RET Site: Physically and Biologically Inspired Computational Models and Systems

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

This award establishes a new Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site at Notre Dame University. The site focuses on engaging local high school teachers in summer research projects that explore computational models inspired by physical and biological systems. The RET Site will develop a strong partnership between Notre Dame and schools in the greater South Bend area, including public, private, and parochial schools. The site will recruit cohorts of high school teachers in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) who will work on compelling research projects with faculty mentors and research teams in the summer and then will implement related inquiry-based learning modules and activities in their classrooms during the academic year. The interdisciplinary nature of the research theme will provide a fertile ground for developing creative and appealing high school lessons and teaching activities in biology, physics, math, and other engineering disciplines that align with state and national curricular standards. RET Site teachers will attend a 7-week summer institute to participate in cutting-edge research projects with mentoring from engineering faculty who lead current research programs in the three areas of emphasis. The first area includes deep learning algorithms that solve problems such as language understanding and a behavior prediction most commonly using deep convolutional neural networks. These data-hungry and computationally intensive methods tend to produce models that are far more accurate than their conventional counterparts. The second thread involves non-Boolean/non-von Neumann neuromorphic hardware that processes data in an analog fashion. Systems that function like this could be inspired by the human retina which operates in a continuous fashion and processes continuous input flows with real spatial-temporal dynamics. The third thread encompasses computation models that are directly inspired by physics. This includes areas such as optically inspired computing models involving elements such as spin waves, magnetic lenses, and coupled oscillators to process information. These projects will provide true in-depth learning about computation, waves, and optics which are fundamental to the high school physics curriculum. Working with PIs and faculty mentors, teachers will develop innovative, standards-compliant curriculum modules and participate in a number of professional development activities. The teacher-created modules and lessons will be disseminated local through a RET handbook and on the Notre Dame RET website as well as at the annual workshop and disseminated through TeachEngineering.org, a nationally recognized repository for searchable, standards-based engineering curricula. Extensive follow-up activities are planned throughout the academic year to ensure the translation of lab experiences into classroom practice, and to foster and strengthen long-term partnership between engineering faculty and the local school districts. A third-party professional program evaluator will track and evaluate the program and provide feedback for improvement.