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Librarians’ Contributions to a University of Maryland

Engineering Honors Program by

Bob Kackley, Neal Kaske, and Julie Arnold

with assistance from Anni Hartung

Engineering and Physical Sciences Library

University of Maryland

ELD/ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition

Salt Lake City, Utah

June 23, 2004

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Today’s Objectives

• Define and Describe Gemstone Program

• Report Uniqueness of Gemstone Program

• Roles Played by Gemstone Librarians– Individually– Team-Based– Campus-wide

• Gemstone’s Future

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Defining and Describing Gemstone

• Initiated in 1996 by Dr. William Destler, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and former Dean of the James A. Clark School of Engineering

• Selected students from all majors chosen from the UM Honors program

• Gemstone Program received NSF Grant for $400,000 and funding as well from AT&T and GE

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Uniqueness of Gemstone Program

• Developed under the auspices of James A. Clark School of Engineering

• Faculty Mentors allow Gemstone students great latitude• Most students from sciences & engineering --- but other

majors included enhancing multi-disciplinary teamwork interaction

• Long–term nature of program (four years) involving research ending with a thesis and presentation

• A living-learning community --- most of one UM dorm is inhabited by Gemstone students and Staff

http://www.gemstone.umd.edu

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Other “Similar” University Programs

• University of Michigan -- interdisciplinary, but science-based and introductory courses only

• Tennessee Tech in beautiful Cookeville, TN involving Undergraduates, Graduates, and PHD students for engineering only

• University of Delaware with NSF award for assessing an Undergraduate Research Program

• Ohio University’s RoboCup multidisciplinary, senior design project

• GMUs (George Mason University) “Self as a Citizen” team-taught learning communities for first year students only

• Mention of a university in Great Britain

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Four Year Gemstone Curriculum

• Freshman– Freshman Honors Colloquium GEMS 100 (1 credit),

Research Topic Exploration GEMS 102 (1), and Science and Technology … GEMS 104(3)

• Sophomore– Team Dynamics/Research Methodology GEMS 202 (2),

Team Project Seminar I GEMS 296 (1), and Team Project Seminar II GEMS 297 (2)

• Junior– GEMS 396 (2), and GEMS 397(2)

• Senior– GEMS 496 (2), and GEMS 497 (2)

*total for the 18 credit citation

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Roles Played by Librarians (Individually)

• Librarians are considered “an important part of the Gemstone Community” - librarian volunteers select a team to work with for three years

• Sophomore year - all GEMS classes must come to Gemstone Librarian for hour+ session on library and information sources for their individual team project (plus, help team narrow their project)

• Attend Gemstone meetings occasionally to monitor info needs and answer e-mail requests for general info or how to get resources

• Stress importance of giving proper credit for prior work and use of the APA Style Manual

• Gemstone Advisory Board – 1)marketing to HS students: companies for funding – 2)integration of all GEMS courses – 3)strategies for helping teams stay together despite highly varied

curricula

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Roles Played by Librarians (Team-based)

GEMS 100 Team “Mock” Project

Library session at McKeldin (Main) Library

GEMS 102 Developing Team Topics

Librarian in-class demo and project sheets

GEMS 104/HIST 175 Using primary sources/archives

Librarian and Archivist in-class demo

GEMS 202 Research Methods/Literature Review

Introduction to Working with Team Librarian

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Roles Played by Librarians (Campus-wide)

• Connect students and their activities to other officials either on or off campus (“Doc in the Box”)

• Attend Gemstone Poster Sessions that are held in sophomore and junior years as well as Undergraduate Research Day in late April

• Critique Gemstone practice thesis rehearsals, attend the actual formal thesis presentation, being a panel expert, and judging theses

• Participate in Gemstone Citation Ceremony (a cap and gown ceremony)

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Gemstone: Now and in the Future

• Gemstone Program has become a prestigious honors program as it matures (Fall ’04 expect 600+ students on 30+teams)

• Younger siblings or just friends are even joining due to positive Gemstone student alumni referrals

• Nearly 175 incoming students per year with current GPA for them --- 4.31 and average SATs ---1463

• Many Gemstone students using Gemstone research experience as a stepping stone to Grad school and Med school

• Plans to hold focus groups with librarians to gather feedback on how to enhance our roles (some are reluctant to take on a three year obligation)

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Acknowledgements• Dr. William Destler --- UM Provost and Senior Vice

President of Academic Affairs• Michael Hwang --- former Gemstone student• Amy Duhaime Hill --- Gemstone Coordinator of Team

Research• Pinar Beygo --- Administrative Assistant, EPSL• Dr. Glenn Rahmoeller --- Gemstone Coordinator of

Corporate and Industrial Affairs

• You for being an excellent audience and now it is your time more questions please!

• Contact information– Bob Kackley 301-405-9155 rk99@umail.umd.edu– Neal Kaske 301-405-9144 nkaske@umd.edu– Julie Arnold 301-405-9151 jarnold@umd.edu