2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 377: Research Experiences for Teachers in Simulation and Visualization for Innovative Industrial Solutions: Year 2

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

This paper will discuss results of the second cohort of teacher participants in the the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site at Purdue University Northwest, a computer intensive simulation and visualization research site for high school teachers and community college instructors. The six-week research experiences took place in the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation and involved working on research projects from the steel industry related to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and interactive 3D and virtual reality software development for safety training. Both summers had cohorts of 11 teachers. The second cohort invited back 6 of the first year teachers to continue their research and serve as mentors for 5 new teachers.

The second year research experience followed a similar structure to the first year, but was modified based on evaluation and feedback to improve research outcomes. The cohort generally met for full group seminars and discussion once per day, followed by individual time with their research mentors. Some of the returning teachers chose to continue their research from the previous year, but most of the group began new research projects. The summer began with literature review and defining research problems. There were four main research projects, led by four research mentors. Groups of teachers were paired with the research mentors and graduate students who were working on complimentary research problems. Each teacher defined a research problem unique to them, for a total of 11 individual research projects within the four main research areas of Blast Furnace Fuel Simulation, Reheat Furnace Simulation, Finite Element Analysis of Structures, and Safety Training. Teachers completed the research and presented results at the end of the 6-week summer session. Each teacher also developed and presented a lesson plan related to their research which was to be implemented in their classroom during the 2022-23 school year.

Evaluation included pre & post measurement of teacher’s self-reported ability to complete research tasks such as defining a research problem, conducting literature review, and evaluating and communicating results of research. Follow-up activities are ongoing during the teacher’s academic school year, including carrying out the lesson plans in their classroom, teachers traveling to conferences related to their field, and introducing students to careers in simulation, visualization, and industrial research, as well as STEM in general through presentations and field trips.

Authors

Mr. John Moreland Purdue University, Northwest [biography]

John Moreland is Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) at Purdue University Northwest. He has over 50 technical publications in the areas of simulation, visualization, and virtual reality for education and industrial research.
Mr. Kyle Alexander Toth Purdue University Northwest [biography]

Associate Research Engineer at the Center for Innovation through Visualization, 5 published papers on topics revolving around game-based training and Virtual Reality (VR) applications. Fields of expertise and study are game development and algorithms, cut
Mr. Nicholas Walla
Dr. Chenn Q. Zhou University of Dayton [biography]

Dr. Chenn Zhou is the founding Director of the Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS), established in 2009, and the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC), established in 2006. She is the Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University Northwest, and also Professor by Courtesy at Purdue University West Lafayette. Dr. Zhou received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in power engineering from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, USA. She joined Purdue University Northwest in 1994 after three years of industrial experience.
Dr. Zhou has more than 38 years of experience in the areas of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), combustion, energy, multiphase reacting flows, and air pollution control. She is on the cutting edge in the integration of computer simulation and virtual reality visualization for solving real world problems. Dr. Zhou has conducted a large number of funded research projects totaling over $25 million and collaborated with many experts from over 140 organizations including academia, K-12 schools, national laboratories, and various industries (e.g. aluminum, glass, refinery, and steel). More than 1000 students have been involved in these projects which have resulted in more than $40 million savings or cost avoidance for steel companies. In January 2016, she and her industrial collaborators established the SMSVC for developing and applying advanced computer simulation and visualization technologies to ensure a competitive advantage for US steel manufacturing.
Dr. Zhou has given more than 140 invited talks and published more than 430 technical papers and abstracts, five copyrighted CFD codes, two patents, and 8 book editing and contributions. She has received numerous awards including the R&D 100 Award in 2004, the AISI Medal Award in 2005, the AIST J. Keith Brimacombe Memorial Lecture Award in 2010, and She and her co-authors also received the AIST Josef S. Kapitan Award in 2005 and 2016, the AIST Computer Applications Best Paper award in 2006. She was awarded 2017 Outstanding Faculty in Engagement by Purdue University Northwest and Gerald I. Lamkin Fellow for Innovation & Service by the Society of Innovators. Dr. Zhou has been a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers since 2003. She has been very active in professional societies. She has served in various boards and committees such as the AIST Foundation Board of Trustees.
Tyamo Okosun Purdue University, Northwest
Armin Silaen

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