Indiana University Southeast hosts undergrad research conference for first time

Dec. 8—NEW ALBANY — Indiana University students from all over the state gathered Friday at Indiana University Southeast for the IU Undergraduate Research Conference.

Over 150 undergraduate students from all nine IU campuses presented the findings of their research assignments to fellow students, teachers and judges.

Each student worked on their project with a faculty mentor, spending up to a few semesters.

Students had to present their projects with either a poster, video or oral presentation to the judges.

"This is the first time we have actually hosted it on our campus," said Debbie Ford, IU Southeast's chancellor. "We are thrilled to be bringing these amazing students, scholars and, of course, their faculty mentors to our beautiful campus."

Students from all different types of disciplines and majors participated in the conference. Each one had a problem they were trying to solve.

Ibtihag Alfadhl, a Freshman at IU Bloomington, studied the structure of the host-guest complexes between Cyclodextrins and organic molecules.

"They attract industries like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and toiletries due to their improved solubility and potential benefits," Alfadhl said.

For the project, they grew crystals from Cyclodextrins in deionized water and then attempted to increase the size of the water.

The research found in this project will be applied to things such as vitamins and food to increase the solubility.

Justin Der, a senior at IUS, based his project on comparing the difference between a manual braking system and an automatic one.

To show the difference, he made a robotic car that has both a manual brake and an automatic brake.

"Nowadays you have more and more cars using these sorts of automatic braking when there is human fault," Der said.

He spent the whole semester planning and building his car and even challenged himself with the project by using robotics.

"I am big into computers like laptops, desktops, that sort of thing," Der said. "This is my first time doing a robotics project."

Der had to use parts he was not used to and had difficulty getting the car put together and wiring it.

At the end of it, he created a car that uses sensors that would stop the car 30 centimeters in front of a wall or other object. A light comes on and the car stops immediately.

The car also has a manual brake that Der can use to compare the two braking systems to each other. When comparing the two systems, the automatic brakes are faster than the manual.

"Humans have the advantage of being able to make a complex decision," Der said. "For example, you need to brake at 30 centimeters, the human can go ahead and break at 32 centimeters. If you brake at 32, you'd be able to get a lot better stopping distance."

Winners of the conference

—Ellie Boehnlein, IUS, What Impact Does a Five-Day Intervention, Focused on Multiplication, Have on Fourth Grade Students?

—Steven Burrell, IUS, Exploring the Principles and Challenges of Self-Driving Cars: A Hands-on Project on Autonomous Vehicle Technology.

—Rian MarQuand, IUS, Transfeminism: The Adverse Effects of Cis-Centric and Trans-Exclusive Feminism on the Modern Transgender Community

—Natalie Stewart, IUS, Regulation of Reproduction and the Gastrointestinal System in the Marsh Rice Rat (Oryzomys Palustris)

—Hannah Breaven, IUPUI, Fluorescent Tracking of Intranasally Delivered Non-emulsion in the Rat Nasal Cavity

—Lucia Lopez, IUS, How Does a Five-Day Intervention Schedule Focused on Multiplying Affect Fifth Grade Students Who are Struggling to Multiply and Use Their Strategies?

—Khloe Mull, IUS, Building 1st-Grade Students Subtraction Fluency Through Repeated Practice

—Dylan Mapp, IUS, "Any Color You Like" Homing Pigeons Ability to Make Feature-Based Choices

—Lilia Brunett, IU, Modulation of FXR Response Genes by PFOA in a Pancreatic Cancer Cell Model

—Jayden Emenhiser, IU Kokomo, Measurement of Endotoxin Concentrations in Blood Serum of Subjects Undertaking a Pescatarian Diet Study

—Sarah Langdon, IUPUI, Service Enrollment and Access Barriers Twelve Months After Diagnosis of Autism for Young Children

—Askar Mazitov, IU, The Effects of Nodule-Associated Bacteria on Clover Growth

—Jacob Rose and Kylie Shields, IUS, Discovery and Isolation of QueenC

—Jake Staker, Ellyssa Purdy, Gracie White, Haiquan Guo, Jagadeep Thota and Amanda Siegel, IUPUI, Potato Thermoplastic Starch Aerogels for Insulation and Hydro-Protection Appliances in High Powered Rocketry

—Gracie White, IUPUI, Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Starch Films Using an Adaptive Experimental Design Approach supported by Bayesian Machine Learning