Experiential Learning
Offering Real-World Opportunities for Students Enrolled in Statistics and Data Science Undergraduate Research
Cohort: 2023
Fellow: Layla Guyot
There is a need for offering data analysis support to our local communities. While many undergraduates
enrolled in our courses have expressed interest in conducting data analysis research projects, our department
doesn’t currently have a systematic way to offer these types of experiences. Thus, the primary goal of this
community-based service project is to provide both experiential learning and research opportunities for
undergraduates while supporting the broader Austin-area. Specifically, this project will coordinate with local
Teaching Engineering through Murder Mysteries and Personalized AI Tutor
Cohort: 2023
Fellow: Krishna Kumar
CE 357: Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering is a third year required undergraduate course that has traditionally been a challenging course for students due to its abstract nature. The average course rating for CE 357 is 3.8 in the last twenty years. I have successfully transformed the lecture modules to achieve a significant increase in interest and students’ performance in the course. Although preliminary work looks promising, I want to scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of the course and publish the findings.
Teaching Law and Religion
Cohort: 2023
Fellow: Samy Ayoub
The aim of my proposed project is then the integration of the seemingly disparate studies of law and
religion. The study of both is an important branch of comparative law and global legal history that I aim
Strengthening the Sustainability Studies Degree
Cohort: 2023
Fellow: Jules Elkins
Sustainability Studies graduated its first sizeable cohort in 2022, and the program has yet to undergo a
comprehensive review. Conversations with students revealed their desire for better access to the professional
The Collaboratory: Interdisciplinary, Arts-based Pedagogy for Use in New and Emerging Learning Environments
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Michelle Habeck
One of the top concerns from many employers is that college graduates lack the “soft skills” (collaboration, team-based skills)and professionalism they require. Collaboratory students will have the opportunity to master the latest skills in their field and develop “soft skills” like creative problem-solving problem solving and communication to help them thrive over the course of their careers.
Undergraduate Survey Research in Interpersonal Health Communication
Cohort: 2016
Fellow: Erin Donovan
Each semester in CMS 330:Interpersonal Health Communication, students ask excellent questions that have not been answered yet in the academic literature. My project proposal is to give students the opportunity to collect high-quality survey data that would help students answer their questions. Students would create interpersonal health communication survey that would be administered by a research company to gather nationally representative data on important health communication topics that have currently been unexamined.
Bevosourcing: Tools to Involve Students in Citizen Science and Online Data Publication
Cohort: 2015
Fellow: Adam Rabinowitz
Digital archives and the internet have made it possible for non-experts to make major contributions to research through crowdsourcing and citizen science. UT has fascinating and important collections of primary sources for the humanities, many of which have been digitized. But before my PTF project, there were no digital tools at UT to facilitate crowdsourcing as a pedagogical strategy, engaging students with historical documents while enriching the collections themselves. The project therefore proposed to develop two UT-based crowdsourcing platforms.
Nutrition in the Kitchen
Cohort: 2015
Fellow: Lydia Steinman
Compounding the challenge of consuming a healthy diet is the fact that many students have little or no familiarity with preparing their own food. The result is inadequate diets that do not support optimal health and academic performance.