Project Roster 2012

Sessions 1 & 2: June 26 - July 26

Explorations of Symmetry

Proj. Leader: James Arnemann (Physics)

What makes something beautiful or pleasing to the eye? What kind of structure does nature exploit? Why is the universe the way it is? The answer to those questions has to do with symmetry. We will explore the concept of symmetry by investigating examples in art, nature, and biology, and by developing analytical tools to quantify those discoveries.

Networks and the Brain

Proj. Leader: Katelyn Begany (Neuroscience)

Have you ever wondered how Google Search determines its results or how Facebook determines which friends to recommend? We will start off exploring the mathematics of graphs and networks, and then use these same tools to begin to tackle an even bigger mystery: How the brain works. We will cover some brain basics, encounter real research tools in a magnetic resonance imaging operating room, and learn about networks in the brain.

Session 1: June 26 - July 10

Bio-inspired Design for Drag Reduction

Proj. Leader: Margaret Byron (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Students will learn basic principles of drag, using a variety of tools to study drag reduction in the engineered and natural world. Using state-of-the-art equipment, we will study drag on many 3D shapes, both biological and artificial, and draw conclusions about drag reduction from our findings. At the end of the course, students will design a hypothetical underwater vehicle that minimizes drag.

How do we figure out where a sound is coming from?

Proj. Leader: Nicole Carlson (Physics)

This project will be a brief overview of how humans locate sounds. The first day will focus on sound and the auditory system. The subsequent sessions will be on the three different dimensions: horizontal, vertical, and distance from the listener. The horizontal lesson will be on the Rayleigh formula for Interaural Time Differences and Interaural Level Differences. The vertical lesson will focus on why we have ears and why they are shaped as they are. The third will focus on a few different factors that allow us to discern distance. This project will have some aspects of neuroscience and physics. If there is time, we can also look at some cool auditory illusions and other auditory systems (owls, dogs, etc).

Basics in Bridge Engineering

Proj. Leaders: Matthew Cummins and Rotana Hay (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

“The Great Volcano has just erupted and a small town is in direct danger. The townspeople have to escape from the danger zone for safety. They board the town bus and take off. Unfortunately, it has to pass over a very hot lava river (15 in. wide). They need to cross a concrete bridge that you designed (size 2 in x 2.5 in x 15 in). The life of the townspeople is in your hands. How should you have designed the concrete bridge? The townspeople are very small but altogether they weigh 300 lbs.”

The main objective of the project is to expose students to different structural forms of concrete bridges, basics for design and construction.

Floating Objects

Proj. Leaders: Jakub Kominiarczuk (Mathematics) and Hector Mendoza (Mechanical Engineering)

We know that objects lighter than water float, that is they remain at the surface. The problem of whether an object will float instead of sinking was solved already by Archimedes of Ancient Greece: a body will float if its average density is lower than that of water.

We will be interested in a different problem. Assume an object floats in water; what position will it assume? Is this position stable, i.e. will it change if you gently touch the object? This is a simple, but important question when designing ships, ensuring they automatically return to their normal position after being hit by a wave.

During the project we will consider the case of a square floating in water and test what position it assumes: will it have its sides parallel to the water surface or maybe at a 45 degree angle? The project will involve both theoretical considerations and an experiment, where we will attempt to test predictions of our theory.

Radioactivity: What is it? How do we measure it? How useful is it?

Proj. Leaders: Julie Rolla (Physics) and Nicholas Kellaris (Physics)

Students will learn about the different types of radioactivity and how we can measure radiation. An overview will be given on how useful (but also dangerous) radiation can be, from medical applications to the characterization of dark matter detectors. Students will attempt to build their own cloud chamber to observe tracks from particles emitted by radioactive sources and investigate their properties.

Session 2: July 10 - July 26

Reconstructing the Evolutionary Relationships of Beetles

Proj. Leader: Traci Grzymala (Environmental Science)

This project will focus on the steps that systematists use to understand the diversity of life on the planet and the evolutionary relationships of that diversity. Students will learn basic principles of phylogenetics and how molecular biologists use DNA data to reconstruct phylogenies. Students will see a demonstration of real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and perform steps to this process themselves. Students will also be introduced to the online molecular database, GenBank. This molecular data will then be used to make an evolutionary tree of the relationships for some chosen beetle groups.

Sustainable Design of Solar Cook Stoves for Developing Countries

Proj. Leader: Nancy Diaz (Mechanical Engineering) and Romina Rodriguez (Mechanical Engineering)

Students will design a solar cook stove to meet the needs of a community in a developing country where resources are scarce, but the need for an efficient means of cooking is needed. Students will learn how to use MATLAB for computation and obtain an introduction to Computer Aided Design (CAD).

Floating Objects

Proj. Leaders: Jakub Kominiarczuk (Mathematics) and Hector Mendoza (Mechanical Engineering)

We know that objects lighter than water float, that is they remain at the surface. The problem of whether an object will float instead of sinking was solved already by Archimedes of Ancient Greece: a body will float if its average density is lower than that of water.

We will be interested in a different problem. Assume an object floats in water; what position will it assume? Is this position stable, i.e. will it change if you gently touch the object? This is a simple, but important question when designing ships, ensuring they automatically return to their normal position after being hit by a wave.

During the project we will consider the case of a square floating in water and test what position it assumes: will it have its sides parallel to the water surface or maybe at a 45 degree angle? The project will involve both theoretical considerations and an experiment, where we will attempt to test predictions of our theory.