Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) is a part of a coalition that was recently awarded a $479,762 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The coalition will develop a new virtual academic department that will focus on the analysis of “big data,” which are- large sets of computational and observational data. The big data is becoming increasingly prevalent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In particular, the project will focus on developing courses in biology and earth science, areas which are not traditionally attractive to computer science classes. The other partner institutions are Adams State University (ASU), Colorado (Lead Institution); Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Florida; and Hampden-Sydney College (HSC), Virginia.
The three-year project is from January 15, 2017 to December 31, 2020, and is titled “Engaged Student Learning: Coalition for Undergraduate Computational Data-enabled Science & Engineering (CDSE) Education”. The project is sponsored by the NSF IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) Program in Design and Development Phase I. It is a scale-up project built on the success of NSF-funded projects at the partner institutions. The previous NSF funded project at B-CU is “Targeted Infusion Project: Developing Quantitative Expertise in the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum (QEUBiC)”.
The partnership effort is led by a team of professors: Matt Ikle (Adams State University), Raphael Isokpehi (Bethune-Cookman University), Hong Liu (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) and Michael Wolyniak (Hampden-Sydney College). This research project, if proven to be successful after three years, will further scale-up to involve more disciplinary domains and spread to more universities after 2020.
For more information, please contact Ursula James: jamesu@cookman.edu or (386) 481-2975.