Community Assessment Of Social Services For Shelby County
This project was developed to conduct an assessment of the current and anticipated social services needs of the citizens of Shelby County, Alabama. The assessment included interviews with key community leaders and directors of key social service agencies and a survey of the general population of Shelby County. Using a mixed-methods approach, the results from the interviews and surveys were synthesized to 1) identify how key informants visualized the future of social services, 2) identify areas where there…
Contributors: Debra McCallum Erika Steele Lauren E. Kois
NSF IUSE: Teaching Ethics Using Problem-Based Learning in Freshman Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering
This project, funded through the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program, investigates problem-based learning as an effective methodology to instill ethics as a foundation during students’ enrollment in an introductory ECE course. During the three years of this project, ethical problems in electrical engineering will be introduced to undergraduate students working in teams using either traditional lecture-based activities or problem-based learning activities developed by the principal investigators. Students are assessed through their course-work assignments…
Contributors: Sarah Dunlap Todd Freeborn (PI) Claire Major (PI) Miriam Sweeney (PI)
NSF REU Site: Fluid Mechanics with Analysis Using Computations and Experiments (FM-ACE)
In this NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) project, 10-12 students per year (3 years, ending in 2019) engaged in a 10-week summer intensive research program, conducting research in fluid mechanics. The field of fluid mechanics is unique in its ability to be visually captivating, making it an excellent area of research for motivating students to pursue graduate study. It is also multidisciplinary in nature as a wide range of engineering disciplines require varying depths…
Contributors: Erika Steele Denis Aslangil (PI)
NSF REU Site: Engineering Sensors, Systems, and signal Processing for Speech Pathology
In this project, funded by the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, 9 students were recruited per year (3 years, ending in 2022) to participate in a10-week, hands-on, multi-disciplinary summer research experience. REU activities were shared across the facilities of the College of Engineering, the Department of Communicative Disorders, and the Speech and Hearing Clinic at UA, under the supervision of faculty from all units. All student projects apply engineering principles to develop technologies…
Contributors: Erika Steele Todd Freeborn (PI) Memorie Gosa (PI)
NSF IRES: U.S.-Australia Innovations of Solar Materials and Solar Cells
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) site will provide the platform for five U.S. undergraduate students per year, beginning in 2023) at The University of Alabama (UA) to learn the cutting edge innovative solar technology from a world-class research institute, at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE) in The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney, Australia). Solar energy represents the richest renewable energy source in the world. Converting solar energy…
Contributors: Sarah Dunlap Feng Yan (PI)
NSF IRES Site: Fractional–Order Circuits and Systems Research Collaboration with EU COST Action
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) takes place at the Brno University of Technology (BUT) in Czechia. The site will recruit 6 undergraduate students from the University of Alabama (UA) each of the 3 program years (ending in 2024) to participate in 11-week research experiences focused on fractional-order circuits and systems under the supervision of faculty from BUT in the Czech Republic. Fractional-order circuits and systems were selected as the theme for this site…
Contributors: Sarah Dunlap Todd Freeborn (PI)
NSF Scholarship for Service: SFS@Bama
CyberCorps® Scholarship For Service (SFS) is a unique program designed to recruit and train the next generation of information technology professionals, industrial control system security professionals, and security managers to meet the needs of the cyber security mission for Federal, State, local, and tribal governments. This program provides scholarships for up to 3 years of support for cyber security undergraduate and graduate education. The scholarships are funded through grants awarded by the National Science Foundation.…
Contributors: Diane Tober Joan Barth Jeff Carver (PI)
Hale County Middle School 21st Century Community Learning Center
Hale County Middle School (HCMS) is a Title 1 school located in rural Alabama with 64% of students receiving free/reduced lunch subsidies. Academically, the school is underperforming relative to state and national norms. Based on 2018-2019 data: 14.9% of HCMS students were considered as chronic absentees, missing 15 or more days of school in a year. Alabama State assessments of academic performance (Scantron Performance Series Test) indicated that two-thirds of students failed to make proficiency…
Contributors: Joan Barth
NSF EPSCoR RII: Individual Based Talent Bridge from Minority Institutions to Graduate School and Energy Industry
The UA Graduate School’s Strategic Graduate Partnerships Initiative and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, worked together to develop this program that partners with Stillman College, Fort Valley State University and Jackson State University to prepare undergraduate students for graduate programs, industry careers and entrepreneurial opportunities in renewable energy. The five-year project was awarded through the NSF’s Bridging Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, Communities, also known as RII-BEC. Project goals include enhancing the…
Contributors: Joan Barth Kelsey Chappetta Shanlin Pan (PI)
NSF IRES: Innovative Macromolecular and Polymer Research Experience in San Sebastian
This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) recruits seven undergraduate students from the University of Alabama (UA) during each of the 3 program years (Ending in 2024) to participate in 8-week research experiences focused on macromolecular and polymer materials under the supervision of faculty from POLYMAT/UPV (Universidad de Pais Vasco/University of the Basque Country) in San Sebastian, Spain (Figure 1). Polymers (commonly referred to as “plastics”) were selected as the theme for this IRES Site…
Contributors: Joan Barth Kelsey Chappetta Jason Bara (PI)