NSF Awards: 1952523, 1460045
Our STEM for All video submission will explain the functionality of an existing program, UCF IRES, amidst the pandemic. The International Research Experience is funded by the National Science Foundation and brings together a collection of multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Central Florida, who are collaborating with scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as well as faculty from the university. This international research collaboration is extremely beneficial for all research participants as well for students at various levels through outreach.
Insight on past student experiences on the theme of high temperature materials and combustion technology will be presented. Current students will talk about how impact is still being made towards the advancement of the unique International engineering research, although the collaboration is being accomplished thousands of miles apart.
Seetha Raghavan
Professor
We are a group of researchers at the University of Central Florida who are working on Advancing materials and combustion technologies for next generation propulsion and power generation systems at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
We are excited to share how UCF students have been participating in an international collaboration in this COVID era.
International collaboration helps us go above and beyond in our quest for scientific knowledge.
Watch our video to discover what we are doing to navigate the challenges and make this collaboration successful and vote for us!
Learn more about us here:
https://aerostructures.cecs.ucf.edu/ires/
Benjamin Latrobe
Undergraduate researcher
Hello!
I'm Benjamin, one of the UCF IRES undergraduate researchers.
Even though we aren't traveling to Germany this year, we are still able to safely conduct research in the UCF facilities and have virtual discussions with our UCF and DLR advisors. I am very grateful to be part of this international collaboration.
Feel free to ask any questions!
Marisa Ramiccio
Hello!
How will the adaptations made and the lessons learned during the pandemic influence the delivery of the IRES program post-pandemic?
Thanks!
Seetha Raghavan
Professor
Awesome question Marisa!
There are some great adaptations we would like to keep post pandemic. For example, we teamed up with Skype-a-Scientist for online international outreach. This gave us the opportunity to virtually "visit" classrooms in Canada and the Philippines and share our research and international collaboration with students. It was amazing! We're glad to have done that and plan to continue this post-pandemic.
On the other hand we will miss the face to face industry visits. We hope to schedule more of them when we get a chance to travel next year.
Thanks!
Seetha
Mike Vargas
Physics Teacher
Hello Seetha,
What kind of Industry visits would you typically conduct during the course of a "normal" school year? This program sounds awesome. International travel and aerospace science? Does it get any better than that :>
Many Thanks
Mike
Marisa Ramiccio
Hello!
How will the adaptations made and the lessons learned during the pandemic influence the delivery of the IRES program post-pandemic?
Thanks!
Samantha DeNicola
Undergraduate Researcher
Hey Everyone,
My name is Samantha and I am a part of the UCF IRES program as an undergraduate researcher. Through the pandemic we have still been able to virtually connect with the DLR advisors and gain knowledge on how to conduct experiments at our facility at UCF. Through this remote experience, we have also been able to virtually connect with students across the globe to share our research.
If there are any questions regarding the program I'd be happy to answer them for you!
Mike Vargas
Physics Teacher
Hi Samantha -
So what is the number one thing you learned while working with an international team this year and why?
Many Thanks
Mike
Samantha DeNicola
Undergraduate Researcher
Thank you for the question!
Because my DLR advisor is in a different environment from myself currently, there are differing ideas that arise. Through communication with the international team, I learned that great planning and structure is needed in order to be successful. Ensuring that each meeting is filled with vital information and questions on how to further my research. Overall, it has been helpful to understand how I can go about tasks from a different perspective.
Have a nice day!
Samantha
Jillian Gloria
Undergraduate Researcher
Hello All,
My name is Jillian and I am also a part of this year's UCF IRES program! The opportunity to learn from international partners in this remote environment has been surprisingly fulfilling. Through platforms like Zoom, I've been able to meet with and present my research to not only my UCF colleagues for feedback, but my DLR mentors as well. This opportunity has lead to a deeper understanding of combustion technology on my own time, which I greatly enjoy!
If you have any questions about the program, I'd be thrilled to share my experience!
Thomas Smith
Professor
What a great program! I particularly like the "Skype-a-scientist" adaptation that you did for COVID. How do you see the broader impact of this program and how do you measure it?
Seetha Raghavan
Professor
International research experiences in STEM are not as common as they should be and the more we share our program with a wide range of students, the more we empower them to seek these and similar opportunities. Broader impact is so important to us. Since not all students can travel, our students are excited to "bring everyone along for the ride". In addition to outreach, the students write blogs. At UCF, we're lucky to have the Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) group to help us conduct pre-experience and post-experience surveys and collect data on research outcomes as well as broader impact outcomes during STEM events. We learn from this and get better every year!
Rebecca Vieyra
Doctoral Student
Dear team,
Thanks for a great video. One of the things I noted right away is that you have done a lot to pivot to the online format. However, as much as you've "made it work," I'm sure this was not an ideal situation. What do you feel that you have lost, both in terms of personal international experiences and STEM-related experiences? (I think this is also an important element -- I work internationally as well, and I think there's a growing sense that there's no need to travel if we can just get by doing this through video conference).
Seetha Raghavan
Professor
Nothing can replace in-person experiences when it comes to soaking in the culture, surroundings and overall atmosphere of being in a different country. In terms of the program, some of what we will miss are the best mentorship experiences with the international advisors through direct communication, access to facilities and technical experts and face-to-face industry visits where we get to see how products are manufactured and tested. There is so much more that the students will learn when we get the chance to travel and we are looking forward to it next year.
Rebecca Vieyra
Doctoral Student
Thanks, Seetha! (Also, and this is just a curiosity question, what kind of diplomatic hoops or export control of intellectual property did you have to jump through? I'm guessing on the NSF side, probably none, and you didn't collaborate with NASA, correct? I just wonder if there are any interesting nuances to work with a foreign federal agency that you can tell us about!)
Seetha Raghavan
Professor
Thanks for the question Rebecca. Export control of materials is something to always look out for when working on international research. Luckily UCF has a great Office of Export Compliance to help us navigate this. As for intellectual property, we have just been granted a joint patent for our team effort on devising a characterization technique for measuring sand ingression and we hope this will be the first of many!
Vanessa D'Esposito
Undergraduate Researcher
Guten tag!
My name is Vanessa, and I am also a member of this year's IRES student group! Even given the current situation of the pandemic, the IRES program has been able to provide an extremely beneficial experience through the use of online meeting tools and other solutions to substitute for meetings and other events that would have otherwise been in person. We've been able to have direct connections to our DLR mentors to collaborate with them, even though we won't be able to travel to Germany this summer to do so due to the pandemic. I personally believe this speaks very highly of the program, especially the will of our mentors both at UCF and DLR, and the students involved, to make this a successful and memorable experience.
Feel free to ask any questions, and I'll be more than happy to answer!
Vanessa
Rebecca Vieyra
Doctoral Student
Vanessa, thanks for your response. I'm curious to know more about what kinds of collaboration you were actually able to do. Is it mostly data analysis? Or were you able to engage in laboratory-based activities?
Vanessa D'Esposito
Undergraduate Researcher
Hi Rebecca, and great question!
For my research specifically, we've actually been able to receive samples from my DLR mentor to analyze using some equipment on UCF campus! Given this, I have thankfully been able to develop my lab-based skills in addition to those of data analysis and critical thinking, even with the hurdles placed in our way by the pandemic.
Thank you for your question!