2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Undergraduate participation in research provides opportunities for students to develop their research and technical skills, network with other students/professors, raise their awareness of graduate studies, and understand the social context of research. While undergraduate students are often able to participate in research at their own institution or nationally in the US (through available Research Experiences for Undergraduates sites), it is also possible for undergraduates to complete research internationally. In addition to the domestic benefits of research experiences, this provides an opportunity to network with international students/professors, learn about a different country and culture, and learn new perspectives on how professionals from other countries approach research. In support of this mission an International Research Experiences for Undergraduates (IRES) site is providing research experiences for students from the XXXX at the YYY in the Czech Republic. Each of the projects students supported were focused on fractional-order circuits and systems. This is an emerging field that is exploring how to import topics from fractional calculus into circuit design techniques to realize designs with greater design flexibility than is easily achieved with traditional methods. For the first iteration of this IRES site, five students from electrical and computer engineering were recruited and participated in 12-weeks of summer research focused on fractional-order circuits and systems under the mentorship of faculty at YYYY. Prior to their summer research, students participated in a one-semester course at XXXX which introduced them to fractional calculus, fractional circuits, design methodologies, approximation techniques, and design tools (MATLAB, LTSpice). Additionally, this course included training to support students in their international travel (e.g. passport & medical requirements, currency, food culture, inter-city and inter-country buses/trains) and collaboration with international faculty (e.g. communication strategies, documentation, project requirements). To understand participants satisfaction with the program, their research, and specific program elements their feedback was solicited using an online survey (using quantitative and open-ended questions) and a focus group facilitated by the program evaluators on their return to XXXX. This work will provide an overview of the IRES site, specific program elements, and detail the reported student satisfaction with the program and their research, and their perceived learning gains. These details will inform the design and execution of the 2nd iteration of the IRES site at YYYY and help other IRES coordinators identify successful program elements that could support their own site goals.