Proposal

Narrative

Due to growth on the Jupiter campus, Wilkes Honors College was without a physics lab for 2 years, until Summer 2018, a state-of-the-art active learning lab was built, and includes several “smartboards” in which student’s may link work from their device to share and present to the classroom. The lab was designed with the expectation that it could be modified to increase its current capabilities. Although the lab was built for holding physics labs, it is open to all disciplines including art, anthropology, psychology and neuroscience. Each of which have needs for more high-end technology to be added, specifically a set of classroom laptops. Current limitations for the multi-disciplinary lab are on 1) reliance on students to have a laptop and 2) the student’s or the current FAU devices do not have the capabilities or processing power needed for the coursework activities (e.g. software designed to tracking and computing movement of water and protein atom interactions). The laptops requested are equipped with a CPU with greater processing power, a high-end graphics card and a large amount of memory, which will greatly benefit a multitude of courses that will be offered in the space and will assist in active learning objectives for engaging students. WHC is primed to grow significantly and the requested items will serve students multiple times due to the use across multiple disciplines/courses. Indeed, students who accomplish physics, psychology, neuroscience, art and/or humanities courses, will be using the same requested items repeatedly in each of the different courses. In addition to the requested laptops (and necessary accessories), webcams are requested to bring in invited guest speakers remotely. This effort has been a success in various courses, including Systems Neuroscience in which renowned neuroscientists from across the nation are “brought into” the classroom to discuss topics with students at FAU.

Facilities

The new physics lab on the Jupiter campus currently is equipped with secure storage space. No additional space or facility changes are need, due to the request for mobile devices/tech (i.e. laptops and web cameras).

Hardware Requirements

The use of the requested laptops will be for multiple courses within the “Physics Lab” space. Indeed, many faculty at the college are keen to conduct their courses in the newly developed space and will be integrating many technologies (including the proposed requested items), into active learning labs for each of their disciplines. Alienware M15 laptops (30), $65,970 The requested laptops will greatly benefit students who are taking the listed courses. Courses such as Computation Physics, Computer Programming for Biology, 2D/3D Gaming, and Art & Technology, involves curriculum and activities to leverage the specs of the requested laptops, including their CPU, graphics card, and memory.

Software Requirements

SPSS 25, Student Lab License (30): $1050 Annual Renewal of license (each fiscal year): $2400 SPSS Statistics is a software package used for interactive statistical analysis; the use of this software is being requested for training students how to use the standard statistic program. This invaluable skill will be useful not only for a student’s course projects, undergraduate thesis research, but as well as future career opportunities. Prices listed are for student license of the software and are designated by FAU OIT (30 total licenses), and the cost to renew the license for the following two years is also requested.

Personnel Costs

No additional personnel cost is requested for the current proposal.

Other Costs

In an effort to increase the longevity of the requested equipment, we are requesting funds for the following items to protect laptops from exposure and student usage/falls that have a potential of occurring in a teaching laboratory. Each item has been priced on Amazon (a tax-exempt account will be used for purchase) at the date of submission of the grant. A “screenshot” of the listed items has been included to show individual costs (below total cost rounded to the nearest dollar for each listed item is indicated). • Cover for each laptop (30): $709 • Wireless mouse (pack of 30): $311 • Secured Charging station: $1628 • Arduinos kits (2): $120 • Vernier Arduino Interface Shield (30): $870 • Arduino Uno development board (30): $480 • Web cameras (8): $400 • Stylus (8): $48 • Estimated Total Shipping Cost: $200 TOTAL OTHER COST: $4766

Timeline

Equipment will be purchased as soon as funds are available. Our goal is to have the equipment available for students’ use beginning Fall 2020 for General Physics Lab courses (and upper division physics courses, such as Computational Physics), chemistry courses such as Instrumental Method Analysis Lab CHM4135L and/or CHM Quantitative Analytics, CHM 3141L. In addition to this, courses from other disciplines that are being offered in the same semester, including but not exclusive to, Research Methods in Psychology, Anthropology Lab, Art & Technology and newly designed Data Science courses.

Sustainability

Oversight and management of the equipment will be accomplished by Dr. Yaouen Fily, Associate Professor of Physics, and Dr. Shree Kundalkar, Director Academic Support Services. By design of the instrumentation and software, the use of the requested equipment will have a long-term use. In other words, the open platform design which is compatible with changes in the computer operating system will extend the life of the requested equipment.

Resource Matching

The requested equipment is to augment the current equipment used in the physics teaching labs. Other devices required for teaching labs in physics, psychology, neuroscience, mathematics, anthropology and studio art, will be provided the respective departments at the Wilkes Honors College.

Implementing Organization

The Wilkes Honors College faculty and staff will be responsible for implementing the proposed projects with the use of the requested equipment. Minimal assistance will be needed from FAU OIT (Jupiter) office to set up standard software (Microsoft Office, antivirus software, etc.) on the requested student-use laptops (in teaching laboratories). Additionally, logistical support (e.g. purchasing, etc.) will be managed by the Wilkes Honors College program assistant. The Wilkes Honors College faculty and staff will be responsible for implementing the proposed projects with the use of the requested equipment. Minimal assistance will be needed from FAU OIT (Jupiter) office to set up standard software (Microsoft Office, antivirus software, etc.) on the requested student-use laptops (in teaching laboratories). Additionally, logistical support (e.g. purchasing, etc.) will be managed by the Wilkes Honors College program assistant. All oversight of the physics lab is managed by both Dr. Kundalkar and Wilkes Honors College's physics professor, Dr. Yaouen Fily.