Driven
to Discover

Jeffrey Churchman uses trail cameras with motion sensors to take fine art photographs. His calls his work "invisible photography" because of his interest in removing the photographer from the work through the use of intelligent cameras that can take pictures on their own.  

Zizhuo Xu is studying machine learning and big data analytics techniques to help other scholars make decisions to improve Delaware’s water security.

Dalia Handelman, a UD Summer Scholar, interviewed 10 senior members of Delaware's Jewish community in a project in partnership with the Jewish Historical Society. 

In her residence hall on UD’s main campus, Vishva Patel examines a data set for clues as to why students procrastinate and how it affects their grades. Better understanding the predictors for poor grades may help students get started on their work earlier. 
 

Environmental studies major Alyssa Schiff is studying how the media portrays environmental justice issues within Delaware. A typical day for Alyssa involves visiting the library and immersing herself in news articles, taking extensive notes and looking for patterns in what she reads. 

Jackson Mace, neuroscience major, worked in a lab at Washington University as part of the Amgen Scholars research program. His research focused on neurodegeneration, the pathology of the brain that occurs with diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.

Nkeiruka Ashiedu is studying particulate matter (PM2.5) and its effects on asthma in Delaware. PM2.5 is a pollutant that penetrates deep into the lungs and can exacerbate asthma. She is researching whether there is a correlation between peak days in PM2.5 and asthma hospitalizations in Delaware. 

Lindsey Perez-Perez, Iris Perez-Mazariegos, and Johnny Perez-Gonzalez are spending their summer at home in Sussex County, Delaware talking to immigrant parents and their U.S. educated children. They are gathering stories about growing up and going to school in very different geographical contexts to compare and contrast educational systems and formative experiences from multiple perspectives.  

Jeffrey Neumann and Ahmad Tamimi are involved in the NASA CURIE mission. CURIE will use small satellites, about the size of a toaster oven, to gather data about the super-charged plasma that radiates from the sun, especially during solar flares. These violent eruptions of high-energy radiation can kill astronauts in space and damage electrical systems here on Earth. 

Audrey Ostroski is spending her summer with the Sea Turtle Research and Conservation Program at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida. Each morning, she and her research group go to the beach before sunrise and patrol for new sea turtle activity, looking for marks in the sand that indicate where the turtles came up on the beach.

Gretchen Johnson, a senior Honors major in marine science with a minor in biochemistry, is one of more than 500 students involved in research projects across UD this summer. She is studying the regulation of an enzyme that contributes to the growth of Chattonella subsalsa, a species of harmful algae implicated in fish kills.