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Computational Sustainability

Client

David Schneider, Systems Engineering, 272 Rhodes Hall
607-254-5403
<dr.drschneider@gmail.com>

Computational Sustainability

Inspired by the National Science Foundation $10,000,000 Exploration in Computer Science Grant for the Creation of the Field of Computational Sustainability, a Cornell University based project is creating a Middle School student focused traveling exhibit that incorporates 5 edutainment video games to help students recognize the social value of computer science and empower them to realize that they too can make a difference through the nation’s fastest growing technical field, computer science.

In short these games teach Middle School students, college Sophomore-level Computer Science techniques and algorithms in a variety of sustainability themed settings. So far the games have been highly successful with 70% of the middle schools students stating that the educational materials were “Easy” or “Very Easy”. Furthermore, the desire for students to extend the experience was also remarkable with 85% saying “Yes” or “Maybe” to wanting to play the games again.

Due to this significant success, the National Science Foundation has requested that a special set of software tools be created and be made widely available to assist other research projects develop similar games, particularly the highly successful “Tutorial Components” that aid in the explanation of the computer science material in a very engaging and rewarding manner. Out of this exciting demand, the goal for this project is the development of a Tutorial Creator software package. This software package will have to be able to robustly interface with all 5 current games and significantly assist (ease) the production of new tutorials, both reducing the time needed for creation and modification of new tutorial elements. The customer for this product will also be looking for a user friendly GUI component to help ensure the ease of creation process allowing the user to focus more on the content of the tutorial and this content’s delivery.

Students on this project can earn the official “collaborator” status on this highly prestigious grant. Students that perform well will also have a strong possibility of exploring additional opportunities as member of the official team afterwards and outside of this course.