Name:
Pedro Arce, Ph.D., FRSC
Name:
Pedro Arce, Ph.D., FRSC
Title:
Professor
Department:
Chemical Engineering
Email Address:
Phone:
(931) 372-3189
Office:
PRSC 306
ENGINEERING EDUCATION -With Focus on Improving Student Learning: Collaborative-, Creative- and Innovation-Driven Learning; Constructionistic Approaches; Students-Faculty Partnerships. NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS-With Functional Performance: Health Care Engineering Applications including Hydrogels for clinical diagnostics, wound healing, tissue scaffolds and assisted drug delivery- MATEMATICS-ASSISTED-MEDICINE APPROACHES (MAMA)- With Applications to Biophysical Systems: Microcirculatory and renal system pathologies, arterial stenosis, kidney failure, cancer treatment by hyperthermia and chemotherapies.-ENVIRONMENTAL CATALYSIS- With Application to Food, Energy, Water (FEW) Nexus: Advanced oxidation in water, soil and air; photocatalytic clean energy production, electrokinetics-based remediation; cold plasma discharges in gas and water; development of advanced battery and fuel cell materials.
Selected Awards previous to tenure at Tennessee Tech
Dr. Arce has received either as a PI, Co-PI, or Grant Manager more than $8M USA-dollars in competitive funding from private foundations, state and international sources, and federal agencies (National Science Foundation)-Most recent examples include:
[1] This grant supported the renovation efforts for ChE 1020, Professional Ethics in ChE that led to the selection of Dr. Jorgensen and Dr. Arce-Trigatti as co-winners of the 2021 Sissom Award at the College of Engineering.
[2] This approach has been largely influenced by two corner-stone ideas, e.g. the “Constructionist-driven Philosophy to Learning:” by Seymour Papert, Founder of the MIT Media Lab and author of “Mindstorms” and the “How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School” research consensus report from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) led by John Bransford who was the founding director of the Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center, a National Science Foundation Science of Learning Center. The RFM strives to increase the student’s understanding of the role of “community learning” and effectively incorporates student-faculty partnership (Cook-Sather, 2022) and “Group Genius” (Sawyer, 2007) approaches.
[3] An overview of Dr. Arce’s efforts dated previously to and at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering tenure can be found in: Sauer, Sharon, “Pedro Arce: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering”, Florida State University, 1996. (Available upon request from Dr. Arce).
The twenty-first century has accentuated the new realty: Demand for long-lasting solutions to Grand Challenges (USA-NA, 2017) and professional adaptability to the globalization of the economy across countries with highly dissimilar levels of resources (Florida, R., 2012). This requires a completely different strategy for the development of a new type of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) professional at the postsecondary level: one that is holistically skillful, adaptable, impactful to society’s challenges, and with an entrepreneurial mindset (Grasso et al., 2008; National Academy of Science [NAE], 2004; Sochacka et al., 2016). To respond to this challenge, Dr. Arce (with students and collaborators) have focused on building a constructionistic-centric approach[2], i.e., the Renaissance Foundry Model, RFM, (Arce et al., 2015) that provides a learning platform for facilitating the formation of such new STEM professional. Guided by the RFM, Dr. Arce strives to create learning and research environments that can efficiently foster the development of such holistic STEM professional. His life passion has been to work at the interface of research (either technologically or educationally focused) and the improvement of student learning. Dr. Arce’s basic premise is that there is no student who does not want to learn; however, they get discouraged when the curve between what they know and what they want to know is too steep and traditionally driven approaches (and instructors) do not provide the catalytic action needed to lower that slope.
Activities in Dr. Arce’s group focus on two main different but complementary pathways: a- Educational efforts both for classroom and team-centric education and b-Technical areas related to environmental mitigation of contaminants (mainly in water and soil) and health care related applications. For the first pathway, Dr. Arce leverages constructivist- and constructionistic-based theories in conjunction with best practices (i.e. praxis). For the second pathway, he uses a blend of mathematical-computational approaches complemented with both analytical and experimentation tools. Typical recent efforts include a- Collaborative and innovation-centric approaches to learning, b-Environmental catalysis (with applications to photo- and electro-catalysis), and c-Mathematics-Assisted Medicine Approaches (MAMA), including functional-based nanostructured gels, integral spectral methods in cancer treatment predictions, and understanding cholesterol deposition in arteries. Dr. Arce is an advocate of “Group’s Genius”-style approaches (Sawyer, 2007), “How People Learn” (Bransford, 2000) and student-faculty partnership (Cook-Sather, 2022). He is privileged to collaborate with the “Renaissance Foundry Research Group” (RFRG, Note 1) and other distinct colleagues across multidisciplinary subjects.
During his academic career (at Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and Tennessee Technological University)[3], Dr. Arce holds a strong record of mentoring students. For example, he has/is the mentor/co-mentor of one hundred ninety one (191) research and educational projects including the following categories: High School projects (5), undergraduate Honors/Distinction in the Major/ Senior Thesis (29), Master of Science Theses (37), Doctoral Dissertation (28), postdoctoral associate projects (12), undergraduate (non-thesis) research projects (41), graduate (non-thesis) research projects (16), and summer undergraduate research projects (23). A significant number of these projects are with underrepresented student populations. Further, his students have distinguished themselves in academia and industrial positions. For example, his undergraduate research, doctoral or postdoctoral students have successfully performed in leading companies such as Johnson Controls, General Motors (Warren, MI), IMERYS, Lhoist (Dallas, TX), Electroactive Technologies (Knoxville, TN), Mahindra (India), Merck (Boston, MA), Y-12 (Knoxville, TN), and Enevate Corporation (Riverside, CA), among other organizations. Twenty-one of his former students and faculty mentees are members of academic organizations either as faculty or administrators in the USA, Argentina, South Korea, Chile, and Perú.
Recent Doctoral Graduates, Selected, (Major Professor)
(*)-Co-advised student.
(i)-Technically Focused.
(ii) Engineering Education and Leadership Focused
Note: Table 1a&b at the end of this page (adapted from the contribution on TSPACK published in the Annual Meeting Proceedings of the ASEE-SE, NCSU, April 2019) indicate highlights of the chronological educational efforts implemented at Tennessee Tech University. A list of other initiatives during this period is available from Dr. Arce upon request.
(iii) Other Significant Publications
Undergraduate:
Graduate:
Grand Challenges Report, USA-NA (Engineering, Medicine and Sciences), 2017; Association of American Universities. (2017). Progress toward achieving systemic change: A five-year status report on the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative. Washington, DC.;
Grasso, D., Burkins, M. B., Helble, J., & Martinello, D. (2008). Dispelling the myths of holistic engineering. The Magazine for Professional Engineers, 1, 26-29.
National Academy of Engineers [NAE]. (2004). The engineer of 2020: Visions of engineering in the new century. National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved from: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10999;
Sochacka, N. W., Guyotte, K. W., & Walter, J. (2016). Learning together: A collaborative autoethnographic exploration of STEAM (STEM + the Arts education. The Journal of Engineering Education, 105(1) 15-42.;
Arce, P. E., Sanders, J. R., Arce-Trigatti, A., Loggins, L., Biernacki, J., Geist, M., Pascal, J., & Wiant, K. (2015). The renaissance foundry: A powerful learning and thinking system to develop the 21st century engineer. Critical Conversations in Higher Education, 1(2), 176-202;
Sawyer, K,. (2007), “Group Genus: The Creative Power of Collaboration”, Basic Books, New York, NY.;
Richard Florida (2012) “The Rise of the Creative Class”, 2nd Edition, Basic Books, New York, NY.
Bransford, J. et. al. “How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School” research consensus report from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), NAE Press, 2000.
Cook-Sather, A., “Co-Creating Equitable Teaching and Learning: Structuring Student Voice into Higher Education”, Harvard Education Press (22 November 2022, to appear). Acknowledgement: Preview of the book, courtesy by the author.
Note 1: The RFRG at Tennessee Technological University: https://sites.tntech.edu/foundrymodel/
Note 2: The American Society of Engineering Education, Southeast Section, ASEE-SE established this award to honor Professor Thomas C, Evans, The Citadel, Charleston, SC, for his outstanding contribution to education, “The Thomas C. Evans Instructional Paper Award is given to the author or authors of the most outstanding paper pertaining to engineering education.” Dr. Arce is the only candidate to have received the award five times (1994, 2001, 2008, 2014, and 2021).
Dr. Arce is grateful for the support received from both state and private foundations including the National Science Foundation (USA), Venture Well, Lemelson, the Schlumberger, the Shell and Cummins Foundations, the National Council of Research from Chile, Fulbright, the government of Brazil, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq and the States of Florida and Tennessee, among other sources. The support received from the State of Tennessee through grants from the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), supported Centers of Excellence at Tennessee Technological University, and its Office of Research is gratefully acknowledged.
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TABLE 1a: KEY MILESTONES ILLUSTRATING DR. ARCE’S EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS AND RELATED SPIN-OFFS AT TTU Efforts from the Period 2004-2014- The First Decade: “The Foundation Years” |
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|
Year |
Effort/ Description |
Comment |
Highlights |
|
2004 |
High Performance Learning Environments- (Hi-PeLE): Teams of Students with Capstone Labs |
First analysis indicating a systematization of teams, experiments, and grading |
Invited workshops at the ASEE Regional and National Meetings for faculty training |
|
2005 |
Integration of classroom activities and laboratory work to enhance experiential learning skills |
TTU ChE is one of the few programs with extensive labs in critical core courses |
Curriculum well recognized among employers with a hands-on approach |
|
2005 |
The Personalized Class Binder (PCB): A Powerful Tool for Enhancing Act. And Coll. Learn. Environments |
An effective tool for notetaking for students and documentation skills |
Extensively adopted across curriculum at the TTU ChE Department |
|
2007 |
Integration of Marketing Plans for the prototype produced in Hi-PeLE- Entrepreneurship aspects incorporated in the student Prototype of Innovative Technology (PIT) |
Extensive collaboration with the TTU College of Business: Workshops and other related “immersion” activities for students were conducted |
Model led to an entrepreneur certificate at TTU as well as participation in Eagle Works Event where students can “pitch” their PIT |
|
2009 |
The Composer Style Engineer: Role of Student-centered innovation in the proposal of the PIT |
Role of collaboration and teamwork in the concept of PIT: “Connection Dots Style” |
Invited Keynote at the ERC-NSF Annual meeting, Washington, DC |
|
2010-2013 |
Transport Phenomena Sequence at TTU ChE aligned with Engineering Scaling Concepts: Scaling is a critical important skill in engineering |
Under the coordination by Dr. Biernacki, Dr. Arce guided the integration of scaling in the ChE Department |
The use of the Text by Cerro, Higgins ,and Whitaker, adopted- Textbook highlights role of scaling. |
|
2010 |
MoLE-SI- Integration of mobile devices in helping with STEM computational needs |
Vital integration of technology learning spaces- Elimination of ChE “fixed computer labs” |
First model of this type in the nation for STEM disciplines- Led to Tech Everywhere |
|
2013 |
The Renaissance Engineering Model adopted at the TTU College of Engineering as part of Strategic Plan |
Model recognizes the vital role of critical thinking skills in PIT and teamwork |
Learning Acquisition and Learning Transfer are integrated in “holistic-style” engineering professional |
|
2014 |
The Renaissance Foundry Model formulated & documented. Model is the first integration of six key steps between “Challenge” and PIT |
Paradigms of Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Transfer bridged by Resources |
Received the Thomas C. Evans award from the ASEE-SE for Outstanding Eng. Educ. Contribution |
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TABLE 1b: KEY MILESTONES ILLUSTRATING DR. ARCE’S EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS AND RELATED SPIN-OFFS AT TTU Efforts from the Period 2015-2027 - The Second Decade: “The Formation Years” |
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|
Year |
Effort/Description |
Comment |
Highlights |
|
2015 |
The RFM selected as a cornerstone model for the new TTU QEP |
Proposal to adapt the RFM to a large class of curricula |
Received the Zone II Award for best contribution, ASEE |
|
2016 |
Steelcase Education grant awarded to build a Foundry Style Learning Space at TTU ChE referred to as the Steelcase Active Learning Studio (SALS) |
Role of the Learning Spaces recognized and incorporated in the classroom activities |
Invited ASEE plenary presentation- part of the recognition of the ASEE to new and promising STEM pedagogical models, Annual ASEE Meeting |
|
2017 |
Chemical Engineering-Nursing Immersion Course guided by the RFM style fully studied: Spin-off -Effort led by Dr. Sanders and Dr. Geist based on the RFM (See 2014) |
Course study was part of a doctoral thesis in Education at University of TN-Knoxville (UTK) |
Course supported by Venture Well and USA St. Dept.: Cuba trip as immersion. Dr. Sanders and Dr. Geist external members to UTK PhD Committee |
|
2018 |
Flexible Room for Science Teaching at Algood Middle School, Algood, TN-Spin-Off Effort led by Dr. Arce’s former Master of Education Student, Mrs. Lacy Loggins |
Testing integration of learning spaces into student learning and student feedback on the new room |
Received a grant from Putman County School System to support the development and assessment of the new integrated room. |
|
2018 |
TTU QEP Grant for curriculum modifications awarded- Systematic implementation of the RFM into the TTU ChE Curriculum- Dr. Arce (PI) with the RFRG |
New TSPACK model conceived and reported at the ASEE Annual Meeting and proc. article published |
First grant of this type awarded to the TTU College of Engineering. Numerous papers pub. in the ASEE proc. and presentation delivered |
|
2019-2020 |
Applying the RFM to foster service learning in students. Two Grants supported by SERS program from TBR- State of Tennessee |
Assisting students from underrepresented minorities in service-learning efforts. |
Prototype grants to document effort that led to the NRT-NSF $3M grant at the graduate level for FEW-Nexus |
|
2020-2021 |
TTU Faculty Research Grant in collaboration with the Department of Curriculum & Instruction |
Effort focused on developing a Holistic- Style Coach/Facilit. of Learning |
Led to two invited workshops at the ASEE-SE and one at the ASEE National Meeting |
|
2020-2023 |
Venture Well Foundation Grant for three Chemical Engineering courses with emphasis on Biomimicry concepts |
Dr. Arce (PI) with the RFRG- Mindful of Societal Impact focus |
Second Grant from Venture Well at TTU-Very competitive process. Helpful grant towards the NRT-NSF proposal |
|
2020 |
RFM implementation for online experiential learning- One workshop for K-12 level and the other for college level (CL) |
Dr. Arce, lead conductor with the RFRG participating, actively |
CL workshop, invited by the NSF supported group from WSU, Washington-USA |
|
2022-2027 |
National Research & Traineeship Program from the National Science Foundation proposal awarded ($3M). |
The RFRG with a team of colleagues across four TTU Colleges and three centers |
First NRT-NSF proposal awarded to TTU based on key concept fully developed at TTU |