NSF CONTINUES FUNDING OF NUMERICAL METHODS WEBSITE

(Tampa, FL, March 1, 2004) -  With funding from National Science Foundation (NSF), University of South Florida (USF) in partnership with Florida A&M (FAMU) and Wright State University (WSU), is developing web-based modules for an undergraduate course in Numerical Methods (http://numericalmethods.eng.usf.edu).  This is a required course for most engineering undergraduates as computer modeling engineering problems is critical in solving today’s problems and in advancing the frontiers of our current knowledge. 

The web-based resources are free of charge for nonprofit purposes, and to quote the OCW initiative at MIT, the developers are strong believers in having open dissemination of educational materials, philosophy, and modes of thought, that will help lead to fundamental changes in the way colleges and universities utilize the Web as a vehicle for education. 

Even during its developing stage, the website gets more than 3000 unique visitors per month, and is part of several digital libraries including the exemplary resource collections of National Science Digital Library (NSDL).

The project is funded by the Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program of National Science Foundation that seeks to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all students, based on educational research and empirical data concerning needs and opportunities in undergraduate education and effective ways to address them.  One of the tracks of the CCLI program is the development of new educational materials and practices for a national audience (EMD).

In 2002-03, National Science Foundation CCLI funded a prototype grant for developing the web-based resources for the course.  With its proven success verified using formative and summative course assessments, NSF is continuing support for three more years (March 2004-February 2007) to develop additional modules for the course in a partnership among three diverse universities, University of South Florida (USF), Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), and Wright State University (WSU). 

The investigators on the grant are Autar Kaw (Mechanical Engineering), Glen Besterfield (Mechanical Engineering), and Jim Eison (Education) of USF, Pradeep Misra (Electrical Engineering) of Wright State University and Egwu Eric Kalu (Chemical Engineering) of Florida A&M University.

The project provides faculty and students customization based on engineering major (Chemical, Civil, Computer, General, Electrical, Industrial, and Mechanical) and computational system (Maple, Mathcad, Mathematica, and Matlab). 

Each instructional module enhances instructor preparation and development, and student educational experience by

• reviewing pre-requisite mathematical background information,

• demonstrating the need for and use of numerical solutions through real-life examples,

• combining text and interactive self-directed simulations to illustrate algorithms, examples, advantages, pitfalls, errors and convergence of numerical techniques,

• relating historical information to numerical methods, and

• providing self-assessment tools and problem sets.

The modules maximize student interest and learning by

• ensuring clarity and quality of content through periodic assessments and content revision conducted during the project period,

• providing user-customization based on engineering major and computational system,

• offering convenience through anytime-anywhere web access, and

• describing and demonstrating a wide variety of numerical techniques.

The collaboration between USF, FAMU and WSU ensures that all materials are developed for and work well with diverse student populations, including

• underrepresented minorities and women in engineering (FAMU),

• transfer and over traditional-age adult students (USF),

• diverse engineering majors (USF, FAMU, WSU), and

• class sizes (USF, FAMU, WSU).

For more information on the project, please contact Autar Kaw or visit http://numericalmethods.eng.usf.edu