Board 280: Evaluation of a Three-Year Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site Focused on Engineering Solutions in Support of Communicative Disorders

Todd Freeborn; Memorie Gosa; Debra Moehle McCallum

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42757
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42757
Download Count: 272

Paper Authors

biography

Todd Freeborn The University of Alabama orcid.org/0000-0001-9979-7301

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Todd Freeborn, PhD, is an associate professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Alabama. Through NSF funding, he has coordinated REU Sites for engineering students to explore renewable resources and speech pathology and an international research experiences for students (IRES) site in partnership with the Brno University of Technology in Brno, Czechia. He is also the coordinator for an NSF S-STEM program to prepare students for gateway courses across different disciplines of engineering to support and retain students in these disciplines. His research focuses on techniques to collect and analyze the electrical impedance of biological tissues using wearable sensors and their health applications.

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Memorie Gosa

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Memorie M. Gosa is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and board certified specialist in swallowing and swallowing disorders. She is an assistant professor at The University of Alabama and maintains a clinical caseload at The University of Alabama Sp

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Debra Moehle McCallum The University of Alabama

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Debra McCallum is a Senior Research Social Scientist and Director of the Institute for Social Science Research. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Furman University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel

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Abstract

Participating in a research experience for undergraduates (REU) site provides opportunities for students to develop their research and technical skills, network with other REU students/professors, raise their awareness of graduate studies, and understand the social context of research. In support of this mission, the REU site at XXXX provided interdisciplinary research experiences for 3 summer cohorts of students (from 2019, 2021-2022), with a specific focus on challenges at the intersection of engineering and communicative disorders. Students from across the country were recruited to contribute to projects with a sensor and signal processing focus in support of a patient need in communicative disorders. Each student contributed to their projects under the mentorship of two faculty, one from engineering and another from communicative disorders. Beyond research training this site coordinated professional development workshops (networking training, graduate school applications, poster development, communications skills), clinical shadowing, social activities, and cultural activities (visit to local museums and state cultural sites) to enrich the student experience. After 3 summer iterations from 2019 to 2022 (no site was run during 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic) a total of 30 students participated in the program. This work provides an overview of the REU site and details the reported student satisfaction with the overall experience, workshop and shadowing experiences, faculty mentoring experiences, research experience, perceived learning gains, perspectives of social responsibility in engineering, and the impact of their participation on interest in future graduate studies. Student feedback on the program was collected using both online surveys and an in-person focus group at the end of each summer. The program elements that were most successful at cultivating a positive student research experience and those elements that would benefit from future revisions will be identified to support undergraduate educators in the planning or revisions of their own REU sites and programs.

Citation
Format

Freeborn, T., & Gosa, M., & McCallum, D. M. (2023, June), Board 280: Evaluation of a Three-Year Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site Focused on Engineering Solutions in Support of Communicative Disorders Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42757

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Participating in a research experience for undergraduates (REU) site provides opportunities for students to develop their research and technical skills, network with other REU students/professors, raise their awareness of graduate studies, and understand the social context of research.   In support of this mission, the REU site at XXXX provided interdisciplinary research experiences for 3 summer cohorts of students (from 2019, 2021-2022), with a specific focus on challenges at the intersection of engineering and communicative disorders.  Students from across the country were recruited to contribute to projects with a sensor and signal processing focus in support of a patient need in communicative disorders.  Each student contributed to their projects under the mentorship of two faculty, one from engineering and another from communicative disorders.  Beyond research training this site coordinated professional development workshops (networking training, graduate school applications, poster development, communications skills), clinical shadowing, social activities, and cultural activities (visit to local museums and state cultural sites) to enrich the student experience.  After 3 summer iterations from 2019 to 2022 (no site was run during 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic) a total of 30 students participated in the program.  This work provides an overview of the REU site and details the reported student satisfaction with the overall experience, workshop and shadowing experiences, faculty mentoring experiences, research experience, perceived learning gains, perspectives of social responsibility in engineering, and the impact of their participation on interest in future graduate studies.  Student feedback on the program was collected using both online surveys and an in-person focus group at the end of each summer.  The program elements that were most successful at cultivating a positive student research experience and those elements that would benefit from future revisions will be identified to support undergraduate educators in the planning or revisions of their own REU sites and programs. 
AU  - Todd Freeborn
AU  - Memorie Gosa
AU  - Debra Moehle McCallum
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 280: Evaluation of a Three-Year Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site Focused on Engineering Solutions in Support of Communicative Disorders
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/42757
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42757
ER  -