Examples of Synergies between Research and Hands-on Design-Based Learning

Abstract

Dr. Cassandra Telenko holds a joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering and in Industrial Design at Georgia Tech. She has taught engineering, design, and sustainability topics at MIT, The Georgia Institute of Technology, SUTD, and UT-Austin. Dr. Telenko's education research interests include sustainability, critical thinking, design thinking, and design-based learning. Her educational research products include a methodology for creating short-term design experiences for multidisciplinary engineering education, and a pilot course to improve Spatial Visualization skills of freshmen in engineering at UT-Austin. Her general research in eco-design provides methods for analyzing environmental impacts of design decisions, redesigning products for energy efficiency, modeling usage contexts, and actionable guidelines to help designers reduce environmental impacts. with minors in Entrepreneurship. Dr. Jariwala has over nine years of research experience in modeling, simulation, engineering design, and manufacturing process development, with research focus on design of polymer based micro additive manufacturing process. During his Ph.D. studies, he was also a participant of the innovative TI:GER R program (funded by NSF:IGERT), which prepares students to commercialize high impact scientific research results. Dr. Jariwala has participated and led several research projects from funded by NSF, the State of Georgia and Industry sponsors. At Georgia Tech, he is responsible for enhancing corporate support for design courses, managing design and fabrication/prototyping facilities, coordinating the design competitions/expo and teaching design courses, with a strong focus on creating and enabling multidisciplinary educational experiences. Examples of Synergies between Research and Hands-on andDesign Based Learning Abstract Space and time are precious and limited resources in any university, and many faculty and administrators face a dilemma on how to adequately support both research and educational missions of the Institute. Research needs may conflict with the need to provide space and time to support and enhance undergraduate education. In order to meet the growing demands for handson education, it is essential to encourage shared utilization of resources to support both research and education. The goal of this paper is to inspire faculty and institutions by presenting six successful examples of integrating research and undergraduate education at a large, state university. Students are conducting real research, reconstructed to take place as a design lesson in Thermodynamics. Faculty are leveraging infrastructure to attract funding from Government agencies (e.g. the Department of Energy), which would mutually support both the course and the faculty's specific research interests. Research labs open their doors to the classroom for active learning, and student maker spaces double as data collection sites. The success of these efforts is dependent upon mutual appreciation for the roles of education and research while still respect...

Water Tunnel Design: A Senior Capstone Project to Promote Hands-on Learning in Fluids

“…al. [4] argue that creating synergies between research and design-based learning is mutually beneficial to faculty research and student learning.…”