Research

The Kakos School of Arts and Sciences offers you several opportunities to gain real-world experience through a research project.

Students are strongly encouraged to participate in one or more research projects during their degree studies. Research enables students to gain a deeper appreciation for the discipline, clarify career goals, and establish relationships with faculty members. The experience builds both hard and soft skills that are easily transferable in graduate school and the job market, and give you extra insight into a field or topic you are passionate about.

As part of their overall participation in research projects, in collaboration with their professors, the students write scientific reports and papers for publication in scientific peer reviewed journals and present their work at local, regional, national and international conferences.

Student Publications

Most recently, our students have been authors on the following publications (student authors are bolded, faculty authors are italicized):

Aizenberg, I., Herman, J., & Vasko, A. (2022). A convolutional neural network with multi-valued neurons: A modified learning algorithm and analysis of Performance. 2022 IEEE 13th Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics & Mobile Communication Conference (UEMCON). https://doi.org/10.1109/uemcon54665.2022.9965659

Ashley, A., Thrope, B., Choudhury, M.R., & Pinto, A.H. (2022). Emerging investigator series: Photocatalytic membrane reactors: Fundamentals and advances in preparation and application in wastewater treatment. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 8(1), 22–46. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ew00513h

Bohling, M. E., & Udeigwe, L.C. (2022). The spiking neuron model. Foundations for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics, 127–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08564-2_5

Cirincione. A., Verrier, R., Bic, A., Olaiya, S., DiCarlo, J., Udeigwe, L., & Marques, T. (2022). Implementing divisive normalization in CNNs improves robustness to common image Corruptions. Proceedings of SVRHM 2022 Workshop @ NeurIPS. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=KAAbo44qhJV

Fan, J., Gilmartin, K., Octaviano, S., Villar, F., Remache, B., & Regan, J. (2022). Using human serum albumin binding affinities as a proactive strategy to affect the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of preclinical drug candidates. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 5(9), 803–810. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.2c00115

Fisher, R. & Wilkins B.J. (2022). In vivo crosslinking and mass spectral analysis of the yeast nucleosomal protein interactome. The FASEB Journal, 36(S1). https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.s1.r3748

Gilmartin, P., & Horn, B. (2021). Observable relics of the simple harmonic universe. Annals of Physics, 434, 168626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2021.168626

Kemp, T. M., Kawakita, T. A., Mehta, R., & Pineda, A.R., (2023). Optimizing data acquisition in under sampled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using two alternative forced choice (2-AFC) and search tasks. Medical Imaging 2023: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment. In press.

O'Neill, A.G., Lingala, S. G., & Pineda, A.R. (2022). Predicting human detection performance in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with total variation and wavelet sparsity regularizers. Medical Imaging 2022: Image Perception, Observer Performance, and Technology Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2608986

Ong, M.D., Vasquez, I., Alvarez, B., Cho, D.R., Williams, M.B., Vincent, D.V., Ali, M.A., Aich, N., Pinto, A.H., & Choudhury, M.R. (2023). Modification of cellulose acetate microfiltration membranes using graphene oxide–Polyethyleneimine for enhanced dye rejection. Membranes, 13(2), 143. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13020143

Pepaj, F., & Wacker, S. (2022). The role of a regulatory protein in the differing biofilms of wild isolates. The FASEB Journal, 36(S1). https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.s1.l7772

Shockey, B.J., White, E., Anaya, F., & McGrath, A. (2023). A new proterotheriid (mammalia, Litopterna) from the Salla Beds of Bolivia (upper oligocene): Phylogeny and Litoptern patellar pit knee locks. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2022.2162409

Thrope, B., Ferreira Lima, A. R., & Pinto, A.H. (2022). From the periodic properties of metals to the Rietveld refinement of the pharmaceutical molecule naproxen: Three remote experiments about X-ray diffraction. Journal of Chemical Education, 99(5), 2055–2066. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00831 

Available Programs

Hands-on research opportunities, funded support, and a stage to share your work.

The Kakos School of Arts and Sciences connects students with summer research stipends, named endowment scholarships, and conferences across the country. Each program is designed to deepen your expertise and build the professional experience that sets you apart.

Summer Research Programs

These programs are offered each summer and provide a stipend and campus housing. You must apply and be accepted into each of these programs.

  • Jasper Summer Research Scholars: a program, through the provost’s office, that funds three Science research or creative projects each summer.
  • Kakos School of Science Summer Research Program: Outstanding Kakos School of Science students are given the opportunity to do hands-on research with a faculty member.
  • Endowments and external grants: Additional support is available through endowments (see below) and external grants received by the Kakos School of Science faculty. These provide support for student-faculty mentored research through the Kakos School of Science Summer Research Program and for student research with faculty during the academic year.

Named & Endowed Research Programs

Catherine and Robert Fenton Endowment Scholars: An exclusive opportunity for students majoring in biology, the Fenton Scholars program supports basic research projects by students working with the Fenton Endowed Faculty Scholars, Dr. Michael Judge, Dr. Antoine Nicolas and Dr. Bryan Wilkins.

Linda and Dennis Fenton ’73 Endowment Scholars: An exclusive opportunity for students majoring in biology, the Fenton Research Scholars program supports basic research projects by students working with faculty on research projects in biology.

Michael ’58 and Aimee Rushinko Kakos Endowment Scholars: An opportunity for science majors, the Kakos Scholars program supports basic research projects by students working with the Kakos Endowed Faculty Scholars, Dr. Rostislav Konoplich and Dr. Sarah Wacker.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Undergraduate Scholars: An opportunity for science majors, the Dreyfus award supports chemistry research projects and provides stipends to students working with Professor Richard Kirchner and other chemistry faculty.

Dr. C. Lowell and JoEllen Parsons ’66 Endowed Chair Scholars: An exclusive opportunity for students majoring in biology, the C. Lowell Parsons Scholars program supports basic research projects by students working with the C. Lowell Parsons Endowed Chair.

Conferences

As a science student, you will have the opportunity to attend and present your research work at a variety of regional, national and international conferences. Many students co-author peer-reviewed papers and present them alongside faculty. This sort of experience leads to regional and national recognition and serves as valuable professional preparation and networking opportunities.

Our students are typically involved in the following regional conferences:

  • New York American Chemical Society Research Symposium: The New York American Chemical Society Undergraduate Research Symposium is an annual pre-professional meeting where chemistry/biochemistry students can present their undergraduate research results.A one-day conference hosted by Manhattan University that features presentations by undergraduate students and faculty in mathematics and related disciplines.
  • Eastern University Science Conference (ECSC): ECSC is an association of primarily undergraduate universities and universities that provides a forum for undergraduate students in science and engineering to present their research.

Our students have also presented their work at the following national/international conferences: