Riding the Technology Wave: Computer Scientists Building a Better Tomorrow
Riding the Technology Wave: Computer Scientists Building a Better Tomorrow
Nancy Amato, James P Early, Reetal Pai, Valerie Taylor
Overview: women students seem to have a tendency to gravitate towards research that connects technology to a larger context (fisher and Margolis, 02)
publicizing ways that cse and research projects that connect tech and the world may affect recruiting and retention rates
this panel is to share some of this and thinking about how to do this
example projects over a broad spectrum
grid computing Dr. Valerie Taylor
EPICS Dr. James Early
Individual Small Group Activities Reetal Pai
all panelists will address
personal motivations
project description
success rates
issues
Valerie Taylor:
Using Grids for Educational Applications
TAMU
Prajugo and Wu, TAMU
Gilbert,
IWAY Project (Supercomputing 1995)
Extended Teragrid (NCSA)
African American Distributed Multiple Learning Style System (AADMLSS)
Developed by Juan Gilbert (
people learn different ways. multiple learning styles for the same concept.
teach theory then examples or examples than theory
African American avatars as well
pick learning style too (on test, if do well, keep doing more advanced with same teaching style or if not do well, given same stuff with different learning style)
concepts distributed over multiple sites (web based)
TAMU looked at performance feedback
Site selection process
user logs in
have used before? get either last or default concepts
select best site and give user connection to best site (performance analysis)
random site vs. sorting by load
Integrating Engineering Education and Community Service
James Early
Asst. Prof at Purdue
Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)
motivation
engineering students need more than technical knowledge to succeed: teamwork, communication, customer-awareness, project management, leadership, ethics, professionalism
other people need technical help
context: educational reform
drivers for/reflectors of change
scholarship of engagement
Projects: Access & Abilities
complex play environ for young kids with physical disabilities
remote controlled locker opener for disabled students
multimedia system to stimulate speech in DD kids
Human Services
Habitat for Humanity
web based home selection guides
Building construction tutorials and management systems
Energy efficiency and analyses and home design
Environ-NZ
processing waste glass into sand for use in construction materials
conversion of waste cooking oil to bio diesel as an alternative fuel (U of Auckland)
Key features
long term projects
long term partnerships with community orgs
vertically integrated teams (fr, so, jr, sr)
extended design experience
large team exp (8-18 students)
Broadly multidisciplinary teams (EE, cmpE, CS, ME, CE, IUE, Soc, Edu, Bio, audiology, child devlop, nat resources
open ended design
planning, design, implementation, deploy, maintain, etc
lengthy projects (time and effort)
significant impact
EPICS and women
Anita Borg IWT virtual develop center
Purdue team developing products and software aimed at preteen and young teen girls
games and study software
collaborative story and art games
who will become a scientist/engineer
research in science education suggests that context is important to women students
image is increasingly begin cited as a deterrent to attracting women
25% of EPCIS students are women
20% if ECE & ME EPICS students
started in 1995
30 teams currently
20+ depts. involved
350-400 students/semester involved
completed 200 projects
2000+ students have completed
More about EPICS
William Oakes
765-494-3750
http://epicsnational.ecn.purdue.edu
What can I do?
Reetal Pai, Valerie Hadjik TAMU
Personal motivations
how can I best use my technical skills to make a difference?
As a volunteer for a
knowledge of technology either includes of separates
how to disseminate technical prowess
How much time does it take?
different levels of contribution and time commitment
volunteer computing: donate PC time to many computationally intensive projects
www.mersenne.org GIMPS
setiahome.berkeley.edu
folding.stanford.edu (protein folding at home)
predictor.scripps.edu (predicting 3D structure of protein from sequence)
contributions to nonprofit orgs
charity focus
volunteers
empower nonprofits with web-based technological solutions
ROBERT FULGHAM QUOTE sympathy muscle
recruit volunteers, advocates, etc
what else can we do?
women’s orgs can organize teach tech activities with local groups
identify local orgs that need help with web presence
play games (von Ahn)
captchas
espgame.org
peekaboom.org
peekaboom.org/phetch
issues and problems
most schools don’t let you donate computer resources
comp security
volunteer, so can fall through
Q&A session
Q re EPICS: What are some of the biggest obstacles school face when starting this program up? (i.e. what do I have to tell my dean?)
it varies, depending on administration
start small (i.e. single faculty member in
Q to Valerie: Any anecdotes about the actual implementation of the multiple intelligence methods?
being used to teach CS with undergrads and k-12 (more in HS) teaching algebra
very well received as a supplemental program
Students like having multiple avatars.
Could tailor to any population (women, hiphop, etc)
Q to EPICS: Rehabilitation business programs?
Usually with nonprofit groups (cause can’t afford prof services)
but sometimes projects developed and then commercialized
i2p (enterprenurial leadership @ purdue)
How work out IP rules?
Owned by Purdue (can or cannot license)
Q to Reetal: How do you find time to do all that?
no car. rape crisis center, hotline. Just need to be home in quiet place with a phone
No grad students in EPICS currently
CMU started VUnit
2 faculty members in CS
investigate non-trad aspect of research area
like ind. study
EPICS isn’t required. Why do students take this course?
want to apply skills in a positive way
they’re trying to quantify it now.
Do any affiliated schools have coop programs?
Yes. But they are totally different. EPICS can work with Coop program.
Closing thoughts:
Reetal: What interested in about this panel?
audience: Always done lots of Commun Service ->never thought about using tech skills in service
Valerie: important to incorporate technical skills into your passion
Early: all of these are headed in the right direction. try to realize that there’s a recipient of the solutions.
posted by Katie at 1:01 AM
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