Proposal

Narrative

Projecting STEM on the MacArthur campus is an initiative to offer tech support to students and faculty involved in STEM research (and other disciplines). The current proposal is for the purchase of pico projectors, handheld projectors, and supporting equipment.

 

On average, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of FAU has over 60 students actively conducting biomedical research at various research institutions on our campus (Honors College, Scripps Research Institute, Max Planck Florida Institute, and Jupiter Life Science Initiative). As part of the effort to communicate their research findings, our students participate in various poster sessions, seminars and conferences. Additionally, faculty on our campus are invited to give talks about their research all across the US and around the world (e.g. London). FAU’s MacArthur campus is one of the fastest growing campuses; 2015 incoming class was the largest admitted class at the Wilkes Honors College and there have been multiple research faculty hires in the past two years including Department Chair of Chemistry and two neuroscientists. The greatest limitation in hosting a presentation is the availability of classrooms with the necessary projector-computer systems and the size of the audience is limited to the class size. Also, a major challenge faculty have in giving a talk off campus are the frustrations of the display-to-projector interface that commonly occurs when using “foreign” equipment. Overall, the use of this equipement will be for the supporting student success. Indeed, when students or faculty use of the pico projector in a classroom setting will further facilitate the academic achievements of our students. Additionally, in supporting communication of STEM, we are in line with FAU’s Strategic Plan of “becoming the country’s fastest-improving public research institutions”. In supporting our students’ and faculty communication of their research, we can contribute to FAU’s proposed pillars and platforms focused on STEM and community outreach.

Modified details and requests:

Listed uses below are all meant to be used in small spaces, thus the issue of low lumens would not be an issue for the purpose; in many cases the pico projectors will be a "break-out" tool during presentations. The pico projectors remain an invaluable tool for communicating STEM research of both our students and faculty. With the understanding that this is the first time the use of these projectors will be used, we have reduced the number of projectors (and their accessories) that are being requested in this proposal.  This has significantly reduced the total amount being requested to $2,403.22 (details are highlighted in "Hardware Reqs" portion of the proposal.

Goal: To relieve these limitations and challenges, we propose to purchase a cache of pico projectors will be made available for use by both students (undergraduate and graduate students) and faculty via a check-out system. The use of a pico projector will allow any campus space to become a meeting or study space in which a presentation can occur.

Proposed uses of equipment:

Students:

·         Presentations of research in any space

·         Study tool: e.g., use in library study rooms to solve problems as a group. Currently only one location with this capability is already dedicated to specific scheduled tutoring. Use of the pico projectors will alleviate this limitation.

·         Community building: students will be able to check out a pico projector for purposes of enriching student life (e.g. showing of a movie)

·         Multimedia Art installations: many pieces of art are video based and the use of a small mobile projector would facilitate the work of the student artist.

 

Faculty:

·         Invited talk/guest lecturer: will allow for use of own/familiar equipment rather than unknown projector systems, thus eliminating common frustrations.

·   Teaching tool: faculty can use in their office during office hours to enhance interaction with students.

·         Back up on hand for when classroom equipment fails.

·         Within a standard classroom, use of a pico projector will allow for a multiple screens (e.g. faculty can project a presentation on the standard in house system, and video clips using the pico projector, alleviating the need to switch windows or to minimize/close the PPT presentation).

Facilities

Not applicable.

Hardware Requirements

Software Requirements

Not applicable.

Personnel Costs

Not applicable.

Other Costs

No other costs will be accrued.

Timeline

The project will begin as soon as funds are available. Spring/Summer 2016 would be ideal to have this initiative launched.

Sustainability

Not applicable.

Resource Matching

Oversight and inventory of the equipment will be maintained by Dr. Monica Maldonado, Associate Director of Student Activities.

Implementing Organization

The Wilkes Honors College will be responsible for implementing this initiative and will communicate to all departments and colleges represented on the MacArthur campus via email, digital signage and social media the availability of the proposed equipment as well as eligible uses.