Online ACURA Undergraduate Research Fair 2021

The ACURA Online Research Fair was active from April 12 to April 16, 2021. 

Five-minute student recordings for each ACURA project can be viewed at the link above. 
 

ACURA 2021 Award Winners

Division of Arts and Humanities  

First place: Khrushchev 1956: Combating Stalin’s Ghost     
Peter Stiles   
(Faculty Mentor: Roy Robson) 

Second place: Legacies of Medieval Herbal Thinking in a 17th Century Manuscript: An Exploration of the History Behind Agrimony’s Connection to Herbal Science and Medicine  
Paula Kim  
(Faculty Mentors:  Marissa Nicosia and Christina Riehman-Murphy, Heather Froelich) 
 

Information Literacy awards for Arts and Humanities:  

Legacies of Medieval Herbal Thinking in a 17th century manuscript: An Exploration of the History Behind Agrimony’s Connection to Herbal Science and Medicine   
Paula Kim  
(Faculty Mentors:  Marissa Nicosia and Christina Riehman-Murphy, Heather Froelich) 

All About Rose Water 
Harshika Thard  
(Faculty Mentors: Marissa Nicosia, Christina Riehman-Murphy, Heather Froelich) 

Division of Science and Engineering  

First place: Prototype Studies of Small Spacecraft: Assembly of Raspberry-Pi Model and Testing of Space-Rated Flight Computers  
Lingqi Li, Hongyi Jiang, Anastasiya Orchakova & Maria Herranz   
(Faculty Mentor: Masataka Okutsu) 
 
Second place is 3-way tie  
Review of Monocular Slam Techniques for 3d Map Construction   
Poojith Kotikalapudi   
(Faculty Mentor: Vinayak Elangovan) 

Understanding Emotion Recognition,   
Kavan Adeshara   
(Faculty Mentor: Vinayak Elangovan) 

Erratic Activity of the Vela Pulsar,    
Avinash Sookram & Kevin Claros  
(Faculty Mentors:  Carl Schmiedekamp,  Ann Schmiedekamp) 

Honorable Mention:  
Influence of Physical Activity Levels and Sleep Habits on Psychological Inventories in College-Aged Women  
Evelyn Glukhovskiy & Rochaelle Gill  
(Faculty mentors: Steve Bloomer, Megan Gillen and Diane Rosenbaum) 

Information Literacy Awards for Science/Engineering: 
Review of Gamma Ray Irradiation Effects on 2D Materials    
Vitaliy Mykhnyak   
(Faculty Mentor Burcu Ozden)  

Testing the Mechanical Properties of a 3D Printed Lower Extremity Prosthetic Socket  
Ruthanna McMurtrie, Ian McGorrey, Renaijah Purvis, Kevin Shen  
(Faculty Mentor: Mukul Talaty) 

Division of Social Sciences  

First Place:   Black Women's Experiences of Colorism   
Brianna Carroll and Falande Decaze  
(Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Hughes) 

Second Place : Autism, Anime and Facial Emotion Recognition     
Bridger Standiford  
(Faculty Mentor:  Kevin Hsu) 

Honorable Mention:   Who's on Top? Autonomy and Control in Online Sex Work      
Brianna Carroll  
(Faculty Mentor:  Beth Montemurro) 

Information Literacy Awards for Social Sciences:  
An Examination of Potential Weight Status Correlates: Perceived Familial Weight Status, Depression, and Anxiety    
Paige Sfida   
(Faculty Mentor: Diane Rosenbaum) 

Social Justice activities in out-of-school time (OST) programs and the impact on urban youth  
Alexa Pagan    
(Faculty Mentors: Katrina Black Reed and Jacob Benfield) 

students testing weather balloons payloads

The paper "Preliminary Thermal Validation Tests for Education-Class CubeSats and Weather Balloon Payloads" by students Lingqi Li and Kenjiro S. Lay and Masataka Okutsu, assistant professor of engineering, was published in the Journal of Small Satellites.

Image: Penn State

 

 

ACURA is opportunity

  • Collaborate closely with a faculty research mentor on a hands-on research project and/or creative work over the course of one academic year,
  • Receive academic credit (one credit in fall; two credits in the spring) for their research activity,
  • Gain valuable research, technical, and artistic experience for more advanced levels of scholarly work, and/or for use in future careers,
  • Present one’s research findings at the Annual ACURA Poster Fair, at a research lecture at the Fall Colloquium, and/or at a local or national research conference
  • Publish one’s original work and discoveries in partnership with one’s research mentor.
ACURA Science and Engineering students win 1st Place

Abington students, Jung Eun Park and Kenjiro Lay win first place in the Science and Engineering Division at the 2019 ACURA Poster Fair and also at the Eastern Regional Fair at Penn State Hazleton. Faculty Advisor Dr. Masataka Okutsu.

Image: Penn State