Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching and Research in Physics or Engineering Physics II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie Lopez del Puerto, University of Saint Thomas; Jeff Jalkio, University of Saint Thomas; Paul R. Ohmann, University of Saint Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

course.IntroductionThe study we present in this paper arose from two separate trends in our university and the largerhigher-education community, plus an observation. The first is the trend in Physics education tofocus on teaching for conceptual understanding, for example, through Peer Instruction1 orWorkshop Physics (which is part of The Physics Suite).2 The second trend is the push to improvestudent writing through programs such as Writing Across the Curriculum, and in particularthrough Writing to Learn, where short writing exercises are used to help students think through aconcept or a problem.3 The observation was that a considerable fraction of our students, whiletalking to other students in class or asking the instructor a question, was referring to

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching and Research in Physics or Engineering Physics I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jian Peng, Southeast Missouri State University; Santaneel Ghosh, Southeast Missouri State University; Ken Surendran, Southeast Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

character- ization for therapeutic applications. His current research areas are: externally tunable nanostructures for targeted delivery and axon-regeneration after nervous system injury, hydrogel encapsulated quan- tum dots for single molecule imaging, magnetically controlled micro- and nano-fluidics for lab-on-a-chip applications. So far, he has published 25 peer-reviewed articles in reputed journals and international conference proceedings. He serves as a reviewer for the National Institute of Health (NIH), American Chemical Society (ACS), and many internationally reputed journals. He is the recipient of the following awards: ”Cottrell College Science Award” for young faculties- Research Corporation for Science Ad

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching and Research in Physics or Engineering Physics II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hatem M. Wasfy, Advanced Science and Automation Corp.; Tamer M. Wasfy, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis; Jeanne Peters, Advanced Science and Automation Corp.; Riham M. Mahfouz, Thomas Nelson Community College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

University, Indianapolis (IUPUI). Wasfy is also the Founder and Chairman of Advanced Science and Automation Corp. (founded in 1998) and AscienceTutor (founded in 2007). Wasfy’s research and development areas include flexible multibody dynamics, finite element modeling of solids and fluids, fluid-structure interaction, belt-drive dynamics, tires mechanics/dynamics, ground ve- hicle dynamics, visualization of numerical simulation results, engineering applications of virtual-reality, and artificial intelligence. He authored and co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and gave more than 65 presentations at international conferences and invited lectures in those areas. He received two ASME best conference paper

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching and Research in Physics or Engineering Physics I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jia-Ling Lin, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Manuela Romero, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Jennifer Binzley, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Eman A. Zaki, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

dynamics. Each semester, about 160 students enroll in SI, and 60 or more signup in three or four sessions that support calculus-based intro-level physics. The program is opento all students who enroll in courses for which SI sessions are offered. It is structured as smallstudy groups offering a peer-instructional and cooperative problem-solving environment, astructure that models many features of genuine engineering practice. A few characteristics of the 132 survey participants should be mentioned. First, all are SIstudents and thus voluntarily signed-up for SI's zero-credits and to spend two extra hoursworking on physics each week. Therefore participants are considered “motivated” or “highly