| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 29, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 29, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1610164 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Abby Ilumoka
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $300,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $300,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
201 MULLICA HILL RD GLASSBORO NJ US 08028-1702 (856)256-4057 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
201 Mullica Hill Road Glassboro NJ US 08028-1701 |
| 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): | IUSE |
| 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): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project addresses the need to cultivate engineers' holistic and critical understanding of the global, economic, societal and environmental impacts of engineering solutions. In this project, algae provides the basis for a collection of inquiry-based educational activities that bring together science, engineering and humanities to foster an understanding of the broader context of engineering work. A series of cost-effective, multidisciplinary, adaptable and transferrable hands-on experiments will be developed to introduce engineering and science principles through algae's versatility as a renewable fuel source, tool for greenhouse gas mitigation, and its role in the treatment of wastewater. Additional synergistic activities will be incorporated through introduction of ethical, social, and environmental issues related to these problems and analysis of proposed solutions. The three main objectives of the project are: (1) to recruit and retain students in STEM degree programs, (2) to increase self-confidence and self-esteem of students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields, and (3) to develop educational methods that explore uses of algae to address global engineering challenges.
This project will generate new knowledge about the formation of engineering students' conceptions of engineering work, the disciplines that inform practice, the populations impacted by engineering solutions, and the role of the engineer in a global and societal context. In addition, it will advance understanding about the role that educational inquiry activities can serve in the development of self-confidence and self-esteem towards STEM careers. By reimagining what it means to be an engineer, this project has the potential to build a generation of diverse individuals that see themselves as engineers and appreciate engineering for its ability to help humankind in addition to the technological solutions it can provide. Through extensive partnerships, this project will impact students at the K-12, community college and university levels of STEM education. A partnership with the Center for Aquatic Sciences at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden (NJ) will bring algae-based engineering education to the broader community through family-based science education and informal science education.
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.
Our Algae Grows the Future is a project focused on advancing a generation of engineers dedicated to improving the world for all people. Through the use of science and engineering and integrating concepts with the humanities, this project sparked students interest in engineering by redefining how discovery, learning, and innovation is approached in the classroom. The goals of the project are to ensure the highest quality of STEM education in order to improve learning and comprehension of engineering concepts. Additionally, the designed curriculum takes a multidisciplinary approach to teaching engineering in order to show how the different branches are connected and how to integrate critical thinking skills towards solving global issues.
The project uses a live microorganism Algae to grow future millenials. Algae are a common microorganism known to all. While everyone recognizes algae as a photosynthetic organism that is ubiquitous, it is rare that that we make a connection to the prospect of this microbe playing a significant role in impacting the future of this world.
This project addresses the need to cultivate engineers? holistic and critical understanding of the global, economic, societal and environmental impacts of engineering solutions. In this project, algae provides the basis for a bundle of inquiry based educational activities that bring together science, engineering and humanities to foster an understanding of the broader context of engineering work. A series of cost-effective, multidisciplinary, adaptable and transferrable hands-on experiments were developed to introduce engineering and science principles through algae?s versatility as a renewable fuel source, tool for greenhouse gas mitigation, and its role in the treatment of wastewater. Additional synergistic activities were incorporated through introduction of ethical, social, and environmental issues related to these problems and analysis of proposed solutions.
The three main objectives of the project are (1) to recruit and retain students in STEM degree programs (2) to increase self-confidence and self-esteem of students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields and (3) to develop educational methods that explore uses of algae to address global engineering challenges.
Through extensive partnerships and aggressive dissemination, broad impact at the K-12, community college and university levels of STEM education was achieved. A partnership with the Center for Aquatic Sciences at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden (NJ) brought algae-based engineering education to the broader community through family-based science education and informal science education.
Our most significant results are the development of
a) an award winning video that received the Public Choice Award for the 2021 STEM FOR ALL VIDEO SHOWCASE (https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/presentations/1956). Our video received approximately 1,924 visits and 1,416 visitors from 387 locations around the world. This video introduces pre-college, first year engineering students, K-12 students and educators to fundamentals of engineering and various engineering disciplines via the use of algae. The topic stimulates critical thinking as to how a microbe like algae can revolutionize the world in the future by its multi-faceted use. This project also exposed students to topics related to social justice, racial-gender biases, and ethics in engineering.
b) multiple presentations and workshops at national and international conferences
c) Publications includingjournal articles and conference papers
d)Educational materials for K-12 educators and students via our dynamic website.http://users.rowan.edu/~jahan/ECT/Algae.htm
e) Materials for our first year engineering students. These students also worked on the algae project as part of their engineering clinic project.
f) A card on Engineering Unleashed that discusses the algae project and how the entrepreneurial mindset was incorporated (https://engineeringunleashed.com/card/1037). As stated in their website Engineering Unleashed is a community of more than 3,000 engineering faculty and staff on a mission: To graduate engineers with an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) so they can create personal, economic, and societal value through a lifetime of meaningful work.
f) An interactive children's game titled Algae City that allows children to discover the multifaceted use of algae in pollution prevention, product development such as gels and cosmetics, production of biodiesel and carbon sequestration.
h) Inclusive curriculum that integrated concepts such as ethics, racial and gender biases in STEM and social injustices were incorporated with every algae based activity.
g) Cost effective activities that have broad appeal to various age groups and underrepresented groups
This project was aggressively disseminated to a wide audience via websites, videos, physical visits to the school districts, teacher training and staff training at the Center for Aquatic Sciences (CAS) at Camden. CAS conducts programs offsite through outreach projects to schools and community-based organizations as well as onsite at the State Adventure Aquarium.
The project not only produced an award winning video but also won the Best Extended Abstract and presentation award at the 2017 World Congress on Education held at Dublin, Ireland. The PI Dr. Kauser Jahan also was honored by the New Jersey STEM Pathways Network with the NJ STEM Civic Leadership Award in March 2021 for her outstanding and dedicated work in STEM outreach.
Last Modified: 08/10/2021
Modified by: Kauser Jahan
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