Memoranda of Understanding With Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

 

Dr. Padmanabhan was in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 10-12, 2006 for participating in an International Conference “Hazardous Waste Management for a Sustainable Future.” Dr. Padmanabhan served as an invited member of the Conference Scientific Committee. He also chaired a session, and presented a paper. During the Conference, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Chulalongkorn University and North Dakota State University for collaboration in research and graduate programs. Dr. Eakalak Khan and Dr. Padmanabhan played significant roles in facilitating efforts that culminated in signing of the MOU.

 

MOU With the Center for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, India

 

Dr. Padmanabhan also played a significant role in developing an MOU between the Center for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, India and North Dakota State University. The MOU has been signed paving the way for collaborative research between the two institutions.

 

OUTREACH PROJECTS

NDSU awarded $100,000 grant to improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content in K-12 education in Reservation schools

An NDSU project titled ‘A State University-Tribal Colleges Partnership to Initiate Systemic Changes to Increase STEM Content in K-12 Education’ is funded by NSF under its Bridges for Engineering Education (BEE) program for one year as a planning grant to the amount of $100,000. One of the expectations of the grant is to generate future proposals for appropriate funding organizations for the development of bridges among Engineering and Education department faculties at Colleges and Universities and High and Middle School teachers to create a better environment for the development of students with a higher propensity for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) areas.

North Dakota State University College of Engineering and the School of Education, and Turtle Mountain, Sitting Bull, Fort Berthold, and Cankdeska  Cikana tribal colleges partner in this project to design a program to strengthen the pathway to engineering careers for American Indian students from the North Dakota Reservations.  The project will use pedagogical techniques, which are culturally sensitive and appropriate for engineering instruction, while attempting to increase and improve the STEM content in K-12 education of Reservation high school students.  NDSU College of Engineering and School of Education will work with the tribal Colleges and the reservation high schools.  Additionally, it is expected that discussions between the College of Engineering and the School of Education will lead to cooperation to increase the pedagogical and science contents in the respective programs.

A previous grant from NAVY and three grants from ND EPSCoR under its FLITE program greatly helped the NDSU faculty developing track-record and prior for this proposal.

Robert Pieri, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the principal investigator of the project. G. Padmanabhan, Professor of Civil Engineering, and Lisa Daniels, Assistant Professor, School of Education, are co-principal investigators. This project is an outgrowth of another 5-year NAVY-funded project, which is nearing completion. The dedicated resource group of NDSU, tribal colleges, and reservation schools faculty that has emerged out of the NAVY project will be used as the platform for carrying out the activities of this project.

For additional information, contact Robert Pieri at 1-8673 or G. Padmanabhan at 1-7043 or L. Daniels at 1-8748.

 

NDSU-Turtle Mountain Community College Collaborative Project

Funded by NASA beginning October 2002

A collaborative proposal between the Turtle Mountain Community College and the College of Engineering and Architecture, North Dakota State University, titled “A Reservation Collaboration Initiative for Pre-college Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (RECIPE)”, has been funded by NASA. The project is funded for $100,000 per year for three years of which approximately $40,000 per year will be NDSU’s responsibility. Carol Davis, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Turtle Mountain Community College, and G. Padmanabhan, Chair and professor of civil engineering, NDSU are the Co-PIs of the project.

The goal of the project is to make the possible educational pathways that Native American students of K-12 schools immediately adjacent to the Turtle Mountain Reservation take seamless between the K-12 levels, the tribal college and the university system through proper preparation and the establishment of career goals and to encourage the students to pursue college education and NASA careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics areas.

The proposed activities involve a number of K-12 teachers, tribal college faculty, and NDSU faculty who will work with 30 high school students and 32 middle school students. The collaborative will work on developing and implementing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) materials for after-school enrichment activities using NASA educational resources. 

The project will focus on five components that are essential to realize an increase in the Reservation student participation in STEM disciplines: informational activities, instructional activities, interaction with industry, interaction with Native American STEM professionals, and a collaborative framework among the University and Tribal College faculty, and the Reservation High schools. Some of the activities included in the proposal are: after-school enrichment sessions, weekend academy, summer camp, develop and improve gateway courses at TMCC, meetings with Native American and other STEM and NASA professionals, informational sessions about university and college campuses, NASA STEM career prospects, and STEM degree requirements, K-12 Curricular workshops, and develop an advisory team of Native American professionals and others interested

In addition to G. Padmanabhan, Robert Pieri, professor of mechanical engineering, Wei Lin, assistant professor of civil engineering, Floyd Patterson, associate professor of electrical engineering, Sharon cobb, Director of Group Decision Center, and William O. Martin, associate professor in mathematics are the primary NDSU faculty involved in the project. This team has been already working with the tribal colleges in the State for the last four years on a five-year project funded by the U.S. Navy.

 

Program for North American Mobility in Engineering

In the Fall of 1999, North Dakota State University began work on a proposal that would involve the formation of a consortium among six North American Universities to help prepare engineering students to function effectively in the international business climate fostered by NAFTA. In January, 2000, NDSU and its partners, California State University - Chico, the University of Manitoba, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Zacatecus, Mexico, and the University of Yucatan, Mexico, submitted a joint proposal to the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE)/Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education. The project is entitled Alliance for North American Mobility in Engineering (ANAME) and was granted last February.

Activities proposed for ANAME include the development and delivery of innovative "virtual classroom" courses by the Internet to engineering students in participating institutions. Exchange of a minimum of forty-eight engineering students among the three countries of North America (sixteen per country) is planned. Students will spend one or two semesters in academic residence and four to eight months in industrial internships in a country other than their own.

Project leaders for the ANAME proposal are Orlando Baiocchi, NDSU, U.S.; Nabil Bassim, University of Manitoba, Canada; and Diego Miramontes De León, University of Zacatecas, Mexico. Co-leaders at NDSU are Robert Pieri (Mechanical Engineering), G. Padmanabhan (Civil Engineering), Nancy Olson (Continuing Education), and Virginia Packwood (International Office).

Federal funds in the amount of $209,992.00 were awarded for this project, which corresponds to approximately 56% of the total cost of the U.S. part of the project ($373,119.00). Approximately 24% of that amount, or $89,300.00, is expected to come from private sources, and the remaining 20%, or $73,827.00, corresponds to matching funds from the U.S. universities. In addition to this funding, the Canadian and Mexican governments will provide their participants with CN$160,000.00 and 500,000 Mexican pesos, respectively.

 

 Carol Davis, G. Padmanabhan, Robert Pieri. An Adaptive Systemic Initiative of Tribal Collaboration for Increasing Native American Participation in Mathematics, Science and Engineering, Office of Naval Research,  $1,274,000, June 1999 – June 2004.

“An adaptive systemic initiative of tribal colleges-university collaboration for increasing Native American participation in Mathematics, science and engineering Programs"

Funded by the Office of Naval Research, NAVY 

This collaborative project among NDSU and North Dakota’s five tribal colleges is designed to increase participation by American Indian youth in mathematics, science and engineering. The project was initially funded July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2002, with a $575,000 grant from the U.S. Navy, which is interested in increasing the number of engineers and scientists from under-represented groups. Funding has been subsequently awarded in the amount of $360,000 for continuing the project to June 30, 2004. The project is designed to attract, nurture, and prepare Native American (NA) students for careers in science, mathematics and/or engineering. A series of academically challenging and motivating activities for students each year were the highlights of the project: a) eight Sunday Academy sessions from October to April targeted toward 15-20 Reservation high school students from each Reservation, b) a 2-week summer camp at the tribal college sites targeted toward 20-25 high school students at each site, and another c) 2-week summer camp at NDSU for 10-20 tribal college students. Other components included scholarships at the tribal colleges and NDSU, and curriculum development activities for the tribal colleges. The content development and instructional activities involved NDSU, Tribal College faculty and the Reservation high school teachers.

The project PI's are Carol Davis, Vice President of TMCC, G. Padmanabhan, Chair and Professor, Civil Engineering and Construction Department, NDSU and Robert Pieri, Chair and professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, NDSU.

For information, contact G. Padmanabhan at 701 231 7043 or e-mail G_Padmanabhan@ndsu.nodak.edu

Click here for more about this project, including pictures.