Adjunct faculty member Wafaa Mohamedahmed, left, senior Spencer Esposito and Dr. Raga Ahmed during an Introduction to Electrical Engineering class in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Photo by Angela Foster.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has received a $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) award to launch a three-year project that will prepare and retain middle and high school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers through research experiences in STEM settings (RESS) in microelectronics and artificial intelligence.
This project, titled “RESS in Microelectronics and Artificial Intelligence to Empower STEM Teachers,” is funded by the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and is supported in part by funds from Micron Technology, Inc.
The project, which aims to address the national need for highly qualified STEM teachers to meet critical shortages, is led by Dr. Raga Ahmed, UC Foundation associate professor of electrical engineering in the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science. Co-principal investigators are Dr. Mbakisya Onyango, UC Foundation professor of civil engineering; Dr. Stephanie Philipp, assistant professor and interim director of STEM Education in the School of Education; and Dr. Sharief Babikir, assistant professor of electrical engineering.
The project includes partnerships with Chattanooga State Community College, Hamilton County Schools, Bradley County Schools and Walker County Schools.
“This NSF award is a testament to the incredible leadership of Dr. Ahmed and her team, and to the collaborative spirit that defines UTC,” said Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi, dean of the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science. “By engaging educators in cutting-edge research and empowering them to bring those experiences into their classrooms, Dr. Ahmed and team are not only strengthening STEM education in our region but also inspiring future engineers and scientists from the ground up.”
“This grant strengthens the collaboration between the School of Education and the Department of Electrical Engineering while directly supporting middle and high school teachers in our region,” said Dr. Valerie Rutledge, dean of the UTC College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. “By connecting educators with hands-on research in emerging fields like microelectronics and artificial intelligence, we are helping them translate those experiences into the classroom and inspire the next generation of STEM learners.”
The Noyce Research Experiences in STEM Settings (RESS) initiative will engage 24 prospective and practicing teachers from Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia over three years. Participants will complete a six-week on-campus research experience, co-develop project-based learning lessons, and receive academic-year support that includes professional development, classroom visits and mentoring, industry talks, and opportunities to present and share lesson plans.
“This award builds on a successful NSF award that we previously received and recently completed, a Research Experiences for Teachers—RET—award titled Engineering and Data Analytics in Smart Cities,” Ahmed said. “We used that framework, and built on it based on feedback from the county schools and their needs—especially Hamilton County Schools. Then we structured a project so that we will provide the teachers with authentic research experiences with our faculty.”
Ahmed explained that teachers’ research will span microelectronics—“under the hood” computing technologies that enable future quantum systems—and applied AI across civil and electrical engineering, mechatronics and computer science.
“Transistors, the core components in microelectronics, are getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and as they approach the size of one atom, you cannot ignore the quantum effects,” she explained. “So we are going to be able to leverage “quantum”, which is very significant here at UTC.
“The difference between this project and other quantum initiative projects at UtC, which are more about the communications and sensing side, is that we are about what’s under the hood; we’re really about the hardware underneath all of that.”
Potential topics include quantum-aware device concepts, the effects of extreme weather on Tennessee transportation infrastructure, robotic control, urban water resources engineering, and restoring power grids after outages.
Dr. Raga Ahmed is a UC Foundation associate professor of electrical engineering in the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Ahmed, a member of the UTC faculty since 2009, said the teacher-centered model is intentional.
“An important part of our job is education and engineering education. Even though we’re doing that at the college level, I am eager to start as young as possible,” she said. “The high school and middle school teachers are the best and first place to start to reach the students. They can tell us what the needs are and how we can be very efficient and very helpful.”
Ahmed said UTC faculty mentors and partners will host industry visits and connect teachers and students with campus labs and student organizations to extend learning beyond the summer.
“We want to be impactful, we want to be competitive and we want to lead,” Ahmed said. “A big part of that is to teach the students, prepare them, and empower the teachers who are teaching them.”
Philipp said the project is especially valuable because it gives teachers direct exposure to the kind of work they are expected to teach.
“Our academic standards stress doing science and math and technology and engineering—all of STEM,” she said. “When teachers learn about topics but haven’t actually had a chance to do that work, it’s not as effective as when they have a chance to participate in ongoing research.”
She said UTC’s program will bridge that gap by helping teachers translate their research experiences into classroom-ready lessons.
“They’ll have a research experience with us and with our engineers and computer scientists,” Philipp explained, “and then I, as the STEM person, will help translate that into something they can take back to their classrooms. When they say, ‘This is what scientists do, this is what engineers do,’ they will now know that firsthand.”
The award period begins Oct. 1, with teacher recruitment to follow.
During each summer, teachers will split time between research and curriculum design. During the academic year, they will pilot lessons, receive classroom support and mentoring, and take part in ongoing professional learning.
Ahmed said her team will track outcomes through pre- and post-surveys of teachers and students and will share results through publications, conference presentations and a project website.
At the close of the three years, she continued, the team aims to have strengthened regional teacher capacity in emerging technologies, broadened student participation in microelectronics and AI, and deepened UTC’s collaborations with schools and community partners.
“We want to support teachers to develop project-based learning lesson plans that they’re going to use in their schools,” Ahmed said. “We want to ensure we reach students and work with them. We want to make sure our collaborations are solidified and expand in the future.”
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