Southern Research Institute Advisor Professor Elizabeth Jernigan Introduction

Southern Research Institute Advisor: Professor Elizabeth Jernigan Introduction: Southern Research is a nonprofit, scientific research organization with more than 400 scientists and engineers working across four divisions: Drug Discovery, Drug Development, Engineering, and Energy & Environment. The Southern Research Institute works on behalf of clients such as the National Cancer Institute, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy and many more. Our task was to create a dynamic web interface for teachers of grades 9 -12 to utilize in instructing Alabama students on various aspects of science such as graphing, discussion and applying knowledge to real world scenarios based on sensor data from various points around the globe. Process: To understand what would facilitate a smooth transition to this interface for teachers in the classroom, we needed to reach out directly to find out what our target audience desired. To this end we created a qualtrics survey that was sent out to 500 teachers and with a 20% response rate we were able to extrapolate various data points that indicated what would make our web portal fluid and accessible. We also held calls with Southern Research to go over the data that we found and to understand what they wanted within the web portal as well. Once we had gathered all the relevant data, we began to design a web application with complete back- end and front-end functionality. Our web portal displays information such as the company's mission statement, a forum for teachers and students to discuss data and findings, as well as two labs that reflected the dynamic and constantly updating sensors in both Hoover, AL and a region in Africa. This enables teachers and students to explore real-world scientific data from the inside of the classroom. Results: Currently our project has yet to be deployed to Alabama school systems as the design phase was only recently completed. However, based on the survey data that we collected, we are confident that there is a high likelihood that our web portal will be an invaluable resource for classrooms across the state. Additionally, we hope to see this portal used as the foundation for a comprehensive science lab experience that builds off of data from additional sensors to generate labs that both challenge and educate students on contemporary topics such as graphing, reading data and analysis of findings. Team: Ben Tarkoff- Communication Studies, Orinda, CA Seth Butler- Biology, Columbia, TN Rebecca Shofner- Apparel and Textiles: Fashion Retail, Madison, MS Mary Fashingbauer- Biology and Spanish, Tinley Park, IL Abigail Oswald- Computer Science, Colleyville, TX Thanks: Professor Jernigan, Steven Puckett, Landon Robertson and all the teachers who took our survey