Amos Research Lab
Contact information:
(217) 333-4212
jamos@illinois.edu
3242 Everitt Lab
Research summary:
The main focus of my lab is to perform research to drive evidence-based education changes. In particular, we study how we can measure performance of key skills to track how a student is developing across a program using non-invasive measures. Our lab uses novel methods to measure performance, makes correlative and predictive models for student performance, and helps inform faculty and programs of best practices in assessment for program needs. Ultimately, this will help create students as agents of their own success by focusing on gaining skills instead of taking courses and faculty who make evidence-based decisions on curriculum and course changes.
A second focus of my lab is in design for low resource settings. I am working with the government in Sierra Leone to develop electronic health records and provide data support for evidence-based decision making and tracking of disease diagnoses and prescribing habits of healthcare workers.
Ideal applicant should have:
We use quantitative and qualitative approaches to meet our research goals. For quantitative projects, programming experience in MATLAB and Python are important, but we are also willing to train new members in these approaches. For qualitative projects, we need members who can conduct interviews professionally, collect and organize data, and perform statistics on survey and interview data.
When to apply:
The best time to apply is before the start of the semester or during the first month of the semester, however, we welcome interested students to apply at any time.
Research Assistant testimonial:
Vincent Lam, Class of 2023“In Amos Research Lab, I had the awesome opportunity to work alongside a graduate student mentor and meet other members of the lab group, all of whom had very interesting projects. Using the data collected by my mentor, I developed an interactive, visual tool to display a student’s performance relative to their peers on certain topics in a course. During this project, I had to learn Python and HTML5, while also broadening my knowledge of MATLAB and JavaScript. Besides assisting me with the statistical analysis, my mentor encouraged me to consider the rationale behind developing this tool and how it would benefit both students and course instructors; his advice greatly shaped how I presented my project at the PURE Symposium. Although this was my first time working in a research lab, I found that the environment was very supportive and engaging, as everyone provided advice on the others’ projects during our lab group meetings. Even if you don’t have much research experience, don’t be afraid to approach Dr. Amos, because the lab can help you find a project that is suited to your strengths. Overall, working in an engineering education lab has provided valuable insight into how much instructors learn from their students as much as their students do from them.”
Catherine Best-Popescu
Golecki Group
Contact information:
golecki@illinois.edu
3134 Everitt Laboratory