Researchers


Meet Some of the Amazing Students Working VIP Projects.


Mandee Edmonds

"As a history student, I was interested in learning how to collect stories and information for research and prosperity."

Home Town: Crescent City, California

Major: History

Inspiration: This project is a fantastic way to experience a span of techniques - such as media collection, interviewing, social media, and blogging.

VIP Topic: Campus Oral History Collection

Big Idea: The impact of individual stories is crucial, as sometimes it just takes that one perspective to either redirect or boost a research theory and practice.

Poster Number: #15

Home Town: Boise, Idaho

Area of Study: Robotics

VIP Class: Autonomous Robotic Systems

Inspiration: The main benefit of being part of a VIP team is the experience and connections that I would not get in other programs.

VIP Project: Design a Standalone Autonomous Rover

Big Idea: Building a robot that can navigate remote spaces using GPS - without the help of a person using a controller.

Poster Number: #21

Oliver MacDonald

"This VIP is really good at giving people cross- disciplinary experience in engineering."

Kayla Feeser

"It is so rewarding to see the impact you can have on students in the PEERS Program - to watch them grow and learn over the course of the year."

Home Town: Las Vegas, Nevada

Major: Social Work, minor in Psych

VIP Class: ASSIST Lab

Inspiration: Being part of a VIP team is creating connections with people and students I would never have had a chance to work with.

VIP Project: Peer Mentor Effect on Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Big Idea: Changing how Universities look at individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Poster Number: #7

Home Town: Davis, California

Major: Interdisciplinary Studies (Electrical Engineering Minor, Japanese Studies Minor, Sport Information and Culture Certificate)

VIP Class: Autonomous Robotic Systems

Inspiration: I have been looking towards grad school since the end of the summer 2021 and robotics sounded like something I wanted to pursue.

VIP Project: Design a Standalone Autonomous Rover

Big Idea: Robotics gives people a stepping stone to get to the groundbreaking stuff, in turn making an impact on the world with new tech.

Poster Number: #21

Miles Herget

"There is a ton to learn through these projects - especially stuff outside my electrical engineering minor."

Taylor Koch

"It's amazing to see that with plasma you can do so many different projects like inactivate biofilms, test reactive oxygen species, inactive viruses, and more."

Home Town: Puyallup, Washington

Major: Chemistry

VIP Class: Plasma

Inspiration: I love that we all work on various parts of this project, using the same equipment.

VIP Project: A Cold Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Planar Array Device for Inactivation of Foodborne Pathogens

Big Idea: Using plasma to kill bacteria and viruses on surfaces and in wounds.

Poster Number: #19

Home Town: Steilacoom, Washington

Major: Mechanical Engineering

VIP Class: NASA Microgravity University

Inspiration: While the Microgravity Team is engineering based, it provides students with the ability to inspire others to pursue STEM, work in groups, and create valuable connections.

VIP Project: NASA's Future Space Anchor

Big Idea: Work with NASA to develop tools for future missions, currently work on the Conformable Lunar Anchor Wrangler (CLAW).

Poster Number: #13

Soren Witter

"We inspire the community to be more active in STEM and help NASA move forward with their missions."

Join us at the 2021 VIP Showcase and meet up with these amazing student researchers.