ACURA Projects spring 2018-2019
Science and Engineering
Faculty Member Name: Dr. Vinayak Elangovan
Faculty Member Email: vue9@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7852
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Apply computer science principles to aid and evaluate student learning in
Chem 111
Summary of Research Project : Apply computer science principles to aid and evaluate student learning in CHEM 111, the first semester freshman chemistry lab. Freshman students often find the lab procedures to be confusing and intimidating. The purpose of this project is to provide a CANVAS accessible learning environment for reviewing and mastering the laboratory operations for each lab meeting. The ACURA student should be knowledgeable in a variety of programming languages and will have taken one gen chem lab at Abington. The participant will choose the best language to write a computer program that will enable general chemistry lab procedure testing on CANVAS prior to the beginning of each lab. The program will scramble experimental procedures to CHEM 111 lab procedures and provide a randomized test for each enrolled student for each experiment using, or being compatible with, the CANVAS quiz platform. In addition to programming capabilities, the participant must also be willing to solicit feedback from chemistry lab students as part of designing an intuitive and inviting interface. The participant(s) should be familiar with various computer languages by the end of Spring 2018. The participant learns and becomes familiar with CANVAS quiz. In the last semester of the ACURA participation, she/he will use student performance to analyze improvement in the students’ learning outcome relative to a control group. A student who is interested in working with Dr. Kim will sign up for a one-credit undergraduate research course for the SPRING & Fall 2018 and two-credit, SPRING 2019. The result of the project is will be presented in Abington ACURA poster session in April 2019.
Requirements for Students? Completion of CHEM 110 & CHEM 111 by the end of Spring 2018 is also necessary.
Faculty Member Name: Hae Won Kim
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Summary of Research Project This goal of this research is
to quantify the effects of hydraulic fracturing on water and soil in
Pennsylvania. I travel to Southwestern Pennsylvania, collect samples from
streams that flow adjacent to hydraulic fracturing operations, and deliver
them to Dr. Regina Lamendella at Juniata College in Central Pennsylvania,
where the samples are analyzed for microbial community structure. These
results will be compared to samples from non- Marcellus Shale streams. While
on the road I interview local food producers, including those with backyard
garden produce stands, truck gardens, chicken coops, goats and cows, geese
and turkeys, and beehives to determine changes in production between
Marcellus Shale and non- Marcellus Shale operations.
Requirements for Students? The student who participates in this research
should have a keen interest in Pennsylvania small farms, forests, streams and
rivers, how crucial they are to our sustainable water and food supply, and
the effects that natural gas drilling may have on their future. It is cold
and dirty work that could include overnight travel, or could be limited to
local day trips, depending on the student's schedule. The ideal student would
have willingness to attain a working knowledge of basic water chemistry,
creating spreadsheets, using GPS to log altitude, latitude and longitude,
field collection techniques, and reading maps, as well as organizational
skills, video documentation skills, and a willingness to listen to people
Talk.
Faculty Member Name: Michele Grinar (Shelly)
Faculty Member Email: mmg17@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 484-744-5825
Faculty Member Office Location: W239
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Chemistry
Investigation into the synthesis of white lead pigment
Summary of Research Project The synthesis of white lead pigment, basic lead
carbonate, has been practiced for thousands of years. An investigation into
the mechanism of the synthesis of white lead pigment will be conducted
through a literature review and selective syntheses based on this review.
Requirements for Students:
Faculty Member Name: Kevin Cannon
Faculty Member Email: kcc10@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone:
Faculty Member Office Location:
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Engineering (Mechanical, Biomechanics)
Is there a link between walking variability and our risk of falling?
Summary of Research Project Falls are a very common
complication of stroke and often result in injury and reduced quality of
life. Fall risk is correlated with increased variability in stride duration,
which in turn is caused by variability in leg joint movements. Since changes
in temporal parameters occur due to changes in joint movements, leg joint
variability may provide valuable information about fall risk. Joint
variability has been parameterized for young, healthy adults walking at their
self-selected speed but not for other populations. The goal of this project
is to determine how stroke status and walking speed affect joint variability.
Joint variability can be characterized using a type of mathematical function
called Fourier series and Gaussian (normal) distributions. Using existing
experimental gait data for stroke patients and speed-matched healthy
individuals collected in a clinical gait lab, we will determine how the joint
variability changes for people walking at different speeds who have and have
not had a stroke. Students will learn about human walking biomechanics, about
how stroke affects walking, and some numerical analysis techniques to
quantify aspects of walking – such as stability. This project will involve
analysis of gait data on the computer and may extend to running subsequent
analyses as well as possibly developing some additional experimental data and
analytical approaches to further understand how variability is related to
falling.
Requirements for Students?
An interest in human walking biomechanics
Ability to use computers to analyze data (specific skills will be taught -
but there will be considerable computer use involved)
Attention to detail
* This project can be used for 3 semester ACURA IF you will still be on this
campus in Spring 2019
Faculty Member Name: Mukul Talaty
Faculty Member Email: mxt103@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 2158817916
Faculty Member Office Location: 217 Rydal
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Summary of Research Project The risk of falling for persons
with lower limb amputation is higher than in the general able-bodied
population. There are many choices in components for leg prostheses but a
clear understanding between how the choices affect performance is missing.
Literature indicates there is a correlation between prosthetic stiffness and
gait performance. However, there has not been a direct study on how stiffness
contributes towards amputee’s stability. We use a custom
neuromusculoskeletal computer model of walking to explore how foot stiffness
affects walking stability. The custom model contains six joints, seven
segments and oriented in sagittal plane with unilateral ankle muscles removed
and replaced with a rotational spring representing an amputee with a
prosthesis. This model captures many important features of how real amputees
walk. We can run "experiments" to test out how different componentry or other
interventions affect walking by running simulations on the model. In this
project, we will apply growing random perturbations to the model and quantify
the model's performance in varying stiffness prosthetic feet. We will analyze
these experimental data to determine if a trend exists between prosthetic
stiffness and stability. Continuing to refine and run experiments on this
model could help to establish a more objective basis for clinicians to select
and prescribe prosthetic components and may ultimately help to reduce the
risk of amputee falls during walking.
Requirements for Students?
An interest in computer modeling, prosthetics, data analysis, running and
possibly wriging computer codes and analyzing data. No specific skills are
required - most can be learned as needed during the project. A careful
attention to detail and lots of perseverance will help a LOT!
The 3 semester option is available (and preferred) IF you will still be on
this campus (or are in the GE-MDE program between here and Great Valley) in
Spring 2019.
Faculty Member Name: Mukul Talaty
Faculty Member Email: mxt103@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 2158817916
Faculty Member Office Location: 217 Rydal
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Summary of Research Project Prostheses allow persons with
amputations to walk again after devastating injuries. A socket is the
interface between a residual limb and the functional prosthesis.
Conventionally, developing a test socket for a lower extremity prostheses is
a time-intensive, cumbersome, and messy process. This project will explore
recent developments in the use of 3D printing to assist the development of
prosthetic sockets. The goal of this project will be to use actual patient
image scans to develop real test sockets (SolidWorks) and to 3D print them.
We will subsequently evaluate the quality of that test socket on the bench.
Some aspects we will explore will be tolerances compared to the conventional
polypropylene socket, compliance, mechanical strength, etc. We have access to
a fully functioning (and staffed) prosthetic fabrication facility –
complete with a 3D body scanner as well as a number of 3D printers and other
mechanical fabrication equipment.
Requirements for Students?
Willingness to work hard and learn without being "taught". Ability to
motivate themselves to work without hard-fast deadlines. Ability to do
literature review and read journal articles to learn about recent
developments in the field.
The 3 semester option is available (and preferred) IF you will still be on
this campus (or are in the GE-MDE program between here and Great Valley) in
Spring 2019.
Faculty Member Name: Mukul Talaty
Faculty Member Email: mxt103@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7916
Faculty Member Office Location: Rydal 217
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Project Description:
Our research focuses on developing new methods in organic synthesis and
applying them to synthesize useful organic molecules. Current projects
include: 1) investigation of new conditions for oxidative rearrangement
reactions involving sulfur-containing molecules and 2) application of new and
established methods to synthesize novel sulfur-containing polymers.
Student Requirements: Students must have successfully completed organic chemistry laboratory (CHEM 213). Students currently enrolled in CHEM 210 may also be considered.
Research in organic synthesis is time consuming. Students must be willing to
dedicate 4-6 hours a week for laboratory work.
Faculty Member Name: Ahmed Nuriye
Faculty Member Email:auy3@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone:
Faculty Member Office Location:
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Computer Science
Summary of Research Project
Understanding of Group Activities (GA) involving humans and objects have
significant applications in civilian and military domains. The process of
understanding GA is typically involved with spatiotemporal analysis of
multi-modality sensor data. Video imagery is one popular sensing modality
that offers rich data. However, making sense out of video imagery is a real
challenge. In this research work, we would demonstrate applications of
optical and Kinect imagery data for characterization of indoor group
activities. Technical details of imagery techniques implemented for
detection, tracking, and characterization of atomic events will also be
investigated.
Requirements for Students?
1. working knowledge in any programming language (MATLAB or python or C# or
C++) or an aptitude for learning a programming language
2. interest in learning fundamentals of data science and machine learning
Faculty Member Name: Vinayak Elangovan
Faculty Member Email: vue9@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7852
Faculty Member Office Location: Rydal 212
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Electrical Engineering
LIDAR Assist Spatial Sensing
Summary of Research Project Echolocation enables people
with vision impairment to comprehend the surrounding spatial information
through reflected sound. However, this technique often requires substantial
training, and the accuracy of echolocation is subject to various conditions.
Furthermore, individuals who practice this sensing method must simultaneously
generate the outward sound and process the received information. This work
proposes and evaluates a conceptual framework for the LIDAR Assist Spatial
Sensing (LASS) system, which intends to overcome these restrictions by
obtaining the spatial information of the user’s surroundings through a
LIDAR sensor and translating the spatial information into stereo sound of
various pitch. The stereo sound of relative pitch relays information
regarding objects’ angular orientation and horizontal distance,
respectively, thus granting visually-impaired users an enhanced spatial
perception of his or her surrounding areas and potential obstacles.
Requirements for Students? Sufficient programming background
Faculty Member Name: Yi Yang
Faculty Member Email: yzy1@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7565
Faculty Member Office Location: Woodland 316
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Information Sciences & Technology, Computer Science
Virtualization for High-Performance Cloud Networking
Summary of Research Project Virtualization is expected to
be the key attribute in future networking and cloud computing. However, the
overhead introduced by virtualization brings in new challenges to
high-performance networking. The objective of this project is to study how to
improve virtualization performance for meeting the requirements of real-time
networking and cloud computing.
Requirements for Students? students who have taken IST 220 (networking and
telecommunications)
Faculty Member Name: Qiang Duan
Faculty Member Email: qduan@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 268-633-3317
Faculty Member Office Location: 311 Rydal Executive Plaza
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Aerospace Engineering
Prototype Demonstration of CubeSat via Weather Balloon
Summary of Research Project: Miniaturization of satellite is
considered a promising way to reduce the cost of doing science in outer
space. At Penn State Abington, we will develop a prototype of CubeSat, a
small satellite of the size of a grapefruit, and demonstrate its feasibility
by flying to 20-km altitude -- a lower edge of space -- via weather balloon.
This research project will pave a way to ultimately developing a space-rated
hardware at Penn State Abington.
Requirements for Students? This is a multi-disciplinary project involving
different kinds of work: hands-on building, software coding, technical
drawing, and tracking the device using GPS and radio. No one can do
everything, the team should include students from variety of disciplines,
skills, and interests. The team members may include students from freshmen to
seniors. Relevant topics are aerospace/mechanical/electrical engineering,
computer programming, and physics and space science.
Faculty Member Name: Dr. Masataka Okutsu
Faculty Member Email: masataka.okutsu@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: (215) 881-7562
Faculty Member Office Location: Rydal 217
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Mechanical Engineering
Muscle activation during passive leg drop
Summary of Research Project:
A StepMeter device has been developed to allow assessment of barefoot slip
resistance. The device allows a seated subject’s leg to be raised and
dropped onto an inclined surface, allowing the heel to slip if the required
coefficient of friction is greater than the available coefficient of
friction. This device will allow us to quantify slip resistance of flooring
surfaces for barefoot pedestrians.
A question has arisen as to whether the subject’s leg is really
“passive” as it is dropped onto the test surface. If the subject’s
muscles are contracting, this may affect the measured slip resistance values.
We wish to test whether a seated subject’s muscles remain passive during a
drop test.
For this project, students will become familiar with EMG (electromyography,
the measurement of electrical signals from muscles), and will design and
carry out an experiment to determine whether the leg muscles (specifically
hamstrings, quadriceps and gastrocnemius) remain passive during a drop test,
or to quantify the amount of muscle activity found.
We will test our hypothesis on a small (n=20) population of volunteers.
Students will prepare the Human Subjects submission and consent form, will
devise and test the protocol, collect and analyze data, and report results.
Faculty Member Name: Marcus P. Besser
Faculty Member Email: mpb20@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7357
Faculty Member Office Location: 202 Rydal Bldg
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Summary of Research Project
We are interested in exploring the products of the intramolecular Zincke
reaction of methyl 2-methyl-3-thiocarboxylic acid
2-[1-(2-pyridyl)ethylidene]hydrazide (1). This compound undergoes an
intramolecular Zincke reaction to form the pyridinium salt 2. Reaction of 2
with active methylene compounds such as malononitrile should give the
Knoevenagel product 3.
Unusually Facile Ring-opening reaction in the Pyridine System
John P. Scovill, J. V. Silverton, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 45,
4372–4376 (1980).
Requirements for Students? Students should be taking organic chemistry.
Students will learn how to draw organic structures using BIOVIA Draw. We will
perform molecular orbital calculations on WebMO
Faculty Member Name: John P. Scovill
Faculty Member Email: jps37@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 6104050408
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Summary of Research Project : Students will take data with radio telescopes at the Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank WV and combine their results with archival data available from the telescope to analyze molecular clouds and neutral hydrogen clouds near the Milky Way. A second project is to observe pulsar timings to support the Nanograv project.
Requirements for Students?
Completion of introductory math courses or a substantial math background from high school. Please interview with the professors to determine your eligibility. Students should be available for travel to the Green Bank Observatory during 3 days of the fall break. This project will accept students in January 2018 for 3 semesters.
Faculty Member Name: Ann Schmiedekamp, Dr. Carl Schmiedekamp
Faculty Member Email: ams@psu.edu, cws2@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7572
Faculty Member Office Location: 217W
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Biology
Effects of High-Dose Ascorbate (Vitamin C) on
breast epithelial cells and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cells
Summary of Research Project This project will investigate
the anti-proliferative effects of high-dose vitamin C (ascorbate) on breast
epithelial cells and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cells. We will
also investigate possible mechanisms for the anti-proliferative effect which
may include production of oxygen radicals (like hydrogen peroxide) and
induction of apoptosis.
Requirements for Students? Usually I do not take on research students until
they have successfully completed BIOL 230W. (This project is not taking more students in fall 2017.)
Faculty Member Name: Thomas McGuire
Faculty Member Email: tmm15@psu.edu
Faculty Member Office Phone: 215-881-7492
Faculty Member Office Location: Woodland 230
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