Mentors: Carrie Hoffman

Partner: AeroEducate

Location: Southern Wake Campus (2-3:30 p.m. Mondays)

Requirement: Completed or enrolled in DFT-170

Description: Students use their SolidWorks skills to model, slice and 3D print parts for practical applications. Applications may include models for aerospace elementary education, manipulatives for math education applications, large chess pieces and other needs.

Mentors: Wendy Johnson and Jacqui Haddow-Green

Partner: North Carolina Department of Transportation

Location: Virtual and Offsite (NCDOT visits 3-5 p.m. Mondays)

Requirements: Completed MAT-171

Description: The North Carolina Department of Transportation maintains the second-largest roadway system in the country, and the agency has many engineering units that work together. The Photogrammetry unit uses various technologies to get 3D data, and the Locations and Survey Unit acquires specific locations needed to begin a road design project. Then, the Roadway Design unit utilizes data to create the road layout, which also brings in the Hydraulics Unit to add to the design to disperse stormwater runoff and keep the road clear for safe travel.

Students partner with these four units to help in the design of a roadway project.

Mentors: Dr. Thusheeta Sivayogan and Dr. Jason Howard

Partner: Appalachian State University (Dr. Adam McKay)

Location: Virtual

Requirement: Completed PHY-151 or PHY-251

Description: Comets are "fossils" left over from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. This makes them valuable time capsules that can be used to study the solar system's earliest stages. Comets are rich in icy material, making them important for understanding the origin of icy material in the solar system and the delivery of key ices such as water to the early Earth.

The projects available involve analysis of narrow-band optical imaging of comets, used to determine their level of activity and composition. This research will give students experience in basic astronomical data reduction and photometry (measuring the amount of light we observe from astronomical objects), the starting point for any student interested in observational astronomy. Students should have a background in physics and an interest in astronomy.

Mentor: Melinda Gibbs

Location: Southern Wake Campus

Description: Students explore the aquatic environments on Southern Campus, including the stream, retention ponds and the forested riparian buffer. Projects can explore biodiversity, plants and pollinators, invasive species, water quality, stormwater management, soil erosion or human impacts like road construction and pollution. Students also will contribute to citizen/community science beyond this project and participate in a stream clean-up event in the spring.

Mentor: Dr. Greg Johnson

Location: Scott Northern Wake Campus

Description: Students search for potential antibiotics by screening organisms that live in the soil. The soil is a very competitive environment for bacteria, and some develop the ability to produce substances that impede the growth of other bacteria. Included in the scope of this project, students search for these antibacterial-producing soil organisms and identify their species and even isolate the compound they make.

From the Small World Initiative website: "(A)ddress a worldwide health threat – the diminishing supply of effective antibiotics – by tapping into the collective power of many student researchers concurrently tackling the same challenge, living up to its motto 'crowdsourcing antibiotic discovery.'"

Mentor: Kumudu Peiris

Partner: North Carolina State University

Location: Scott Northern Wake Campus and N.C. State

Requirement: Completed CHM-151 or above

Description: Photovoltaic devices use light-absorbing materials to generate electrical currents. The use of organic materials for this purpose often has the advantage of involving low-cost and environmentally friendly materials and processes. Many such photovoltaic materials can even be isolated from simple sources, such as common foods. For example, raspberry juice can be used to construct a dye-sensitized solar cell by combining it with titanium dioxide nanoparticle films, and photovoltaic effects can be readily observed using red bean extracts and light absorbers isolated from spinach.

Students are trained in photovoltaic device creation and characterization using the well-established raspberry juice procedure and then build devices out of extracts from other food products, including spinach extracts.

Mentor: Dr. Kumudu Peiris

Location: Scott Northern Wake Campus

Requirement: Completed CHM-151

Description: Antioxidants play a crucial role in preventing oxidative stress-related disorders by neutralizing free radicals within the human body. This study aims to assess the antioxidant potential of herbal drink substituents using the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) method. The herbal drink substituents include a combination of traditional medicinal herbs known for their potential health benefits.

The FRAP assay is based on the ability of antioxidants to reduce ferric ions (Fe3+) to ferrous ions (Fe2+), forming a colored complex. The intensity of the color formed is directly proportional to the antioxidant capacity of the sample. In this study, a series of herbal drink substituents are prepared, and their antioxidant activity is evaluated by measuring the FRAP values.

The experimental results reveal varying degrees of antioxidant activity among the herbal drink substituents. High FRAP values are indicative of potent antioxidant capacity. Statistical analysis assesses the significance of differences between the antioxidant activities of various herbal combinations.

Students identify and quantify specific antioxidant compounds present in the herbal drink substituents using complementary analytical techniques, such as chromatography or spectrophotometry. This information further elucidates the contribution of individual components to the overall antioxidant potential of herbal drinks.

The findings from this study contribute valuable insights into the antioxidant capabilities of herbal drink substituents, emphasizing their potential as natural sources of antioxidants for promoting human health. The results may have implications for the formulation of functional beverages with enhanced antioxidant properties.

Additionally, the FRAP method employed in this study provides a reliable and convenient tool for assessing antioxidant activity, allowing for comparative analyses across various herbal blends and facilitating future research in the field of natural antioxidants.

Mentor: Dr. Jason Howard

Partner: North Carolina State University

Location: Scott Northern Wake Campus and N.C. State

Requirement: Completed CHM-151 or above

Description: The application of new organic electronic materials in state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices, like light emitting diode displays or solar cells, relies on detailed quantification of the response of these materials to light absorption. This can be complicated by the vibrational motion of individual molecules and also by the response of molecular aggregates in solid-state environments. It is important to tease out these different contributions by complementary studies of isolated molecules in dilute solutions and of molecules in device-relevant solids, such as thin films or bulk crystals.

Students survey the single-molecule optical absorption properties of advanced organic semiconductors, such as nonfullerene acceptors and other important chromophores, primarily in solution, to determine single-molecule electronic and vibrational coupling effects. They complement these experiments in select cases by comparison with solution-deposited thin films and/or crystals and contribute to the research group's growing database of detailed electronic structure information.

Mentor: Jessica Kelley

Partner: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Location: Southern Wake Campus (2-3 p.m. Mondays)

Requirement: Preference given to applicants who have completed or are currently enrolled in GEL-111

Description: This project seeks students interested in geology and Earth science, as well as STEM communication and outreach to the general public. They receive training and serve as outreach volunteers at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for a portion of the project hours.

Mentors: Sara Rutzky

Partner: North Carolina State University

Location: Scott Northern Wake Campus and N.C. State

Requirement: Completed GEL-111 or BIO-111

Description: Students collaborate with N.C. State on research on marine plankton or marine sediments.

Mentor: Gretchen Miller

Outside partner: North Carolina State University

Location: N.C. State and virtual

Requirement: GEL-111

Description: Students undertake a structural and textural analysis using thin sections from metamorphic rocks collected from shear zones in the North Carolina Piedmont province. These shear zones are often associated with economic deposits of critical minerals like lithium, and a major goal of the project is to determine the mineralogy of the rocks and preferred orientation of minerals using a high-powered microscope at N.C. State (a scanning electron microscope with electron backscatter diffraction).

Mentor: TBD

Outside partner: Nourish International

Location: Virtual

Description: The project will anchor on two of Nourish's impact areas – food security and sustainable practices. The goal is to support community organizations working to alleviate hunger and promote sustainability in systems, the environment and the community. Interns work closely with Nourish staff and have opportunities to engage with Nourish student leaders at affiliate chapters and the Nourish Board of Directors. The interns will gain valuable experience researching and identifying community organizations in Wake, Durham and Orange counties for Nourish collaborations.

Mentor: TBD

Outside partner: UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care

Location: Virtual

Description: Promoting Advocacy and Research Awareness for Diversity in Genomic Medicine (PARADIGM) is one of the initiatives in the UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Health Care. The initiative focuses on the following:

• Advocacy efforts among members of underrepresented communities to increase understanding about and uptake of genomic sequencing in health care
• Raising awareness about careers in genomic medicine
• Conducting research that identifies and addresses disparities in genomic medicine

Student interns work with the UNC team to focus on efforts to raise awareness about careers in genomic medicine. Data from student engagement events before or during the internship period is analyzed to assess the participants' perspectives and gauge their level of interest in pursuing careers in genomics. Outcomes include suggested strategies to improve response by students' willingness to take next steps toward their career goal.