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Lessons Learned in Adopting a Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program for Exclusive Remote Participation Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Conference

2021 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Meeting

Location

Virtually Hosted by the section

Publication Date

November 12, 2021

Start Date

November 12, 2021

End Date

November 13, 2021

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

19

DOI

10.18260/1-2--38441

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/38441

Download Count

503

Paper Authors

biography

Kofi Nyarko Morgan State University

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Dr. Kofi Nyarko is a Tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Morgan State University. He also serves as Director of the Engineering Visualization Research Laboratory (EVRL). Under his direction, EVRL has acquired and conducted research, in excess of $12M, funded from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Army Research Laboratory, NASA and Department of Homeland Security along with other funding from Purdue University’s Visual Analytics for Command, Control, and Interoperability Environments (VACCINE), a DHS Center of Excellence. Dr. Nyarko has also worked as an independent Software Engineer with contracts involving computational engineering, scientific/engineering simulation & visualization, visual analytics, complex computer algorithm development, computer network theory, machine learning, mobile software development, and avionic system software development.

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biography

Sacharia Albin Norfolk State University

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Dr. Sacharia Albin joined Norfolk State University in July 2011 as the Chair of the Engineering Department. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Kerala, and Ph.D. from the University of Poona, India. He was a design engineer in microelectronics at Hindustan Aeronautics, India for three years. He was awarded a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship by the Science and Engineering Research Council at the University of Liverpool, UK. Dr. Albin conducted research on Si and GaAs electronic devices and semiconductor lasers at the research laboratories of GEC and ITT and published numerous articles in this field. He was a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Dominion University. He has advised 14 PhD and 20 MS students. He received numerous awards: Doctoral Mentor Award 2010; Excellence in Teaching Award 2009; Most Inspiring Faculty Award 2008; Excellence in Research Award 2004; and Certificate of Recognition for Research - NASA, 1994. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Member of the Electrochemical Society.

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biography

John Okyere Attia P.E. Prairie View A&M University

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Dr. John Okyere Attia is Professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering in the field of Electronics, Circuit Analysis, Instrumentation Systems, and VLSI/ULSI Design. Dr. Attia earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Houston, an M.S. from University of Toronto and B.S. from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Dr. Attia has over 75 publications including fIve engineering books. His research interests include innovative electronic circuit designs for radiation environment, radiation testing, and power electronics. Dr. Attia is the author of the CRC books, Electronics and Circuits Analysis Using MATLAB and Circuits and Electronics: Hands-on Learning with Analog Discovery. He has twice received outstanding Teaching Awards. In addition, he is a member of the following honor societies: Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Kappa Alpha Kappa and Eta Kappa Nu. Dr. Attia is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

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Abstract

The Smart City Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) (SCR2) Mega-Site program, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (#1849454), was formed in 2018 to address the low participation and graduation rates of post-secondary students belonging to underrepresented minority groups in the engineering field. The participating schools in the program are all minority serving and members of a consortium consisting of 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 1 Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), where Morgan State University (MSU) serves as the lead institution. The program targets lower division underperforming REU students who are less likely to have the opportunity to participate in research as undergraduates. Participation in this type of experience has been demonstrated to be transformative and to have the potential to increase retention and graduation rates at these institutions. RET participants are recruited from local community colleges and high schools that serve as feeder schools to the consortium institutions. These teachers are responsible for preparing students who could potentially be interesting in pursuing a college major in engineering by exposing them to hands-on engineering design practices. Over the last two years of the program’s existence, 61 students and 24 teachers have successfully participated. As with most 2020 summer programs, the SCR2 program was challenged by the novel corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic, which hit the United states during the recruitment period of the project. Consequently, the project leadership team decided to offer the summer program remotely (on-line) rather than bring students to the participating three campuses across which the program is distributed. The planning and execution of the program during a global pandemic has brought key insights into techniques, methods, and technologies for effective cross-site communication, faculty advisor/mentor involvement, participant engagement, and leveraging the strong network that connects the participating schools. Essentially, a multi-site remote only combined REU/RET program is efficacious in increasing participant’s confidence, knowledge and desire to pursue further engineering research experiences. This paper presents these insights along with supporting program evaluation findings.

Nyarko, K., & Albin, S., & Attia, J. O. (2021, November), Lessons Learned in Adopting a Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program for Exclusive Remote Participation Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic Paper presented at 2021 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Meeting, Virtually Hosted by the section. 10.18260/1-2--38441

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