News | Aparna Shah, PhD.

C4R Raises the Bar in Scientific Rigor Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Rigor in how science is done and how results are analyzed and communicated is essential for science to be useful in the real world. Without it, significant results become meaningless and trust in the scientific community diminishes. Also, a lack of rigor not only increases the spread of misinformation, it can severely damage systems that people rely on to make informed decisions. To uphold a high standard across disciplines, a group of scientists from institutions across the country, including Penn Engineering, came together to create C4R, the Community for Rigor.

Read more at the Penn Engineering Blog…

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Faculty to showcase innovative approaches to community engagement at international conference

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Eunju Hwang, an associate professor in the Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, is passionate about fostering reflection and collaboration among faculty engaged in service learning. Hwang and Aparna Shah, assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience, will help present, “Charting Pathways for Sustainable Community-Engaged/Service Learning” at the ESC conference.

Their presentation will focus on the value of group reflection that came from the 2023-24 VT Engage Faculty Fellows cohort, an interdisciplinary group who worked together to develop and teach community-engaged projects.

“I am excited to represent Virginia Tech and the VT Engage Faculty Fellows team,” Hwang said. “In the Universal Design course that I teach, I hope to develop intergenerational activities that students can contribute to local communities practicing age-friendly initiatives. Then, when Virginia Tech hosts ESC in Roanoke in 2025, the students in Universal Design can showcase their intergenerational engagements with local communities including Roanoke.”

Brain Day encourages students to make healthy decisions

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

VT Engage Faculty Fellowships expand opportunities for community-engaged learning

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Learning with a Purpose

Aparna Shah, collegiate assistant professor of neuroscience in the College of Science, said the peer support within the Fellowship has enabled her to envision how her Neuroscience of Drug Addiction students could reach more community partners.

“Last summer, I had probably one or two ideas for partnerships,” she said, while her students’ current service projects show how her vision for community partnerships has grown during her first community-based teaching experience:

Expanding campus opioid overdose preparedness with Hokie Wellness
Demonstrating to regional fifth graders through the Center for Educational Networking and Impacts’ Hokie for a Day expo how MRI and EEG can be used to study neurological impacts of substance use
Training peer educators for the Just Say Know harm reduction program through collaboration with Sam Margherio, assistant professor of psychology
Supporting individuals in recovery through Recovery Ally training
Inviting students outside neuroscience to explore through book club discussions a neuroscientist’s personal insights into addiction
Creating educational science comics about addiction, with the guidance of science comic author and graphic novelist Jay Hosler
Presenting evidence about the neuroscience of addiction to Students for Sensible Drug Policy

College of Science selects recipients of grant to support innovative teaching ideas

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

When Aparna Shah saw that the Virginia Tech College of Science was offering grants for faculty to develop innovative teaching methods, the School of Neuroscience faculty member had an inescapable idea.

Shah knew that group work boosts student engagement, helps students build a community within the class, and refines teamwork skills that they’ll need throughout life. She remembered facilitating a science outreach event at Johns Hopkins University in which students worked together in a neuroscience-themed game. She knew gamification — creating educational games with computer interfaces — could make the material more memorable.

Shah decided to apply for an innovative teaching grant, sponsored by the College of Science in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.