Steve and Tim talk with Chris Gordon, the Director of the Wilson Student Team Projects Center at the U. of Michigan. Chris tells us how the Wilson Center got started and evolved into what it is today. There are 24 competition teams at the Wilson Center and it supports many capstone design projects, our Multidisciplinary Design program, and more. Chris explains why community and safety are at the core of the center and how students and faculty help each other succeed. He also talks about why this kind of engaged learning is a powerful tool for our student to experience.

You can learn more about the Wilson Center here:
https://teamprojects.engin.umich.edu

You can make it here. The Wilson Center celebrates 25 years of student-driven building, learning and growing. Includes a YouTube video with some amazing comments by current students and alumni about their experiences in the Wilson Center.

The bumpy road to greatness. A rough 2024 season sparks frustration—but also leadership and learning—for the Michigan Baja team. Also includes a longer video story.

You can find the YouTube video of the podcast here:
https://youtu.be/aHw1YKvYbIc

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium, a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Please attend the North American Materials Education Symposium next summer, August 5th - 6th at Georgia Tech. Workshops on August 4th:
https://www.names25.mse.gatech.edu

Tim and Steve talk with Professor Wenhao Sun about the way he is using Chat GPT in his thermodynamics and kinetics classes. Wenhao demonstrates how he teaches students to use Chat GPT as a collaborator to solve much harder problems that are usually given to students. He believes that this lets his students experience the higher levels of Blooms taxonomy and shows how he does this in a live demonstration.

Here is a link to a short video describing Professor Sun's research: https://youtu.be/cO7jEApzKoo?si=IhcLScABV4H29AeA
You can learn more about Professor Sun and his research at this link: https://mse.engin.umich.edu/people/whsun
His research website is here: https://whsunresearch.group/

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/rnw0ZWZc0II

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Please attend the North American Materials Education Symposium next summer, August 5th - 6th at Georgia Tech. Workshops on August 4th:
https://www.names25.mse.gatech.edu

Tim and Steve talk with Izzy Jaszczak about Michigan Technological University's metal casting course and the major changes the teaching staff has made to increase the course capacity to 60 students. This was a course that she had taken as an undergraduate. Working with Dr. Paul Sanders, Dr. Dale Dewald, and Peter Jaszczak, she updated the lab curriculum to give students more individual hands-on time with equipment. Izzy also talks about the research half of her role helping students, staff, and faculty collect data using scanning electron microscopes.

Here is a link to a Google Slide deck about the changes (PDF is also attached):

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yQDSaQuAsHL5VHnIKnoMJgS6BITqOjybiErm8GpoRFg/edit?usp=sharing

MTU Summer Youth Programs:
https://www.mtu.edu/syp/

MTU MSE Department:

https://www.mtu.edu/materials/

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/J4TGFgU7hqk

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Please attend the North American Materials Education Symposium next summer, August 5th - 6th at Georgia Tech. Workshops on August 4th:
https://www.names25.mse.gatech.edu

Tim and Steve talk with Dr. Enze Chen, a Lecturer in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. We talk about Enze's unique approach to teaching, his computational modules and materials informatics. We touch on topics such as teaching Gen Z students, generative AI, and visualization in materials education. Dr. Chen even talks about his sketching course for MS&E students. You can learn more about Enze and peruse some extra resources at his website:
https://enze-chen.github.io/

The materials informatics curriculum is further discussed here:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00640

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/WGJ-n8dy-xk

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

In this episode, Steve and Tim reflect on their recent teaching experiences, focusing on Tim's new math course and Steve's grading for growth experiment. They discuss the positive feedback from students, the structure of the math course, and the challenges of integrating AI tools in education. Additionally, they explore innovative grading methods that emphasize student engagement and learning retention, highlighting the importance of feedback and reassessment without penalty. In this conversation, Steve discusses his approaches to enhancing student accountability, revising grading practices, and implementing final exams to ensure true assessment of student learning. He also addresses the challenges posed by academic dishonesty in the age of digital tools like ChatGPT and reflects on the importance of teaching students to use such tools responsibly. The conversation concludes with thoughts on future improvements in teaching methods and grading systems.

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/RATtAiZSlVU

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk with Dr. Ellen Solomon, one of the program managers of the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) at the University of Michigan. Ellen graduated with an MS&E degree from Michigan and worked in industry before coming back to Michigan to run the research program side of MDP. She talked to us about this very unique program that incorporates not only research projects, but projects from industry as well.

About Ellen: https://mdp.engin.umich.edu/staff/ellen-solomon/
UM MDP: https://mdp.engin.umich.edu
UM MDP research projects for 2025: https://mdp.engin.umich.edu/all-projects/?_project_type=research_teams
UM MDP industry projects for 2025: https://mdp.engin.umich.edu/all-projects/?_project_type=sponsor_teams

There are still openings to join MDP industry teams in 2025! Axalta, PPG, and Donaldson are recruiting MSE students to join these projects. Please reach out to jjcarl@umich.edu with your interest and submit an application to the waitlist

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/8YfPRyAVsoQ

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk with Professor Tresa Pollock from UC Santa Barbara, the 2024 Van Vlack Lecturer in the MS&E department at U. Michigan. Tresa has had a very long and distinguished career in Materials Science and Engineering and has mentored many many graduate students. We had a discussion about graduate student mentoring amongst other things. You can find her website here:
https://materials.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/tresa-pollock

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/MfANbEKmRUw

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).

Steve and Tim talk with Dr. Tershia Pinder-Grover, the director of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering (CRLT-Engin) in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. This year marks the 20th anniversary of CRLT-Engin, a focused teaching center where the consultants all have degrees in engineering as well as engineering education. CRLT of University of Michigan is the first University teaching center in the nation.

CRLT Engin: https://crlte.engin.umich.edu/
CRLT UM: https://crlt.umich.edu/

You can find the YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/ut1tDdGSVYI?si=ombDy8tPVPznUppZ

This episode is sponsored by the North American Materials Education Symposium (https://java.engin.umich.edu/NAMES24/) a gift from Prof. Ron Gibala, and the University of Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department (https://mse.engin.umich.edu).