T3: Texas A&M Triads for Transformation Grants

By Marketing and Communications | 01-19-2021

The Texas A&M University Libraries is proud to announce that 10 of our University Libraries faculty members have been awarded T3 grants in the latest round of awards. The T3: Texas A&M Triads for Transformation grant—which is part of the President’s Excellence Fund—is a multidisciplinary seed-grant program that aims to foster interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty teams across the entire university. Tenured and tenure track faculty from at least two different schools or colleges can come together to form a team of three (triad) to complete the proposed project in 12–24 months.

 

For more information about the T3 program, you can visit their website. To learn more about the projects Libraries Faculty are working on, below is a short description of each of the proposed projects.

 

Effects of a Research Data Management Camp on Graduate Students’ Research Data Management Skills by Zhihong Xu (University Libraries), Ashlynn W Kogut (University Libraries), Michael P. Clough (Education and Human Development)

• About the project: As research across disciplines moves toward more collaborative, data-intensive, and computational research, researchers are faced with various data management needs, and research data management becomes mandated for scholarly researchers (Holden, 2015; Tenopir et al., 2015). Despite this, many researchers are unprepared for or lack sufficient time to handle the requirements of data management (Federer et al., 2014). The present study proposes to prepare the researchers starting from graduate programs. The proposed study will design a research data management two-half-day camp to increase graduate students’ understanding of research data management. The purpose of this study is to examine what the graduate students in the College of Education at a public university need for research data management and how a two-half-day research data management camp has an impact on graduate students’ understanding of research data management.

Use Of Children's Literature For Ethical Discussions In Undergraduate Courses In Stem Programs by  Laura Daveta (University Libraries), Jennifer R Strong (Agriculture and Life Sciences), Barry L Boyd (Agriculture and Life Sciences)

• About the project: This project explores the potential of using children's literature to engage college students in discussions relating to ethical concerns within their respective STEM majors/minors. The Researchers will work with faculty members teaching existing courses in STEM subject areas to develop a lesson and/or assignment option that allows students to use children's literature to explore ethical concerns within their field of study. Researchers will also help with the assessment of the assignment when appropriate. Qualitative research methods will be used to assess the experience of the students and the faculty members.

Ancillary Materials And The Adoption Of Open Educational Resources by Sarah Y Le Mire (University Libraries), Katherine C Anders (University Libraries), Maura C Ives (Liberal Arts) 

• About the project: The rising cost of textbooks in higher education poses a financial challenge for students. Open Educational Resources, or OER, is one way that faculty members can lessen the financial burden of textbooks for their students. There is a variety of OER available in a number of disciplines. However, there are some barriers that inhibit easy adoption by instructors. One of those barriers is ancillary resources. Many commercial textbooks make available instructor manuals, PowerPoint slides, activities, homework tools, and other resources to supplement the textbook. While some OER provides ancillary resources along with the textbook, others do not. This study examines the role that ancillary resources play in textbook selection decisions across disciplines as well as the particular needs of OER adopters in the specific discipline of English.

Analysis Of Acknowledgments Using Machine Learning by David E Hubbard (University Libraries), Sierra D Laddusaw (University Libraries), Xia Hu (Engineering).

• About the project: Emphasis on research impact has motivated scholars to explore contributions and impact beyond authorship and traditional impact metrics. Acknowledgments—formal statements of indebtedness and contribution—within the scholarly literature provide an additional means to explore the impact. Through analysis of acknowledgments, contributions of entities and individuals providing access, data, funding, expertise, and infrastructure can be recognized. This study explores the contributions of libraries to scholarship as described in acknowledgments. Challenges faced when conducting such analyses are the sheer size of the research outputs found in bibliographic databases to be searched and the ambiguities of language. This study will overcome those challenges using machine learning to identify and classify relevant acknowledgments. Outcomes will characterize contributions of libraries across the scholarly landscape as expressed in acknowledgments, as well as provide methods with wider application.

Preparing Non-Profit Members To Communicate With Elected Officials by Theresa P Murphrey (Agriculture and Life Sciences), Wendi A Kaspar (University Libraries), Robbie Robichau (Bush School of Government and Public Service)

• About the project: Effective communication skills are critical to providing messaging that leads to policy change. Effective science communication is crucial to the advancement of science. Non-profit organizations are at an important intersection of policy and scientific advancements as many organizations have memberships that advocate advancing science related to their goals and missions. Preparing non-profit organizational members with science communications skills provides them with the techniques and resources to impact change and policy within their advocacy domains. The goal of this project is to assess the communication skills of the members of an identified non-profit organization, build programming to meet the identified gap, and test the effectiveness of the programming.

Understanding The Role Of Indigenous Lands And Peoples For Texas A&M University by Sarah E Potvin (University Libraries), Heather Thakar (Liberal Arts), Dawn E Jourdan (Architecture)

• About the project: Building on ongoing conversations among the Native American and Indigenous Student Organization and Indigenous Studies Working Group, and working closely with these groups, this project will delineate scholarly and creative approaches to acknowledging and interpreting Texas A&M University’s relationship to indigenous people and lands. This initial phase will focus on exploratory research to determine the feasibility of larger-scale funding and sustainability of efforts to engage with Indigenous descendant communities, as well as synthesizing research into best practices for sustaining institutional relationships to Native communities. Ultimately, this research seeks to inform the creation of land acknowledgments, monuments, public history, and interpretive texts, while imagining a significant digital component. The research may also play an important role in cultivating relationships with indigenous communities, attracting a more diverse set of scholars and students to our campuses.

Interdisciplinary Framework For Preserving Business Archives & Design Records In The A E C Industry by Andrew Reed Tripp (Architecture), Jennifer Wilhelm (University Libraries), Jonathan Coopersmith (Liberal Arts). 

• About the project: This project will provide transnational corporations in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry with a framework (a vade mecum) for preserving their recent business and design records, which historically are kept separate to the detriment of understanding the economic environment of architecture. It will also demonstrate the tools, strategies, best practices, and other assistance required to reduce barriers to the participation of these corporations. The business and design records of Caudill Rowlett Scott Architects (CRS), which are currently held by the CRS Center for Leadership & Management in the Design & Construction Industry in the College of Architecture, will serve as the data source for a demonstration of this framework. Using the CRS archives, this project will produce a website with open-access geographic information systems (GIS) to measure the impact of this framework and visualize the global scale of transnational enterprise in the AEC industry.