Table
of Contents
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1.2. Summary of recent CIERD accomplishments |
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1.5 Background
and Motivation
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5 |
2.1 Program and Events |
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Student Council for Integrated Education, Research, and Development
(CIERD) is a student led organization formed in April of 2004 by a group of
graduate students. CIERD is currently represents a consortium of fourteen departments and programs at
The mission of CIERD is to foster effective interaction, collaboration
and intellectual exchange between students from various departments and
programs at
The second CIERD goal is to employ existing
computer technology resources to enhance profession-focused communication
between students. Primarily our efforts will be centered on an online forum
recently launched by CIERD and an online database of student-run academic and
research related events.
The third goal is to recruit new students to be actively involved in CIERD. To approach this goal, CIERD will organize academic and research focused events that are of interest to the student community. CIERD will also present at regular meetings of various student groups and will arrange membership drives.
Series of grant writing workshops are organized to develop proposal writing skills among Duke graduate students. The first objective of these grant writing workshops is to provide a basic foundation for grant writing. The second objective is to guide students through writing their own grants. Students will work individually or in teams developing their research ideas into grant proposals throughout the workshops series.
The focus of CIERD discussion sessions will
be on current research topics that effectively combine different fields of
science. Examples of such interdisciplinary research topics can be, for
instance, found in engineering, science policy, computer sciences, humanities,
and environment. The first objective of discussion sessions is to foster
interaction and intellectual exchange between students from various departments
who have an interest in a discussion topic. The second objective is to find
faculty support to help develop students’ ideas into a valuable research.
Recruitment of new members will expand
students’ participation in CIERD events, increase collaboration and will help
to build a cross departmental network of profession-focused interaction among
Duke students.
CIERD is looking for support from the
university administration to implement its program and events. This document
contains information about CIERD’s mission, objectives, by-laws and recent
accomplishments. The program overview is followed by an action plan to address
effective development of the organization and CIERD projects planned for the
year of 2005. This document is created as a reference for the
1.2 Summary of recent CIERD accomplishments
During the 2004 fall
semester, CIERD members discussed its future activity with about 30 faculty
members in different departments. The purpose of this discussion was to obtain
faculty feedback, summarize interdisciplinary projects run by individual
departments, and to identify existing concerns. Currently, CIERD is building
co-operations with different Duke student groups. For example, CIERD worked
with Fuqua EVCC to organize the Idea Exchange held in November in the Pratt
School of Engineering. CIERD also collaborated with GPSC and recently made a
presentation of CIERD at the GPSC general assembly meeting.
CIERD launched
an online forum (http://cierd.cs.duke.edu/forum)
for discussion of education and research problems of Duke students. The group
also hosts a webpage (http://cierd.pratt.duke.edu)
which accommodates online event database that enables efficient posting of
academic related CIERD news and events. Alexei Valiaev, a CIERD group member,
works with Tomalei Vess- the Program Director in the
Interdisciplinary
education and research has increased greatly over the last two decades both in
With the complexity of modern research and development, scientific innovations often require a wide range of knowledge spanning numerous fields. Inventions we use daily ranging from airplanes to non-stick cookware were developed through collaboration between engineers and scientists in different areas of research and technology. These collaborations were made possible by effective teamwork and communication. While industry has successfully implemented such collaborations, stumbling blocks still exist to hinder this teamwork and communication among students in the university research environment. An overly focused knowledge of a single scientific field can lead to limited understanding of the possible relevance of one’s research in other fields. Another problem can be communication between students due to the use of very specific vocabulary within a particular field. In order to facilitate collaboration, these stumbling blocks must be overcome and opportunities for students to interact and communicate on a regular basis with colleagues in other fields must be increased.
The
“Building on Excellence” strategic plan places
The faculty here at
The CIERD program and events propose to increase collaboration among students, disseminate interdisciplinary knowledge, and help those students to pursue careers in research and education. CIERD has many goals in common with faculty-led interdisciplinary centers but several important distinctions exist. First, students are (usually) more flexible and often absorb new ideas faster since it is easier for them to cross disciplinary boundaries at this early stage in their career. Second, CIERD will have a more dynamic environment because of the high turnover of the student population due to graduation. Lastly, students are the main contributors to CIERD program and they are also the main target audience and will benefit the most from this organization.
The number of Duke students involved in
interdisciplinary research and education continues to increase. Many
interdisciplinary students at Duke conduct research projects which would
benefit from the knowledge of students from different departments. However,
communication with students outside their program is often difficult and
therefore lacking. It is important to note that many students contribute
significantly to collaborative projects at
The overarching goal of CIERD is to support Duke students in
interdisciplinary education and research thereby furthering their professional
and career development. To accomplish this goal, CIERD identified three
objectives. The first objective is to plan events that will foster interaction
between students and disseminate interdisciplinary knowledge. In 2005 events
will include interdisciplinary discussion sessions and a series of grant
writing workshops. The second objective is to utilize existing information and
computer technology tools to enhance academic communication between students.
Primarily our efforts will be centered on an online forum recently launched by
CIERD (http://cierd.cs.duke.edu/forum)
and an online database of student-run academic and research related events. The
third objective is to recruit new CIERD members and to build a cross
departmental network for profession-focused interaction and intellectual
exchange among Duke students. This network will establish a strong basis for
exploring new opportunities created by interdisciplinary fields. It will also
assist the
1.5 Background and
Motivation
It is uniquely Duke that creates this
environment that allows this rare daring that Fulbright referred to in one of
his most famous quotations: “We must dare to think 'unthinkable'
thoughts. We must learn to explore all
the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly
changing world. We must learn to welcome
and not to fear the voices of dissent.” (James W. Fulbright).
CIERD
represents an initiative to dare to think ‘unthinkable’ thoughts, and attempts
to harness the dizzying amount of creativity and intellectual prowess present
in the student population. It will
embark on the creation of new connections between the students of
CIERD was formed to foster discussion, collaboration and intellectual
exchange among students of social and natural sciences, engineering and
humanities, to generate students’ interest and to promote exchange and dissemination
of academic and research information. This effort has come at the most
opportune time and place. Increasing number of Duke students becomes involved
in interdisciplinary projects. It was only a matter of time until CIERD
establishment came to the forefront of students across the schools and
departments. Students in the
With the complexity of modern research and development, scientific
innovations often require a wide range of knowledge in numerous fields of
research. Inventions we use daily ranging from airplanes to non-stick cookware
were developed through collaboration between engineers and scientists in
different areas of research and technology. These collaborations were made
possible by effective teamwork and communication between professionals with
various backgrounds. Often stumbling blocks, however, still exist to hinder
this teamwork and communication in the university research environment. An
overly focused knowledge of scientific facets in science can lead to limited
understanding of possible relevance in other fields. The use of very specific
vocabulary within a field can be intimidating and confusing for others,
limiting effective communication. Finally opportunities for professionals to
interact and communicate on a regular basis with colleagues in other fields
must be increased to facilitate collaboration.
Over the past decade, several initiatives
have been undertaken to create resources for interdisciplinary research in
science, particularly in the rapidly growing fields including nano- and biotechnologies, computer sciences,
environment, science policy, and humanities. Interdisciplinary research also
raises issues in economic development, environmental protection, and overall
societal enrichment. Faculty here at
The 2005 CIERD program includes grant writing
workshops and interdisciplinary discussion sessions.
The Student Council for Integrated Education Research and Development (CIERD) would like to present a series of grant writing workshops to develop proposal writing skills among Duke graduate students. The first goal of these grant writing workshops is to provide a basic foundation for grant writing. Topics may include developing an idea for a grant proposal and transferring that idea into a narrative, locating funding sources, outlining a budget and writing cover letters. Different grant writing styles and information about the grant review process will be presented. We will make these workshops more widely beneficial by providing material covered in the workshops on the CIERD webpage as well as videotaping some of the workshops. Our second goal is to guide students through writing their own grants. Students will work individually or in teams developing their research ideas into grant proposals throughout the workshops series. Those students who are already working on existing grant proposals can receive feedback on their writing from experienced faculty members and ORS coordinators.
In addition to our goals outlined above these workshops will help to
foster collaborations among attending students. Grant writing workshops will
also develop participants’ teamwork
experience and facilitate interdisciplinary initiatives at
To accomplish our goals we have divided the
program of each workshop into two sections. The first section will address
concepts and writing skills involved in grant preparation, as well as present
case studies from specific grant proposals.
We structured the first part of each workshop in such a way that
students can attend either all or just selected workshops without feeling lost.
On average this part of a workshop will last for about 40 minutes.
The second section of each workshop will be
focused on helping students write their own grant proposals. Those students
will benefit from valuable feedback from faculty members and ORS coordinators. Interactive
communication between participating students and faculty will help in
developing a successful grant. Finally, students’ grant proposals prepared
during the workshops will be reviewed by selected faculty members. The two best
proposals will be presented and then awarded at a reception dinner. The second
section of the workshop will follow the first “general information” portion and
will continue for about 20-30 minutes. To benefit from the second section of
each workshop students will need a background from the first section as well as
previous workshops. Students who decide to write their own grant proposal will
be encouraged to participate in both sections of every workshop. Full descriptions of all workshops will be available online.
CIERD considers awards and recognitions to be
a vital service in encouraging students’ participation. All of the grant
proposals will be presented at a poster session of the final workshop, while
the two best grant proposals will be first presented and then awarded on the
reception dinner. For more details on each of the workshops refer to the
Appendix.
Action plan:
·
Arrange a venue with OSAF and the
Luncheon meetings with a variety of academic and research topics throughout the year will be a forum for sharing knowledge and research among students in different disciplines. A student or a group of several students will bring their own research or decide on a research topic from an article or magazine and lead a discussion on a chosen topic. Other members of the discussion group are responsible for reading the article to actively participate in the discussion. The discussion will be open to address the issues such as: what knowledge and resources are necessary to conduct the proposed research; how can the proposed research be related to ongoing research in other fields; how can the presented study be applied practically in product development, disease treatment, and how may the research extend and complement other valuable studies.
Students already hold discussion sessions
independently in several departments. The focus of CIERD discussion sessions,
however, will be on research which effectively combines different fields of
science. Examples of such interdisciplinary research can be, for instance, in
humanities engineering, science policy, computer sciences, business and
environment. Discussion can be also based on the interdisciplinary research of
a presenter. This way, student can address a problem he or she has encountered
to a group of participating students. Perspectives of different students (who
may also have different background) on a same problem can generate new insights
onto student’s research and help in resolving a research problem. For some of
its luncheon meetings, CIERD will invite a faculty member who is an expert in
the field chosen for a discussion. This will help to answer arguable points of
view and to stimulate students’ discussion.
Many graduate students come to Duke with
bright research ideas. Those students need faculty support to help develop
their ideas into a valuable research. Often, however, ideas of such students
become overlooked due to the disciplinary vision of the faculty sponsor or the
limitations of the existing grant proposal.
As a part of its discussion sessions, CIERD can create a forum where
students’ ideas are discussed and developed. Faculty members with research
interests in a field which is debated will be invited. Through this
arrangement, faculty support can possibly be gained in the discussions. CIERD
has already organized the idea exchange event with Fuqua EVCC. Though most of
the ideas exchanged in that event were related to business the format of a
discussion can be successfully transferred to other fields. In proposed
discussion sessions, CIERD will look for ways to partner with student groups
such as GPSC, Engineering and Graduate Student Council, Science Policy group
and Fuqua EVCC.
Action plan:
· Arrange a venue with OSAF. A location will be changed from time to time to make easier access for students from different departments
· Distribute information about the next discussion topic at least one week in advance. Popular mailing lists such as GPSC News, Graduate Student Affairs, International House and Duke Web calendar will be used to distribute information electronically. Flyers will be distributed to mail boxes of graduate students in several Duke departments. Departmental newsletters, online event databases, and plasma screens will be also used for advertising the event
CIERD
has contacts with over 20 faculty members; these established contacts will be
used first
CIERD was proposed to serve students
interested in interdisciplinary research and how such research can contribute
to new product design, state of the art disease treatment, environmental
safety, economic growth, and societal development.
CIERD currently relies on existing members to
recruit new students. During the fall of 2004, several faculty members assisted
in finding students to represent their departments in CIERD. Twice a year,
CIERD plans to conduct recruitment drives that will disseminate information
about CIERD activities and will help in recruiting new members.
Action plan:
Presenting
CIERD to student groups is an effective way to inform students about CIERD
functions, address student’s questions and invite them to join CIERD events.
Existing CIERD members will be assigned to make such presentations within their
departments.
Events
for 2005 include interdisciplinary discussion sessions, grant writing
workshops, and a field trip to a local company or a research organization.
Each
semester several members of CIERD organize a reception at the popular place on
Duke campus such as
CIERD will ask the DGS from each of several departments to encourage their students to join CIERD.
· Hold CIERD regular meetings and encourage all interested students to attend
CIERD holds its regular
meetings on average once every two months and encourages anyone who is
interested to come. Participating in CIERD events will help students learn more
about the group and realize benefits of becoming CIERD member. CIERD will
ensure balance of meetings and events to maximize development and execution of
the group’s program.
Joint events with other student and faculty organizations on campus will bring greater student attendance, minimize time conflicts and optimize the use of the budget. Exploring ways to partner with other organizations will be a key CIERD strategy for bringing new members.
During the first three
workshops CIERD organizers will survey the audience participating in the
workshops to determine the various fields of study represented and their
purposes for participating in the grant writing workshops. Also we will
determine how many students are interested in developing their own grants.
CIERD will encourage students to work in a
group and develop grants in interdisciplinary fields. Student team formation
however can be a challenge on its own, thus CIERD will identify and record
factors that may be causing problems in collaboration among participating
students. We expect that the number of attending students will vary depending
on the subject of the workshop. On average we expect to attract 25-40 graduate
students per session. We have divided the program of each workshop into two
sections. The first section will provide a basic foundation for grant writing
and it will likely attract more than half of the participating students. The
second section will be focused on helping students write their own grant
proposals. We expect about third of the participating students to attend this
section.
CIERD online forum will be readily available
for students to communicate their grant writing ideas and questions encountered
during the workshops. CIERD organizers will track whether students are aware of
the resources available through the forum, and whether workshop participants
are accessing it. The number of users on the forum will be monitored by
checking the subscribed users list and recent activity; both are recorded by
the online forum software. We expect to add 20-30 new forum members during the
course of the workshops. Important material discussed during each workshop will
be available online. We will continue to monitor how many students use the
material provided online. This can be determined from the number of students
who complete a grant writing participants form provided online (http://cierd.pratt.duke.edu/Our_projects/grants_view.php).
Interdisciplinary discussion sessions will be evaluated based on student attendance and an interest at each discussion topic. If a student presenter is featured we hope to see that discussion will help to resolve introduced research problems. When students attend a discussion session to share their research we expect that participating faculty will assist in developing student ideas. After each workshop CIERD organizers will ask participating students to complete a feedback form. These feedback forms will help to collect information about:
-educational background of participating students
-their current research project
-preferred format for a discussion session
-recommended interdisciplinary topic for the next discussion
We also hope to see that the CIERD online forum and web site resources will help to increase student attendance at the interdisciplinary discussion sessions.
Management and maintaince is key for successful operation of any organization. The structure of CIERD will be organized to best fit needs of Duke students. Current members of CIERD include students from 14 university departments and programs. CIERD’s mission is to foster university wide professional communication between students and explore new ideas and opportunities created by interdisciplinary areas. This mission presents a significant challenge in coordinating the planning of CIERD. Initial infrastructure of the organization will be established by CIERD members during 2005-2006. CIERD management will be focused on events and recruitment and will ensure continuity of the organization.
Management Structure
CIERD will be managed
according to the By-Laws provided in the appendix. Briefly, the CIERD will be
led by a Board of Directors and an Executive Committee. Any student at Duke may
become a CIERD member at-large. CIERD Board of Directors shall consist of a
Chair, a Co-Chair for communications and information, a Co-Chair for research
and academic affairs, a Co-Chair for corporate relations, a Treasurer and a
Secretary. The Executive Committee shall include the CIERD Board of Directors and at least two other
members-at-large of CIERD. Members-at-large and the Executive Committee shall
be elected each year for a one-year term, which commences on June 1. The CIERD
Advisory Board shall consist of university faculty members and staff interested
in CIERD. A member of CIERD Advisory Board shall agree to advice on academic
and research issues of Duke students that cannot be resolved by the CIERD
Executive Committee or members of the organization.
CIERD department representatives:
|
Name |
Department |
Status |
|
Dong Woo Lim |
Biomedical
Engineering |
PhD student |
|
Matt Johannes |
Mechanical Eng. &
Material Science |
PhD student |
|
Alexei Valiaev |
Mechanical Eng. &
Material Science |
PhD student |
|
Yaxing Liu |
Electrical and
Computer Engineering |
PhD student |
|
Andreas Gondikas |
Engineering
Management |
MS student |
|
Jun Xu |
Chemistry |
PhD student |
|
Farrell Kersey |
Chemistry |
PhD student |
|
Dmitriy Morozov |
Computer Sciences |
PhD student |
|
Jeremy Block |
Biochemistry |
PhD student |
|
Alicia Timme-Laragy |
Environment |
PhD student |
|
Margaret Polinkovsky |
Statistics and
Decision Sciences |
PhD student |
|
Deepa George |
Sociology |
PhD student |
|
Benjamin Cooke |
Mathematics |
PhD student |
|
Kyle Dexter |
Biology |
PhD student |
|
Andriy Khomenko |
|
MBA student |
|
January |
|
·
Organizational kick off meeting ·
Arrange the time with the faculty
participating in the grant writing workshops ·
Organize the 1st workshop -kick
off and general introduction of grant writing workshop |
|
February |
|
·
Grant writing
workshops 2-4 ·
Interdisciplinary discussion: Research and
academic challenges facing interdisciplinary students |
|
March |
|
·
Grant writing
workshops 4-7 ·
Interdisciplinary discussion: Applications of
computer graphics in humanities and social sciences ·
Spring membership drive reception |
|
April |
|
·
Grant writing
workshops 7-10 ·
Interdisciplinary discussion: Novel
engineering devices and methods for environmental protection. |
|
May |
|
·
Spring meeting. ·
Elections ·
Final events evaluation |
CIERD will use funds to
support organizational operations, program and events. Budget outline is
provided below.
|
|
|||||
Grant Writing Workshops |
|||||
Promotional and
workshop related materials
|
Flyers,
Chronicle addition
Handouts |
$240
|
|||
Refreshments
and receptions
|
|
$1,600
|
|||
Award for
two distinguished grant proposals
|
|
$1,000
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
Interdisciplinary discussion sessions |
|||||
Promotional
materials
|
|
$58
|
|||
Food and
refreshments
|
Includes four discussion
sessions
|
$420
|
|||
Recruitment |
|||||
|
Membership drive reception |
|
$200 |
|||
|
Promotional materials |
Poster and flyers and newspaper addition |
$160 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Meetings |
Includes four business and one social meeting |
$500 |
|||
|
|
|||||
|
Supplies |
Computer Processor* |
$450 |
|||
|
CIERD part time coordinator** |
8 hours per week for 5 months |
$1600 |
|||
|
|
|
SUBTOTAL |
|||
|
|
|
$6,228 |
|||
|
* A computer processor is necessary to launch own CIERD server with a
unique name www.cierd.duke.edu This
server will host CIERD online forum and events database. ** CIERD Coordinator will be a graduate student able to support CIERD
day-to-day operations. This can include arranging organizational meetings and
meetings with faculty, making basic updates to the news and events database
on CIERD web site |
|||||
|
Proposal application to Engineering school (in application) |
$500 |
||||
|
School of Arts and Sciences (in application) |
$500 |
||||
|
Environment school (in application) |
$300 |
||||
|
Medical school (in application) |
$500 |
||||
|
|
$400 |
||||
|
Office of
the Provost (in application) |
$400 |
||||
|
John Hope Franklin Institute for
Humanities (in application) |
$300 |
||||
|
|
$200 |
||||
Appendix
1.) Released [
2.) Revision Number: 1
ARTICLE I: NAME AND REGULATION
Section 1. The organization shall be known as the Student
Council for Integrated Education Research and Development hereinafter
designated as “CIERD.”
Section 2. The purpose of CIERD is to promote integration of
various educational and research fields, to assist students’ research in
existing interdisciplinary programs, to foster profession-focused communication
among Duke students, to disseminate knowledge, and to
advance Duke students’ professional experience. CIERD will focus its attention
in areas related with rapidly growing fields including but not limited to nano-
and biotechnologies, computational biology, information technology, humanities,
environment, and science policy. CIERD is a nonprofit organization.
ARTICLE II:
OBJECTIVES