Student Profiles

Brian Gravel

Hometown: Manchester, ME
Degrees: B.S. Mechanical Engineering; M.S. Mechanical Engineering - Tufts University

I came to Tufts in 1997 as an undeclared engineer. As an undergraduate, I played soccer for the university and spent a semester at the University of Sussex, England. Drawn to Tufts for the variety of education available, as time went on I became more interested in interdisciplinary work. I graduated with a B.S. in 2001 and went directly into a Masters program in Comparative Biomechanics. While in graduate school. I held an NSF Fellowship through the GK-12 program which allowed me to teach 5th grade and 9th grade for one year each. In these classes, I worked with the teacher to incorporate engineering into math and science education. I completed my degree and went on to manage the GK-12 project here at Tufts. This all took place at the Center for Engineering Educational Outreach where I spent the past three years working as a program manager. During this time I realized my love of teaching and education and thus I applied for a PhD in the MSTE program.

Research Interests: I am working on a piece of software that allows students to make stop-action animations. My research goals are to use this tool to better understand children's mental models of physical concepts and to see how the process of making an animation can enhance science knowledge and understanding. For more information on my research, please visit this site: http://www.tuftl.tufts.edu/files/bgravel/donotedit/bgravel_thesis.shtm