Research

Current Projects

Development of Leadership, Change, and Synthesis Attributes among Engineering Undergraduates

Informed from interviews with academic and industry engineering experts, researchers on this team are developing instruments that assess undergraduate students’ applications of leadership, change, and synthesis skills during their engineering educational experiences. This project also explores potential partnerships between industry and academia that might enhance students’ development of professional skills formally and informally.

CAREER: An Examination of Graduate Education’s Role in Preparing Engineering Students for Careers in Academia and Industry- National Science Foundation, REESE, CCLI-Phase 2 (Expansion), Engineering Education, $541,507, 8/15/08-8/15/13, Monica F. Cox, PI. (Awarded).

What norms, skills, and attributes must engineering doctoral students embrace within a changing academy and society? This project aims to design, pilot, and validate assessment instruments that represent perspectives of academic and industrial engineering professionals. Additional themes of this research include academic stewardship and scholarship and recruitment and retention of engineering doctoral students.

Former Projects

The Vanderbilt-Northwestern-Texas-Harvard/MIT (VaNTH) Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Educational Technologies: Assessment of Effects of VaNTH Experiences on Faculty and Students- National Science Foundation, EEC, $50,172, 9/1/07-8/31/08, Monica F. Cox, Subcontractor.

GSE/RES: Examining Engineering Perceptions, Aspirations and Identity Among Young Girls- National Science Foundation, EHR, $449,953, 9/1/07-8/31/10, Brenda Capobianco, PI; Anita Roychoudhury, Co-PI; Heidi Diefes-Dux, Co-PI; Monica F. Cox, Co-PI.

Course Innovations as a Basis for Engineering Graduate Student Professional Development in Teaching- National Science Foundation, CCLI, $190,340, 06/01/07-12/31/08, Monica F. Cox, PI; Heidi Diefes-Dux, Co-PI. (Awarded).

Expansion of "How People Learn" Metrics in Engineering Classrooms- National Science Foundation, Engineering Education Centers, $149,999, 07/01/07-06/30/09, Monica F. Cox, PI; Heidi Diefes-Dux, Co-PI. (Awarded).

Through this project, we are developing and piloting a multidimensional feedback instrument for engineering graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), the Global Real-time Assessment Tool for Teaching Enhancement (G-RATE). Informed from learning science, the G-RATE can be used by external class observers, undergraduate students, GTAs, researchers, and administrators.

REU Site: Design, Application, Analysis, and Control of Interfaces (DAACI)- National Science Foundation, $294,363, 3/1/07-2/29/10, Stephen P. Beaudoin, PI; Monica F. Cox, Co-PI (Awarded).