This CI-TEAM Implementation Project will deploy a collaborative online learning laboratory that utilizes a shared set of cyberinfrastructure-based repositories, design tools, and teaching materials to support educational initiatives and outreach rooted in engineering dissection. The collaboratory will support both physical and virtual dissection of engineered products and systems in 41 engineering, computer science (CS), and information sciences and technology (IST) courses at 9 different universities: Penn State, Bucknell University, Drexel University, Virginia Tech, Northwestern University, University of Missouri-Rolla, University at Buffalo, Sweet Briar College, and Norfolk State University. The project involves 32 faculty at these universities from 12 different disciplines in engineering, engineering education, computer science, information sciences and technology, education, and psychology. The collaboratory will leverage several ongoing cyberinfrastructure-related activities to deliver sustainable learning and workforce development for current and future generations of educators and engineers in multiple disciplines as well as computer scientists and those involved with information sciences and technology.
The results of this collaborative implementation project will establish a unique closed-loop application of cyberinfrastructure that combines not only engineering and CS/IST in CI-related activities but also examines the implications of the availability of the proposed collaboratory. The project will have significant and broad impact, as more than 12,000 engineering and CS/IST students will participate in the collaboratory. As part of the project, the educational impact and CI competency of the 12,000 participating engineering and CS/IST students, including user adoption of the materials available through the collaboratory, will be assessed. The project will also foster the inclusion of diverse groups of people and organizations in cyberinfrastructure activities by working with two outreach partners: Sweet Briar College, an all women's college, and Norfolk State University, an Historically Black University. Targeted recruiting plans for REU students along with existing K-12 partnerships and future RETs will further increase the participation of underrepresented groups to promote a diverse CI-savvy workforce. To promote long-term sustainability of the collaboratory, an engineering dissection textbook based on the educational materials that will be developed, a national training workshop for engineering and CS/IST educators will be organized, and a national supercomputing center will help provide long-term storage and security of the repository data.
