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Students’ Perception of a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience: Across the Disciplines

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Conference

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Salt Lake City, Utah

Publication Date

June 23, 2018

Start Date

June 23, 2018

End Date

July 27, 2018

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 6

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--31024

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/31024

Download Count

417

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Paper Authors

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Simon Thomas Ghanat P.E. The Citadel

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Dr. Simon Ghanat is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel (Charleston, S.C.). He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. His research interests are in Engineering Education and Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering. He previously taught at Bucknell University and Arizona State University.

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Dena Garner The Citadel

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Dr. Dena Garner is a full professor in the Department of Health, Exercise and Sport Science and is the Director of Undergraduate Research and Director of Research and Grants at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. She started working at The Citadel in 2004 while completing her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of South Carolina, also located in Charleston. Before her move to Charleston, she worked at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon where she also received her doctoral degree in exercise physiology. She received her Master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in exercise physiology and an undergraduate degree from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

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Jason Howison The Citadel

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Jason Howison is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at The Citadel. His research areas include computational fluid dynamics, wind turbine aeroelasticity, and engineering education. He also has industrial experience in solid rocket ballistics.

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Rebecca A. Hunter The Citadel

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Dr. Rebecca A. Hunter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. She received her B.A. in Biochemistry in 2009 from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Following this, she earned a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014. Dr. Hunter currently teaches courses in general and analytical chemistry, as well as nanotechnology. Her research interests include the development of nitric oxide-releasing materials for the bioremediation of cultural heritage items and collaborating with local breweries to study beer chemistry and optimize the fermentation process.

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Breeanne Baker Swart The Citadel

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Dr. Breeanne Baker Swart is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at The Citadel which she joined in 2013. She holds a PhD and Masters in Mathematics from Lehigh University. Breeanne's research interests include number theory, graph theory, and combinatorics.

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Shankar Madhab Banik The Citadel

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Shankar M. Banik received the BTech (Hons) degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1997 and the MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Oklahoma in 2001 and 2006, respectively. In 2006, he joined the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, The Citadel, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Computer science, Graduate Program Director for Computer Science, and Co-director for Citadel Center for Cyber, Intelligence, and Security Studies. His research interests include overlay networks, multicasting, network security, social media privacy, and cybersecurity education. He is a member of the IEEE and ACM.

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Michael P. Verdicchio The Citadel

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Dr. Michael Verdicchio is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, which he joined in 2011. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and a BSE in Computer Systems Engineering from Arizona State University, in Tempe Arizona. Michael teaches computer science students at all levels, from first-semester freshmen to working professionals in the evening graduate program. His current research interests cross cybersecurity education, algorithms, and software engineering. Michael is a Professional Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

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Nathan John Washuta P.E. The Citadel Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-4575-0564

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Dr. Nathan Washuta is an Instructor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. He received both his B.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Maryland – College Park. His primary research interests include Hydrodynamics, Turbulence, and Experimental Methods.

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Abstract

As stated in the literature, undergraduate research has been recognized as a high impact practice which promotes critical thinking, improved analytical and communication skills, and retention in the field of study. During summer 2017, undergraduate researchers were engaged in discovery and learning in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program at University “X”. In one project, two students were helping the U.S. Department of Defense improve methods of identifying traumatic brain injury. In another research project, two students were looking into the potential results of future earthquake shockwaves. Others were innovating a substance to use in the restoration of artifacts or creating an affordable device to measure a fluid velocity field. The objective of this study is to examine the student perception of undergraduate research in engineering, mathematics, sciences, and humanities at University “X”. The effectiveness of the SURE program is investigated by analyzing a 1-5 Likert scale survey of student perception. The results of the survey show that at least 80% of the students rated the program as effective or very effective. Specifically, this study found that the SURE program increased students’ confidence in research abilities and communication skills, while many were still unsure about connecting theory and practice. This paper will discuss the scope of the student projects, results and analyses of the students’ perception, and potential future improvements for the program.

Ghanat, S. T., & Garner, D., & Howison, J., & Hunter, R. A., & Baker Swart, B., & Banik, S. M., & Verdicchio, M. P., & Washuta, N. J. (2018, June), Students’ Perception of a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience: Across the Disciplines Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--31024

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2018 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015