STScI Engineering & Technology Colloquia

The Engineering and Technology Colloquia series provides a forum to learn about new technologies and applications, to showcase the work done at STScI and to allow the exchange of ideas among our staff and the speakers. The topics of the Colloquia are of broad interest to our engineering, technical and astronomical research staff with an emphasis on innovative and leading edge technologies in the computer sciences, information technology, systems engineering and other disciplines as those used at STScI.

Lecture Schedule 2010-2011

• Thursday, May 19th at 3:00 PM:
  
  Stefi Baum (Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology)
  
  - Turning Undergraduate Education on Its Head

This past fall the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science abandoned its traditional lecture based pedagogy for freshmen and implemented a radically different project-based curriculum. Under this new approach, students work together as a single integrated team for a full academic year to design and build a unique, fully functional imaging system. But, rather than have them reproduce an existing device, we want them to advance the state of the art and apply their new device to real world problems. Our goal is to provide our students with a foundational experience that is more relevant, engaging, challenging, and motivating than that which has been used to date. We fully expect them to be better prepared to succeed in their upper class studies, and, ultimately, to graduate with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly dynamic, collaborative, and innovative workforce. Although their efforts are scaffolded by experienced faculty mentors, these freshmen have full responsibility for determining the nature and direction of their activities. Successful implementation of the proposed curriculum is a natural step in the evolution of STEM education at the college freshman level. We hope this new approach will change long-held perceptions about the abilities of first year students, and lead to a broadening of the role of faculty in undergraduate STEM education.

2011-2012 Series

General Information

The monthly colloquia are generally held at STScI's John Bahcall Auditorium at 3:00 PM on the first Tuesday of the month, preceded by tea and cookies at 2:45.

All lectures will be webcasted live and archived. Please go to the STScI Streaming site for viewing the lecture.

For more information contact: Jesse Doggett (doggett@stsci.edu).