Summer Research Program
Faculty Research Mentors
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Richard Bastian
Lecturer in Mathematics
DEPARTMENT: Mathematics
E-MAIL: rbastian@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
- Incidence of regional nodal metastasis with Grade II Mast Cell Tumors: Consulting project in conjunction with veterinary hospital. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
- Survival and Recurrence Rates for Dogs With Mouth Cancer: Consulting project in conjunction with veterinary hospital. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
- Differences Between Several Methods of Taking Blood Pressure in Dogs. Consulting project in conjunction with veterinary hospital. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
- Predicting Surgical Outcomes of Abdominal Surgery in Dogs. Consulting project in conjunction with veterinary hospital. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
- Comparing Infection Rates in 3 Surgical Methods for Repairing Torn ACL's of Dogs: Consulting project in conjunction with veterinary hospital. Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Pedram Daneshgar
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: pdaneshg@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
1. Impacts Of Invasive Sedge On Coastal Dunes
An exotic plant species called Asiatic sand sedge has been invading the dunes of the New Jersey coast eliminating all native species from the dunes. We will explore how this species competes with native species. Also, we will explore some new methods for controlling this invader.
2. Implications of Disturbed Wetlands
Human disturbance, pollution, and the introduction of invasive species has lead to the formation of novel wetland ecosystems that may function differently than the native wetlands they replace. We will compare novel wetlands to native ones by examining plant diversity, nutrient cycling, trophic dynamics, and ecosystem functioning.
3. Sustainable Practices in Viticulture
We will explore the various agriculture practices that promote greater sustainability and the least environmental impacts. We will employ these practices on an on-campus vineyard.
FACULTY MEMBER
Bernadette Dunphy
Specialist Professor
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: bdunphy@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE
1. The Effect of Intermittent Visual Feedback on Exercise Performance.
Recently there has been heightened interest in the effect that visual stimulus has on athletic performance.
The purpose of this study is to determine if the strobe eyewear can improve an athlete's ability to catch and throw with more precision and consistency.
2. The Effect of Proprioceptive Exercises immediately following a Grade I Ankle Sprain in the Athletic Population.
Concurrent visual feedback is utilized to enhance the effects of exercise. The purpose of this study is to determine if providing reduced visual feedback will effect exercise performance as compared to constant feedback.
3. The Effect of a 4-week Rope Undulation Program on Shoulder Strength in the Young Adult Population.
Shoulder strength is an important factor in maintaining shoulder stability. There has been a reemergence of specific "strongman" exercises in the athletic population. The purpose of this study is to determine if exercises utilizing rope undulation can be as effective as traditional shoulder strengthening exercises.
4. The efficacy of utilizing proprioception techniques in the early stages of Grade I ankle sprains.
Ankle sprains are a very common injury in running sports. The purpose of this study is to determine if the utilization of early mobility, balance, and proprioception techniques can decrease the time to return to sports.
The studies will be performed and data collected in conjunction with an outpatient physical therapy and sports rehabilitation facility located in Red Bank, NJ.
The subjects for this study will be current and former physical therapy patients of this facility and students/athletes of Monmouth University. In addition, post rehabilitation clients will be included in the study. Research and data collection will be collected with staff of the facility and selected students from Monmouth University.
These students may also be included in the pre study trials to determine efficacy of hypothesis and methodology to be utilized in the study.
Addtional information for these research projects may be found at www.monmouth.edu/academics/biology/faculty/dunphy.asp.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Catherine N. Duckett
Associate Dean, School of Science
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: cduckett@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Ecological Succession in Lake Wapalanne (Stokes State Forest) and Insect Diversity in Monmouth County:
The succession project is in collaboration with Montclair State and deals with insect recolonization of Lake Wapalanne, which had been invaded by European milfoil. The research involves the collection, mounting, and identification of insects. The other project concerns the insect fauna of Monmouth University campus and surrounding parks, with the emphasis on designing teaching exercises involving local insects; this may be of interest to Biology Education majors.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Dana Ehret
Lecturer in Biology
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: dehret@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
1. Preliminary Assessment of Diamondback Terrapins in the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers (Monmouth County)
Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) are one of the few species of brackish water turtles in the world. They are only found in salt marshes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States from Cape Cod, south to Florida and west to Texas. Terrapins are very susceptible to habitat loss and degradation, take heavy losses due to car traffic during nesting season, and are also a large part of the bycatch in commercial crab traps. This project aims to begin an initial survey of terrapins, their habitat, potential food resources, nesting areas, and dangers in the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers in Monmouth County. Research may include boat work, mark release recapture of terrapins, and surveys of nesting areas.
2. Phylogeny and Paleobiology of Fossil Box Turtles (Terrapene)
This project requires one or two students interested in learning the anatomy of turtles to compare fossil and modern species. Work will be mainly computer and imaging based, using fossils and modern box turtle skeletons to build a data matrix of characteristics that will be used for cladistic analyses in order to create a phylogeny (the connections between all groups of organisms as understood by ancestor/descendant relationships) of box turtles. Interested students should have a basic knowledge of computers and have some interest in imaging techniques (i.e. photography, digital manipulations of images, scientific illustration). Work will entail learning turtle anatomy, and then applying that knowledge to identify and keying skeletal features found in other fossil and modern box turtle species.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Ursula A. Howson
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: uhowson@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLEs & DESCRIPTION
Barnegat Bay Zooplankton Research
We will be taking weekly boat trips to Barnegat Bay to conduct water quality tests and zooplankton tows as part of a larger study examining the overall health of the bay. Students will participate in the field sampling trips as well as zooplankton sorting, identification, and enumeration in the laboratory. We anticipate some interaction with NOAA partners. Occasional night sampling trips may be required.
Hypoxia in Inland Waterways
Tentative Project: We will also be conducting fish trawls concurrent with the Barnegat Bay zooplankton sampling trips as part of a study on hypoxia in anthropogenically impacted inland marine and estuarine waterways. Students will learn fisheries stock assessment techniques such as otolith (“ear stone”) aging and stomach content analyses. Additional fish assessments may be conducted in other locations such as the Shrewsbury River and its tributaries. Occasional night sampling trips may be required.
Goosefish (Lophius americanus) Larval Research
Tentative Project: Students will learn fisheries stock assessment techniques used in larval fish ecology research. Students will extract otoliths from larval goosefish from a previous study on the effects of temperature on growth, then use a polarized microscope and image analysis system to evaluate the age of the larvae. Students may also learn larval fish husbandry techniques by conducting larval growth studies on field-collected larval goosefish.
FACULTY MEMBER
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics
E-MAIL: mlambert@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Synthesis of Novel Telomerase Inhibitors
The search for novel chemotherapeutic approaches for cancer treatment is an active research field. Recently, a new appealing target, the reverse transcriptase enzyme “telomerase,” has attracted a lot of attention because this enzyme is over-expressed in 80-85% of cancer cell types and inactive in normal somatic cells. Inhibition of telomerase induces cell senescence and death and, for this reason, it has become a very important target for cancer therapeutics. In this project novel telomerase inhibitors will be synthesized and tested for telomerase inhibition through DNA G-quadruplex stabilization.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students
FACULTY MEMBER
Lecturer
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics
E-MAIL: jluo@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Development of Ratiometric Fluorescence Nanosensor Platform
Protection of human health and ecosystem requires rapid, precise sensors capable of detecting pollutants at the molecular level. Currently, gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICPMS) are among the methods widely used in environmental analysis. However, these methods are usually complicated, time-consuming, and costly. Nanotechnology offers the possibility of sensors enabled to selectively detect multiple analytes and to monitor their presence in real time. The aim of the research project is to develop a composite nanostructure incorporating an analyte-independent fluorescent core and an analyte-dependent room-temperature phosphorescent shell, which can be utilized as a photoluminescence sensor for analytes of interest in environmental analysis, such as heavy metal ions, carcinogenic organic compounds (organochlorines, organophosphates, dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)), environmental estrogens, and pathogens /toxins. The analyte-independent fluorescent core serves as a reference signal, thus providing a built-in correction for matrix effect. In the ratiometric measurement, the analytical signal is obtained by dividing the intensities of the analyte-dependent phosphorescence by the intensities of a fluorescence emission that are independent of the analyte concentration.
The students will gain hands-on experiences in nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, and learn the operation of a Hitachi F-7000 spectrofluorometer at the Chemistry Department. They will also develop better understanding of the photophysics behind luminescence when they try to tune the fluorescence spectra by processing the nanoparticles differently during the synthesis. They can also compare the experiment results with the results measured from other methods, such as the phosphorescence life time measurement or GC/HPLC measurement.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. David Marshall
Chair and Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT: Mathematics
E-MAIL: dmarshal@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Quadratic Forms over Fields of Characteristic 2
Project Description: Quadratic forms occupy a central place in various branches of mathematics, including number theory, algebra, geometry, and topology. Students will investigate various aspects of quadratic forms over finite fields of characteristic 2. Questions to investigate will include: When are two such forms equivalent? How many equivalence classes arise? How do the sizes of the equivalence classes grow? Along the way students will learn a lot of interesting algebra, as well as how to typeset beautiful mathematics using LaTeX.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Greg Moehring
Chair and Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology, and Physics
E-MAIL: gmoehrin@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Preparation and NMR Studies of Rhenium Polyhydride Compounds
The rhenium polyhydride compound ReH7[P(C6H5)3]2 has some historical significance as the first homogeneous catalyst demonstrated to activate alkyl C-H bonds. Commercially, catalytic alkyl C-H bond activation has the potential to simplify the preparation of active pharmaceutical ingredients and to decrease the chemical waste generated from such preparations. Our work is centered around exploring the physical properties of rhenium polyhydride compounds such as ReH7[P(C6H5)3]2 and developing more robust and more active rhenium polyhydride catalysts. A 400 MHz Bruker AVANCE NMR spectrometer is the primary instrument which we use to examine the physical properties and to characterize the ability of the rhenium polyhydride compounds to transform small organic molecules.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students
FACULTY MEMBER:
James A. Nickels
Marine Scientist
DEPARTMENT: Urban Coast Institute
E-MAIL: jnickels@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Real-time water quality monitoring and benthic habitat mapping in New Jersey coastal estuaries.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Michael A. Palladino
Dean, School of Science
Associate Professor of Biology
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: mpalladi@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Cellular and molecular responses to testicular torsion injury. Antimicrobial properties of male reproductive organs.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Wai Kong Pang
Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT: Mathematics
E-MAIL: wpang@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
- Designed statistical experiments on bottle water
Are there any difference between bottle water and tap water? Do people feel that bottle water is safer than tap water? In this project, we will set up and perform blind tasting experiments of bottle water.
- Basic Water Requirements Supplied By Desalination Techniques
Potable water is viewed as a limited resource but there is an ample resource for saline water. Desalination quite possibly could be instrumental in meeting our future population’s water needs. In this project, we will look at the possibility to use desalination to support the basic water requirement of the world.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Karen Pesce
Biology Lecturer
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: kpesce@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Microbial Community Analysis and Characterization of Novel Biodegradative Genes from Polluted Environments
Microorganisms play a vital role in the biodegradation of numerous environmental pollutants. Our work focuses on isolation and investigation of microbial species that can degrade these compounds. We use traditional microbiology as well as molecular approaches in order to gain insight into microbial diversity in contaminated environments and to elucidate novel biodegradative pathways. Most recently, this has included polyaromatic hydrocarbon degrading species and species that degrade personal care and pharmaceutical products.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Barbara Reagor
Director
DEPARTMENT: Rapid Response Institute
E-MAIL: breagor@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Virtual MU: Create software modules to accept location and identity data from devices in real-time. Example: use of GPS cell technology and feed to Google Earth, indoor tracking using RFID sensor system or create iPod software modules. The program is set-up for 1-2 teams of 3-4 HS students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Ellen Rubinstein
Lecturer
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology and Physics
E-MAIL: erubinst@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Floatables and Marine Debris in Ocean Waters
The amount of debris which makes its way into the world’s oceans has increased dramatically. Much of this waste consists of plastics, which do not readily degrade. Deleterious effects include damage to wildlife habitat, as well as chemical and mechanical dangers to marine life. The purpose of this project is to conduct research regarding debris found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, determining which types are most prevalent, and how they cause harm to the environment and to marine life. We will contact scientists currently working in the field. We will select sites in Monmouth County to survey and will report our results. In addition, the project may include an analysis of the uptake of organic toxins in ocean water by common plastics.
Coastal Lake Eutropification Study
Increasing human population in the Monmouth County watershed has led to an increase in nutrients being added to the runoff which flows into local coastal lakes. A corresponding increase in eutropification has been observed, resulting in decreased fish populations and other deleterious effects to the lake ecosystems. This project will involve the collection of water samples from sites in the watershed for analysis of nutrients, including nitrate and phosphate ions. Using analytical methods in the laboratory, we will measure the concentrations of these nutrients. This data will be related to ongoing restoration plans of the Urban Coast Institute for Monmouth County coastal lakes.
FACULTY MEMBER:
DEPARTMENT: Computer Science and Software Engineering
E-MAIL: rscherl@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Topics in Artificial Intelligence:The topics include machine learning, natural language processing, and text classification
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Carolyn Supplee
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology and Physics
E-MAIL: csupplee@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Synthesis of Organophosphine Ligands and Their Metal Complexes
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. William Tepfenhart
Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT: Computer Science and Software Engineering
E-MAIL: btepfenh@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
1. Modeling Epidemics
The purpose of the model is to enable projections of disease spread as a function of time and geography. The models are based on the underlying characteristics and progression of the disease in individual patients.
2. Interactive Touch Screen Control Panel
This project deals with creating the hardware and software for dynamic control panels. The layout of a panel is computer generated and projected onto a surface. Interaction with the panel is achieved by using physical devices that are placed on the projected image. Manipulation of the physical devices is detected by vision-based software and translated into device command codes.
3. Artificial Intelligent Agent
This project deals with developing some applications of the BDIw agent developed at Monmouth University. Of interest is using the agent to perform automated design of simple systems.
FACULTY MEMBER:
John Tiedemann
Assistant Dean and Director of Marine and Environmental Biology
DEPARTMENT: Biology
E-MAIL: jtiedema@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Macrozooplankton of Upper Barnegat Bay. Zooplankton populations are subject to change due to variations in environmental conditions. In the Barnegat Bay estuary, there has not been a detailed survey of zooplankton since the 1970s. Our aim is to gather information on the status of macrozooplankton populations in upper Barnegat Bay and determine if the distribution and abundance of important zooplankters has changed over the past several decades. The project’s area of geographic focus is the upper Barnegat Bay, defined here as the area from the mouth of the Point Pleasant Canal in Bay Head south to Seaside Park. The project entails field surveys to collect plankton samples aboard Monmouth’s Little Hawk survey boat and laboratory analysis of these samples to identify and enumerate the macrozooplankton.
Distribution and Abundance of Juvenile Fishes in Upper Barnegat Bay. The Barnegat Bay Partnership is implementing the Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). The CCMP is designed to maintain water quality and living resources of the Barnegat Bay – Little Egg Harbor Estuary. In order to properly manage living marine resources information on the distribution, abundance, and composition of species and the various environmental conditions that define their habitats is necessary.
Many commercially and recreationally valuable fish species use different estuarine habitats during the juvenile phase of their life as feeding areas, nursery areas and to seek refuge from predators. Patterns of habitat use and species composition among various habitat types can be used as an indicator of habitat quality and anthropogenic impacts to these ecosystems.
This study is designed to characterize juvenile fish distribution and abundance in a variety of habitats found in upper Barnegat Bay, including shallow seagrass beds, macroalgal beds, tidal creeks, salt marshes, tidal flats, and sandy shorelines. The project will employ haul seine sampling surveys conducted weekly at sampling stations distributed throughout upper Barnegat Bay from the head of the Bay south to Island Beach State Park, including the Metedeconk River and Toms River.
PLEASE NOTE: This faculty member is not accepting high school students.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Tsanangurayi Tongesayi
Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology and Physics
E-MAIL: ttongesa@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Nanoparticle-Mediated Speciation of Heavy Metals During the summer 2012, my laboratory will be working on the preparation and characterization of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNP) with respect to their redox, catalytic and adsorption properties. An understanding of these properties can (i) help promote the efficient and sustainable utilization of the MNP, (ii) development of novel applications of the nanoparticles, especially in environmental separations and remediation, (iii) advance an understanding of the role of MNP in speciation and mobility of heavy metals(loids) in the environment. The project involves travelling to the Cornell Nanoscience and Technology Facility at Cornell University and at the Particle Characterization Laboratory at Penn State University’s Material Research Institute which are part of NSF’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) laboratories. These two centers fall under the NNIN and provide cutting-edge facilities and services for nanotechnology research. The purpose of visits to the NNIN laboratories is to prepare and characterize nanoparticles, which will then be used for experiments in my laboratory at Monmouth University. This is a long-term project and is by no means expected to be completed by the end of the summer period.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Jiacun Wang
Chair, Associate Professor
Department: Computer Science and Software Engineering
E-mail: jwang@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
An Online Energy Evaluation System for Industrial Plants
Goal: The goal of this project is develop an online energy evaluation system that would help industrial plants to perform electrical load management and thus save energy costs.
Industrial plants always look for ways to improving the quality/cost ratio of the products offered to the market to increase competiveness. One of the production costs is energy usage. Closer examination of how energy costs arise shows that it can be possible to take advantage of incentives and favorable pricing offered by utilities in order to encourage consumers to use energy in such a way and at such time that it enables the utility to manage load patterns. By making the best use of these incentives, it is possible to achieve significant savings in production costs, with no adverse effect on product quality or productivity.
Load Management: Load management is actions taken by plants to change the load profile in order to gain from reduced total system peak load and increased power factor. The set of options available for load management in industry includes process rescheduling, machinery interruption/restart cycles, thermal energy storage, use of backup generation, automation, etc. In this project, we only apply the first two mechanisms. Examples are peak shaving and load shifting (from peak to non-peak time).
Project Requirements: The online tool shall have the following major functional requirements:
- allow users to dynamically configure loads used a plant
- allow users to define and change parameters for each load, including both power consumption related parameters and operation scheduling parameters
- plot the energy usage chart over a 24-hour period
- compute power factor
- compute daily energy cost
- save/print load profile, energy usage chart, and energy cost.
Job Requirements/Qualifications Desired
- Knowledge of web-based programming
- Strong Java programming skills
- Good communication skills
- Accept high school students
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Cui Yu
Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT: Computer Science and Software Engineering
E-MAIL: cyu@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
Innovative Software Applications For Study, Work, and Social Life
In today's world, most people reply a lot on computer technologies and services in study, work, and life. While these technologies and services can save a lot of labor and time to accomplish many tasks such as writing letters, meeting with collaborators, sharing information, and etc, many people feel busier than ever because of more information and more tasks to deal with on regular base. In this research project, students will exploit advanced computer technologies to design and implement selected innovative applications that can make our study and work more efficient and our life much easier.
FACULTY MEMBER:
Dr. Xudong YuanScholar in Residence/Researcher
DEPARTMENT: Chemistry, Medical Technology and Physics
E-MAIL: xyuan@monmouth.edu
RESEARCH PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION
1. Biodegradable nanoparticles of anticancer drug
In this project, an anticancer drug SN001 will be incorporated into biodegradable nanoparticles. HPLC method will be developed to analyze the loading efficiency drug release from the prepared nanoparticles. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles will be evaluated in vitro in cancer cells.
2. Development of fast dissolving film as a drug dosage form
Different polymers will be used to prepare a new dosage form of fast dissolving film with a model drug. The film formulation will be optimized to achieve fast film dissolving and quick drug release.
3. Gene delivery by nanoparticles
In this project, nanoparticles will be used as carrier of pDNA and siRNA for gene delivery. Cell transfection studies will be conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the nanoparticle delivery system.
