This award provides funding for a new collaborative Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site focused on Signal and Image Processing at the University of Central Florida and Florida Institute of Technology. Each year 13 high school teachers from school districts in four Central Florida counties will participate in research projects at the universities. The teachers will also develop modules related to their research which they will implement in their classes in the following school year. The teachers will organize annual science events to share their work with the communities around their schools and they will participate in the Florida Science Olympiad. Through participation in the RET Site the teachers will have an enhanced knowledge base in engineering and computer science and the skills to translate this into their classroom practices, thus impacting their students and motivating them towards science, technology, computing, and engineering disciplines.
The intellectual merit of this project revolves around the expertise of the research team and outstanding research environment in which the teachers will work. The research projects are compelling and are in areas that are of current interest.
The broader impacts of this project include substantial impact on the area schools and dissemination to a broad community. Teachers will incorporate new computing and engineering topics into their classes and develop hands-on ways to impart these topics to secondary students. The teachers will also engage in public outreach to convey the concepts and appreciation of computer science and engineering to the public. Through this project, a long-term relationship between the university and the schools will be forged and cemented. The partners will work together to build a foundation of outstanding computing and engineering education in the region.
