The 2003 ~FAST Tex projects
College of Natural Sciences

Title:
Endocrine Events: From Molecules to Behavior

Faculty Client:
Creagh Breuner, creagh@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developers:
Aditya Kesiraju, Prasad Natarajan

Project Description:
This ~FAST Tex project created animations of complex processes within endocrinology, making receptor capacity and affinity more understandable and clarifying a major component of hormone action for students.

Title:
Real-Time Simulations for Classical Dynamics Course

Faculty Client:
Alex De Lozanne, lozanne@physics.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Brian Mattern

Project Description:
For a course which is all about motion, this ~FAST Tex team created applications to allow students to run demos on their own computers, going beyond equations and static graphs to actually see how the object is moving.

Title:
Computer Assisted Instruction in Pediatric Nutrition: Growth Assessment

Faculty Client:
Beth Gillham, bgillham@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Chongxiang Wang

Project Description:
This ~FAST Tex team updated a computer-assisted instructional module, Growth Assessment, for the unit in pediatric nutrition in the developmental nutrition course. These modules were originally designed for the mainframe, and the team has created an updated, visually attractive, interactive and engaging module to complete the pediatric nutrition package begun last year with the update of the Infant Nutrition module. The new module provides feedback to the instructional staff on student interactions, and it is expected that improved media presentation and usability of the module will enhance the educational encounter, achievement, and satisfaction of students.

Title:
The Integration of Simulated Experiments Into a "Standard" (Real Time) Laboratory Course

Faculty Client:
J. J. Lagowski, jjl@mail.cm.utexas.edu

Student Developers:
Raul Montes, Jessica White

Project Description:
This ~FAST Tex team incorporated video images of different kinds of chemical reactions into the simulation mode of experiments designed to develop cognitive skills. The project is a continuation of a previous and successful ~FAST Tex project to obtain digitized video for CHEM I, a Web-based version of CH301. CHEM I was tested during the spring 2001 semester and went online in the spring of 2002. In the latest project, the team created, tested, and installed laboratory-like experiences into CH317 to give the student-user a virtual insight into the experimental source of many of the principles that ultimately appear in lecture-only courses. In these virtual interactions, the student is placed in the position of making the decisions in the context of real experiments that produced the data leading to the associated core principle.

Title:
Visual Quantum Dynamics

Faculty Client:
Robert Wyatt, cman041@aurora.hpc.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Rajiv Bhatia

Project Description:
The ~FAST Tex team developed animations to help students understand difficult concepts concerned with dynamical processes in quantum mechanics. Due to the lack of classical analogies, quantum mechanical topics are frequently very hard for students to understand. The animation is based on the modern quantum trajectory method that emphasizes trajectories of the individual quantum particles. Other than solving the equations, students can see how the trajectories move in space-time. Also, the interactive environment provides the opportunity to see the qualitative changes in these processes to help students grasp the conceptual aspects of quantum mechanics. The animations demonstrate:

1. Quantum scattering processes for the following potentials with varying potential height: Eckard Barrier, Uphill and Downhill ramp
2. Quantum trajectories for the Harmonic oscillator with various force constants
3. Quantum tunneling the double-well potential with variable barrier height separating the two wells
4. Resonant tunneling processes for the double-square well with varying energy of the incident particle
5. Decoherence processes in two dimensions where a particle interacts with a bath, thus destroying the interference features

Title:
Developing an Inquiry-Based Modeling Approach to Global Change Problems

Faculty Client:
Zong-Liang Yang, liang@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Huan Zhang

Project Description:
The courses GEO385H Hydroclimatology and GEO302c (Climate: Past, Present and Future) teach the students a wide range of basic processes having an impact on temperature and precipitation at the earth's surface. This ~FAST Tex team created a Web-based tool to create climate models, providing an inquiry-based approach to global change problems. By laying their hands on a computer and seeing how numerical models are simulating temperature, wind, pressure, clouds, and precipitation in response to El Nino events or deforestation, students can have a better understanding of global change issues.