2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 280: Evaluation of a Three-Year Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site Focused on Engineering Solutions in Support of Communicative Disorders

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

Participating in a research experience for undergraduates (REU) site provides opportunities for students to develop their research and technical skills, network with other REU students/professors, raise their awareness of graduate studies, and understand the social context of research. In support of this mission, the REU site at XXXX provided interdisciplinary research experiences for 3 summer cohorts of students (from 2019, 2021-2022), with a specific focus on challenges at the intersection of engineering and communicative disorders. Students from across the country were recruited to contribute to projects with a sensor and signal processing focus in support of a patient need in communicative disorders. Each student contributed to their projects under the mentorship of two faculty, one from engineering and another from communicative disorders. Beyond research training this site coordinated professional development workshops (networking training, graduate school applications, poster development, communications skills), clinical shadowing, social activities, and cultural activities (visit to local museums and state cultural sites) to enrich the student experience. After 3 summer iterations from 2019 to 2022 (no site was run during 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic) a total of 30 students participated in the program. This work provides an overview of the REU site and details the reported student satisfaction with the overall experience, workshop and shadowing experiences, faculty mentoring experiences, research experience, perceived learning gains, perspectives of social responsibility in engineering, and the impact of their participation on interest in future graduate studies. Student feedback on the program was collected using both online surveys and an in-person focus group at the end of each summer. The program elements that were most successful at cultivating a positive student research experience and those elements that would benefit from future revisions will be identified to support undergraduate educators in the planning or revisions of their own REU sites and programs.

Authors
  1. Dr. Debra Moehle McCallum The University of Alabama [biography]
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