About RET
Research Experiences in Big Data and Machine/Deep Learning for OK STEM Teachers
A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers by Oklahoma State University
Abstract
As artificial intelligence continues to transform society, a skilled STEM workforce
is becoming more critical for the growth and diversification of science, innovation,
and the U.S. economy. This RET site at Oklahoma State University (OSU) will immerse
high school teachers in research and curricular development activities to better engage
students with AI topics like Big Data, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning. OSU will
leverage an existing partnership with the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance to recruit
teachers to the site while simultaneously strengthening and creating relationships
between industry, high schools, community colleges, and universities. This RET Site
will also provide opportunities for high school and community college students to
continue engaging in research after the RET program has run its course, further promoting
opportunities to propel the next generation of technologically saavy students into
computing careers.
Oklahoma State University (OSU) in partnership with Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (TRSA)
propose a RET site to conduct research and develop curriculum for Big Data and Machine
Learning/Deep Learning (ML/DL) to equip teachers and engage students to achieve a
computing aware and capable workforce. The program will recruit ten teachers from
the Tulsa and surrounding areas to conduct research and curriculum development activities
at the OSU campus in Tulsa for six weeks during the summer. The RET site will include
ML/DL projects that call on large datasets in different areas. The teachers, faculty
mentors along with the curriculum coordinators will develop learning experiences,
activities, problems and examples suitable for use in their classrooms. The objectives
of the program are: 1). Develop teachers’ knowledge of ML/DL/Big Data. 2). Develop
and implement innovative curriculum by translating research experiences into classroom
practices. 3). Build long-term, sustainable relationships between OSU, TRSA, Community
colleges, high schools districts and industry to promote and provide support for advancing
STEM education.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support
through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review
criteria.
About the Program
In this National Science Foundation Research Experience for Teachers (NSF-RET) program, teachers will be guided by Oklahoma State University Department of Computer Science faculty to work on Machine/Deep Learning research projects. The program is spread over a period of 1 year, including two weeks of virtual training, six weeks of summer research, and the remainder spent on incorporating summer material with your student activities. Teachers can choose from a variety of interdisciplinary date science projects. Examples of projects include: computational viral evolution, COVID-19 knowledge graphs, social medial polarization, adversarial attacks in machine learning, electronics health records, sleep disorder graphs, and genome sequencing. See Application for more details.
Benefits
- $8,000 participant stipend upon full participation in the virtual Pre-program, Research program, and the Post program activities.
- Learn from OSU Department of Computer Science Faculty.
- Create real-world learning experiences for your students.
Ideal Candidates
- High school or community college teachers in the areas of computer science, biology/health sciences, mathematics, and social sciences.
- Some knowledge of computer programming, especially Python.
June 1 - July 21, 2023
OSU-Tulsa
