• VaNTH REU Home

• About the REU Program

• 2007 Program Announcement

• AMP Program Description

• 2004 Projects

• 2003 Program

• 2002 Program

• 2001 Program

• 2000 Projects

• 1-summer Application Closed

• Minority 2-Summer Application Closed

About the VaNTH REU

The VaNTH Engineering research center is a multi-institutional consortium designed to study and develop educational technologies and materials for bioengineering classroom.  Materials developed in VaNTH are already in use in classrooms from Middle School through graduate levels; however, more materials are needed. Each year experts within VaNTH create, test and adapt new materials utilizing the latest in Learning Science theory and tools designed by our in-house Learning Technology experts. Assessment experts then help the scientists evaluate the effectiveness of the materials.

Goals: The goal of the REU program is to provide a rich summer research experience for undergraduates from varied educational backgrounds. The program is designed to expose students to the latest developments in teaching technology such as the theory and practice of challenge-based education, efficient module construction, simulations and animations in bioengineering, biological/physiological property database development, blended instruction techniques that mix synchronous and asynchronous modes of instruction, efficient integration of text, simulations, figures and other module objects.

Research: Each student will have a research project (see project descriptions) and will be supervised by faculty and graduate students from the learning sciences and engineering.  The research topic will be suited to the students' education and interests, based on their stated interests and the needs of the VaNTH researchers.  Each student will be expected to be part of a team including experts in several fields.

Technical Communications:  Instruction and assistance with technical communications is an integral part of the summer experience.  Each student will be expected to give a final powerpoint presentation.  A faculty member with expertise in technical communications will work with students on aspects of their projects that incorporate communications and will help students prepare for the presentation.

Ethics:   Students will also participate in discussions and other work to improve the awareness of bioethics in each student.  Topics might be related to student projects or be more generally applicable to biotechnology and biomedical engineering.

"How People Learn": Students will be exposed to the learning theories found in the book How People Learn (Bransford, et al, 2000). Many students will need to be competent with this material in order to complete the projects.  Weekly discussions will also enhance student understanding and use of this material.