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SOE Featured Faculty & Students, Events, & New Editor
Jan. 27, 2014 – Dr. Heidi Mesmer's article has been cited number eight in the most read American Education
Research Association (AERA) articles of 2013! Wow!
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Dr. Heidi Mesmer
More info~"Upping the Ante of Text Complexity in the Common Core State Standards: Examining Its
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Speech delivered by Dr. Carol A. Mullen, School of Education Director; Associate Dean for Professional
Education in the College
"Good morning students, faculty leaders, and administrators,
Welcome to the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) kickoff event!
This important day marks the beginning of the design and build season, sponsored by FRC and NASA.
This is where teams get together to share ideas and build mentoring networks, learn the game, and get
geared up for the exciting competition season.
You're going to have a great experience in the high school workshop, and especially during build
season.
I am Dr. Carol Mullen, the School of Education Director and Associate Dean for Professional Education
in the College. I started at VT in July 2013. I am really enjoying being a Hokie. It is high quality, cutting
edge programs like this one that make being a Hokie remarkably special and rewarding. Hokies invent
the future today and every day.
You know, as I was thinking about our FIRST Robotics event the other day, the circuit board on my
oven at home went out. Yes, we ended up having to eat cold lasagna. But when the technician showed
up to fix it, I asked him about how the circuit board he was installing was designed and by whom or what.
He said that circuit boards are created by robots these days because they are more precise and faster
than human beings. I went online and read about circuit boards that are built out of e-waste--discarded
computer parts--which is an energy saving, green idea that will hopefully become widespread. Robots
and robotics are here to stay.
Do you know that VT is a leader in robotics?
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Speech delivered by Dr. Carol A. Mullen, School of Education Director; Associate Dean for Professional
Education in the College
Today's kick off is an example of this. Our robotics season is a part of an exciting innovating environment
at VT.
At VT we have built a robotic jellyfish dubbed Robojelly that will study the environment and aquatic life,
map ocean floors, and more. Have you heard about drones? A recent story in the New York Times
covering drones says that VT has been selected as one of six test sites in the country by the Federal
Aviation Administration to test drone aircraft (safety standards, training pilots, integrating the aircraft into
the nation's airspace by 2015).
It is in this environment that we gather today, benefitting from the vision and hard work of Dr. Brenda
Brand.
To quote Dr. George Glasson,
"Dr. Brand is our leader of this outstanding program in science, engineering, and education. Her
robotics program is a model for meeting the Next Generation Science Education standards which
emphasize engineering design. Her collaboration with the School of Education and the College of
Engineering is noteworthy, groundbreaking even."
Dr. Glasson, like Dr. Brand, is a professor in Science Education in our School of Education. He is a very
supportive colleague and cheerleader of the FIRST Robotics, seizing opportunities to share the stellar
leadership of Dr. Brand.
Dr. Brand has been involved with the FIRST robotics program for about 14 years.
She was one of the developers of the FIRST Robotics Collaborative, a feature of our Science
Education program.
What is the FIRST Robotics Collaborative?
It is an open ended engineering design activity that scripts the students relative to challenge
specifications.
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The students are given the year's challenge, then they have six weeks to plan, design and construct a
robot based on their interpretation of the game and their goals.
In our Science Education program we share a course with Mechanical Engineering called Engineering
Leadership in Practice in which engineering and physics seniors intern in the high school robotics
course. The high school program, which Dr. Brand co-developed with her colleague Dr. Mary Kasarda in
Mechanical Engineering, is a nationwide program that occurs after school throughout the school year.
The robotics competition is situated in the middle of the year.
Dr. Bonnie Billingsley chairs the Teaching and Learning Department which houses the science