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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Bioinformatic Teaching Resources – For Educators, by Educators – Using KBase, a Free, User-Friendly, Open Source Platform

Over the past year, biology educators and staff at the U.S. Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) initiated a collaborative effort to develop a curriculum for bioinformatics education. KBase is a free web-based platform where anyone can conduct sophisticated and reproducible bioinformatic analyses via a graphical user interface. Here, we demonstrate the utility of KBase as a platform for bioinformatics education, and present a set of modular, adaptable, and customizable instructional units for teaching concepts in Genomics, Metagenomics, Pangenomics, and Phylogenetics. Each module contains teaching resources, publicly available data, analysis tools, and Markdown capability, enabling instructors to modify the lesson as appropriate for their specific course. We present initial student survey data on the effectiveness of using KBase for teaching bioinformatic concepts, provide an example case study, and detail the utility of the platform from an instructor’s perspective. Even as in-person teaching returns, KBase will continue to work with instructors, supporting the development of new active learning curriculum modules. For anyone utilizing the platform, the growing KBase Educators Organization provides an educators network, accompanied by community-sourced guidelines, instructional templates, and peer support, for instructors wishing to use KBase within a classroom at any educational level–whether virtual or in-person.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bioinformatic teaching resources - for educators, by educators - using KBase, a free, user-friendly, open source platform

Over the past year, biology educators and staff at the Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) initiated a collaborative effort to develop a curriculum for bioinformatics education. KBase is a free and easily accessible data science platform that integrates many bioinformatics resources into a graphical user interface built upon reproducible analysis notebooks. KBase held conversations with college and high school instructors to understand how KBase could potentially support their educational goals. These conversations morphed into a working group of biological and data science instructors that adapted the KBase platform to their curriculum needs, specifically around concepts in Genomics, Metagenomics, Pangenomics, and Phylogenetics. The KBase Educators Working Group developed modular, adaptable, and customizable instructional units. Each instructional module contains teaching resources, publicly available data, analysis tools, and markdown capability to tailor instructions and learning goals for each class. The online user interface enables students to conduct hands-on data science research and analyses without requiring programming skills or their own computational resources (these are provided by KBase). Alongside these resources, KBase continues to work with instructors, supporting the development of additional curriculum modules. For anyone new to the platform, KBase, and the growing KBase Educators Organization, provides a community network, accompanied by community-sourced guidelines, instructional templates, and peer support to use KBase within a classroom whether virtual or in-person.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Proceedings of the 2024 Advancing Chemical Safety and Security Education Symposium at the 27th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education

The inaugural Advancing Chemical Safety and Security Education symposium was held at the 27th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education (ICCE2024). Speakers showcased innovative strategies for seamlessly integrating security concepts into established safety programs, addressing specific needs of diverse academic institutions, and evaluating the effectiveness of different pedagogical approaches. Here, this proceedings publication encapsulates insights from 11 oral presentations, 12 poster presentations, and panel discussions including key recommendations for future advancements in educating chemical safety and security education for academic and industry audiences.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

WE-H-201-04: Models for Developing Medical Physics Educators and Education Programs in the Developing Countries and the Potential Role of US Universities and Individual Medical Physicists

The desperate need for radiotherapy in low and mid-income countries (LMICs) has been well documented. Roughly 60 % of the worldwide incidence of cancer occurs in these resource-limited settings and the international community alongside governmental and non-profit agencies have begun publishing reports and seeking help from qualified volunteers. However, the focus of several reports has been on how dire the situation is and the magnitude of the problem, leaving most to feel overwhelmed and unsure as to how to help and why to get involved. This session will help to explain the specific ways that Medical Physicists can uniquely assist in this grand effort to help bring radiotherapy to grossly-underserved areas. Not only can these experts fulfill an important purpose, they also can benefit professionally, academically, emotionally and socially from the endeavor. By assisting others worldwide with their skillset, Medical Physicists can end up helping themselves. Learning Objectives: Understand the need for radiotherapy in LMICs. Understand which agencies are seeking Medical Physicists for help in LMICs. Understand the potential research funding mechanisms are available to establish academic collaborations with LMIC researchers/physicians. Understand the potential social and emotional benefits for both the physicist and the LMIC partners when collaborations are made. Understand the potential for collaboration with other high-income scientists that can develop as the physicist partners with other large institutions to assist LMICs. Wil Ngwa - A recent United Nations Study reports that in developing countries more people have access to cell phones than toilets. In Africa, only 63% of the population has access to piped water, yet, 93% of Africans have cell phone service. Today, these cell phones, Skype, WhatsApp and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) connect us in unprecedented ways and are increasingly recognized as powerful, indispensable to global health. Thanks to ICTs, there are growing opportunities for Medical Physicists to reach out beyond the bunker and impact the world far beyond, without even having to travel. These growing opportunities in global health for Medical Physicists, powered by ICTs, will be highlighted in this presentation, illustrated by high impact examples/models across the globe that are improving patient safety and healthcare outcomes, saving lives. Learning Objectives: Published definitions of global health and the emerging field of global radiation oncology Learn about the transformative potential of ICTs in global radiation oncology care, research and education with focus on Medical Physics Learn about high impact examples of ICT-powered global radiation oncology and the increasing opportunities for participation by Medical Physicists. Yakov Pipman - The number and scope of volunteer Medical Physics activities in support of low-to-middle income countries has been increasing gradually. This happens through a variety of formal channels and to some extent through less formal but personal initiatives. A good deal of effort is dedicated by many, but many more could be recruited through a structured framework to volunteer. We will look into typical volunteer activities and how they fit with organizations already involved in advancing Medical Physics in LMIC. We will identify the range of these organizational activities and their scope to reveal areas of further need. We will point to a few key features of MPWB ( http://www.mpwb.org ) as a volunteering and collaborating structure and how members can get involved and contribute to these efforts at the grass roots level. The goal is that scarce resources can thus be channeled to complement rather than compete with those already in place. Learning Objectives: Understand the strengths and limitations of various organizations that support Medical Physics efforts in LMIC. Learn about ways to volunteer and contribute to Global Health through a grass roots organization focused on Medical Physics in LMIC. Perry Sprawls - With the growing capability and complexity of medical imaging methods in all countries of the world, the expanding role of medical physicists includes optimizing imaging procedures with respect to image quality, radiation dose, and other conflicting factors. With access to appropriate educational resources local medical physicists in all countries can provide direct clinical support and educational for other medical professionals. This is being supported through the process of Collaborative Teaching that combines the capabilities and experience of medical physicists in countries spanning the spectrum of economic, technological, and clinical development. The supporting resources are on the web at: http://www.sprawls.org/resources . Learning Objectives: Identify the medical physics educational needs to support effective and optimized medical imaging procedures. Use collaborative teaching resources to enhance the role of medical physicists in all countries of the world.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

A pilot “big data” education modular curriculum for engineering graduate education: Development and implementation

Engineering higher education increasingly produces data in the volume, variety, velocity, and need for veracity such that the output of the research is considered “Big Data”. While engineering faculty members do conceive of and direct the research producing this data, there may be gaps in faculty members’ knowledge in training graduate and undergraduate research assistants in the management of Big Data. The project described herein details the development of a Big Data education module for a group of graduate researchers and undergraduate research assistants in Electrical and Computer Engineering. This project has the following objectives: to document and describe current data management practices; to identify gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed in order for research assistants to successfully manage Big Data; and to create curricular interventions to address these gaps. This paper details the motivation, relevant literature, research methodology, curricular intervention, and pilot presentation of the module. Results indicate that, generally, students involved in Big Data projects need comprehensive introduction to the topic, which will be most effective when contextualized to the work that they are performing in the research or classroom environment.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Educating local radial basis functions using the highest gradient of interest in three dimensional geometries: EDUCATING LOCALIZED RBF-SCHEMES

We present a novel methodology to effectively localize radial basis function approximation methods in three dimensions. The local scheme requires shape parameter-dependent functions that can be used to approximate gradients of scattered data and to solve partial differential operators. The optimum shape parameter is obtained from the highest gradient of interest, where a known analytical function, when boundary conditions are not present, or a shape parameter-free global approximation are used to educate the localized scheme. The later option is applicable to problems where the operator needs to be solved multiple times, like in time evolution or stochastic integration. Past shape parameter's optimizations, for two-dimensional domains, based on the condition number of the interpolant matrix, were unable to provide satisfactory approximations. The applicability of our method is illustrated in the context of an analytical expression interpolation and during a Ginzburg-Landau relaxation of a free energy functional. In general, the optimum shape parameter depends on geometry, node distribution, and density, whereas the approximation errors decrease as the node density and the local stencil size increase. The effective localization of radial basis functions motivates its use in moving boundary problems and accelerates solutions through sparse matrix solvers.

free energy functional↗
DOE OSTI2026

Education for PV Modeling Professionals: Survey of Educators

We report a survey of instructors at universities offering courses that address PV performance modeling. We confirm our earlier finding that most courses lack the level of detail sought by the professional community. We recommend that the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative (PVPMC), or a university, sponsor a committee to produce a curriculum outline for PV system performance modeling, and that the PVPMC solicit industry for well-documented examples of PV system designs and accompany

Hansen, Clifford [Sandia National Laboratories (SN↗
DOE OSTI2017

Collaboratory=Collaborate+Laboratory: The Mid-Columbia STEM Education Collaboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory created a network focused on collaboration in STEM education to design and deliver projects, resources, and professional learning opportunities in a testbed environment. How do you uncover and fill gaps in equitable access to high-quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education offerings in your local region? Where might you deploy strategies to improve STEM workforce preparation and increase public understanding of STEM-oriented issues? And how can you help to ensure that students, educators, parents, and the community are aware of these programs and know how to access them in schools, colleges, and community venues? If you are the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), you take on the huge goal of designing and implementing an innovative STEM education collaboration project that impacts all levels of local education, both inside and outside of school settings. PNNL is one of the 17 national laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Operated by Battelle, PNNL has a vested interest in preparing the next generation of scientists and engineers for their future careers, thus building a STEM-capable workforce and creating a STEM-literate community. One of Battelle’s core principles is a commitment to STEM education and its role in business competitiveness and quality of life. PNNL has been active in STEM education for decades, providing internships for future scientists, giving educators in-house lab experiences, and engaging its researchers in STEM outreach activities in classrooms and the community. The Collaboratory is a relatively recent outcome of Battelle’s longstanding efforts in STEM education. The original Collaboratory planning documents, developed by PNNL’s Office of STEM Education (OSE), state the objective to “design, implement, and mature a local STEM education collaboration zone that highlights the power of PNNL and Battelle to impact the educational ecosystem and serve as a model for amplifying and accelerating progress in addressing our STEM education and workforce challenges” (PNNL 2013). In other words, we (the OSE) sought to create a zone of collaboration in which members co-design and deliver STEM education programs, share findings and lessons learned from their experiences, and co-manage and sustain the organization. We started by identifying possible collaborators located nearby in the largely rural southeast corner of Washington State. Recognizing that our potential collaborators had differing norms, values, and relationships within the community, as well as their own areas of expertise and purpose, we convened representatives from K–12 public and private schools, higher education, community-based learning providers, and local business and industry to brainstorm a unified vision to resolve gaps in local STEM education needs. Through discussions with these collaborators, we started hunting for gaps where STEM efforts were lacking but a desire to improve existed. We gave ourselves permission to try things out and built a testbed space where we could experiment with new ideas, gather evidence of feasibility, and treat failures as constructive learning opportunities. Through this generative process and with seed funding from Battelle, inter-organizational teams now work together, both virtually and in real time, to develop, test, and deploy resources to support student success, educators’ effectiveness, and community engagement in STEM. Thus, the Mid-Columbia STEM Education Collaboratory (Collaboratory) was born. This is the story of our beginnings: our challenges, our lessons learned, and emerging indicators of success. For those interested in launching an education–business–community STEM learning ecosystem, we share our story.

Collaboratory↗
DOE OSTI2018

Longitudinal Socio-Emotional Learning Intervention for Autism via Smartglasses: Qualitative School Teacher Descriptions of Practicality, Usability, and Efficacy in General and Special Education Classroom Settings

There is considerable demand for special education services for the over half a million students with autism in the United States. While assistive technology may augment educational services, its implementation is often prevented by a number of practical and attitudinal barriers. These barriers are especially pertinent for the newest and thus least familiar digital systems, such as computerized smartglasses loaded with specialized software modules. Computerized smartglasses are a technology that has already been shown to have an ability to deliver educational interventions through augmented reality. With this in mind, we sought to understand how school educators received and assessed the practicality of a smartglasses-based educational intervention in a single-subject study. The intervention was designed to aid with attention and social educational learning in autism. The intervention was delivered twice a day during a two-week study on a 13-year-old student with autism who was attending a mainstream middle school in Massachusetts. Three different school educators delivered the intervention: the student’s general education teacher, special education teacher, and paraprofessional. Educators recorded their attitudes, the practicality of the technology, and its impact on the student and their classroom through the use of a digital log and a series of in-person interviews. Overall, the school educators experienced a positive view of the smartglasses. The smartglasses intervention was found to be logistically practical to implement, easily usable by both the educator and student, and not time-consuming to learn or implement. Educators also identified the experience as being fun for the student, and felt that the student demonstrated improvement in his verbal and non-verbal skills. There were no adverse effects on the other students or the classroom, and the technology did not result in a distraction. These findings suggest that social skills interventions delivered by smartglasses may be practical, useful, and may lead to improvements in social communication skills. Further research on smartglasses may help to clarify the future role for augmenting special education in students with autism.

Keshav, Neha↗
DOE OSTI2024

Computing in AEC Education: Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight

In the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields, computing and information technologies play an increasingly prevalent and complex role in day-to-day work. Consequently, educators must adjust and, in many cases, reimagine curricula and teaching methodologies to adapt to the changing landscape. Past research efforts led by the ASCE Computing Division Education Committee, formerly called the Task Committee on Computing Education of the Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT), have regularly surveyed AEC educators to understand computing trends in AEC curricula, with the latest survey taking place nearly a decade ago. This work presents the results of an updated survey that used this prior work as a springboard, providing timely insights into the computing skills and curricular barriers faced by AEC educators today. The results showed that the technical skills used by students have evolved, but the barriers faced in incorporating new skills into curricula have remained largely the same. In addition to comparisons with prior surveys, this work presents the results of an expanded, open-ended portion of the survey that explores educator perspectives on the future of the AEC workforce in a broader lens than used in previous surveys. Thematic analysis of these open-ended responses revealed themes that were common among responses and provided organization to the findings. For example, educators provided their vision of what competencies the future AEC workforce would need, which were thematically organized into a continuum based on the level of interaction between humans and technology. These results suggest an increasingly complex and evolving relationship between the AEC workforce and emerging technology, highlighting the need for educators to encourage the development of technological adaptability and agility. Overall, this work provides a systematic comparison of current educational practices in AEC computing with a decade ago to illustrate educational shifts and adds a prediction of AEC trends from experts in AEC education, providing crucial discussion of curricular transformations that will better position students for success in the workforce.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chemical Safety and Security Education in ACS-Approved Chemistry Programs

To date, chemical security education practices in postsecondary institutions are poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to provide an initial understanding of the practices, attitudes, and barriers toward chemical security education for undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States (US) by surveying representatives of American Chemical Society (ACS)-approved programs. All programs with ACS-approved undergraduate chemistry programs (n = 691) were contacted for participation: 21% (n = 148) fully completed and 6% (n = 41) partially completed the survey for a combined total of 27% complete and/or partially complete surveys (n = 189). We observed that most programs currently teach chemical safety (undergraduate >99%, graduate 73%); however, only about one-third of programs teach chemical security at any education level (undergraduate 32%, graduate 34%). We also observed that safety education is provided more frequently than security education. Further, ACS-approved programs reported that their chemical safety culture was stronger than chemical security culture and felt that safety should be taught differently than security. The overwhelming majority of respondents (96%) indicated that chemical safety should be mandatory at some level, while only about half of respondents (57%) indicated that chemical security should be mandatory at some level. More efforts are needed by the chemistry community to raise awareness of the importance of chemical security education so that more institutions commit to training their faculty and students on the topic. The authors suggest that adoption of chemical security education could be increased if ACS were to advocate for chemical security by including it in its guidelines for educational program approval.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Radiation Oncology and Online Patient Education Materials: Deviating From NIH and AMA Recommendations

Purpose: Physicians encourage patients to be informed about their health care options, but much of the online health care–related resources can be beneficial only if patients are capable of comprehending it. This study's aim was to assess the readability level of online patient education resources for radiation oncology to conclude whether they meet the general public's health literacy needs as determined by the guidelines of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Medical Association (AMA). Methods: Radiation oncology–related internet-based patient education materials were downloaded from 5 major professional websites (American Society for Radiation Oncology, American Association of Physicists in Medicine, American Brachytherapy Society, (RadiologyInfo.org), and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group). Additional patient education documents were downloaded by searching for key radiation oncology phrases using Google. A total of 135 articles were downloaded and assessed for their readability level using 10 quantitative readability scales that are widely accepted in the medical literature. Results: When all 10 assessment tools for readability were taken into account, the 135 online patient education articles were written at an average grade level of 13.7 ± 2.0. One hundred nine of the 135 articles (80.7%) required a high school graduate's comprehension level (12th-grade level or higher). Only 1 of the 135 articles (0.74%) met the AMA and NIH recommendations for patient education resources to be written between the third-grade and seventh-grade levels. Conclusion: Radiation oncology websites have patient education material written at an educational level above the NIH and AMA recommendations; as a result, average American patients may not be able to fully understand them. Rewriting radiation oncology patient education resources would likely contribute to the patients' understanding of their health and treatment options, making each physician-patient interaction more productive and efficient.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2018

NAMP Radiochemistry Webinars: The Next Educational Tool for the Next Generation Workforce - 18386

With an aging work force and only a few universities offering programs in radiochemistry, laboratories are increasingly finding it more challenging to hire and retain qualified radiochemists. Further, this challenge is a growing trend being seen worldwide. Expertise in radiochemistry is vital to advance our nation's progress in development of the next generation of nuclear reactor technology, drug discovery, environmental stewardship, and the development of technologies to prevent and respond to nuclear terrorist events. The National Analytical Management Program (NAMP) Education and Training subcommittee was established in response to the challenge of promoting radiochemistry and maintaining a well-educated work force to meet the projected growth in nuclear medicine, nuclear energy, safeguards, and nuclear forensics. The NAMP Education and Training subcommittee has offered radiochemistry webinars to a broad audience and is educating and strengthening the knowledge of participants in applications related to actinide and fission products chemistry, sample preparation, detection, dosimetry, nuclear forensics, nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear forensics, and risk assessment. These webinars are presented by renowned experts in the field of Radiochemistry. Additionally, through the partnering of the Education and Training subcommittee with various universities, the NAMP webinars offer a platform for graduate students, PhD candidates, and postdoctoral students to present their research to a wider audience. Since 2012, NAMP has conducted monthly, live webinars - all of which are recorded and archived as an online educational resource to the public from the NAMP web site (http://www.wipp.energy.gov/namp). With over 50 archived presentations, the NAMP webinars provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of radiochemistry topics. By partnering with university professors and renowned scientific professionals, the NAMP continues to expand the list of webinar topics, increasing the depth of knowledge in this online resource and rapidly becoming the next educational tool in radiochemistry for the next generation workforce. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Accelerating Ocean-Based Renewable Energy Educational Opportunities to Achieve a Clean Energy Future

The United Nations has named 2021–2030 the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development with goals to 'strengthen the international cooperation needed to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of society' (IOC 2019 The science we need for the ocean we want: the United Nations decade of ocean science for sustainable development (2021–2030) (Paris) p 24). Important actions that have been identified in support of sustainable development goals include capacity-building, training, and education. This includes educational opportunities for ocean-based renewable energy development in support of a healthy planet and ocean. Offshore wind is experiencing rapid development globally and, while the U.S. offshore wind market is still nascent, it is on the brink of exponential growth based on large cost reductions driven largely by European development and technology advances. Growth is also expected in wave and tidal energy with significant opportunities identified for various distributed markets through the Powering the Blue Economy™ initiative, with longer-term implications for expansion at the utility scale (LiVecchi et al 2019 Powering the blue economy; exploring opportunities for marine renewable energy in maritime markets p 207). In order to expedite progress and maximize benefits to the national, state, and local economies, these development actions will require a broad, diverse, and appropriately trained workforce. The ocean-based renewable energy workforce needs engineers and scientists to develop cost-effective technologies, as well as trade and maritime workers to eventually deploy the technologies at scale. In the United States, educational institutions, state governments, and private developers are taking action to understand job skills and capability requirements and to develop educational and training programs to meet offshore workforce needs; most are focused on offshore wind power, with gaining interest in marine energy. This article explores the workforce requirements of the growing ocean-based renewable energy industry and the current state of education and training programs to meet those requirements in order to identify gaps and make recommendations for further workforce development activities and initiatives. An international view needs to be adopted that incorporates the education and skill needs of early-stage marine energy technologies and evolving offshore wind technologies together with more market-ready offshore renewable energy markets. By accelerating educational development opportunities in ocean-based renewable energy, these growing blue economy markets can deliver significant economic and social benefits.

50 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Water (EE-4↗