Week 4 of the Virtual PEAK Lunch Series

The PEAK Experiences Awards provide students with the opportunity to conduct independent undergraduate research and creative activities under the supervision of a faculty mentor in any discipline. Traditionally, award recipients have presented the results of their work in a series of lunch seminars hosted in our office. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, we have taken our lunch series online this semester. We invite you to view the videos produced for our fourth week of virtual presentations, which can be found below.  The presentations address a wide range of topics, from an archive focusing on the history of the labor movement in Boston to the mobile “Internet of Things.” To share your thoughts on the videos with our presenters, please complete our feedback form.

You are also welcome to view the virtual presentations prepared by our grantees earlier in the semester; please click here for the first week’s presentations, here for the second week’s presentations, and here for the third week’s presentations.

Rotating Hopper for Elastic Granular Material Analysis
STUDENT(S):Nicholas Angelino COS’24
PEAK Experiences Base Camp Award
MENTOR: Professor Sara Hashmi, Chemical Engineering
This project focuses on fabricating soft particles and measuring their mechanical properties like elasticity, friction, and stiffness. These particles are to be studied for their interactions while passing through an opening prone to clogging.

Developing HPLC Methods for Identifying Sulfasalazine Drug Components
STUDENT(S): Gillian Audia COE’23
PEAK Experiences Base Camp Award
MENTOR: Professor Adam Ekenseair, Chemical Engineering
The overall goal of this project is to develop a thermoresponsive biomaterial scaffold capable of both drug and stem cell delivery for treating ulcerative colitis. Audia hopes to develop methods for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to help determine the composition of polymers synthesized in the lab.

A Non-Invasive, In Situ Method for Monitoring Root Growth
STUDENT(S): Amanda Dee COE’23
PEAK Experiences Ascent Award
MENTOR: Professor Carolyn Lee-Parsons, Chemical Engineering
Catharanthus roseus produces two anticancer compounds. By studying how these compounds are produced, we can enhance production. In this project, Dee will verify that transgenic constructs were integrated into the DNA and evaluate whether these transgenes had a significant effect on growth.

Black Market Opioid Data Exploration
STUDENT(S): Charles Denhart Khoury’20
PEAK Experiences Summit Award
MENTOR: Professor Angela Kilby, Economics
This project attempts to utilize online drug forums to extract information about street opioid transactions such as prices, quantities, and locations. Such data exists minimally currently, yet could be very valuable towards understanding the current state of the opioid crisis and proposing future policy to improve health outcomes. In order to acquire this data, several natural language techniques and models will be implemented. If data is acquired successfully, it will be compared with prescription opioid data and previous policy implementation in order to gain a better understanding of market dynamics and policy success.

Bits & Bots
STUDENT(S): John Harrington COE’20 and Daniel Rassaby Khoury’20, et al.
PEAK Experiences Bridge-Builder Award
Bits & Bots develops and provides after-school education programs for elementary and middle school students. Its programs focus primarily, though not exclusively, on computer programming and robotics.

EcoScholars
STUDENT(S):Jane Healy et al.
PEAK Experiences Bridge-Builder Award
The EcoScholars Program offers environmental education lessons to K-12 students in the Boston area. These lessons focus on climate change, its implications for the planet’s future, and everyday actions that can be taken to reduce one’s “ecological footprint.”

Enabling Long-lived Mobile Internet of Things with Wake-up Radios and Unmanned Aerial Systems
STUDENT(S):Kevin Hines COE’20
PEAK Experiences Summit Award
MENTOR: Professor Stefano Basagni, Electrical & Computer Engineering
As the world becomes increasingly connected, the need for reliable and efficient smart devices becomes more important. Years of research in wireless computer networks have led to what is now referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT). A major challenge that IoT devices face is related to power consumption. This project will explore the use of a wake-up radio to use a fraction of the power and energy consumption compared to always-on technology in smart buoys deployed in bodies of water.

Husky High School Hacks
STUDENT(S): Logan Jones COS’21 et al.
PEAK Experiences Bridge-Builder Award
Husky High School Hacks works at the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, a Boston-area high school. The group has developed and staged “hackathons” for students at the school. Defined by Husky High School Hacks as “short events that pose students with challenges that they can form groups to solve,” these “hackathons” are intended to promote collaborative and engaged learning. In recent months, they have begun to focus on providing SAT preparation for students at the request of the school.

Laboring Over History: Fighting for Women’s Workforce Rights
STUDENT(S):Meghan Jones CSSH’20
PEAK Experiences Ascent Award
MENTOR: Professor Gretchen Heefner, History
With this project, “Laboring Over History: Boston’s Strikes Over Time” I aim to explore the similarities and differences between early historical strikes and more modern-era strikes in Boston through a digital museum exhibit. My objective is to make a succinct, educational digital museum exhibit that teaches about the history and current implications of the Boston labor movement, starting in the late 1800’s, and continuing on to modern-day.

Northeastern University Global Health Initiative
STUDENT(S): Kritika Singh COE’20 et al.
PEAK Experiences Bridge-Builder Award
This project group developed and promoted the Northeastern University Global Health Initiative (NUGHI) conference, which took place in October 2018 on the Northeastern University campus. They subsequently partnered with several campus offices to produce a second global health conference, “Global Health in a Changing World,” which was held in February. This project group also works with the non-profit Malaria Free World, which seeks to promote awareness of malaria and other infectious diseases.