NRT DESE: Learning, understanding, cognition, intelligence, and data science (LUCID)
In modern life there are many situations requiring people to interact with computers, either so that they may learn from the machine or so that the machine may learn from them. The applications in education, industry, health, robotics, and national security hint at the enormous societal and economic benefits arising from research into the technologies that promote learning in both people and computers. Yet the potential has been difficult to realize because such research requires scientists with expertise in quite different fields of study. While computer scientists receive training in complex computational ideas and methods, they know little about how people learn and behave. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Wisconsin-Madison will prepare trainees with data-enabled science and engineering training to simultaneously understand computational theory and methods, the mechanisms that support human learning and behavior, and the ways these mechanisms behave in complex real-world situations. The traineeship anticipates equipping forty (40) doctoral students with the skills and expertise necessary to advance our understanding of human and machine learning and teaching, through a new training program that focuses on learning, understanding, cognition, intelligence, and data science.
This project will train doctoral students from computer science, engineering, cognitive psychology, and education sciences, with the goal of promoting a common knowledge base that allows these scientists to work productively across traditional boundaries on both basic research questions and practical, real-world problems. The traineeship will include several graduate training innovations: (1) a project-focused "prof-and-peer" mentoring system where scientists work in cross-disciplinary teams to address a shared research problem, (2) close involvement of partners in industry, government, and non-profit sectors to develop research problems with real-world application, (3) an information outreach effort that trains scientists to communicate with the public, industry, and policy-makers through traditional and new media outlets, (4) a flexible development plan that allows each trainee to garner the cross-disciplinary expertise needed to advance a particular research focus, and (5) new mechanisms for recruiting and retaining under-represented groups in STEM research. This training will prepare US scientists to compete globally at the highest levels for positions in science, industry, and government, in a growth sector of the 21st century knowledge economy.
The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The Traineeship Track is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas, through the comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.
This award is supported, in part, by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, specifically the ECR Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) area of special interest. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.
