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Tag: Brianno Coller
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For years, humankind has thought of capable, intelligent robots as the stuff of science fiction, from the friendly droids of “Star Wars” to the mechanical overlords of “The Matrix.” In fact, smart robots are already all around us – with more coming every day. The ongoing invasion of robots into our everyday lives is the...
Brianno Coller
If professors were being graded, Brianno Coller just earned an A+ at the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education annual conference held last month in Seattle. Coller, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Mechanics Division Best Paper Award for his entry titled, “A Glimpse into How Students Solve Concept Problems in...
Brianno Coller
Brianno Coller, a newly named Presidential Teaching Professor, will speak Wednesday, April 30, on “Learning While Playing Video Games.” The talk is planned from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Illinois Room of the Holmes Student Center. For the past few years, NIU engineering students have been learning complex mathematical and physical concepts while playing...
The late Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, once described a litmus test on whether he – or anyone else – truly grasped what they claimed to comprehend. He “argued that one does not understand a complicated subject unless one can clearly explain it to a class of freshmen,” says Brianno Coller, a professor of...
Brianno Coller
When machines fail to function as designed, engineers deconstruct those devices to discover why. Careful measurements are made. Originals predictions are challenged. Errors in analysis and assumptions are sought. And so it is natural that Brianno Coller, a mechanical engineer trained at Cornell and Princeton, realized that he needed to examine his ability to teach...
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While he hasn’t spent much time on a snowboard, Brianno Coller could appreciate better than most the complaints about the halfpipe at the Sochi Winter Olympics. The NIU professor of mechanical engineering is featured in a video produced by NBC Learn, which explains the engineering that goes into creating a world-class halfpipe. The video is...
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NIU mechanical engineering professor Brianno Coller is featured in “Science and Engineering of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” a new 10-part video series. The series was created through the collaborative efforts of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News. The videos are the latest installment in NSF’s and...
Imagine taking classes by video game. You wouldn’t just try to get to the next level or beat the game for the fun of it, you would play to ace a test and pass a class. Researchers are harnessing that motivation to play and win video games to teach new and challenging concepts to learners...
The national press daily carries articles about how few women in the United States choose careers in science, engineering or math. Educators worry about how to keep girls and young women from dropping out of these fields. But what is it like to be a female professor in one of these disciplines, and in particular, what factors...