In this course, students will:
- Acquire knowledge about the nature of research including ambiguity, evolving understanding, and the open-ended nature of research.
- Develop advanced discipline-relevant skills to perform searches for relevant information.
- Develop inquiry skills including formulating research questions, experimental design, analysis, scientific communication, and envisioning future steps.
- Evaluate theories, designs or research on a chosen topic by conducting a thorough literature review.
- Develop and implement an advanced original research or creative project.
- Develop innovative problem-solving skills.
- Perform research and problem-solving in a project group setting.
- Communicate scientific/technical facts through verbal/written methods, physical demonstrations, and multimedia.
- Complete a formal research or creative project proposal and research report.
- Be encouraged and inspired to pursue STEM careers.
Advanced STEM Research is a yearlong project-based course. The primary purpose of this course is to provide students an opportunity for firsthand, supervised research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. “Research” is defined as mentored, but self-directed, work that enables individual students or a small group of students in collaboration with faculty members to explore an issue of interest to them, to conduct the in-depth investigation/experiments/design, and to communicate their results to others. Projects may involve inquiry, planning, design, investigation, creation, discovery, or application, depending on the topic, and the student is aware of how her or his project fits into and contributes to solving the larger problem to which it belongs.
The projects are mainly fall into the following three categories:
- a scientific research in one or more of the STEM fields,
- an engineering design project to create a complex product, and
- an innovative, patentable, solution to solve a practical problem.
The interdisciplinary researches and researches with applications to the non-STEM fields are strongly encouraged.
The course is a yearlong research project organized into eight phases: (1) preparation, (2) definition, (3) survey, (4) planning, (5) designing (6) implementation, (7) testing, and (8) communication. Students will work individually or in groups to solve problems, design and test complex deliverables, culminating in a challenging task for each phase. Project groups will have to meet project requirements, furnish technical documents, and conduct formal demonstrations/presentations. Students’ grades are depending on the quantity and depth of work.
