Collaborative Research: IRES Track III: Bioinspired Autonomy in Natural Environments

这个国际学生研究经验（IRES）项目为生物工程领域的跨学科国际教育开发和实施了一种新的模式，可能适用于其他领域。在位于韩国、新加坡和文莱的跨学科导师网络的帮助下，该项目下的IRES学者研究了复杂自然环境中基于飞行/滑翔雨林动物的自主机动性。每年通过广泛的广告和10多所附属大学招募10名研究生（即整个项目期间招募30名），以确保IRES项目能够融入学者的论文研究中。为期13周的IRES暑期项目从在VT校园的入学周开始，随后是与韩国科学技术院（KAIST）或新加坡国立大学（NUS）的工程导师进行模块化的设置期，在文莱大学（UBD）进行婆罗洲生物沉浸，最后在KAIST或新加坡国立大学进行数据分析/工程集成模块。该计划将帮助美国培养一支具有跨学科和跨文化技能的工程师队伍，将世界各地的专业知识和自然资源结合起来，解决复杂的跨学科问题。有针对性的少数民族招聘和详细的传播计划将确保该项目对多样化的人才库产生广泛影响。这个IRES项目实施了一个新的范例，通过全球合作和个性化学习的趋势，将STEM的国际研究经验与解决跨学科挑战的需求相一致。为了实现这一目标，该范式将以下关键要素引入国际研究经验，并以一种新颖的方式将它们结合起来：(i)专注于研究和与研究相关的专业发展经验，这些经验很好地融入了IRES学者的论文研究；（ii）在各种社会文化环境中利用自然和学术资源的组合；（iii）导师网络为学生提供在不同项目阶段根据他们的需要选择的多名导师工作的机会。（iv）个性化研究经验的模块化定制路径和时间表方法，(v)广泛使用社交媒体多对多通信模型，以确保每个学生群体及其科学和社会社区的一致性，以及（vi）学生和导师与美国工程教育学会（ASEE）的持续接触，以实现专业发展目标。ASEE PI将确保所有参与的教师（美国和国际）和学生都意识到该项目的专业发展机会和挑战，并获得如何充分利用所提供的机会和如何应对挑战的合理建议。通过这个项目，在复杂的自然环境中实现自主的科学目标将对与环境监测和清理、精准农业和林业以及新型自主交通相关的社会挑战产生变革性影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) project develops and implements a new model for transdisciplinary, international education in the area of bio-inspired engineering, potentially adaptable to other fields. IRES scholars under this program study autonomous mobility in complex natural environments based on flying/gliding rainforest animals with the help of an interdisciplinary mentor network located in Korea, Singapore, and Brunei. Each year, 10 graduate students (i.e., 30 over the entire project period) are recruited through broad advertising and a pool of 10+ feeder universities to ensure the IRES program can be integrated into the scholars' thesis research. A 13-week IRES summer program starts with an orientation week at the VT campus followed by a modular sequence of a setup period with an engineering mentor at either Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) or the National University of Singapore (NUS), a biology immersion in Borneo at the University of Brunei (UBD), and finally a data analysis/engineering integration module at KAIST or NUS. The proposed program will aid the development of a U.S. workforce with engineers who have the transdisciplinary and intercultural skills to pull together expertise and natural resources from around the world to solve complex, transdisciplinary problems. Targeted minority recruitment and a detailed dissemination plan will ensure that the project has a wide impact on a diverse talent pool. This IRES program implements a novel paradigm to bring international research experiences in STEM in line with the need of solving transdisciplinary challenges through global collaboration and the trend towards personalized learning. To achieve this, the paradigm introduces the following key elements to international research experiences and combines them in a novel manner: (i) focus on research and research-related professional development experiences that are well integrated into the IRES scholars' thesis research , (ii) leveraging a combination of natural and academic resources in a variety of sociocultural settings, (iii) mentor network offering students the opportunity to work with multiple mentors selected according to their needs at the different program stages, (iv) modular customizable approach to paths and schedules for individualized research experiences, (v) pervasive use of a social media many-to-many communication model to ensure coherence within each student cohort and its scientific and social communities, and (vi) constant engagement of students and mentors with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) to accomplish the professional development goals. The ASEE PI will make sure that all involved faculty (U.S. and international) and students are aware of the professional development opportunities and challenges of the program and receive sound advice how to make best use of the provided opportunities and how to deal with the challenges. Through this project, achieving the scientific goal of autonomy in complex natural environments will have a transformative impact on societal challenges related to environmental monitoring and clean-up, precision agriculture and forestry, and novel forms of autonomous transportation.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.