NSF research grant yields $1.9 million for Remote Labs

HOBOKEN, N.J. - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $1.9 million Information Technology Research Grant to a group of researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology and Teachers College-Columbia University. Over the next four years, the multi-disciplinary team consisting of Dr. Sven Esche (Stevens, Mechanical Engineering), Dr. Constantin Chassapis (Stevens, Mechanical Engineering), Dr. Jeffrey Nickerson (Stevens, Technology Management) and Dr. James Corter (Columbia, Cognitive Psychology) will develop a comprehensive infrastructure for designing and conducting remote experiments.

This research project seeks to create a standardized environment, in which one can run experiments involving multiple devices in different laboratories at various locations, perform collaborative experiments with multiple participants, and combine physical experiments and computer simulations into one integrated system. Alternative user interfaces will be developed and evaluated for pedagogical efficacy, and various cognitive and instructional design issues will be explored.

"Sharing of laboratory resources via the Internet alleviates the strains that the integration of a comprehensive laboratory experience into the undergraduate curriculum places on the spatial, temporal and fiscal resources of educational institutions," said Esche. "In previous research work, which over the last five years was supported by other NSF funding programs and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Dr. Chassapis and I had shown that remotely operated laboratories with various levels of sophistication and complexity can be successful at providing access to sophisticated experimental devices for large numbers of students."

Through the proposed standardization, the education and research communities will be able to share laboratory facilities, enabling much wider and faster access to experimental resources than is possible at the present time. Furthermore, success in this particular domain is expected to lead to techniques, methods and approaches that can be applied for sharing other sensor and actuator networks in a wide range of scientific and industrial applications.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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