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.