2022 CI + UR Mentor Forum

When: February 4, 2022 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Where: Watt Center Auditorium and synchronous Zoom

The Office of Creative Inquiry + Undergraduate Research is hosting its annual Mentor Forum to address topics relevant to the ‘CI of the Future.’

Agenda
Internationalize your CI Project through a Virtual Partnership

Have you thought about bringing international partners, peers or ideas into your CI projects? Through an International Virtual Exchange (IVE) your students can work with their global peers, can learn from experts from around the world, or explore how an issue is experienced in a context distinct from their own. International Virtual Exchange is a key aspect of internationalizing the curriculum, and how to easily incorporate it to any CI project.

This presentation provides an introduction to IVE for mentors interested in utilizing IVE activities for their CI or other academic pursuits. We will specifically address and provide an example of applications for CI projects.

The presenters will share their experience using IVE, discuss different resources for creating IVE appropriate content, navigating cultural challenges associated with IVE, and identifying the technology best suited for their desired experience.

Topics include the following:
  • Easy and effective ways to incorporate IVE in your CI project
  • The benefits of including IVE
  • How to get started with IVE at Clemson, and what support is available through OGE
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Dr. Minory Nammouz

Dr. Minory Nammouz is a senior lecturer in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Clemson University. Her research and teaching interests relate to studying how students learn and applying research-based teaching methodologies to develop introductory science classes for non-science majors.

Nammouz developed and implemented a series of science classes for non-science majors that reinforced the interconnection among varieties of scientific concepts. Most notably, she incorporated global learning into her classes through virtual exchange models to assist students in seeing the connections between their studies and the world outside the classroom.

Nammouz was appointed as a Global Learning Institute Faculty Fellow and will spend the 2021-2022 academic year supporting the University's International Virtual Exchange (IVE) initiatives.

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Dr. Melissa Smith

Before her appointment at Clemson in 2006, Dr. Smith was a research associate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While at ORNL, her research activities including high-energy and nuclear physics instrumentation (the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL, the PHENIX particle physics experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and the Nuclear Weapons Inspection System (NWIS) program), sub-micron CMOS circuit design (analog, digital, and mixed-signal), fault-tolerant sensor networks, software-defined radio, machine learning, and high-performance and reconfigurable computing for real-time systems and scientific computation. She continues to collaborate with some of the top research scientists at ORNL and across the country in areas of heterogeneous high-performance computing, machine learning and AI, System Performance Modeling and Analysis, and High-Speed Data Acquisition Systems.

Smith has over 25 years of experience developing and implementing scientific workloads and machine learning applications across multiple domains, including 12 years as a research associate at ORNL. Her current research focuses on performance analysis and optimization with emerging heterogeneous computing architectures (GPGPU- and FPGA-based systems) for various application domains, including machine learning, high-performance or real-time embedded applications, and image processing. Her group collaborates with researchers in other fields to develop new approaches to the application/architecture interface, providing interdisciplinary solutions that enable new scientific advancements and capabilities.

Making your CI a Global Challenges CI for the Crossings Curriculum

Our Clemson undergraduate general education curriculum is getting a refresh as “Crossings”! For new students starting in fall 2022, a Global Challenges student learning outcome area is being added, and all students will be completing 6 hours of courses at Clemson on Global Challenges topics and fulfilling our Global Challenges student learning outcomes. By design, this is a great opportunity to infuse real-world and high-impact educational practices into our courses or to take existing high-impact educational practices like Creative Inquiry and address general education student learning outcomes within them.

This session will provide an overview for those instructors interested in learning how Creative Inquiry courses can fulfill the Global Challenges requirement. It is appropriate for those who want to learn more or who are ready to get started on some course or project tweaks. Q&A will also be addressed.

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Dr. Bridget Trogden

Dr. Bridget Trogden has been a professor and higher ed leader for seventeen years. She works regularly across undergraduate education, engaged learning, and faculty development. Holding a PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois, she has conducted undergraduate research and creative inquiry projects with multiple students in the wet lab over two decades. Her scholarship now centers on STEM education, innovative pedagogies, and equity. She is a frequent speaker and consultant on higher education and pedagogical design.

The Modern STEM Professor

Our student population is evolving, and it is important that we evolve with them. Research shows that students can rise to their potential when they are living in their passion. Knowing that, how do we, as professors, reach each student in our classroom in order to facilitate their growth? In this talk, Larsen will present anecdotal experiences in tandem with published data to highlight the roles of vulnerable leadership and building psychological safety in connecting with each and every student.

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Dr. Jessica M. Larsen

Professor Jessica Larsen began her academic career at the University of Virginia, obtaining her BS in Chemical Engineering in 2012. She obtained her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University where she was able to perform research under Drs. Mark Byrne in Chemical Engineering and Doug Martin in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Larsen is the research mentor for five PhD students, and as many as 20 undergraduate students a semester. In her undergraduate mentoring efforts, she has received the Phil and Mary Bradley Award for Mentoring in Creative Inquiry. She was also selected as the 2021 Outstanding Faculty Woman at Clemson University. She received the NSF CAREER Award in the Spring of 2021. Personally, Larsen is engaged in the local community as a Cross-Country coach at Seneca High School. Her women’s cross-country team won the state championship for three consecutive years. She was selected to give a TEDx talk at Clemson University this upcoming Spring based on her ability to engage, promote, and grow all types of students.

Brief Intro to Predatory Publishing & How It Affects Undergraduate Research

Predatory publishing is a known issue in academia in which unscrupulous publishers exploit the scholarly publishing and academic conference models for financial gain at the expense of academic rigor and peer review. They frequently target early-career researchers such as junior faculty, graduate students, and increasingly undergraduate researchers. Learn the basics of what predatory publishing is, how to spot it, and ways you can prepare your undergraduate researchers (and other colleagues) to publish and present responsibly.

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Megan Sheffield

Sheffield’s professional research frequently focuses on predatory publishing, open access scholarly communications, and responsible research data management. She has an MLIS (Masters of Library and Information Science) as well as an MS and BS in Biological Sciences. Ask her about her children, pets, David Bowie obsession, or love of Diet Coke.