Cottrell Scholars Receive Awards for 3 Collaborative Projects
Research Corporation for Science Advancement has made 2024 Cottrell Scholars Collaborative Awards of $25,000 each to three new projects that emerged from discussions at the 2024 Cottrell Scholar Conference.
Cottrell Scholars Collaborative teams are made up of Cottrell Scholars, Fulbright-Cottrell Scholars, and Robert Holland Jr. Award recipients who attend the annual conference. For their projects, they work across disciplines and in partnership with national initiatives, to develop innovative and high-impact ways to create positive change and improve undergraduate and graduate-level science education.
These projects have received 2024 Cottrell Scholars Collaborative Awards:
Cottrell Lectureships: Seeding Speaker-Sharing Between R1s and Local PUIs
Science departments at predominantly undergraduate institutions often have difficulty recruiting speakers for academic colloquia due to budgetary constraints, while research universities may have larger budgets that allow them to recruit speakers from around the country and the world. This project aims to create speaker-sharing partnerships between R1s and smaller nearby colleges where speakers would visit several institutions in one trip, reducing the carbon impact of travel, enriching academic life at smaller colleges, and seeding relationships between faculty at close-by institutions that could lead the way to future partnerships.
Lead Cottrell Scholar: Matthew Caplan, physics, Illinois State University
In collaboration with additional Cottrell Scholars:
Graham Giovanetti, physics, Williams College
Leslie Hamachi, chemistry, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Timothy Su, chemistry, University of California, Riverside
Lisa Szczepura, chemistry, Illinois State University
Sergei Urazhdin, physics, Emory University
Rory Waterman, chemistry, University of Vermont
AI Research Coach - Cottrell Scholars Collaborative (ARC-CSC): Partnering with AI to Scale Up Access to Research Experience for Science Majors
Undergraduates interested in science need significant independent research experience before applying to graduate or professional schools, but early career faculty are often short on time to reliably train and mentor them. This project aims to teach and equip an existing Large Language Model to coach students through early opportunities for open-ended problem solving and basic research experiences. After training with the coach, promising students would then transition to higher-touch supervision by a PI to begin contributing to a lab or research group.
Lead Cottrell Scholar: Vera Gluscevic, astronomy, University of Southern California
In collaboration with additional Cottrell Scholars:
Carlos Argüelles Delgado, physics, Harvard University
Darcy Barron, physics, University of New Mexico
Rachel Bezanson, astronomy, University of Pittsburgh
Lia Corrales, astronomy, University of Michigan
Daniela Fera, chemistry, Swarthmore College
Jonathan Foley, chemistry, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Farnaz Heidar-Zadeh, chemistry, Queen’s University
Tova Holmes, physics & astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Johanna Nagy, physics, Case Western Reserve University
William Pfalzgraff, chemistry, Chatham University
Chad Risko, chemistry, University of Kentucky
Eduardo Rozo, physics, University of Arizona
Ryan Trainor, astronomy, Franklin & Marshall College
CottreLLM: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Student Learning in Computational Science Courses
Advances in general Large Language Models create new opportunities to integrate programming and computation into chemistry, physics, and astronomy classes. While these efforts can lower barriers to entry and boost diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM education, the technology is changing so rapidly it remains unknown how educators should best leverage LLMs as coding assistants in their courses to advance student learning and success. This project will create “how-to” materials to guide instructors and develop an initial set of guidelines that can be assessed and refined in coordination with education researchers.
Lead Cottrell Scholar: Jonathan Foley, chemistry, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
In collaboration with additional Cottrell Scholars:
Carlos Argüelles Delgado, physics, Harvard University
Timothy Atherton, physics, Tufts University
Lia Corrales, astronomy, University of Michigan
Meagan Elinski, chemistry, Hope College
Vera Gluscevic, astronomy, University of Southern California
Farnaz Heidar-Zadeh, chemistry, Queen’s University
Rigoberto Hernandez, chemistry, Johns Hopkins University
Tova Holmes, physics & astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Geoffrey Hutchison, chemistry, University of Pittsburgh
William Pfalzgraff, chemistry, Chatham University
Davit Potoyan, chemistry, Iowa State University
Grace Stokes, chemistry, Santa Clara University
David Strubbe, physics, University of California, Merced
Ryan Trainor, astronomy, Franklin & Marshall College
Christina Vizcarra, chemistry, Barnard College
