Contextual Research-Empirical: Improving Visual Communication in Nanotechnology

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This project addresses the problem of how and if scientists and engineers are able to understand each other when studying an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary phenomenon. If scientists and engineers from different disciplines have trouble communicating with each other around a specific topic of mutual interest, then cross-field collaborations of this nature will be problematic.Specifically, this research project aims to empirically examine the role that disciplinary knowledge in chemistry and electrical engineering play in the way in which nanotechnology graphics are produced and comprehended by doctoral students. Students from each discipline will draw graphics of a particular, pre-specified topic in nanotechnology. Then the students will think aloud when interpreting graphics created from the other disciplinary perspective. Finally, the participants will take part in an eye tracking study designed to examine how students visually address graphics vis a vis text in natural scientific contexts (i.e., when reading journal articles).The research may have implications for the approach that is taken in training doctoral students to work across disciplines. As interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research continues to become more commonplace, it is important that scientists and engineers be able to understand each other.The project will work with a national center on nanotechnology research and several NSF supported Research Experiences for Teachers sites to disseminate the result. The team will also publish in peer reviewed research journals.