Integrative Curriculum Development in Nuclear Education and Research Vertical Enhancement Program
Using a vertical education enhancement model, a Nuclear Education and Research Vertical Enhancement (NERVE) program was developed. The NERVE program is aimed at developing nuclear engineering education and research to 1) enhance skilled workforce development in disciplines relevant to nuclear power, national security and medical physics, and 2) increase the number of students and faculty from underrepresented groups (women and minorities) in fields related to the nuclear industry. The program uses multi-track training activities that vertically cut across the several education domains: undergraduate degree programs, graduate schools, and post-doctoral training. In this paper, we present the results of an integrative curriculum development in the NERVE program. The curriculum development began with nuclear content infusion into existing science, engineering and technology courses. The second step involved the development of nuclear engineering courses: 1) Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 2) Nuclear Engineering I, and 2) Nuclear Engineering II. The third step is the establishment of nuclear engineering concentrations in two engineering degree programs: 1) electrical engineering, and 2) mechanical engineering. A major outcome of the NERVE program is a collaborative infrastructure that uses laboratory work, internships at nuclear facilities, on-campus research, and mentoring in collaboration with industry and government partners to provide hands-on training for students. The major activities of the research and education collaborations include: - One-week spring training workshop at Brookhaven National Laboratory: The one-week training and workshop is used to enhance research collaborations and train faculty and students on user facilities/equipment at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and for summer research internships. Participants included students, faculty members at Alabama A and M University and research collaborators at BNL. The activities include 1) tour and introduction to user facilities/equipment at BNL that are used for research in room-temperature semiconductor nuclear detectors, 2) presentations on advances on this project and on wide band-gap semiconductor nuclear detectors in general, and 3) graduate students' research presentations. - Invited speakers and lectures: This brings collaborating research scientist from BNL to give talks and lectures on topics directly related to the project. Attendance includes faculty members, researchers and students throughout the university. - Faculty-students team summer research at BNL: This DOE and National Science Foundation (NSF) program help train students and faculty members in research. Faculty members go on to establish research collaborations with scientists at BNL, develop and submit research proposals to funding agencies, transform research experience at BNL to establish and enhance reach capabilities at home institution, and integrate their research into teaching through class projects and hands-on training for students. The students go on to participate in research work at BNL and at home institution, co-author research papers for conferences and technical journals, and transform their experiences into developing senior and capstone projects. - Grant proposal development: Faculty members in the NERVE program collaborate with BNL scientists to develop proposals, which often help to get external funding needed to expand and sustain the continuity of research activities and supports for student's wages and scholarships (stipends, tuition and fees). - Faculty development and mentoring: The above collaboration activities help faculty professional development. The experiences, grants, joint publications in technical journals, and supervision of student's research, including thesis and dissertation research projects, contribute greatly to faculty development. Senior scientists at BNL and senior faculty members on campus jointly mentor junior faculty members to enhance their professional growth. - Graduate thesis and dissertation research: Brookhaven National Laboratory provides unique opportunities and outstanding research resources for the NERVE program graduate research. Scientists from BNL serve in master's degree thesis and PhD dissertation committees, where they play active roles in the supervision of the research. (authors)