Current Research Projects

 
The purpose of this page is to help undergraduates find faculty members who are looking for help on research projects. If you see a project you're interested in, click on "learn more" to find out the project details and then email the faculty member directly.  You can find archived projects by clicking here
 
  • Numerical Analysis of Space Capsule Entry and Reentry Dynamics in the Martian Atmosphere

    The research project aims to conduct a comprehensive numerical analysis of the entry and reentry dynamics of a space capsule within the Martian atmosphere.

    Project Field of Study

    Mechanical Engineering

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Dr. Gaurav Sharma

  • Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis

    The journal "Maya America: Journal of Essays, Commentary, and Analysis" is looking for a student to help take the journal to publication.

    Project Field of Study:

    School of Music and Interdisciplinary Studies

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi
    Dr. Alan LeBaron

  • Gamified Virtual Reality Approach to Improve Dementia Behavioral Symptoms Management Competence Among Healthcare and Allied Professional Students: Development

    This project aims to develop a gamified behavioral training application prototype that provides a safe and immersive learning platform.

    Project Field of Study:

    Nursing, Software Engineering and Game Development

    Faculty Member(s):

    Dr. Modupe Adewuyi
    Dr. Joy Li

  • Remotely Controlled Radiation Capsule Design for Low-Risk Brachytherapy for Rapid Cancer Treatment

    The project is exploring a new type of radiation capsule that can be remotely controlled using inductive coupling outside the body to block and release radiation with customized directionality. This enables precision dose delivery with a high dose rate for low-energy LDR radiation sources.

    Project Field of Study:

    Electrical & Computer Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Biology, Nursing, Radiation Oncology

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Dr. Hoseon Lee
    Dr. Chetan Dhital
    Dr. Tris Utshig
    Dr. Eduardo B. Farfan

  • Evaluation of Recycled Waste as Alternate Cementitious Materials

    This project is intended to understand the impacts of the waste materials as an alternate cementitious material in Portland cement concrete (PCC) mixtures that are commonly used in engineering constructions.

    Project Field of Study:

    Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Dr. M. A. Karim
    Dr. Youngguk Seo

  • Air Quality Monitoring and Evaluation in and around Schools

    This course is intended to understand the impacts of traffic on air pollution in and around schools. The course focuses specifically on monitoring and evaluating the criteria air pollutants, mostly PM2.5 or PM5.0 and compare with nearby ambient air quality to understand the pollution level caused by the traffic in schools' drop off and pickup areas. 

    Project Field of Study:

    Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Dr. M. A. Karim
    Dr. Parth Bhavsar

  • Contested Values and Sustainable Livelihoods of Artisanal Alcohol in Cabo Verde

    This NSF-funded research explores the shifting nature of artisanal alcohol as a valued yet contested cultural asset with the potential to both empower and imperil reciprocal rural livelihoods of Cabo Verde in West Africa.

    Project Field of Study:

    Geography and Anthropology

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    Brandon D. Lundy
    Mark W. Patterson
    Monica H. Swahn
    Nancy H. Pullen

  • Stabilization of Soft Soil with Fly-Ash to Improve Slope Stability Characteristics of the Soil-Fly-Ash Mixes

    The use of soft soils for roadway and construction purposes is highly problematic. This study aims to explore the soil-FA and soil-SSA mixtures ratio that would provide higher strength  and improve other engineering properties and the mixtures can be used for embankment construction with steeper slopes. 

    Project Field of Study:

    Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor(s):

    M.A. Karim
    Adam Kaplan
    Youngguk Seo

  • Design and Testing of Wireless EEG Electrode Headset for Long-Term Wear

    Design a new type of wireless EEG headset including flexible printed circuit boards and bluetooth to transfer brain waves to smartphone and the cloud by developing an app. A way of testing the new EEG headset will also be developed using artificial skin and head models.

    Project Field of Study:

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Faculty Mentor:

    Hoseon Lee

  • Metal Content Analysis of Recycled Waste Materials by TCLP

    Several recycled waste materials such as plastic, rubber, glass, sewage sludge ash (SSA), fly-ash (FA), scrap metals (slags), etc. are abundant in the waste stream that go to landfill and occupy the valuable landfill space. Research shows that these waste materials are used in several applications such as manufacturing mortar, concrete, and bricks. During the lifetime of these materials usage heavy metals and other chemicals can leach out and contaminate the water and soil. The heavy metal and other chemical contents in these waste materials are important to quantify to understand the future impact on water and soil pollution. In the proposed project several recycled waste materials will be collected from local recycling facilities and toxicity characteristics of leaching procedure (TCLP) tests following USEPA 1311 method will be performed to quantify the metal concentrations. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) test will be performed to quantify other chemicals.  

    Project Field of Study:

    Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor:

    M.A. Karim

  • Understanding the Complete Spectrum of the Left-Wing and Environmental Movement: A Data Driven Approach

    This research project aims to add to the understanding surrounding the degree and nature of terrorism, nonterrorist criminal activities, pre-incident behaviors, and failed/foiled plots perpetrated by those motivated by a left-wing and environmental ideology in the United States. More specifically, this project will utilize secondary sources (e.g., court records, media reports) to assess the modus operandi of left-wing and environmental violent extremists with a specific focus on indicators of malevolent creativity & innovation and criminal expertise.

    Project Field of Study:

    Sociology & Criminal Justice

    Faculty Mentor:

    Dr. Michael Logan

  • Solar/LED Illuminated Sign

    Light travels within two parallel flat planes, just like in optical fiber, very well without scattering.  The project is to design, test and implement illuminated signs using LED lights in the background.  The result will be signs, Logos etc. for businesses or organizations, or universities, or even street intersections.  Imagine street signs/names well lit and clearly visible from a distance.  Using solar photovoltaic charging, these signs could be alive without power supply, like in rural roads.

    Project Field of Study

    Mechanical Engineering

    Faculty Mentor

    Mir Atiqullah

  • Subsurface Investigation using Groud Vibrations

    The project will involve creating a ground vibration data collection system using our existing geophones. A geophone is an accelerometer installed at the ground surface to capture the acceleration response of the ground to any seismic disturbance.  The data will be used to estimate the engineering properties of the soil and locate voids or soft spots in the ground.

    Project Field of Study

    Civil and Enviromental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor

    Adam Kaplan

  • Design and Construction of Ground Penetrating Radar Testbed

    Ground penetrating radars are used for subsurface exploration purposes, and for locating underground utilities. CEE department has multiple-size radars ready to be used for research. This project is about designing and building a controlled earth fill with known objects at known depths to be used as a test bed for research purposes. The testbed is a v shape ditch of 50 feet long and approximately 5 feet deep and located at the KSU Field Station. Basic training on using ground penetrating radars will be given. The project will involve a literature survey, design, and construction activities such as filling and compacting the soil.

    Project Field of Study

    Civil and Enviromental Engineering

    Faculty Mentor

    Adam Kaplan

  • Association of Hospital Unit Team Virtuousness Scores with Eight Hospital Unit Measures

    This ongoing study is exploring the relationships between hospital unit team virtuousness scores and eight hospital unit measures. Team virtuousness refers to a team climate in which virtues and character strengths are practiced, supported, and encouraged.

    Students who work on this study will help manage implementation of an online team virtuousness questionnaire and gather hospital unit data. A statistician will analyze the data to determine any associations between hospital unit team virtuousness scores and unit measures of quality of patient care, patient satisfaction, and unit staff engagement and turnover.

    Project Field of Study

    Nursing

    Faculty Mentors

    Lynn Varagona
    Nancy Ballard

  • STEM-PASS: Peer Augmented Success & Support using Brain Augmented Technology (BAT) Research

    Different cognitive skills are required during a teaching and learning exercise. Attention is an important variable to measure during this process because it plays a fundamental role in the accumulation of information with the stimulus of the learner’s memory during the assimilation of knowledge. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the impact of 3D Immersive content used as a tool for stimulating student concentration when compared with the use of traditional D2L teaching and learning tools. 

    Project Field of Study

    Electrical & Computer Engineering

    Faculty Mentor

    Cyril Okhio

  • How air quality affects sport participants’ well-being: Soccer in the Streets near MARTA stations

    Soccer in the Streets is a non-profit organization for the metro Atlanta area’s recreational and community soccer programs. The Soccer in the Streets’ one notable program is StationSoccer. In this program, participants play soccer on the mini-fields built inside or near MARTA stations. For families with resource barriers to both travel and safe places that can accommodate soccer games, the “world’s first transit soccer league” enables metro Atlanta kids and adults to participate in sport activities and adopt healthy lifestyles. In 2020, approximately 1,700 youths and 200 adults participated in this program.

    Project Field of Study

    Exercise Science and Sport Management

    Faculty Mentor

    Dr. Kyu-soo Chung

  • STEM Peer Augmented Success & Support (STEM-PASS)-Using TI-Robotic Kits and EEG-enhanced Brain Augmented Technology Research

    The Brain Augmented Technology BAT aspect of this study will research event-related potentials (ERPs) which reflect the electrical activity of neurons that underlie cognitive and sensory processing. Our EEG and ERPs laboratory will enhance our ability to investigate the neural processes underlying, for example, attention, memory, inhibition, and language. The  in-house EEG  systems have high performance  relative  to  other systems.

    The supplied Texas Instrument Robotics System Kit will help students to: Learn software development methodology: Understand how to set up an Integrated Development Environment (IDE): Learn import and export Code Composer Studio (CCS) projects: Learn critical debugging information of memory usage and performance of the software on the TI-RSLK processor: and Learn to create a control system by combining the sensors with the actuators.

    Project Field of Study

    Electrical & Computer Engineering

    Faculty Mentors

    Dr. Cyril OKHIO
    Dr. Ted Grosch
    Dr. Austin Asgill
    Dr. Max North

  • Undergraduate Research Opportunity In The Field Of Population Genetics

    Population genetics deals with genetic differences within and between populations and is a part of evolutionary biology. It is used to detect genetic diseases and genetic risk factors for multifactorial diseases, understand diseases using insights obtained from genetic risk factors and treat diseases using these insights.   Theoretical population genetics bridges mathematics and evolutionary biology. The corner stone of  population genetics is the Kingman coalescent. Using a new calculus, fractional calculus, we introduced the modified version of Kingman coalescent, which we call fractional coalescent. In this research, you will learn how by using  Kingman's coalescent and fractional coalescent we could identify and understand the forces that produce and maintain genetic variation in populations. 

    Project Field of Study

    Mathematics

    Faculty Mentor

    Dr. Somayeh Mashayekhi

  • Maternal Reprogramming of Cellular Memory at Fertilization

    Students will be trained in genetics, bioinformatics, and cytological techniques as they investigate mechanisms that underlie maternal epigenetic reprogramming at fertilization.

    Project Field of Study

    Molecular and Cellular Biology

    Faculty Mentor

    Dr. Brandon Carpenter

  • A Stride Towards Healthy Populations: A Mixed-Methods Study of Population Health Content in Prelicensure Nursing Curricular

    This exploratory sequential mixed methods study aims to investigate the extent to which population health content is integrated into prelicensure nursing curricula in the United States.

    Project Field of Study

    Nursing

    Faculty Mentors

    Dr. Modupe Adewuyi
    Dr. M'Lyn Spinks

  • Impact of Clinical Experiential Approaches During COVID-19 Pandemic on Pre-licensure Student Nurses' Dementia Care Competence

    This is a sequential explanatory mixed-method designed study. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of the clinical experiential approaches being used by nursing programs during the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to pre-licensure nursing students' dementia care knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

    Project Field of Study

    Nursing

    Faculty Mentors

    Dr. Modupe Adewuyi
    Dr. Kathleen Morales
     
  • Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

    The Center for Machine Vision and Security Research (CMVSR) is pursuing innovative research projects falling in the areas of machine vision, pattern recognition, machine learning, convolutionary neural networks (CNN), artificial intelligence, and evolutionary computation.

    Project Field of Study

    Computer Science

    Faculty Mentor

    Chih-Cheng Hung

  • A Comprehensive Approach to Support the Requirements Analyst Before, During, and After Requirements Elicitation Interviews

    Requirements engineering is the set of activities concerned with determining and communicating the expectations for a new or modified product, and the contexts in which it will be used. Requirements elicitation, i.e., the practice of collecting these features, called requirements, is the first of these activities and is recognized as a critical and difficult stage in the development of software systems. Among the available elicitation techniques, interviews with stakeholders are the most commonly used in practice. However, a comprehensive approach to improve the effectiveness and the quality of requirements elicitation interviews has not been studied yet. This research aims at filling this gap by providing a set of novel techniques and tools to support the analyst before, during, and after the interview.

    Project Field of Study

    Software Engineering and Game Design

    Faculty Mentor

    Paola Spoletini

  • Atlanta's Immigrant Crossroads: Untapped Potential or Utilized Promise for Newcomer Integration

    Recently several municipalities in the Atlanta area have declared themselves “welcoming cities” to immigrants and refugees. Atlanta is a new immigrant gateway destination and a region at the crossroads of receptivity (Singer, Hardwick, and Brettel, 2008).

    Project Field of Study

    Geography & Anthropology, Social Work and Human Services

    Faculty Mentors 

    Paul McDaniel
    Darlene Rodriguez

 

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