Research Presentations
Building our own circuit board.
Testing an energy-harvesting device.
Students using the Arduino LilyPad
The Kenan Fellow/Mentor partnership is the foundation of our program. What does this partnership mean to you? * This parnership represented a link between the science content which is taught in our schools and the application of that information utilized in the research world. My students have been taught the Engineering Design Process, which is the method by which engineers solve problems. This mentorship opened up a world of cutting-edge technology and its immediate need in the health profession and the real world, which includes, people, animals and the environment. My mentor’s research is already solving problems to real-world challenges and saving lives, livestock and money for individuals. This knowledge was also a motivating factor in getting my students to take their projects seriously, knowing that what they create might serve as a impetus for a future invention that might have real impact on the human population’s health and well-being.
Did you work with a single mentor or multiple professionals? * I worked with Dr. Jesse Jur, who is working under the ASSIST Center. ASSIST is the acronym for The Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies.Within this group, there is a collaboration of engineers from different fields to solve problems. The center employs nanotechnology enabled energy harvesting and storage, ultra-low power electronics, and sensors to create innovative, battery-free, body-powered, and wearable health monitoring systems. (https://assist.ncsu.edu/about/). Dr. Elena Veety is the Educational Director who assisted Dr. Jur in his work with our nanotechnology group. We were exposed to the research of many engineers during our internship, to include devices from their research and basic knowledge required for an understanding of their content.
Describe a time when your mentor helped you understand something or helped you have an “ah-ha” moment. *
The underlying message to our team was that what product(s) we ideate, may have lasting effects on the health industry. The realization that the potential outcomes of his research could help individuals in the health industry became a serious endeavor in all of our actions. This message was presented in so many ways: from the research that was currently underway from the professors, the graduate students and our own imaginations as we learned information about the One Health Initiative and the impact we could have on the planet by our contributions. That message was further reinforced when our mentor shared news of his visit with a major sports company in an effort to gain more support for his research.
Discuss the working relationship between you and your mentor. Our mentor was very enthusiastic about his research and was willing to share his knowledge without overwhelming us. He was skilled in his delivery and questioning methods to allow our groups to assimulate knowledge into a project that we could use in our classrooms. He was also willing to help fund our classroom with materials that would allow us to share our experiences with our students.
Did you work side-by-side? No, but we were able to conduct research similar to his own research.
Did he/she allow you to work on your own? * He allowed us to work independently and created situations where we could collaborate with others and seek assistance from those in specialty areas, such as learning the arduino C++ code.
What do you consider to be the lasting impact of this relationship? * I now have a university resource to share with my students, career alternatives to share with students and access to many engineering careers and resources.
Do you plan to work together after the fellowship ends? Yes, I would like to utilize these resources to create a science and engineering camp in the Eastern Wake Area, where my school is located. We are somewhat removed from this area and I plan to bring my students to the campus during college visits to learn more about the various engineering fields. We have also invited speakers from the campus to visit my students at school, as well as borrowed equipment that was introduced in the internship.
Students working on project.