Students Earn Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors Awards
Northeastern University is proud to announce that the Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors Awards will support 25 student-initiated projects during Spring 2017. Recipients of the awards span Northeastern’s colleges and represent a wide range of disciplines.
Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors Awards offer financial and academic support to Northeastern students seeking to conduct original projects of their own design. The goal of the program is to encourage students from a wide range of majors and disciplines to carry out both early and advanced independent research and creative endeavors under the mentorship of Northeastern faculty members. The awards represent a substantial commitment of university resources to the involvement of undergraduates in Northeastern’s flourishing and groundbreaking research efforts.
Projects supported by the Spring 2017 awards include:
Pre-Clinical Efficacy of Hyaluronic Acid and Nanoceria Composite Bandages Application in Wound Regeneration
Maximilian Bizanek, COE ’21
Advised by Amit Roy, Assistant Teaching Professor of Chemical Engineering
This project will optimize a fabrication procedure for a nanocomposite-based hydrogel bandage coupled with cell-regenerating particles. By combining the advantages of a hydrogel bandage for wound care with particles that show promise for stimulating cellular growth, this bandage would represent a major step toward the ability to treat serious wounds with regenerative techniques rather than with skin grafts, which are painful and complicated procedures.
Effects of Early Life Stress on Methylation Patterns in Stressed Individuals and in their Offspring
Elena Coley, COS ’18
Advised by Heather Brenhouse, Assistant Professor of Psychology
This project investigates how early life stress can affect behavior, brain development, and gene expression in rats, and the degree to which these changes may be transmitted to subsequent generations. Early-life stress is believed to be a factor in many conditions affecting human health and well-being. Studying the potentially transgenerational effects of such stress represents a substantial contribution to the ongoing debate over whether mental and physical diseases that have previously been seen as isolated events in adulthood might actually be approached as developmental disorders whose seeds are sown very early in life, or even in the lives of one’s parents.
French Colonial Policies on Islam in West Africa: 1880-1940
Nathan Guerin, CSSH ’17
Advised by Gretchen Heefner, Assistant Professor of History
This project expands research Guerin began while studying abroad at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, regarding the relationship between Islam and European colonial powers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, Guerin will analyze French colonial policies regarding Islamic education, the Hajj, slavery, and religious courts in West African colonies. He will travel to the Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer in Aix-en-Provence, France, to consult papers including minutes of council meetings, criminal and civil court proceedings, legal acts, and the collection of the Ministry of Colonies.
The Dream Guardian
Trevor Hewitt, CAMD ’17
Advised by Michael McCarthy, Associate Teaching Professor of Animation
The Dream Guardian is an animated short film for children directed and produced by Hewitt with a team of five other animation students. The Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor Award will support post-production publicity and festival placement for The Dream Guardian. Hewitt will enter the film into competition in major film festivals and publicize it widely, sharing Northeastern students’ superb creative work with broad audiences and creating a template for such promotion and distribution.
A Comparison of the Immediate Effects of Gastrocnemius Stretching with and without Self-Myofascial Release on Ankle Kinematics and Range of Motion
Kristin Kapuza, Bouvé ’17
Advised by Marie Corkery, Associate Clinical Professor of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, and Sheng-Che Yen, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
This study will investigate the effects of stretching the calf, or gastrocnemius, on foot and ankle kinematics while walking and running. It will also compare those effects as achieved by two different methods of stretching. Kapuza will use sophisticated three-dimensional video analysis techniques for this comparison. Although some studies have documented the effects of stretching, the comparison of different stretching techniques is a novel contribution to this area of study.
The Effect of Gender in Virtual Reality Affective Interaction
Johanna Loepke, CCIS ’20
Advised by Sarah Ostadabbas, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Loepke will examine how humans interact with male vs. female avatars in an HTC Vive virtual reality environment, simulating situations in which lifelike avatars exhibit a number of emotions and comparing users’ reactions. The extent to which users bring gender stereotypes to their interactions with avatars, and their response when those expectations are contradicted, could have implications for a wide spectrum of virtual reality applications, from gaming to healthcare delivery to advertising.