Lessons Learned from Capstone Design Shadowing in an ESTEEMED Biomaterials Program

Introduction:: The NIH has challenged researchers and educators to “effectively build a diverse and competitive scientific workforce” through the “Enhancing Science, Technology, EnginEering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) Research Education Experiences (R25)” program.[NIH ESTEEMED] The program is intended to expose students to bioengineering research early in their careers and thereby interest them in advanced studies in biomedicine. The history of STEM education reveals that despite progress, Under-Represented Groups (URGs) continue to be “underrepresented among S&E degree recipients relative to their representation in the overall population”.[NSF, 2019] The local context and opportunity is that 48% of 18-24 year olds in Georgia are in URGs [US Census Bureau, 2017].

As part of an ESTEEMED program, we proposed a capstone biomedical design shadowing to provide a foundation for STEM students to understand and be excited by potential careers in biomedicine via two threads, biomedical design and One Health. Biomedical design was proposed to appreciate the impact of biomedicine as it brings together engineers, clinicians, and biologists to build devices that improve patient, animal or human, health. One Health was proposed to demonstrate the roles that different disciplines play in this collaborative, multi-sectoral, and trans-disciplinary approach to human, animal, and plant health. The intent was for students to learn the basic principles of engineering design and engage with an engineering senior design team to experience how knowledge is transformed from identification of a clinical need to products that can change lives.


Materials and Methods:: Our cohort of five ESTEEMED students completed a summer bridge program in summer 2022, which featured design and One Health topics. The students then entered their freshmen year, participating in a living-learning community in which they had common housing in a dorm and required weekly programming. In fall 2022, they also enrolled in a first-year seminar class. Capstone biomedical engineering design at the University of Georgia takes place over two semesters and follows this schedule: Semester 1 is problem identification, definition, and writing specifications and Semester 2 is technical solution creation and prototype demonstration. A core activity over the first year was for the ESTEEMED students to connect with and observe the capstone biomedical engineering design teams as they followed the design process to define and solve customer proposed problems. In both semesters the ESTEEMED students met with a design team, approximately biweekly, and watched the team dynamics and activities guided by the rubric questions:

• General Observation Notes (What activities did you see, what was the team doing, who was present?)


• Design Process - How did the team generate and evaluate solutions? (1=random decisions; 5=followed disciplined process)


• Design Elements - Was any modeling or simulation performed? (1=relied on what they knew; 5=used new tools/innovative)


• Implementation - Did all team members contribute equally? (1=poor execution 5=good execution)


• Lessons Learned (Overall thoughts)

At the end of the first semester the ESTEEMED students reported with a ten-minute oral presentation and in the spring semester produced a five-minute video describing the engineering design process.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: Results
The students completed the first semester presentations. Key observations, given by students in their reports included:
1. We learned that in order to work efficiently in a group, give everyone a chance to give their insight.
2. It’s also important to be open minded and ask your team members about topics they have insight about.
3. Animals are treated quite similarly to humans when it comes to medicinal treatment.
4. A large amount of research goes into the creation of a product.
5. Many aspects must be considered, such as costs, practical limitations, and client needs.
6. We learned that competitors play a big role in the development of a product. The team must make sure that their product won’t be overlooked in the market.
7. The design process takes multiple design concepts.
8. All team members must be involved and use their discipline to bring something new to the table.
9. You will have to use skills gained from all previous years and integrate these into the project.
10. Engineering requires a lot of math, teamwork, failure and patience.
11. Teams work best when there are strong relationships during and outside work.

Conclusions
Through capstone design shadowing, the students learned important lessons about teamwork, application of science and engineering to solve problems, and saw their future as engineering seniors. An important outcome of the program is that the participants synthesized their experiences. Their insightful synthesis suggests that the shadowing is a good approach to gain an early understanding of biomedical design.

Discussion
The observations reported by the ESTEEMED students match our expectations for what might be learned from the shadowing experience. One category of responses suggests that the students appreciated the need for teamwork in the practice of engineering. A second category of responses suggests that the students understood the technical skills they are developing would be useful in biomedical problem solving. Finally, several responses indicated an understanding that the design process takes significant effort.
The evaluation of the second semester videos and a survey of the first-year program impact are currently underway.

Acknowledgements (Optional): : This work was supported in part by the Harbor Lights Endowment and an NIH ESTEEMED grant. Dr. Angela Birkes, Director of the Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, helped organize the program.


References (Optional): :

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Age, Race Alone or in Combination, and Hispanic Origin for the United States and States: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2017


2. “Enhancing Science, Technology, EnginEering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) Research Education Experiences (R25)”, https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-20-223.html, cited 4/2023.


3. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. 2019. Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2019. Special Report NSF 19-304. Alexandria, VA. Available at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd.