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Session 2615

An Open-Ended Research Project for Undergraduate Students

Anant R. Kukreti University of Cincinnati

Abstract

This paper describes a project conducted to provide research experience to engineering undergraduate students involving discovery through actual construction, experimental testing, observing and recording, synthesizing the data collected, and generalizations. The project was part of a Research for Undergraduates (REU) Site grant sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and administered in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at the University of Oklahoma (OU) during the Summer of 2000. The research experience provided was in the area of structural engineering with a special focus on the development of enhanced materials, structural components and testing procedures for small-scale modeling in seismic performance evaluation studies. Nine students were selected to participate in the Site; six students selected were from institutions outside Oklahoma, two students selected were from OU, and one student selected was from another institution in Oklahoma. These included one women, one Hispanic male student, and seven white American male students. These students were divided into three groups with three students in each, and each group worked on a separate project during the two summer months. Each group were supervised by the Professor In-Charge of the project (author) and a Graduate Research Assistant. The paper presents how the whole research program was planned and conducted, the details of the projects selected for the students, procedures used to evaluate the impact of the project, and what were the outcomes of the program. This paper will help others in planning similar experiences for engineering undergraduates.

I. Introduction

This paper describes the experiences provided in a Site for undergraduate research in "Structural Engineering" with a special focus on techniques to study the “Development of Enhanced Materials and Structural Assemblages Used for Seismic Performance Evaluation Studies” in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES) at University of Oklahoma (OU), Norman, Oklahoma. This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and matching funds were provided by OU. The purpose of this REU Site was to encourage talented undergraduates to enroll in graduate school by exposing them to research, and to increase their interest in graduate research. In this paper, first the basic approach adopted to plan the REU Site is presented in this section, followed by a detailed description of the projects executed, and other activities planned. In the end evaluation of the Site’s impact, the lessons learned, and the outcomes from the whole experience are summarized. Hopefully, this documentation will help others in planning similar experiences for engineering undergraduates.

The basic approach used in this REU Site was discovery through actual construction, experimental testing, observing and recording, synthesizing the data collected, and generalizations. This

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Kukreti, A. (2001, June), An Open Ended Research Project For Civil Engineering Undergraduate Students Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9630