B-CU's Research for Undergraduates Initiative Seeks to Increase Diversity in Future STEM Workforce
B-CU's College of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics hosted nine students this summer for the Research for Undergraduates program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The areas included: chemistry, computer science, biological and environmental sciences in an eight-week residential program that started June 4, 2019.
"We are very proud and impressed with the work these students demonstrated over a short period of time, " said Yungkul Kim, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Environmental Science and the Department of Biology. "During our closing ceremony, each student participant was awarded a Certificate of Participation in the B-CU REU Program sponsored by National Science Foundation, and a Certificate of Participation for participating in curricular and co-curricular activities on working effectively with data and was recognized as a Level 2 Data Scholar," he added.
Each student presented their research this past Thursday, July 25. Below is a list showing their names, schools and titles of their research presentations:
1. Mary Abusafieh
Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA
Machine Learning Applied for Environmental Preservation
2. Jacob Adkins
New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL
Unmanaged Aerial Robot Navigation for Exploring Unknown Environments Using Reinforcement Learning
3. Alexandra France
Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL
Quantitative Survey and Classification of Macro Beach Debris in Volusia County, Florida
4. Jeriah Henry
Lawson State Community College, Birmingham, AL
Analytics of Textual Data Structures on Aquaglyceroporin-7 in Energy Metabolism
5. Noah Hitchcock
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA
Big Data Mathematical Modeling Applied to Data Compression and Data Clustering of Leukemia Patients Based on Genomic Profiles
6. Mica Jarocki
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX
Effects of Oil-Water Interaction from Oil Spills in the Marine Environment: A Mathematical Modeling Approach
7. Purva Lotwala
Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA
Unfolding model of Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin Transducer, ASRT in novel photomediated signaling pathway in PCC7120
8. Lilshay Rogers
Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC
Model for Tumor Growth and Exploring Cancer-Immune Dynamics and Tumor Dormancy
9. Gabrielle Watkins
Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL
Machine Learning Techniques Applied to the Data Analysis Focused on Environmental Concern
Mercia Soius, a B-CU student, non-member of the REU group also continued her research this summer and received recognitions for participating and recognition as a Level 2 Data Scholar with participation in curricular and co-curricular activities focusing on effective data.
Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, FL
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The overall objectives of the REU site are to promote early engagement of undergraduate students in research, to expose students to interdisciplinary modeling and data analytic resources, to foster active learning through hands-on experiences in a collaborative research environment, and to inspire students to pursue advanced STEM education and research careers.
The program also fosters long-term mentoring relationships between students and faculty through intensive collaboration and interaction. The program looks for at least 80 percent of underrepresented minority participants to increase diversity in future STEM workforce.
Project participants will be encouraged to pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields. Participants and involved faculty will stay connected to form research and professional networks that will remain after the program. The participants will be well
prepared for graduate studies in STEM fields.
For more information, contact Dr. Seenith Sivasundaram at 386-481-2491 or sivasundarams@cookman.edu or Dr. Yungkul Kim at 386-481-2676 or kimy@cookman.edu.