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Stimulating minority student retention with BalloonSAT projects

Published: 25 June 2007 Publication History

Abstract

This poster describes outcomes associated with the integration of a BalloonSAT project in Computer Science curriculum to stimulate minority student recruitment and retention.
BalloonSAT projects involve the launch of high-altitude helium-filled balloons with communications equipment, scientific sensors, and on-board computers coupled with ground-based tracking, retrieval, data archiving and analysis. The primary module include communication and tracking equipment - typically VHF or UHF radios with Terminal Node Controllers (TNCs) and GPS receivers to transmit balloon telemetry using APRS, a radio digital mode. The secondary modules (science payloads) may include flight computers and relay controllers integrated with sensors such as temperature, pressure and other data loggers, Geiger counters, CO2 monitors, digital or analog cameras, etc. Students typically design, solder, assemble, test the components and interface sensors with microcontrollers. The project has expanded to include monitoring of tropospheric ozone and students participated in NASA-based data validation teams.
A number of colleges embed BalloonSAT projects in interdisciplinary courses as well as capstone projects. We describe initial results of the impact of this project in the Computer Science curriculum of a small, urban primarily minority-serving institution. The project integrates electronics skills with computer science discipline areas and scientific investigation. The project is offered in a Special Projects Computer Science course supporting curriculum linkages in traditional areas including data communications, scientific programming, database systems, and digital logic design.
In the two years since the project has been implemented, approximately 30 students have participated in the special projects course with direct involvement in the BalloonSAT. Students are integrated into Special Topics courses based on the BalloonSAT project immediately following completion of sophomore-level Computer Science courses. Summer internship opportunities are also available and supported by external funding.
The project is intended to support and complement student performance in upper-level Computer Science courses and provide motivation towards attainment of the BS degree. The project also helped to broaden student understanding of potential career choices including graduate studies. Further proof of this lies in the fact that every eligible student chose to participate in external summer internships in primarily NASA-related areas.
Although the BalloonSAT course has special characteristics that are not generally exportable, it is worthwhile exploring the more generic features that appear to stimulate retention and degree completion. These include the early introduction of compelling applications with links to curriculum which are interdisciplinary in nature, foster teamwork and collaboration and provide students with a broader understanding of their potential roles in the science and engineering community.
The project is partially supported by several NASA grants including State Space Grant Consortia.

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  • (2003)The study of long-distance radio-wave propagation, 1900-1919Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences10.1525/hsps.2003.33.2.36933:2(369-403)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2003

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cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 39, Issue 3
Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education (ITiCSE'07)
September 2007
366 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1269900
Issue’s Table of Contents
  • cover image ACM Conferences
    ITiCSE '07: Proceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
    June 2007
    386 pages
    ISBN:9781595936103
    DOI:10.1145/1268784
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 25 June 2007
Published in SIGCSE Volume 39, Issue 3

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  1. embedded systems
  2. microcontrollers

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Cited By

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  • (2003)The study of long-distance radio-wave propagation, 1900-1919Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences10.1525/hsps.2003.33.2.36933:2(369-403)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2003

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