Promoting Undergraduate Research through a Research Option in a Technical Communication Course

Project Links: Spring Course Fall Course Research Symposiums Publications by Students Project Personnel: Michael Alley Dr. Jenny Lo Dr. Lisa McNair Whitney Edmister Sponsor: National Science Foundation

This project, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (Division of Undergraduate Education, project 0341171), is to test whether a research option in a technical communication course can promote and foster undergraduate research. The research option consists of two parts: a 1-credit course that focuses on preparing for a research experience, and a 2-credit course that focuses on documenting the research that was performed. Occurring in the spring semester is the 1-credit course Preparing for Research, which has the goal of preparing students for a summer research experience. Positioned in the fall semester after the summer research experience is the 2-credit course Documenting Research, which has the goal of teaching students how to document their research through presentations, posters, web pages, journal articles, and reports. In the pilot offering of the course in 2005, 18 of the 20 students enrolled in the spring course obtained funded research experiences for the summer of 2005 (the other two students opted for internships with companies). Arising from these experiences were 5 professional journal papers and 6 professional conference papers in which the undergraduates were either lead authors or co-authors. In the second offering of the course in 2006, 14 of the 17 students enrolled in the spring course obtained funded research experiences for the summer of 2006. This project, which began in July 2004, is being carried out in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech.

Overview Preparing for Research: Spring Semester Research Experiences of Participants: Summer 2005 Ackermann, Rob, Methods for Detecting Co-Evolving Sites Across Proteins, Sponsor: Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech Ceperley, Ellen, Experiment Design to Measure Perceived Error in Simulated Acoustic Environments, Sponsor: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech Cho, Daniel, Particles in Microdischarge Plasma: Coulombic Interactions and Optical Effects, Sponsor: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Diaz, Michael, Development of Photovoltaic-Powered "Talking Braille," Sponsor: Interactive Media Technology Center, Georgia Tech Easton, Jessica, Conversion of Heat Loss Using a Thermoelectric Generator, Sponsor: Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Tech Kaeli, Jeffrey, Morphological Image Recognition of Deep-Water Reef Corals, Sponsor: Deep Submergence Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Bio-Optical Oceanography Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico Lewis, Abasha, Investigating the Separation/Purification of Pegylated Proteins Using Ultrafiltration Membrane Technology, Sponsor: Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech Li, Yan, Discovery of Cardioprotection in TL4 Receptors Deficient Mice Mediated by Activation of PI3K/Akt Pathway during Heart Attacks, Sponsor: Department of Surgery, ETSU, James H. Quillen College of Medicine Ng, Tracy, Upper and Lower Spine Accelerations During Daily Activities: The Effects of Gender and Size, Sponsor: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech Nkei, Bertrand, The Study of Different Type of On-Board Architectures in Electronic Power Distribution, Sponsor: Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Tech Ostanek, Jason, Drag on Finite-length Cylinder Subjected to Cross Flow Sponsor: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech Patterson, Kristin, Synthesis of Silole-thiophene Copolymer for Solar Cell Applications, Sponsor: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Chemistry, Georgia Tech Peterson, Matthew, UMLpac: An Approach to Integrate Security Features into UML Class Design, Sponsor: Department of Computer Science, University of South Carolina Ramsdell, Katrina, A Plan for Using a Sentence Headline Design of Presentation Slides in Science and Engineering Education, Sponsor: Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech Skinner, Brian, Implementing a Quantum Random Walk on a Four-Qubit Quantum Information Processor, Sponsor: Department of Nuclear Engineering, MIT Willgruber, Danielle, Gender and Racial Differences in Learning Programming Concepts in a Freshmen Engineering Class, Sponsor: Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech Documenting Research: Fall Semester Undergraduate Research Symposium: 2004 Undergraduate Research Symposium: 2005 Professional Publications by Students in 2005 The following are publications in professional journals and professional conferences that arose from the research experiences of students who took the pilot course sequence in 2005. The names of the students are linked to their research projects. Alley, M., M. Schreiber, K. Ramsdell, and J. Muffo, "How the Design of Headlines in Presentation Slides Affects Audience Retention," Technical Communication, vol. 53, no. 2 (May 2006), pp. 225-234. Alley, M., M. Schreiber, K. Ramsdell, J. Muffo, and M. Borrego, "The Importance of Sentence Headlines in Teaching Slides," 2006 ASEE National Conference (Chicago, Illinois: American Society of Engineering Educators, 20 June 2006). Alley, M., M. Schreiber, E. Diesel, K. Ramsdell, and M. Borrego, "Increased Student Learning and Attendance in Resources Geology through the Combination of Sentence-Headline Slides and Active Learning Measures," Journal of Geoscience Education (to appear in January 2006). Alley, M., M. Schreiber, K. Ramsdell, J. Muffo, and M. Borrego, "The Importance of Sentence Headlines in Teaching Slides," 2006 ASEE National Conference (Chicago, Illinois: American Society of Engineering Educators, 20 June 2006). Paper presented by K. Ramsdell. Duma, S. M., T. P. Ng, E. A. Kennedy, J. D. Stitzel, I. P. Herring, and F. Kuhn, "Determination of Significant Parameters for Eye Injury Risk from Projectiles," Journal of Trauma, vol. 59, no. 4 (October 2005), pp. 960-964. Fan, W., T. Ha, Y. Li, T. Ozment-Skelton, D. L. Williams, J. Kelley, I. W. Browder, and C. Li, " Overexpression of TLR2 and TLR4 susceptibility to serum deprivation-induced apoptosis in CHO cells," Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology (29 September 2005), pp. 840-848. Kaeli, J., H. Singh, and R. A. Armstrong, "An Automated Morphological Image Processing Based Methodology for Quantifying Coral Cover in Deeper-Reef Zones," 2006 IEEE Southeast (September 2006). Paper to be presented by J. Kaeli. Ng, T. P., W. R. Bussone, and S. M. Duma, "The Effect of Gender and Size on Linear Accelerations of the Head Observed During Daily Activities," 43rd International ISA Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation Symposium (7-9 April 2006). Paper presented by T. P. Ng. Ng, T. P., W. R. Bussone, and S. M. Duma, "Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Accelerations in Everyday Activities," 43rd International ISA Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation Symposium (7-9 April 2006). Poster presented by T. P. Ng. Peterson, M., and J. Bowles, "UMLpac: An Approach to Integrate Security Features Into UML Class Design," 2006 IEEE Southeast Conference (1-2 April 2006). Paper presented by M. Peterson. Ramsdell, K., M. Alley, M. Schreiber, and M. Borrego, "Testing of an Active Learning Strategy in a Large Lecture Course," 2006 ASEE National Conference (Chicago, Illinois: American Society of Engineering Educators, 20 June 2006). Paper presented by K. Ramsdell.

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