
NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | August 12, 2015 |
Latest Amendment Date: | August 12, 2015 |
Award Number: | 1531070 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Bruce Kramer
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
Start Date: | September 1, 2015 |
End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $239,862.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $239,862.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
302 BUCHTEL COMMON AKRON OH US 44325-0001 (330)972-2760 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
OH US 44325-0001 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | CISE Research Resources |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Innovative ideas are needed to improve the relevance of STEM education and student engagement. It is known that student motivation and engagement can be improved by challenging them with open-ended, real-world problems and having them work in multi-disciplinary teams. The proposed research will achieve these objectives and impart STEM knowledge and 21st century skills by connecting course content and assessments to deep STEM learning and real-world engineering problem solving. Using cloud-based software infrastuctures, students can use the proposed C3STEM environment to collaborate with their peers on knowledge intensive tasks, conduct joint experiments, and solve complex problems by decomposing them into smaller, more manageable tasks. This approach will improve the technological competence of students and help them to develop into global leaders.
The project will research, design and validate new technologies that will enable ubiquitous and collaborative STEM education. The team will design new software systems by exploiting the Cloudlet and Locavore patterns in conjunction with Cloud Computing. New techniques for Software Defined Networking (SDN) will be designed and validated to dynamically create and manage network bandwidth in support of the envisioned applications. Resource allocation, scalability and Quality of Service issues will be addressed in the integrated context of SDN blended with Cloudlets. The investigation will address insights and scientific foundations that inform new directions in Cloud Computing and Network Virtualization as applied to collaborative engineering problem solving. The team will design STEM curricular units using real-world applications, such as traffic flow in city streets and discrete manufacturing systems that are directed at high school and undergraduate students. The investigators will design, instrument, and validate next-generation test beds for remote access using multiple mobile devices and computing platforms for performing experiments and problem-solving by remote teams. For example, high school student teams in Nashville, TN will be able to collaborate with graduate and undergraduate students at Vanderbilt University and interact with students in Akron, OH while using a manufacturing test bed located at the University of Akron. The distributed team will be able to collaboratively collect real-time data from the test beds via mobile devices, program new behaviors, validate their designs and engage in solving complex problems of real-world significance.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This collaborative investigation between the University of Akron and Vanderbilt University focused on improving the relevance of STEM education and student engagement. The investigations into Cloudlets at Vanderbilt were completed with a focus on Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts in networked embedded systems at the University of Akron. Two graduate students were supported on this investigation. Two additional students benefited from activities on this project. Connectivity to the Microfactory testbed was demonstrated in the US Ignite meeting in 2016. Two conference papers and two more follow-on papers have already been published based on the outcomes of this investigation. Two publications focused on the design and performance of a dynamically reconfigurable mechanism for predictable communications. The other two publications built on this work to integrate an SDN controller to regulate the flow of traffic. The results were validated both through simulations and a lab testbed. In addition, one of the students supported on this project is finalizing his doctoral dissertation. Building on the outcomes, he is investigating an alternative backbone for future Internet of Things systems. Beyond the domain of advanced networking, the results of this investigation are likely to offer new insights into the design of future systems that are networked and dynamically reconfigurable. This investigation offered a unique opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Akron to interact with students and researchers in Vanderbilt University.
Last Modified: 12/15/2019
Modified by: Shivakumar Sastry
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