2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 369: Reimagining International Research for Students in a Virtual World

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

International research collaborations provide important opportunities to support innovative research and address the significant global challenges facing the world today. To develop researchers who are both interculturally competent and able to navigate global research networks within their field, it is important to provide international research experiences for students. Prior work has indicated that such experiences lead to a wide range of learning outcomes including intercultural competence, research skills, personal development, and, importantly, a new perspective on their career goals and trajectory. However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, international collaborations and programs for students faced challenges in continuing their typical operations.

To strengthen international research collaborations of the future, this project is seeking to understand the challenges, benefits, and supports that were necessary during the pandemic disruption to provide international research experiences for students in a virtual environment. Although the project is not advocating for a replacement of international in-person experiences with virtual experiences, it aims to highlight program elements that were necessary during and after the disruption that programs may want to consider continuing into the future. Thus, this project is: (1) investigating how the program structures and elements identified in our previous research can be adjusted to a virtual environment, and (2) producing empirical evidence that will help faculty collaborators create effective programs. Advancing the understanding of how international collaborations can be adapted to a virtual environment will potentially transform how STEM educators conceptualize what it means to provide students with international research experiences, resulting in more effective and accessible program designs in the future.

Authors

Dr. David B Knight http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-2490 Virginia Tech [biography]

David Knight is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech and also serves as Special Assistant to the Dean for Strategic Plan Implementation in the College of Engineering. His research tends to be at the macro-scale, focused on a systems-level perspective of how engineering education can become more effective, efficient, and inclusive, and considers the intersection between policy and organizational contexts. Knight currently serves as the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Engineering Education.
Dr. Kirsten A. Davis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9929-5587 Purdue University, West Lafayette [biography]

Kirsten Davis is an assistant professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research explores the intentional design and assessment of global engineering programs, student development through experiential learning, and approaches for teaching and assessing systems thinking skills. Kirsten holds a B.S. in Engineering & Management from Clarkson University and an M.A.Ed. in Higher Education, M.S. in Systems Engineering, and Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Nicole P. Sanderlin http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-9481-7916 Virginia Tech [biography]

Nicole serves as Director of Global Engagement in the College of Engineering. She provides leadership for international initiatives and works closely with engineering faculty to develop new institutional partnerships and international opportunities for engineering students. She also provides support to the college's International Alumni Board and oversees the College's Global Ambassador Program. Nicole holds a Master’s and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs. Her research focuses on internationalization of higher education, faculty engagement, and international program assessment.
Dr. Jessica Deters http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-8766-9548 University of Nebraska, Lincoln [biography]

Dr. Jessica Deters is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Discipline Based Education Researcher at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She holds her Ph.D. in Engineering Education and M.S. in Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech, and her B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Miss Alaa Abdalla http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7983-1752 Virginia Tech [biography]

Alaa Abdalla is a first year PhD student in Engineering Education with a background in Mechanical Engineering. Her primary research interests are cultural factors in engineering learning, assessment methods, and design of learning environments. Her ultima
Ms. Katherine Maul Purdue University, West Lafayette
Ms. Anne Victoria Wrobetz http://orcid.org/0009-0002-7321-3069 University of Colorado, Boulder [biography]

Anne Wrobetz currently serves as the lead engineering faculty at Front Range Community College in Colorado, in addition to pursuing a PhD in Engineering Education as a Hybrid Student at Purdue University. She hopes to analyze the factors that impact nontraditional students’ success and persistence in engineering, particularly at the community college level. Anne received a BS and MS in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since graduating in 2015, Anne has worked as a clean technology researcher and engineer in the environmental remediation sector. She has taught engineering at Black Rocket summer camps, the University of Colorado, and Front Range Community College.

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