Impact

Description: Acquisition of the Bruker Tracer 5g, a portable x-ray fluorescence analyzer (XRF), through the STEM Workforce Collaboratory will support a number of geoscience courses. The XRF will be used by undergraduate and graduate students used to measure the elemental compositions of sedimentary materials, which will aid in their geological interpretations. Given that XRF analyzers are commonly used across industries for the characterization of geological materials, metals, concrete, nanofilms, ceramics, artwork, and many other materials, students in these courses will receive valuable training in a widely used technology. This training has the potential to impact a wide range of STEM fields and applications as well as further enhance the Department Geological and Environmental Sciences. The new XRF analyzer will support efforts in the department to develop more hands-on experiences, and will serve as an important bridge between the students and opportunities to participate in course-based undergraduate research. 

Faculty: Stephen Kaczmarek, professor of geological and environmental sciences 

Impact: GEOS 5100 Advanced Earth Materials and GEOS 4350 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy (total of approximately 40 students per year)

Description: The purchase of Ward's Essentials Research Binocular Microscopes will elevate formative research experiences in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Students examine native plant-mycorrhizal interactions in a semester-long project that involves ~20 plant species and four soil types from different restored land management strategies. Findings from this undergraduate research include that the native species grew well in abandoned old field and two different restored prairie soils, but that they failed to grow in conventionally managed agricultural soil. The data collected from this true CURE course can directly support WMU graduate (MS, Ph.D.) and honors student research.  The microscopes also support outreach events to introduce students from local schools to the importance of soil health and plant-microbe interactions.

Faculty: Dr. Kathryn Docherty, associate professor of biological sciences 

Description: This project funds three pieces of equipment: (1) a -80 ultra-low temperature freezer used for cryo preservation in medicine and biotech-based research; (2) a versatile plate reader instrument used for a variety of optical measurements in biotech research and commonly used for measuring enzyme activity and drug discovery efforts; (3) a thermocycler (PCR machine) used for amplifying DNA, which is a critical component of all biochemistry and molecular biology-based research. A newly designed biochemistry CURE laboratory will utilize this equipment to experimentally characterize the enzyme nicotine oxidoreductase, which has promising potential as a tobacco cessation therapeutic. Students in this newly designed CURE will gain experience with cutting-edge biochemical techniques and will conduct real research exploring nicotine oxidoreductase’s mechanism of action. The requested equipment will also be used to enhance two additional CUREs at WMU: a molecular biology laboratory CURE where students investigate the substrate preferences of uncharacterized plant methyltransferase enzymes and a microbiology laboratory CURE where students isolate, identify and characterize new nicotine-degrading bacteria from tobacco plants and tobacco products. Collectively, this equipment will be used to provide students with real, hands-on research experiences and will provide them with high impact training in core equipment used in the biotechnology and life sciences industries. 

Faculty: Ricky Stull, assistant professor of chemistry, Todd Barkman, professor of biological sciences, and Benjamin Koestler, assistant professor of biological sciences 

Impact: CHEM 5510 Biochemistry I Laboratory, BIOS 5260 Molecular Biology Laboratory, and BIOS 3120 Microbiology Laboratory (approximately

Description: This proposal is to purchase Epson industrial robots that will enhance the Explore.0 Lab at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences with industry-grade robotics systems which have technological features that are necessary to help prepare students to be effective in the STEM workplaces of today and tomorrow.  The equipment will support microcredential courses in the area of robotics programming, applications, process design, as well as providing realistic lab experiences for students in a variety of courses.  The Explore.0 lab provides a simulated manufacturing environment that enables students to solve the same kind of problems they will encounter in industry using equipment that is also industry-grade. 

Faculty: Lee Wells, associate professor of industrial and entrepreneurial engineering and engineering management, Jim Burns, assistant professor of industrial and entrepreneurial engineering and engineering management 

Impact: IEE 2610 Engineering Statistics, IEE 2622 Statistical Quality Control, IEE 6300 Advanced Simulation Modeling & Analysis, IEE2050 Work Design, IEE6100 Linear Programming for Engineers, EM3280 Quality Assurance & Control, and multiple Capstone Courses for the IEE&EM and EDMMS departments (direct impact of approximately 30 students per year, and up to 150 indirectly)

Description: Funding for 10 workstations each equipped with two graphics processing units (GPUs) that can be used effectively for high performance computing and artificial intelligence or machine learning applications that allow for running two virtual machines that each have a A5000 GPU, 128 GB of RAM, a 10 GB ethernet port, dedicated 8 TB HDD and dedicated 1 TB M.2 drive. The equipment enables use without expensive virtualization software and can be accessed remotely. 

The equipment will strengthen ongoing and new course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), and enhance current traditional STEM-focused courses. The funding will further support new microcourses and microcredentials in AI/ML and high performance scientific computing for students including undergraduates at WMU, as well as high school students at the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center (KAMSC). In microcredential opportunities that focus on AI and ML topics, the students will learn about the techniques and methods commonly used for AI and ML problems. They will have hands-on experience analyzing data, preparing datasets for use in models, and training and evaluating model performance. This project will directly contributes to developing a workforce with the AI and ML skills needed by industry.  The ability to utilize GPUs for general-purpose solutions has applications in a wide range of sectors, such as information technology, manufacturing, agriculture, finance, and transportation and warehousing.  

Faculty: Elise DeDoncker and Robert Makin, professors of computer science, and James Rhodes, faculty specialist I of computer science 

Impact: CS 5260 Parallel Computations, CS 5821 Machine Learning, CS 5820 Artificial Intelligence, CS 5300 Artificial Neural Networks, CS 4990 Undergraduate Research, CS 5990 Independent Study, and some Topics in CS (CS 5950/6030) courses such as Bioinformatics, Quantum Computing (approximately 170 students per year in university courses, 80 high school students per year through classroom outreach over a 4-6 week time frame, and 2-3 high school research projects per year with 2-3 students per team)

Description: The course provides lectures and hands-on training on all steps involved in undertaking a geological or environmental science research project. Students use hyperspectral data from NASA’s EMIT mission (285 bands) covering the globe and from a hand-held spectrophotometer to identify and map spatially and temporally the distribution of materials of interest and address complex environmental or geologic problems. For example, students will identify the distribution of mineral deposits and vegetation, examine crop health and stages of growth, and determine the distribution and sources of methane plumes. The experiences gained will prepare students to join the mining, environmental, mapping, and remote sensing industries, which are needed in critical areas of national interest. 

Faculty: Mohamed Sultan, professor of geological and environmental sciences 

Impact: GEOS 5170 Research Project (approximately 5-10 students in the next two years and 11-20 in the following two years)