiment that can be done without a solvent in Orgo II lab.

In this experiment (experiment #12), a natural product and a derivative of coumarin, 4-

methylumbelliferone is synthesized. This reaction has traditionally been carried out in

organic solvents (e.g. toluene) using a mineral acid as the catalyst. In our experiment, we

will carry out this reaction without solvent, and instead of using a corrosive mineral acid

(such as sulfuric acid) we will use a solid acid catalyst, Amberlyst 15. The reaction

produces the desired product in a significant amount.

I have tested these experiments both during the workshop and here in our organic labs and all of

them provided remarkable and interesting results. We anticipate that these experiments will

make our students be more enthusiastic and motivated toward organic chemistry laboratory.

Since most of our students are pre-medical science majors, we have observed the lack of

motivation and desire to do organic experiments in the past. However, the green experiments we

have just started to incorporate into our curriculum can be done easily with safe and benign

reagents and even without solvents; and we hope that this will have a positive effect in increasing

students’ desire and motivation. As we shall continue to test and create more green experiments

and as we shall make our organic chemistry labs fully safe and green-oriented, we also expect to

set up organic labs without the expensive fumehoods and even with higher enrolments and caps.

Professional development and networking

On a personal matter, the workshop helped me to establish a network of chemical educators who

are promoting green chemistry and this motivated me to incorporate green chemistry concepts

not only in the lab but also in the chemistry lecture courses. I have already started to

communicate the advantages of a greener curriculum to my colleagues in the chemistry

department and I have mentioned to offer a course entitled “Introduction to Green Chemistry”

during our recent chemistry faculty retreat in St. Pete.

Hereunder, please also find the day to day activity schedule of the workshop.

Regards,

Solomon Weldegirma.

Day 1: Introductions and Day Trip. An outing to the Oregon Cascade Mountains or scenic

Oregon Coast provides a relaxed group setting, which facilitates informal discussion among

workshop speakers and participants to set the tone for the rest of the workshop.

Day 2: Lecture Session - Green Chemistry Overview. An overview of Green Chemistry will be

presented including the "12 Principles of Green Chemistry"*, followed by a review of the

development of lab experiments for the green organic chemistry curriculum as well as an

introduction to the University of Oregon green lab experiments.

Day 3: Laboratory Session - Introduction to Green Chemistry Labs. Workshop participants will

conduct pre-selected "green" experiments chosen from the following 21 experiments

developed at UO including: Solventless Aldol Reaction A Greener Bromination of Stilbene

Synthesis and Recrystallization of Adipic Acid Gas-Phase & Microwave Synthesis & Metallation

of 5,10,15,20-Tetraphenylporphyrin Thiamine-mediated Benzoin Condensation of Furfural

Patterning Surfaces with Molecular Films Liquid CO2 Extraction of Natural Products A Diels-

Alder Reaction in Water

Day 4: Lecture Session - "Success Stories." Former workshop participants return to share their

success stories of adopting the green organic chemistry lab curriculum at their own home

institutions. Laboratory Session- Participants continue to perform and evaluate various green

lab experiments.

Day 5: Laboratory Session - Wrap up. Participants wrap up final lab experiments. Debriefing

and closing remarks: Open discussion includes evaluations of labs and lectures; sharing

resources for teaching green chemistry; future plans in terms of expected challenges and

opportunities for adopting green chemistry into the curricula.

STEER STEM Ed Travel Grant Report

Submitted by

Dr. Kaiqi Xiong University of South Florida

Tampa, FL 33620

Executive Summary      This   travel   grant  was  used   for  my  participation   in   the   symposium  on  Envisioning  the  Future  of  Undergraduate  STEM  Education:  Research  and  Practice  to  be  held   in  Washington  DC  on  April   27-­‐29,   2016,   hosted  by   the  American  Association   for   the  Advancement  of  Science  (AAAS)  and  the  National  Science  Foundation’s  Division  of  Undergraduate   Education.   This   symposium   included:   Plenary   Lecture   and   Panel  Sessions,   Poster   Sessions,   Discussion   Sessions,   Working   Group   Sessions,   Paper  Presentation   Sessions,   and   NSF   Program   Office   Sessions.   This   report   summarizes  my  benefit  from  the  participation  of  this  symposium  in  terms  of  classroom  teaching.      

   

(Photo  credit:  http://colellaphoto.com/EnFUSE/)    I  would  like  to  acknowledge  the  support  from  the  STEER  Leadership  Team  and  the  Department   of   Mathematics   and   Statistics   that   permits   me   to   attend   this  symposium.    

 Report  

     This   STEER   (System   Transformation   Through   Evidence-­‐Based   Education   Reform)  STEM  Ed  Travel  Grant  permitted  me  to  participate  in  the  symposium  on  Envisioning  the  Future  of  Undergraduate  STEM  Education:  Research  and  Practice  to  be  held   in  Washington   DC   on   April   27-­‐29,   2016.   The   American   Association   for   the  Advancement  of  Science  (AAAS)  and  the  National  Science  Foundation’s  Division  of  Undergraduate  Education  hosted  this  symposium.  The  program  of  this  symposium  included:      

1. Plenary   Lecture   and   Panel   Sessions   where   experts   inspired   and   helped  transform  community,  

2. Poster   Sessions   that   brought   together   the   community   to   share   knowledge  and  experience,    

3. Discussion   Sessions  where  PIs   presented   and  discussed   their   projects  with  participants  for  the  detail  of  specific  projects,    

4. Working   Group   Sessions   that   provided   attendees   the   opportunity   to   meet  and  discuss  challenges,    

5. Paper   Presentation   Sessions   that   brought   PIs   together   to   present   their  projects  with  Q/A  in  conference-­‐style,  and    

6. NSF   Program   Office   Sessions   where   NSF   program   officers   helped   PIs   to  manage  current  projects  and  prepare  future  projects.      

This   symposium   provided   participants   the   opportunity   to   actively   network   and  learn   from   NSF   program   directors   and   faculty   engaged   in   improving   student  education.   Participants   are   from   different   STEM   disciplines.   This   symposium  highlighted   participants’   sharing   and   discussion   of   their   research,   finding,   and  effective   practices   through   a   variety   of   sessions   in   the   above   program.   Many  examples  of  interdisciplinary  STEM  research  projects  were  on  display.      The  presentations  of  this  symposium  in  the  above  six  sessions  were  classified   into  the  following  four  different  topics:      

1. Institutional  transformation,    2. Student  learning,    3. Learning  technologies  and  context,  and    4. Broadening  participation.  

 There   were   concurrent   sessions   in   this   symposium.  While   attending   all   different  types  of  sessions  in  this  symposium,  I  have  made  my  best  efforts  to  participate  in  as  many  presentations   as  possible  during  my   staying   in   this   symposium  on   the  days  and  evenings.      

My  benefits  from  participation  of  this  symposium  include,  but  are  not  limited  to,  the  following  aspects:      

1. Having   a   better   understanding   of   the   current   status   and   trend   of   STEM  education  with  existing  commonly  used  technologies  and  methodologies.    

2. Getting   the   opportunity   to   interact   with   faculty   in   other   STEM   fields   and  learn   how   current   computer   technologies   are   used   in   STEM   education   and  classroom  teaching.  

3. Learning   the   research,   findings   and   current   practices   from   participants’  presentations  and  having  the  opportunity  to  face-­‐to-­‐face  discuss  the  pros  and  cons  of   their  current   implementations  with  some  of   the  participants  whose  projects  that  were  most  interesting  to  me.    

4. Exploring   potential   collaborative   opportunities   with   other   participants   by  having  extensive  discussions  with  their  projects  in  detail.    

5. Sharing   my   research,   findings,   and   practices   in   my   teaching   with   other  participants  by  discussing  my  knowledge  and  experience.  

 After   coming   back   from   this   symposium,   I   have   started   to   revise   my   current  curriculum  by   considering   the   enhancement   of   students’   knowledge   and   skills   for  their  future  education  and  workforce  preparation.  I  have  introduced  more  practical  videos  and  added  more  questions  towards   lab  experiments   in  the  sheet  of  student  feedback.      Furthermore,  during  this  symposium,  I  was  attracted  to  a  web-­‐based  video  tutorial  for  an  electrical  engineering  course  designed  by  a  participant  through  a  multi-­‐year  grant   funded   by   the   National   Science   Foundation   (NSF).   Within   this   web-­‐based  video   tutorial,   students   are   introduced   to   an   interactive,   self-­‐paced,   and   self-­‐assessed   virtual   environment.   Currently,   I   am   communicating   with   faculty   and  collaborators  to  explore  possible  funding  opportunities  for  developing  such  a  web-­‐based  video  in  our  teaching.    In   short,   the  participation  of   this   symposium  has  been  helpful  and   it  has  made  an  impact   on   my   curriculum   and   classroom.   I   am   certain   that   my   learning   and  networking  from  this  symposium  would  continue  to  benefit  my  future  teaching.        Acknowledgement:      I   would   like   to   thank   the   STEER   Leadership   Team   and   the   Department   of  Mathematics  and  Statistics  for  sponsoring  me  to  attend  this  wonderful  symposium.