Baghdadchi’s research focus is on encoding light fields with phase and polarization modulations for tissue imaging and optical manipulation of nanoparticles. She is interested in scholarly teaching and uses active learning techniques to help students achieve an expert-like level of thinking. She guides students in bridging the gap between facts and usable knowledge to solve complex engineering problems.
As part of her educational research in engineering, in the Summer of 2016 she designed and implemented a Teaching-as-Research project to study the effect of guided pre-reading and post-lecture assignments along with peer instruction on students’ learning of core signal processing concepts. According to the results of her research, the active learning techniques she implemented in her course helped her students do substantially better than their peers attending the standard lecture based classes for the same course. She designs discovery-based labs for ECE undergraduate courses to stimulate students’ conceptual understanding of the material. She will also be involved in developing hands-on educational programs to enhance the learning and teaching of science and engineering by K-12 students and teachers.