The Summer Research Intensive concluded with the Three-Minute Thesis Competition on July 27th. The competition gives SRI students the opportunity to display the research they conducted with their faculty mentor throughout the summer.
The competition was judged by a panel of Faculty and Staff members who selected a first place, second place and third place winner. Judges were Jennifer Ebinger (Director, Office of Engaged Learning), Stephen Fashoro (Media Relations Manager, Marketing & Communications), Dr. Eric Godat (Team Lead, Research & Data Science Services (OIT)), Sylvia Jones (Research Librarian for Spatial & Data Literacy, SMU Libraries), and Dr. Brandon Miller (Assistant Dean, University Honors Program & Fellowships).
Faculty and staff members from across campus also gathered to watch the students compete and discuss their research methods, findings, and next steps.
Winning presenters:
1st Place Winners – (L-R) Kendall Stieben, Jonathan Cox, Dr. John Buynak lab students2nd Place Winners – (L-R) Elliott Abel, Jacob Britt, David Brock (Data Science REU program)3rd Place Co-winners, (L-R) Ashley Pritchard, Katie Lark, Christine Jator (Data Science REU program)3rd Place Co-Winner – Kevin Nguyen, Dr. David Son lab student
The Summer Research Intensive program has reached its halfway point and has already been jam-packed with lots of opportunities for collaboration and networking. Undergraduate Research Assistants gather weekly to hone their skills in professional development workshops, learn from the experiences of faculty members (Summer Research Symposium), and engage with each other outside of research (“Real Talk” lunches).
Whether it be coding qualitative data or looking at viscosity studies in chemiluminescence, many of the summer researchers have been able to make strides in their research studies with their faculty mentor, along with building connections with other cohort members in the weekly SRI sessions.
“My favorite part of workshops have probably been the ability to meet other people doing research. The ability to share our unique experiences through the exercises and lessons we do has proven to be very fun and interesting,” says Connor McAlpin, undergraduate research assistant working with Dr. Chrystyna Kouros (Psychology).
In highlighting one of the professional development workshops thus far, SMU Librarian Director for Educational Initiatives Megan Heuer led a session and took a deep dive into literature reviews for research and for papers. She discussed the different components of a literature review and the resources available to students that will assist them in finding sources relevant to their research questions.
Brynn Price, senior undergraduate researcher at SMU, discussed how the workshop with Heuer “will prove especially helpful as{she}was asked to help with a systematic review in the coming months.” Brynn is working with Dr. Jeanna Wieselmann (Teaching & Learning) and Dr. Emma Wilson (English).
“The most impactful point of the discussion was how we should go about formulating a research question and what resources we should use to do so… It helped to streamline and visualize the step-by-step process for my research,” said Marc Pham, undergraduate research assistant working in the lab of Dr. Joe Camp (Electrical & Computer Engineering).
As the undergraduate researchers continue to move through the SRI, the hope is that they will gain a better understanding of what being a research assistant entails and expand their horizon on what research opportunities may be available for them upon their undergraduate career.
Students in the Summer Research Intensive will be presenting their work on a Three Minute Thesis-style competition on Thursday, July 27, at 2pm in the Hughes-Trigg Chamber. This is open to the public so all are welcome to attend and support these students!
The Office of Engaged Learning looks forward to a productive summer of research! Summer Research Intensive provides funding to chosen faculty to hire Undergraduate Research Assistants and provides these students with specialized training in research methods, oral and written presentation techniques, and other professional development skills.
This summer 30 undergraduate students will support the research of 19 faculty members in Dedman College, Dedman School of Law, Lyle School of Engineering, and Simmons School of Education and Human Development. Students are expected to research alongside faculty, participate in workshops and a present their work in a 3-Minute Thesis competition.
SRI workshop
Throughout the summer students have an opportunity to interact with faculty across disciplines through the Summer Symposium, a speaker series on research and innovation.
Symposium speakers include Candace Walkington (Associate Professor, Teaching & Learning), Mary Spector (Professor, Dedman School of Law), Anindita Das (Assistant Professor, Chemistry), Ernest Jouriles (Professor, Psychology), and Eli Olinick (Associate Professor, Operations Research & Engineering Management).
Previous students who’ve participated in SRI said, “This project has reaffirmed my desires to pursue an MD/PhD. . . [and] has helped me to become more confident in my love for research.”
This summer SMU will also host students from other universities as part of the National Science Foundation program “Research Experiences for Undergraduates” with programs in Data Science, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
I asked our students for their thoughts on the experience:
The NCUR experience
Shriya Siddhartha with her poster
Shriya Siddhartha ’26: Attending NCUR was a wonderful opportunity and the experience of a lifetime. It was such a pleasure to present the results of my research to a wider audience. I enjoyed connecting with student researchers from around the world and learning about the incredible work being conducted at their respective institutes.
Vivian Thai with her poster
Vivian Thai ’25: NCUR was an incredible opportunity to network with undergraduates and professors and I’m so glad I attended NCUR for my first poster presentation. My favorite aspect was connecting with other passionate students and observing the most talented presentations I have ever seen.
Regina Nguyen ’24: When my abstract was accepted to NCUR 2023, I knew I had been given the opportunity to present the project that made me passionate about research. Indeed, I was able to share my work in a low-pressure, supportive environment.
Jonathan Thomas with his poster
Jonathan Thomas ’25: NCUR was such an enriching experience for me as an undergraduate researcher. Not only did I get the chance to meet with exceptional researchers from a variety of disciplines from different parts of the globe, but I also got a glimpse into the future of my own field (Civil Engineering) through the groundbreaking work being presented.
Alexandra Savu introducing her film
Alexandra Savu ’23: What I loved the most about NCUR is the environment I got immersed in: being surrounded by ambitious people of my age in whose you can see a burning passion for the topics they are presenting and have researched on brought me more joy and thirst for life.
Making connections
Regina Nguyen and Odran Fitzgerald after their presentation
Odran Fitzgerald ’24: My favorite part about going out to NCUR was meeting different people from around the country that had similar interests as my specific research but approached similar problems from different angles. It was really nice also to see environmental research, and people who were passionate about environmental research in other areas than environmental science and environmental engineering such as social science and biology.
Sandhya Srinivasa with her poster
Sandhya Srinivasa ’23: One of my favorite aspects of NCUR is learning about other individuals’ unique research areas and being able to share mine with them. In particular, in the poster sessions, you can create that 1-to-1 connection with the presenter and learn not only about their topic but about them as well. NCUR is a great first conference to go to because it fosters a community where everyone listens out of curiosity and genuinely wants to uplift each other!
Alexandra: I loved meeting people who care about the details of their work, and who also cared about other people’s projects. I felt heard and important during my presentation as I felt that everyone in the room had a good reason to be there: to fully engage in the movie in front of them. And I am sure all other presenters felt the same.
Mace Cowart presenting an excerpt of his play LINO
Jonathan: One of my favorite projects was from a researcher from the American University in Cairo, who was looking into pavements that could generate electricity through the kinetic energy of people walking on it. Talking with her over how she got into research and her research methodology gave me insight into how other engineers performed research and gave me a chance to “nerd out” with someone who was also deeply interested in novel construction methods.
Regina: I didn’t expect that I would make so many fast friendships formed from mutual excitement for each other’s work regardless of discipline and how rich those would make my experience in Eau Claire. Undeniably. my NCUR connections have made me more excited for a research career and I couldn’t recommend it more.
Any advice for future NCUR presenters?
Vivian: For other undergraduates attending their first conference, I would give the advice to work hard and prepare accordingly, but don’t stress out too much about it. Everyone at the conference is there to learn more about your work and you’re going to have so much fun.
Alexandra: Some advice I would give to new presenters is to have a clear schedule of what presentations they want to attend and to let themselves speak freely during their big moment, without too much “mirror readings”.
Jonathan: My biggest piece of advice to researchers who are planning to go to a large conference like NCUR is that they should try and connect with as many people as possible. It’s such a rare occurrence to be in a room with so many of the brightest undergrads in the world, and it would be a shame to leave without really getting to know anyone. Your network is your net worth as they say, and that’s no different in research.
Previously we had the chance to ask the winners of this year’s poster session some questions about their participation, here is what they had to say:
1. Can you give us a layman’s terms explanation of your project?
Saifiyah:
Saifiyah Zaki ’24 (1st place)
“In this project, I investigated the relationship between chronic (trait) loneliness and momentary (state) loneliness in conjunction with other related variables such as social anxiety and depression. Findings support the “differential reactivity hypothesis” of loneliness, which states that chronically lonely individuals respond differently to the social information in their environment than non-lonely individuals. These findings have important implications for the how we conceptualize, study, and treat loneliness in the future.”
Tyler:
Tyler McCall ’23 (2nd place)
“Constrained choices, or justices for whom some political or non-legal factor limited the size of the selection pool they were drawn from, vote differently than “first picks.” I found that when presidents are constrained in their selection pool when nominating justices, those justices do indeed vote more moderately than when the choice is unconstrained.”
Joshua:
Joshua Ange ’25 (3rd place)
“Light from 14 billion years ago (called the “Cosmic Microwave Background”) gives us clues into what the early universe was like, but often, because of the massive objects in space (like galaxies and galaxy clusters), it becomes warped and distorted on its way to us. We used a “delensing” procedure to reverse the distortion on simulated data to see if we could make more precise inferences about the universe (especially for extensions of our current model of the universe). We found that we could improve the precision of inferences up to the range of 20%-30%, which will be key in deriving as much information as possible from future measurements!”
2. How long have you worked on this project?
Saifiyah:
“I have been working on this project for the entire school year.”
Tyler:
“I have been working on this project for about 9 months now. Last May, I received a research fellowship from the Tower Center to pursue this project. I spent first six or seven months reading through all the cases I used in my study to collect the raw data, and I am now in the “polishing and presenting” stage.”
Joshua:
“I’ve been working on this project since the beginning of the Fall semester through the Hamilton Scholarship.”
3. How did you prepare, design, and print your poster?
Saifiyah:
“Under the guidance of my faculty advisor and graduate student mentor, I developed a draft of short-form, easily digestible text, which I then tried to creatively fit into a “landscape” style design for the poster. I was able to print the poster through the psychology department here on campus.”
Tyler:
“I designed my poster using Canva. Being a business major as well as political science, I have had cause to design many slide decks and flyers throughout my time at SMU, and the many templates and design features available in Canva make creating a professional and visually aesthetic poster very easy. I had it printed through SMU’s copy central; they are absolutely amazing, and had my poster ready in only one day!”
Joshua:
“I worked on my poster mostly during the week before and the week of Spring Break. The design, itself, didn’t take too long (the information and graphs weren’t difficult to add), but I spent a long time figuring out the best way to explain my material. I know these aren’t everyday concepts people interact with, so it took some time to know what information to omit, how to simplify the information I do include, and how to make a clear throughline evident while still preserving the meaning of the research. It was absolutely a challenge, but I’m really happy with where it ended up!”
4. What was your favorite part about presenting your poster?
Saifiyah:
“Presenting my poster was a thrilling experience, and my favorite part was the opportunity to share my research and ideas with fellow researchers and scholars. As an undergraduate student, it was a unique chance to showcase my work to an audience and engage in stimulating discussions about my research with peers who have diverse perspectives and expertise. I was also incredibly grateful to receive recognition for my hard work and dedication, particularly as I stood among my highly talented peers from different disciplines being recognized for their incredible work as well.”
Tyler:
“The most rewarding part of presenting my poster was getting to share my excitement with other academics that were interested in my topic. I am incredibly passionate about political science, especially Supreme Court studies, and it’s not every day that I get to just share my knowledge with others who share a similar interest.”
Joshua:
“I really loved presenting to people in STEM fields other than physics. It meant they had no (or limited) background with the concepts I was dealing with, but still dealt with technical and analytical tools in their own work. It meant I had to explain concepts in a way that was both precise and accessible, and it meant they had incredibly insightful questions! It was really a joy to present to all the chemists, mathematicians, etc. that came by.”
5. Any tips for future presenters?
Saifiyah:
“To future presenters, my advice would be to start early and give yourself enough time to prepare your poster and practice your presentation. It is essential to communicate your research in a clear and concise manner, so it helps to practice explaining your work to others outside of your discipline. I would also recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to engage with peers both in and outside of the field of your research, as their feedback can help you improve your delivery and anticipate potential questions.”
Tyler:
“Get started early and attend the workshops! I had never designed a research poster before this experience, and I felt incredibly lost when I began working on my poster. The workshops that Dr. Neal offered gave me very strong guidance and helped me focus my ideas into the final product. Once I learned that creativity counted with these sorts of posters and not just raw data, my process was completely different than it would have been had I not sought help.”
Joshua:
“I think practicing your presentation is the most important part. Even if you understand your research, it’s a completely different game to try and explain what you’re doing to people who are in completely different fields. Try figuring out how to explain your work at different levels, so you’re ready for anyone who comes by!”
Research & Innovation Week, a collaboration between the Moody School and the Office of Engaged Learning, returns March 20-25. This is the week right after Spring Break!
Sign-up reminder
sign-ups for the Undergraduate Poster Session are due on Friday, March 10. Please encourage your students to sign up!
Workshop reminder
OEL is hosting a drop-in workshop to work on poster designs and practice elevator pitches. Scholars’ Den, 3-5pm on Wed & Thurs March 8 & 9.
As this year’s poster session quickly approaches, we decided that it would be a great idea to reach out to last year’s poster session winnersFaith Fang and Melanie Wright! For those who don’t know, the Research and Innovation Week Undergraduate Poster Session is an event where research from various departments are displayed on posters created by students.Now seniors, Faith and Melanie were able to give us a student’s perspective on the event.
Dark Matter Detection:
Faith Fang ’23
Studying Mechanical Engineering and Violin, Faith Fang was the first-place winner of the poster session last year! As a Grand Challenge Scholar, she has been conducting research with the SuperCDMS Lab under Dr. Jodi Cooley and Dr. Robert Calkins of the Physics department for two years and was excited to share her research. Her research focuses on reducing the amount of radon that sticks to dark matter detectors. Radon interferes with the precision of detecting dark matter particles, due to their identical emittance of energy. Leading up to the presentation, Faith identified three main steps. Step One was working with her research team to collect suitable data from the experiment. Step Two involved making the poster, which took a lot of work considering the amount of information that needed to be summarized and how the results applied to the overall experiment. Finally, Step Three involved the finishing touches which included ensuring presentability and approachability. Faith wanted to “make it as accessible as I could because I knew that there were people of all different fields [attending].” One important thing that Faith addressed is making sure you have an in-depth understanding of what you are presenting in order to answer questions with accurate information.
Faith’s Tips:
Have your research professor or mentor test your presentation readiness by having them ask you challenging questions.
Make sure your poster is visually pleasing and easy to follow. That way, even if you’re not present at the poster stand, attendees can still read and understand it.
Be honest when you’re not entirely sure about how to most accurately answer a question.
New Mexican Archeology:
Melanie Wright ’23
Studying Anthropology with an emphasis on Archeology, Melanie Wright placed second in the poster session! Her research from last year focused on a pottery assemblage from New Mexico. Melanie decided to participate in the poster session because she felt it would be a great opportunity to frequently communicate her research. The overall new experience of making a poster as well as seeing what other students were researching across campus also sold her. She started preparing for the session one month in advance and recalled having to overcome logistical hurdles due to her relatively “out of the box” poster design. On the day of the event Melanie “started off pretty nervous, especially when the judges came around,” but everything worked out! People were very receptive to Melanie’s poster, which she attributes to the included visuals. She would describe the environment of the event as positively engaged amongst both the students presenting and attendees.
Melanie’s Tips:
Wear comfortable shoes as you could find yourself standing for a couple of hours.
Add attractive visuals to your poster, for example adding a colorful and creative picture.
Have a 1-minute, 3-minute, and 5-minute version of your presentation so you can interchange between them to “gauge people’s interest when they are coming up to you,” determining which version communicates most effectively.
If you are interested in participating and potentially winning this year’s poster session, registration closes on March 10th! Prizes will be awarded to the top three posters overall, as well as recognition for the best poster in each department. The event will be held in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom on March 21st from 2-5pm.
Joshua Ange, Class Of ’25, is a 2022-23 Summer Research Fellow.
Tell me about yourself!
Sure! My name is Joshua Ange, I’m a Sophomore (Class of 2025) studying Physics and English with minors in mathematics and computer science. In regards to fun facts, I was born in New York, really enjoy theatre (I did it a lot in high school, but haven’t been able to do much since), and like rock climbing.
What did you do during your summer research? Who did you work with and overall, how was it?
During my summer research, I worked with Dr. Robert Calkins. I was continuing research I began in the Spring semester in Professor Jodi Cooley’s lab as part of the SuperCDMS SNOLAB collaboration, which mainly deals with dark matter detectors.
Dark matter detectors are placed deep underground to be isolated from background and other noise. But underground, there is radon present in the air that can cause “plate-out,” essentially meaning it decays into lead and accumulates on nearby surfaces, which leads to the production of alpha particles. And these alpha particles can act a bit like “false positives” for dark matter detectors. So my research concerned the readings of these alpha particles.
Essentially, an SMU grad student went down and measured pieces of polyethylene plastic (which are used as shielding within the detectors) and found that the rate of accumulation of lead wildly varied between pieces, even if they were in the same location. It was hypothesized that this may be due to the charge embedded within the plastic, so that was the phenomenon we were attempting to find and quantify. Overall, we found some pretty solid relationships and were able to (somewhat) simulate the effects, but there’s still more analysis needed in order to fully be able to correct for the embedded charge.
What was your favorite part during your research? What was the most memorable part for you?
I think one of my favorite parts of the research was just that it was a collaborative, real process. Unlike in class, where you’re learning from the professor trying to find the right (pre-determined) answer, I really loved the collaborative and “working-together” problem-solving aspect of the work we were doing. As we came towards the end of the research and began assembling a paper and presentations, it was very nice to be able to show results and findings that were “ours,” if that makes sense. And then a highlight, as well, was being able to present at the Fall 2022 Texas Section American Physical Society conference. I loved meeting other students and being able to share the work I was doing with people outside of SMU!
What would you say to anyone wanting to start getting involved with research? How would you advise them to go about it?
Honestly, the biggest thing I would say is to just go for it! I think a lot of the time, people are a bit afraid of starting research because they don’t know where to start / how to begin, but I don’t think that gets resolved until you actually start. For me, I just got involved by emailing my professor, learning about the project, and getting started from there. It was of course a bit scary to enter a new environment like this, but also so exciting to be in the research world!
Joshua was lead author on the article “Characterization of XIA UltraLo-1800 response to measuring charged samples,” which was recently published in Journal of Instrumentation 18 P01027. Congrats to Joshua, Dr. Robert Calkins, and Andrew Posada ’17!
