The Office of Undergraduate Education and the Teaching and Learning Collaboratory (TLC) Board are happy to announce the awarded projects from the 2025 TLC Seed Proposal Call.
Congratulations to the following Team Members and their projects!
AI-Driven Simulation for Innovative Pedagogy in Supply Chain Contracting and Negotiation
This project will develop a Generative AI-powered interactive simulation that immerses students in dynamic contract negotiation scenarios, leveraging AI models (e.g., GPT-4, Google Gemini) and interactive data tools (e.g., Google Sheets, dashboards).
The simulation will feature adjustable difficulty levels, from one-to-one negotiations with stable demand to one-to-many scenarios incorporating price fluctuations and competitive bidding. Students will negotiate with peers or AI-driven counterparts programmed with distinct bargaining styles and risk preferences (e.g., risk-averse vs. risk-seeking behaviors).
- Kedong Chen
- Mei Si
- Helen Zhou
Interactive Module for Virtual Site Analysis and Immersive Project Development
This project will create an Interactive Module for Virtual Site Analysis and Immersive Project Development to enhance core architectural education at RPI by integrating interactive visualization technologies and spaces in specified design and representation course methodologies. The framework - formalized as a template - will be developed and tested, first within the School of Architecture, reaching over 70 students and 10 faculty in the first year, with expansion to over 300 students and 70 faculty in subsequent years. The process will begin in the Summer 2025 with foundational research on framework criteria and preliminary prototype development. In Fall 2025, the prototype will be refined and tested in a limited scenario. By Spring 2026, it will be implemented in multiple courses, evaluated through assessments and faculty discussions, and documented in external peer-reviewed publications. The final template will be integrated into the CRAIVE-Lab template infrastructure for long-term accessibility. While initially focused on the School of Architecture, this project is designed for broader institutional adoption, with the potential for cross-disciplinary impact in the future.
- Adam Dayem
- Yael Erel
- Matthew Gantt
- Carla Leitao
- Walaid Sehwail
- Samuel Chabot
Learning Strength of Material through Virtual Experimentation and Design
We propose redesigning the Strength of Materials (SoM) course, ENGR 2530, to enhance student engagement and real-world relevance. Currently, the course emphasizes mathematical theory and abstract problems, making it diQicult for students to connect concepts to practical engineering challenges. Our redesign includes integrating virtual experiments using Finite Element (FE) modeling apps designed on platforms like MATLAB and Blender, replacing lecture-heavy sessions with mini-lectures, quizzes, in-class problem-solving, and design-focused homework. A final design project will consolidate the concepts learned throughout the semester. This approach will help students transition from theory to practical design, better preparing them for advanced courses. We will pilot this new structure in the summer and fall semesters, comparing it to traditional methods in the spring, with the aim of improving student engagement and practical skills in engineering.
- Tathagata Bhaduri
- Kristen Mills
- Omar El-Shafee