SOE Faculty Meeting
February 23, 2015
AGENDA
Welcome, Call to Order, Approval of Minutes from Dec. 17, 2014 – Dean Kazerounian
Report by and Conversation with the Dean – Dean Kazerounian
Guest Speaker – Dr. Dan Weiner, Vice Provost for Global Affairs
Strategic Initiatives Update – Senior Associate Dean Mike Accorsi
Undergraduate Education Updates – Associate Dean Dan Burkey
Research and Graduate Education Updates – Associate Dean Mei Wei
Faculty Presentation – Dr. Sarira Motaref, CEE
Open Forum – Donna Thibault
10/06/2014
SoE Faculty Meeting
Feb. 2nd, 2015
Financial Challenges
Guest Speaker:
Dr. Daniel Weiner
Vice Provost for Global Affairs
Thank you!
6
School of Engineering
Faculty Meeting – February 23, 2015
Michael Accorsi – Senior Associate Dean
• Space Issues
 NESB Update
 STEM Space Assessment
• Proposal Development Activities
 Large Proposals
 Junior Faculty Support
NESB Update
• SPACE …
 3 floors for SOE & 2 floors for ISG/CGI
 ~25% increase in SOE total space
• … and TIME
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Redesign for ISG/CGI
Groundbreaking in May 2015
Construction complete in January 2017
Move in during Spring 2017
STEM Space Assessment
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Purpose - Plan for growth in STEM programs under NGC
University level activity - SOE, CLAS, CAHNR & Pharm
Led by AES with architectural firm ZGF
Anticipated to take one year
Activities – tours of space & interviews with Deans,
Department Heads & Faculty
 Teaching space – preliminary tour complete
 Research space – preliminary tour begin Wednesday
Approach – accommodate tours & interviews + articulate
our space needs = SOE space needs in university plan
Proposal Development Activities
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Proposal Development Team
 Faculty team or solo PI – technical content
 Bethany Javidi – reviewing, writing & editing
 Lori Mather – pre-award and budgeting
Priorities
 Large proposals – multi-institutional, multifaculty & center proposals
 Junior faculty – strengthen grantsmanship skills
Proposal Development Activities
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Large Proposals
 13 major proposals ranging from $400K to $20M
since 6/14
 Strong positive feedback from faculty PIs
Junior Faculty
 NSF CAREER workshop series
 Start early & make continuous progress (11/14 – 6/15)
 Develop white paper with key concepts
 Provide internal panel review and feedback (3/15)
 Special thanks – Bethany, Lori, Ranjan, Aida, Kevin,
SOE faculty (samples, panelists, etc)
Proposal Development Activities
New Manufacturing Innovation Initiative – Flexible Hybrid
Electronics
• FOA to be issued 2/13/15
• Anticipate being part of a New
England team led by Draper
• Contact me if you are interested
in participating
Technical Areas Needed
• Material development and reliability
• Innovative manufacturing technologies
• Modeling of non-linear elastic materials
• Thermal management
• Low-loss interconnects and components
SOE Faculty Meeting
February 23, 2015
Mei Wei
Associate Dean for Research
and Graduate Education
Major Research Awards (10/14 – 1/15)
CAREER awards:
• Avinash Dongare, National Science Foundation, CAREER: Dynamic Evolution of
Defect/Damage Mesostructures in Metallic Materials, 2/15-1/20, $500,000
• Timothy M. Vadas, National Science Foundation, CAREER: Impact of Urbanization on
Organic Carbon-Metal Interactions and Trophic Transfer in Streams, 2/15-1/20, $500,000
• Kay Wille, National Science Foundation, CAREER: Understanding Behavior and Properties
of Nano-Sized Particles in Cement-Based Materials, 9/15-8/20, $500,000
• Sung Yeul Park, National Science Foundation, CAREER: Enabling High Performance Battery
Charging Systems: Adaptive and Optimal Charging Algorithms Based on Dynamic Battery
Characteristics, 9/15-8/20, $500,000
REU award:
• Arash Esmaili Zaghi and Mark Tehranipoor, National Science Foundation, REU Site:
Research Experience in Cyber and Civil Infrastructure Security for Students with
ADHD: Fostering Innovation, 2/15-1/18, $344,099
Major Research Awards (10/14 – 1/15)
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Chih-Jen Sung, China National Technical Import and Export Corporation, Fundamental
Research on Advanced Gas Turbine Combustion Relevant Analysis, 8/14-7/17,
$1,950,000
Eric D. Jackson, CT Department of Transportation, The Connecticut Transportation
Safety Research Center: Year 3 and 4, 1/15-6/16, $1,582,581
Jinbo Bi, National Institutes of Health, Quantitative Methods to Subtype Drug
Dependence and Detect Novel Genetic Variants, 2/15-11/18, $1,122,500
Prabhakar Singh, Manoj Mahapatra, and Rampi Ramprasad, Department of Energy,
Materials and Approaches for the Mitigation of SOFC Cathode Degradation in SOFC
Power Systems, 10/14-9/17, $1,002,125
Allison A. Mackay and Jose A. Gascon, National Science Foundation, Collaborative
Research: Organic Cation Interactions with Soil Aluminosilicates: Structure-Sorption
Relationships, 11/14-10/17, $410,000
Value of New Awards (7/1/14-1/30/15)
Academic Plan Proposals
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Tier 1:
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Tier 2:
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Puxian Gao, Menka Jain, Mei Wei: Large Scale Correlated Electronic
Nanoarchitectures for Next Generation Oxide based Electronics and
Drug Delivery Systems
Tier 3:
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Mark Tehranipoor, Laurent Michel, Alex Shvartsman, Rajeev Bansal:
Connecticut Cybersecurity Center
Bryan Huey, Avinash Dongare, Puxian Gao, Yusuf Khan: Chemical,
Biological, and Mechanical Indicators of Sub-Traumatic Brain Injury
Equipment:
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Sanguthevar Rajasekaran, Yong-Jun Shin, Marc Lalande, Rampi
Ramprasad, Pamir Alpay: UCONN Cloud Computing Infrastructure for
the Study of Complex Systems
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Xu Chen, Robert Gao, Rainer Hebert: Design of an Open-Source
Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing System
Academic Plan Proposals
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Tier 1:
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D. Burgess, F. Papadim, Faquir Jain: Creation of A Center
for the Development and Application of Biosensor-Based eHealth Technologies
Tier 2:
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R McAvoy, Jeff McCutcheon: Smart Resource Grids:
Exploring Technical Solutions to Grand Challenges at the
Water-Energy-Food Nexus
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C. Nelson, Ion Mandoiu: Uniting an Interdisciplinary Team
around the First High Resolution Cell Lineage Map of the
Mouse Embryo
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J. Dixon, Ki Chon: Interdisciplinary Motor Performance
Enhancement Laboratory (IMPEL)
Academic Plan Proposals
• Tier 3:
 C.V. Kumar, Tai-His Fan: Single-Enzyme Meets SinglePolymer: Biocompatible, Sustainable, Green, and Renewable
Biocatalysts for Advanced Enzyme Fuel Cells
 H. Read, Monty Escabi: BRAIN Initiative Pilot: Center for
Theoretical and Applied Systems Neurosciences and
Dynamic Brain-Circuit Control
 C. Zhang, Sanguthevar Rajasekaran: Toward Sustainable
Long Island Sound Watersheds by Linking Renewable Energy
Resources to Land Use, Economics, and Public Policy
• Equipment:
 J Rueckl, Kevin Brown: Multimodal Brain Imaging/Testing
models of Brain Function Using Transcranial magnetic
Simulation
Initiatives
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Woman innovation
Faculty cluster flyer
Female faculty lunch
Graduate Education
• Domestic student recruitment
 March 9th
• Graduate poster competition
 March 25th
• Professional development workshops
 Feb 11, Feb 25, March 11, April 8
Thank You !
FACULTY PRESENTATION
Sarira Motaref - CEE
10/06/2014
Faculty Meeting
February 23, 2015
Applied Mechanics I (Statics)
Flipped Course
By: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Sarira Motaref,
Dr. Ross Bagtzoglou
Dr. Christine Kirchhoff
Dr. Lanbo Liu
Dr. Kay Wille
Flipped Course vs. Traditional Course
Activities inside and outside of class are switched
Flipped courses vs. Blended courses
Flipped Class Lay out
Out of Class Activities
• Watching lecture videos
• Watching sample problem solving videos
• Quizzes
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Homework problems
• Maximize class participation
Inside Class Activities
• 10 minutes recitation
• Sample problem solving by STUDENTS individually
or in groups followed by presentation of correct
solution by INSTRUCTOR/PEERS
• Homework problem solutions (partially)
Course Objectives and a Plan to Deliver Materials
A Calendar as a Road Map for Students
• HuskyCT section was Built by ITL (Institute of Teaching and Learning)
Preliminary Assessment
Advantages
• Unlimited availability of course materials to students (24/7)
• Delivering more class materials (more in depth problems)
• Flexibility in student learning (re-watch/ at their own pace/ ahead of time)
• Reducing stresses of learning
• Class activity that reinforces student learning
Disadvantages
• Instructor cannot answer students’ prompt questions during the delivery of
the lecture
• Students spend more time outside of class compared to a regular class
• High possibility of falling behind the class when videos are not viewed.
Students Vote (%)
Which course components helped you the most to learn the
60
course material?
50
40
30
20
10
0
Results of SET (Fall 2014)
Would you like to take another Flipped Course in SoE?
35%
48%
17%
Yes
No
Maybe
Students Performance Flipped vs. Regular
Full Assessment
Analyzing the results of all
Flipped sections of Statics
Publish an article in Engineering
Education
OPEN FORUM
10/06/2014