About

James F. Groves is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, with primary appointment in the Department of Engineering & Society and courtesy appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His scholarly interests include sustainability, energy materials, engineering ethics, climate change, and design thinking, with a focus on the impacts of climate change on the mid-Atlantic region. He is actively engaged in developing engineering ethics case studies related to local climate change research and explores the human and environmental impacts of using engineered materials for sustainable energy solutions. Dr. Groves is a leading university educator in the field of sustainable development, teaching courses such as Introduction to Sustainable Energy Systems and The Global Context of Clean Energy Materials. His instructional efforts emphasize the close coupling between humanity's energy use and its impact on people and the planet. He has contributed to national initiatives like Engineering for One Planet and has been involved in developing frameworks for design thinking and project management. His work also includes broad efforts in online engineering education, including serving as Associate Dean for Online Innovation at UVA, and founding initiatives aimed at increasing access to engineering education for underserved communities. His background includes co-inventing directed vapor deposition technology during his Ph.D., resulting in multiple patents, and he has a strong focus on integrating ethics, policy, and social sustainability into engineering education and practice.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Nanotechnology
• Computer science
• Engineering
• Optoelectronics

Selected publications

• Building Access to Engineering Education: Early Findings in Delivering the First Fully-Online Undergraduate Engineering Degree

  2011-11-08

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• Work in progress — Expansion of an undergraduate engineering degree program to include fully online studies at a distance

  2010-10-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  In fall of 2007, the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Engineering and Applied Science initiated a partnership with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) to create a new undergraduate education opportunity that would allow students to remain in their local community for all of their undergraduate engineering studies. Through the partnership, students can complete a two-year engineering associate degree in the VCCS. Successful students can then transfer to UVA for third and fourth year undergraduate studies that lead to an existing, non-ABET accredited Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Science. All necessary UVA classes are made available in a highly interactive on-line format to the students located across Virginia. The cooperative program was motivated by multiple requests from communities and engineering firms located in Virginia that wanted increased access to undergraduate engineering education and talent local to their communities. The details of the program design for the distributed learning system that blends on-campus and off-campus learners will be reviewed, and programmatic-level indicators of success to date will be given. This review reflects design-based research principles, and, in addition, the program has adopted an evaluation approach which reviews the systemic impact of the program across the state.

  PublisherDOI

• Work in progress — Transitioning an established engineering distance learning program infrastructure to an on-line instructional setting

  2010-10-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  For over 25 years the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program consortium has used distance learning technologies to deliver courses to qualified working professionals and on-campus graduate students. In recent years, the program's courses have been delivered using interactive video conferencing, a solution that has proven to be increasingly limiting. This paper will highlight the motivations for moving the primary delivery mode of the program to on-line delivery of courses to the computer desktop. It will also summarize key points of discussion from a June 2009 workshop held to introduce faculty to key pedagogical elements of online instruction. Discussions at the workshop highlighted how recent developments in information technology have made the delivery of substantive, interactive online courses feasible. Given that engineering faculty are most familiar with traditional classroom-based instruction and learning, the workshop sought to raise faculty awareness about how equally effective pedagogy can be accomplished in an online instructional environment, using appropriate technology in teaching solutions. Particularly, the workshop sought to convey to those in attendance that effective engineering pedagogy can occur in an online instructional environment.

  PublisherDOI

• Nanoscale self-assembly and patterning

  Superlattices and Microstructures · 2008-10-01

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• Focused ion beam directed self-assembly (Cu2O on SrTiO3 ): FIB pit and Cu2O nanodot evolution

  Superlattices and Microstructures · 2008-03-21 · 6 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• A tablet-based paper exam grading system

  ACM SIGCSE Bulletin · 2008-06-30 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  We present the design and implementation of a system which allows a standard paper-based exam to be graded via tablet computers. The paper exam is given normally in a course, with a specialized footer that allows for automated recognition of each exam page. The exam pages are then scanned in via a high-speed scanner, graded by one or more people using tablet computers, and returned electronically to the students. The system provides many advantages over regular paper-based exam grading, and boasts a faster grading experience than traditional grading methods.

  PublisherDOI

• The Virginia partnership for nanotechnology education and workforce development

  2008-10-01 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The University of Virginia (UVA) has partnered with universities in Virginia for the sharing of graduate nanotechnology courses by distance learning technology. With the other schools, UVA has developed a four semester sequence of shared courses. The program provides students at the schools and at companies with access to a broader set of nanotechnology course offerings than previously available. The program shares several types of courses. Some courses were previously available only to students at one institution because the only faculty expert was resident there. Some courses were previously common at all institutions but consuming significant faculty resources, with faculty teaching just a few students at their institution. Now, new courses are being developed, team-taught courses are being offered, and fully on-line courses are becoming available. While opening educational opportunities, this program has challenged the participants. Faculty are being asked to alternate teaching assignments with colleagues at other institutions. Departments are being asked to accept instruction from faculty at neighboring institutions. On-campus students are being asked to take classes offered over the commodity Internet. Working engineers are grappling with the challenge of taking graduate courses while working full time jobs. These challenges and some proposed solutions will be discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• A tablet-based paper exam grading system

  2008-06-30 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  We present the design and implementation of a system which allows a standard paper-based exam to be graded via tablet computers. The paper exam is given normally in a course, with a specialized footer that allows for automated recognition of each exam page. The exam pages are then scanned in via a high-speed scanner, graded by one or more people using tablet computers, and returned electronically to the students. The system provides many advantages over regular paper-based exam grading, and boasts a faster grading experience than traditional grading methods.

  PublisherDOI

• Formation of Cu2O quantum dots on SrTiO3 (100): Self-assembly and directed self-assembly

  Journal of Applied Physics · 2006-11-01 · 14 citations

  article

  Cu 2 O quantum dots (QDs) have been synthesized on single crystal SrTiO3 (100) substrates with focused ion beam (FIB) modification using oxygen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. In a set of experiments, QD growth location has been controlled using FIB implants to modify the growth surface in discrete locations prior to dot synthesis. Atomic force microscopy has been used to characterize this directed self-assembly of oxide QDs. QDs have been observed to form first in the FIB generated surface features, filling those features before additional QDs have nucleated on neighboring, unmodified surface regions. The nature of the QDs on the modified surface is compared to those grown on unmodified substrate regions. While FIB modification provides lateral control over QDs, the QDs formed on the undamaged surfaces were more uniform in shape and size than those that nucleated in the FIB produced pits.

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• Guided Control of Cu₂O Nanodot Self-Assembly on SrTiO₃ (100)

  MRS Proceedings · 2004-01-01

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Frequent coauthors

• Igor Lyubinetsky

  Bilkent University

  8 shared

• Donald R. Baer

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  8 shared

• Yingge Du

  7 shared

• H.N.G. Wadley

  University of Virginia

  7 shared

• R. Hull

  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  4 shared

• Sandip Ghosal

  2 shared

• Xiaowang Zhou

  Sandia National Laboratories California

  2 shared

• Aaron Bloomfield

  University of Virginia

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• Hartfield-Jefferson Scholars Teaching Prize - Jefferson Scho…
• Leadership in Education Award - Southern Piedmont Technology…
• Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate Award - University of…