Ten projects have been awarded funding through the first round of the 2022-23 Carleton University Experiential Learning Fund (CUELF) to create new and enhance existing experiential learning opportunities for Carleton students.

The projects range from getting hands-on experience with trauma-informed journalism to incorporating play, creativity and Lego into the classroom to organizing a traditional Haudenosaunee Social, each providing Carleton students with the chance to apply theory to real-world experiences.

Learn about the exciting projects being implemented to support lifelong learning and prepare students for the workplace below.

  • Alex Kelly (Cognitive Science) is updating third-year cognitive science labs to include more in-depth, cutting-edge methods for improved skills development for students looking to work in AI, automation and data science.
  • Andrew Harris (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) is introducing an engineering design project into an interdisciplinary third-year course that invites students to design, develop, manufacture and test microfluidic devices for biomedical applications.
  • Anna Hoefnagels (Music) is collaborating with the Native North American Traveling College in Akwesasne and Carleton’s Centre for Indigenous Support and Community Engagement to organize a traditional Haudenosaunee Social in her fourth-year MUSI/INDG course. The social, held in Winter 2023, will be open to the broader Carleton community as well.
  • Bora Pulatsu (Civil and Environmental Engineering) is enhancing a graduate-level course with a project assignment that includes building, testing and analyzing a small-scale, load bearing, unreinforced masonry (URM) structure that students will build in Carleton’s Structures Laboratory.
  • Christian Viau’s (Civil and Environmental Engineering) graduate students will be stepping into the shoes of force protection engineers by participating in field experiences, interactive simulations and hands-on activities in a state-of-the-art blast research laboratory.
  • Juan JimĂ©nez Garcia (School of Industrial Design) is bringing play, creativity and Lego into the classroom for his third-year students to explore human-centred and experience design.
  • Julie Garlen (Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Child and Youth Studies) and colleagues Alexandra Arraiz-Matute (Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies), Rebecca Friend (Department of History and Mayurika Chakravorty (Department of English) are (re)connecting with partners for student projects and placements, enhancing opportunities for students to showcase their work (e.g. children’s books), and boosting program-level conversations around experiential learning.
  • Matthew Pearson (School of Journalism and Communication) is taking his fourth-year students into the (simulated) field to get hands-on experience with trauma-informed journalism with the help of professional actors.
  • Siobhan Angus (School of Journalism and Communication) is developing a series of field experiences at art galleries around Ottawa to enrich her third-year students’ understanding of visual culture (theory, analysis, research) and the work that goes into curating exhibitions.
  • Tonya Davidson (Sociology and Anthropology) is connecting her third-year students with curators and educational programmers at a variety of Ottawa museums as part of exploring urban sociology through museum-based learning.

Applications are currently being accepted for the second round of funding for the 2022-23 Carleton University Experiential Learning Fund (CUELF). The deadline to apply is Jan. 20. Find more details here.