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5 faculty projects selected as SEIRI seed grant recipients

Sep 11, 2019

The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute’s annual SEIRI Seed Grants program has awarded $146,328 to IUPUI faculty representing the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, allowing them to better address key issues within their curricula.

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The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute awarded $146,328 to IUPUI faculty.Photo by Liz Kaye, Indiana University

The SEIRI Seed Grants program is a competition that facilitates and supports STEM education innovation and research. Specifically, this opportunity provides funding to faculty members to develop, implement and evaluate the impact of pedagogical innovations across multiple IUPUI STEM courses. The projects are eligible for an award of up to $30,000 each.

“This is the third year of the Seed Grants competition, and we are so pleased to once again recognize IUPUI faculty working on projects to facilitate and support improvements and innovation in STEM education research at IUPUI,” said Annwesa Dasgupta, postdoctoral researcher and program facilitator. “We received eight proposals and funded five.”

This year’s grant recipients are:

  • “Design and Evaluate the Factors for a Flipped Classroom for Data Management Courses”: Shamima Mithun, lecturer of computer and information technology, School of Engineering and Technology; Xiao Luo, assistant professor of computer and information technology, School of Engineering and Technology.
  • “Engaging Undergraduates, Non-majors, and Citizen Scientists to Survey Our Urban Ecology”: Patrick Gentry, lecturer, biology freshman worker administrator, co-chair of intercultural learning community of practice, biology department, School of Science; Patricia Clark, lecturer, biology department, School of Science; Gabriel Filippelli, professor and director, Center for Urban Health, department of earth sciences, School of Science; Christine Picard, director, forensic and investigative sciences program, associate professor, department of biology, School of Science.
  • “Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Clinical Immersion: Training Engineers to Identify and to Develop Solutions for Indiana’s Urban Health Needs”: Sharon Miller, associate chair of the department of biomedical engineering, School of Engineering and Technology; Steven Higbee, clinical assistant professor of biomedical engineering, School of Engineering and Technology.
  • “Study of Effectiveness of Integrating Virtual Reality Education Modules into Additive Manufacturing Instruction”: Jing Zhang, associate professor of mechanical engineering, School of Engineering and Technology.
  • “Examining Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness of Adaptive Technologies and the Quality Matters Rubric for Online Courses”: Angela Murillo, assistant professor, library and information science and data science, program director, applied data and information science, School of Informatics and Computing.

Abstracts of all SSG 2019 projects are available online.

“This grant, in all reality, is everything,” said Gentry, whose project will involve turning undergraduate nonmajors and members of the public into lay scientists, allowing them to take part in authentic and meaningful science. “SEIRI offered an opportunity to turn a good idea into something that can actually be done, and I couldn’t even begin to do this work without the financial and human support from SEIRI.”

For faculty interested in applying for future SEIRI seed grants, the next grant solicitation will be posted on the SEIRI website in May. For more information, contact Pratibha Varma-Nelson, founding executive director, at pvn@iupui.edu.

IU Research

Indiana University’s world-class researchers have driven innovation and creative initiatives that matter for nearly 200 years. From curing testicular cancer to collaborating with NASA to search for life on Mars, IU has earned its reputation as a world-class research institution. Supported by $680 million last year from our partners, IU researchers are building collaborations and uncovering new solutions that improve lives in Indiana and around the globe.

Kelsey Cook is associate director of research communications in the Office of the Vice President for Research at IUPUI.

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