August 29, 2014 –
Marie Gilbert
The 10th consecutive SURF-IT summer undergraduate research program concluded yesterday with all 10 student researchers presenting their final results to an audience of mentors, peers and other guests.
The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Information Technology, sponsored by CALIT2 and UCI’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, debuted in 2005. The program pairs undergrads with faculty and/or graduate-student mentors for 10 weeks of hands-on research experience.
The Fellows, who had practiced their presentation skills midway through the summer, appeared visibly nervous nonetheless before Thursday’s final presentation.
“Relax, okay?” program director Said Shokair urged the students. “Obviously, you’re the experts on the topics you are going to be presenting, and we just want to learn from you.”
From left: Diane Shin, John Delshadi, Vasu Sharma
From left: William Stone, Soheil Akhavan, Stefan Wenthe
The projects ran the academic gamut: from evaluating the use of iPads during clinical examinations, to modeling the vestibular system; from designing a task-awareness app, to supporting NGOs in under-developed countries; from evaluating emergency room patients’ Internet access to improving graphene-transfer process. Students used PowerPoint presentations and video to explain the importance of their research, discuss their methods and detail their final results, all with poise and self-assurance.
“Look at the confidence, energy, articulation – wow!” Shokair exclaimed midway through the event. “Have you noticed how you are presenting with that sense of confidence and accomplishment? I love that.”
The event included lunch and the bestowal of certificates of completion.
Devin Held (left) and Dominic Scarmardo
All of the students had positive comments about their summer research experiences.
“I really enjoyed the freedom the program gave me to explore all the facets of the project,” said Stefan Wenthe, a chemical engineering major who worked on an Arduino to monitor a sustainable aquaponics system.
“The most memorable thing for me was just being able to work with a really cool team of people on this really cool device that I’ve never worked with before,” said William Stone, who designed collaborative programming environments using Google Glass. “It was really fun to have those moments when I finally figured out how to do something.”
Joe Mehrabi
SURF-IT was Dominic Scarmardo’s first research experience. Scarmardo, an electrical engineering major, sought to develop better ways of transferring graphene to silicon substrates. “The learning curve moved quickly from ‘What is this? I don’t know a lot of this,’ to getting into the meat of the project and seeing results happen in real time and seeing milestones being met,” he said. “That was really encouraging.”
For business information management student Joseph Mehrabi, the highlight was working outside the boundaries of a university classroom. Mehrabi, who was evaluating sustainability factors in requirements engineering, said he was able to take what he learned last winter from mentor Debra Richardson’s class and apply it to his project. “I was able to use everything I learned, but in a more practical setting, without the handicaps of a class. It was cool to just have a little more control.”
Shokair asked the students to elaborate on what they would do differently in their next research endeavors.
Computer sciences student Devin Held, who created a time-management app, said she would have run tests on her proeject more frequently instead of trying to work out all the bugs at the end. Marie Gilbert, an informatics student seeking ways to improve support resources for NGOs in under-developed countries, learned to place less importance on the order in which tasks were approached and accomplished. And John Delshad, also an informatics major, said he would compile his results every day instead of once every two weeks.
Biomedical engineering major Vasu Sharma, who modeled vestibular systems using an Arduino, said he wished he had learned to “roll with the punches” earlier. “Sometimes you have to zigzag and dart here and there,” he said. “You have to come up with makeshift solutions and expand upon them.”
With the presentations concluded and relief showing on all faces, Shokair asked for comments. Students remarked on the professionalism of others’ presentations, including the interactive and responsive approaches, and the noticeably clearer way presenters conveyed the impacts of their projects.
“I think everything was much more understandable today,” said Diane Shin, a human biology major, who evaluated new ways to communicate with emergency department patients. Fellow researcher William Stone characterized the difference between mid-summer and final presentations as “day and night.”
Shokair was in complete agreement. “I am so impressed with the way you have all evolved,” he said.
As he closed the program he had one last request for the students: “I hope you all continue your interactions and relationships with each other,” he said. “And can we hear one more ‘hoo-yah?!’”
The students happily complied.
— Anna Lynn Spitzer
