IDEA Impact Grant Awarded to Dr. Zhaoshuo Jiang

Dr. Zhaoshuo Jiang from the College of Science & Engineering and Zahira Merchant from the Graduate College of Education at San Francisco State University (SFSU) have been awarded a grant by The IDEA Center (www.IDEAedu.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving teaching, learning, and leadership in higher education since 1975. SFSU is one of the only six universities across the country out of 79 applications to be selected as a recipient.

With funds from the grant, Drs. Jiang and Merchant will develop and implement a new approach for teaching engineering laboratories, and assess and disseminate its effectiveness in advancing student learning. The project will harness the power of mobile technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop standalone, mobile laboratory learning modules, exemplified by a shake table (earthquake simulator) experiment, for engineering students to master theory by using practical examples and experimentation through interactive apps.

The mobile laboratory is designed to provide students with unprecedented opportunities right on their finger tips to experience the excitement of real-world experiments and increase their persistence by engaging them in active learning, which is expected to help achieve the goals of California State University Graduation Initiative 2025.