URSP Student Houda Kerkoub Researches Big Data Analysis of Irregular Operations

The research I am working on interests me on various levels. It starts by aligning with my personal vision. I want to work in aviation safety because I hope to bring a positive addition to the existing efforts done by the aviation community. On the other hand, prior to joining the research center at  Mason, I had three years of work experience as a flight instructor and this project offers me the rare opportunity to use my knowledge in aviation. As well, during my professional experience I had the chance to work with engineers. I was very impressed by their clarity of thinking and their ability to simplify complex materials using quantitative methods. I feel that this research is allowing me to do what those engineers were doing.

On a weekly basis, I either look at the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports to translate qualitative data - described by pilot, engineers, flight attendant, or air traffic controllers - into quantitative data that identifies the different causes of aborted approaches. Or I analyze an aviation related iPad app produced by Honeywell. This app has a good potential to be used by pilots as an additional tool for flight planning or for heightened situation awareness. My job is to simulate scenarios and analyze the app. I am doing so using an analysis tool developed by my mentor called Task Specification Language (TSL) where I decompose each operator action into a 6 functions (ID Task, Select Function, Access, Enter, and Verify/Execute) then I identify the cues presented to the operator at each function. At a later stage the gathered cues will be accessed depending on their degree of salience.

The one thing that I discovered this week is the availability of very interesting databases through the Mason Library. One that stood up is called the Transportation Information Database (TRID) and I intend to use it for my research.

URSP Student Emily Walker Researches Possible Factors Influencing Students with Artificial Learning Task

            Upon coming to Mason, I knew I wanted to get involved in linguistics, and specifically, research. I have always found human language to be a fascinating subject, especially the capabilities we are born with versus what we acquire. After trying to get involved in linguistics at Mason, I was able to meet with a professor.

            Finally, I was put into contact with Dr. Culbertson. I became interested in the project after meeting Dr. Culbertson of the Linguistics Program at Mason. I was fortunate to be able to work with Dr. Culbertson this past spring as an assistant in the linguistics lab. After helping her with the second language acquisition experiment, we found interesting results. This became the branching point for our next experiment. We wanted to know why students here at Mason could not learn the artificial language task. From there, we narrowed our question down to motivation, anxiety, and training time factors as possible contributors.

            For my project, I run participants on the computer task on a weekly basis. Most of the work involves organization with participants and recording data properly. I hope learning about factors in second language acquisition can further my connections with teaching and examining learning styles of children. My long term goal is to continue working in the field of linguistics and create connections that benefit education in the classroom.

            A recent discovery with the project has been through the participants. I have noticed that participants are eager to learn the language task and want to know what the language program involved. I am happy to explain the project and here the thoughts of the participants. Knowing that these findings about language acquisition can benefit them and other students allows me to pursue my interest with language research.

URSP Student Chris Ummen Conducts PEBL Cognative Flexablity Testing Across Mediums

I’ve been interested in Psychology since high school, and I became interested in this project thanks to Dr. Youmans. In order to gain more research experience, I became one of Dr. Youman’s research assistants. In one of his weekly lab meetings, he suggested that it would be a good idea for the undergraduates in the group to begin their own research. I took his suggestion, and was explored current research in his lab until I found a topic that interested me.

My study uses data, from a larger in lab study, in an attempt to validate and examine differences between a computerized and paper-based assessment of cognitive flexibility. On a weekly basis, I improve my open source R-Studio statistical software skills, think of ways of improving my experiment, and read papers relating to cognitive flexibility. This week I discovered a better way of analyzing my data to produce results that are more meaningful than my original correlation, and data collection for the second part of my study will begin within the next two weeks.

This project has helped me synthesize massive amounts of information, and in doing so has helped me crystallize my assertions. My long term goals include getting a job involving heuristic evaluations of products, and being able to compile research will make my future job much easier.

URSP Student Hyun Sung Deepens HIV Cell Biology Understanding through Interactive Games

I got interested in the HIV game development project as I met my mentor Dr. Schwebach in my cell biology class. I have always been interested in the human immunodeficiency virus since I have worked as a technician in a virology lab and as a member of the LGBT community and know the devastating damages of this virus. My mentor expressed his interest in STEM education and we thought it would be a great idea to develop a video game that teaches the cell biology of HIV, which is only a little covered in the cell biology curriculum. We found a team of computer scientists who were willing to take on this task with us!

            My long term career goal is to become a scientific researcher or educator. I probably will not work directly with infectious diseases but the lessons and skills I picked up as a laboratory technician will tremendously help me in graduate school. My field is neuroscience and it is a very interdisciplinary field where philosophy, psychology, biology, chemistry, computer science, and many other areas merge. Collaborating with a team of computer scientist will teach me how to communicate with other experts who are not in my field. In the process, I am also learning about game design and programming languages, which will be a great asset to my future career as a scientist. 

            My weeks contain many meetings with different people involved in the project and reading primary articles. Besides meeting with my mentor weekly, we also have frequent meetings with the computer science team to discuss what’s possible and feasible in terms of the game. In order to produce an accurate game, we also plan on meeting with HIV experts and educators from GMU. I also meet with my computer science partner Ed to exchange ideas and work on the project together. I also spend some time searching for open sources videos and images we can use to incorporate into the game, while reviewing primary research articles to provide the most up-to-date, accurate scientific information available on HIV.

            The past couple weeks were a little hard because we realized setbacks and hurdles in the development of the project. What we want in our heads versus what is really feasible for us to create within the given time seemed a little discouraging to me and Ed but thankfully with the encouragements from our mentors, the project is going strong!

URSP Student Alex Sessums Researches Plant Functional Diversity and Wetland Ecosystem Health

My introduction to this project was in a course at GMU a year ago, Ecological Sustainability taught by my current mentor Dr. Changwoo Ahn in the EVPP department.  I learned many of the concepts underlying wetland ecology studies.  I helped establish a 40-mesocosm plant diversity experiment, which has grown into what I am looking at in my project, the resulting plant biomass after two seasons of growth of four different plant species.

What drives me towards this project is my interest in natural environment conservation and sustainability.  Taking an ecosystem approach considers interactions and balances between living and nonliving things. The goal of wetland sustainability is solving the problem of how best to sustain ecosystem functioning in the long term.  Numerous are the services provided by wetland ecosystems, clean watersheds, storm buffering, reducing soil erosion, and providing vegetation and animal habitat to name a few.  These areas are threatened by development.  Fortunately, policy decrees wetland creation to make up for wetland losses to development.  But are created wetlands as functional as those lost?

This is where I come in, researching wetland functioning in newly created wetlands, building data through research, informing policy decisions, and promoting sustainability.  Those are what I see as, my long term career goals in ecology.  The things I learn now will provide an enriched back ground for graduate education in this field.

Research has shown carbon deposits develop in created wetlands in deep open water areas and in perimeter areas of vegetation.  Does a diverse planting of species store more carbon than a less diverse planting of species?  I participate in the laboratory procedures used to measure the carbon accumulated in the soil, in the roots of the plants, and in the above ground biomass of the plants.  It has involved many hours of work done cooperatively with the students in the Wetland Ecosystem Laboratory team, “wetlanders”, directed by Dr. Ahn.  In the field in September I’ve been harvesting plants, taking root cores, transporting samples; processing soils for analysis in the lab; reviewing primary literature and laboratory procedures; recording data and doing statistical tests.

During October I have been directing a team of wetlanders in the preparation of aboveground plant tissue for carbon analysis.  I have discovered how to manage this process.  The next step is packaging the ground plant matter for elemental analysis and finally running the tests to be completed early November.   Saturday the 25^th October, we go to a local wetland, currently in restoration, and take soil samples.  I would like to compare these samples to those of the mesocosm experiment.  The work is ongoing.