Special Projects for Improving the Classroom Experience (SPICE)

Applicant: Dr. Shokoufeh Mirzaei

Collaborator: Dr. Ellips Masehian

Amount Funded: $30,000

Proposal Abstract:

This SPICE grant application requests funds for modernizing the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department. This lab is mainly used for teaching both IE and MFE majors the elements of factory automation and process computerization. Unfortunately, the lab has outdated equipment that do not provide meaningful laboratory experience to our students. While the real industry vastly uses automated manufacturing systems, the Lab does not prepare our students to work on or manage such systems. The lab serves all senior-year IE and MFE students of the department and in its current condition does not contribute to the “Learn by Doing” philosophy of our polytechnic university. This SPICE grant request will enrich the lab with a new material-handling robotic arm, controller, and software, all integrated into a movable cart for more flexibility in teaching and storage. Through using these pieces of equipment, students will experience real-world automated systems and will learn robot programming and control through various hands-on experiments.

Applicant: Dr. Peter Hanink

Collaborator: Dr. Philippe Duhart

Amount Funded: $20,616

Proposal Abstract:

The Criminology Media Lab aims to (1) produce public-facing rigorous, engaging, insightful videos about topics related to criminology inspired by scholarship but delivered in a casual tone and (2) provide our students with opportunities to apply their knowledge by researching, writing, recording, editing and disseminating these videos. If awarded, the SPICE funding will pay for the purchase of the recording equipment and assigned time for Criminology professors. The Criminology Media Lab will give our students the opportunities to demonstrate their expertise on topics of their choosing related to Criminology, learn how to work collaboratively on a project, and provide much needed public scholarship on often heated and little understood crime-related topics. Students will be mentored throughout the topic-selection, research, writing, production, and dissemenation processes.

Applicant: Dr. Weimin Li

Collaborator: Dr. Carlos Flores

Amount Funded: $24,999.19

Proposal Abstract:

We are applying for the SPICE grant to establish a streamlined digital environment with software and cloud service and develop a comprehensive instructional framework to support the teaching and learning of Big Data (BD), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) technologies and their innovative applications in environmental design. Through this proposal, we aim to (1) better prepare students with the latest technologies and tools for the capturing, processing, and analyzing of big geospatial data, such as high-resolution remote sensing images and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data collected with various sensors mounted on spaceborne, airborne, and uninhabited remote sensing platforms; (2) introduce students to big data in various formats, including texts, sounds, photos, videos, etc., that documents the biophysical and socio-behavior phenomena involved in environmental design decision-making, and (3) expose students to the cutting edge knowledge, skills, and tools of AI and ML and their applications in solving environmental and social problems such as climate change crisis, ecological degradation, and environmental and social injustice through learning, research, and practice. With support from the SPICE grant, we will mentor students in the research and discovery of emerging information challenges in the big data era, facilitate collaboration among students to conduct service-learning projects that involve local, regional, and global communities, provide equal access to centralized computation powers and software environment, and offer inclusive accommodation of students with demands for flexible learning modalities and schedules. In short, our project provides students with cutting-edge information technologies and enables them to generate creative and innovative solutions to critical societal problems through learn-by-doing activities in highly flexible learning modes.