The
recruitment component of the grant is directly tied to an outreach
concept that will make the University and the SETS more visible in the
local schools and statewide.
We will team with the Bamberg-Calhoun-Orangeburg (BCO)
Math/Science Hub that was established under the NSF Statewide Systemic
Initiative Program and is located on campus. The Hub is one of 13
regional math/science centers and will provide contact with teachers
across the state. By coordinating with the BCO Hub we will send student
research team members out to K-12 schools to conduct activities,
including setting up and using the StarLab portable planetarium
available from the BCO Hub. A colorful poster which highlights space
science at SCSU will be designed and distributed to the schools.
Finally, SETS currently supports an annual Science and Technology
Program
which targets grades 6-12 in specific school districts. The students
design and construct projects with the assistance of SCSU faculty and
students. CESSR will
participate in this program with its faculty and students serving as
project sponsors.
The
research teams will present the results of their work to the SCSU campus
community in at least one presentation during the academic year. This will raise the awareness of the campus community and
increase student interest in the PAIR project. We will also
recruit by partnering with several of the two-year schools in the state
using distance learning techniques, including our web servers and
videoconference lab maintained by the NASA-funded Center for Network
Resources and Training (CNRT). SCSU
already teaches EET courses remotely at Greenville Technical College (GTC),
Greenville, SC. CESSR will provide
LabVIEW training to faculty and students
at GTC, including installation of a PXI pentium workstation and
ancillary equipment .
The
CESSR website, maintained by CNRT, will be interactive and include
results from the research teams, the latest data and images, and a
section “Ask-A-Team” where K-12
students or teachers can pose questions. A student team would be
responsible for responding after clearing the answer with their faculty
mentor.
