Category: SRS 2025 (all projects)

CLOSED: Examining the Tax Credit-Tax Deduction Tradeoff (Iguehi Rajsky)

Remote: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/16/2025 and run for 8 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

This study will examine the relation between the R&D tax credits available for the manufacture of certain products and the donations of these products to nonprofit organizations.

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Prerequisites

Excel and MS Word is required. Knowledge of basic financial accounting rules required. Knowledge of Stata and/or python would be helpful.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/16/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 8 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: Remote

Contact Information: Iguehi Rajsky (email: irajsky@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Nonlinear Gaming Skill Demographics (Elizabeth Matthews)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/16/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/22/2025.

Project Description

Current research in academia uses a linear or binary distinction in participants when categorizing them by their video game skill level. My research has shown this to be an unreliable and non-standardized metric within academia, and next I intend to develop a nonlinear gaming personas categorization to better improve others’ research. You will need to perform user studies and statistical analysis in the programming language R.

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Prerequisites

CSCI 209 completion is required. Prior knowledge of the programming language R or statistical methods recommended but not required.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/16/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/22/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Elizabeth Matthews (email: lmatthews@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Technology, Health and Cognition Lab (Karla Murdock)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

Students will be working on three ongoing programs of research in the THaC Lab using a range of methodologies. The first program utilizes actigraphy to examine associations between daily physical activity and well-being. The second utilizes survey methods and objective measures to examine cognitive and affective processes surrounding the valuation of different emotional states. The third utilizes qualitative data analyses to explore themes in a body of large-scale participatory art installations.

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Prerequisites

Preference will be given to students who have already been trained in the THaC Lab and/or have taken CBSC 250.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Karla Murdock (email: murdockk@wlu.edu)

Genetic diversity in the Greenland stitchwort (Minuartia groenlandica), a critically imperiled alpine plant in the southern Appalachians (Charles Winder)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/9/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/15/2025.

Project Description

The Greenland stitchwort (Minuartia groenlandica) is a rare alpine plant that occurs in the southern Appalachians as a relic of the previous glacial period. Despite dramatic changes to the climate and vegetation of the southeast over the last ten thousand years, populations of this plant have persisted in rocky, exposed sites in the highest elevations of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. It’s important to protect these plants since they represent a unique and irreplaceable record of how plant species have evolved and adapted to past climate change. Using modern molecular genetic techniques, we aim to answer the following questions: 1) How much genetic diversity exists within small and geographically isolated mountaintop populations of M. groenlandica occurring in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee? 2) How much genetic divergence is there among populations of M. groenlandica in the southern Appalachians? 3) What is the evolutionary history of these populations, and what can that tell us about the impacts of past and future climate change on endemic plant species? Students working on this project will gain experience in laboratory techniques such as DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and DNA sequencing. Analysis of DNA sequence data and communication of findings will be required.

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Prerequisites

Genetics Lab experience is preferred, though not required

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/9/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/15/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Charles Winder (email: winderc@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: On These Grounds: Slavery at W&L (Paula Kiser)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 8 weeks, finishing on 7/25/2025.

Project Description

In 2021, W&L joined a multi-institutional project, On These Grounds: Slavery and the University, to develop and test a data model for representing events in the lives of enslaved people at colleges and universities. This project builds on decades of research by faculty, staff, students, and independent researchers on the history of slavery at Washington College, but requires a fresh look at the archival sources to interpret and create a new form of data. Students will transcribe 19th century documents, then create data for the events-based model based on the content in the documents, in order to rebuild the story of those individuals enslaved by Washington College. Attention to detail, ability to work independently, interest in wrestling with complex, upsetting, and incomplete sources are necessary skills.

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Prerequisites

ability to read 19th century handwriting; experience with using primary sources to conduct research

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 7/25/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 8 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 1

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Paula Kiser (email: kiserp@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Rebels and Followers: Dissent and Conformity in Russia and the USSR (Anna Brodsky)

Remote: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

The project will explore the works of writers and journalists who conformed to the demands of Soviet ideology and Putin’s nationalist agenda, alongside those who opposed these regimes, often at great personal risk to their safety and lives. Through this analysis, the project aims to shed light on the complex dynamics between individual autonomy and coercive state power.

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Prerequisites

Students need to have a good command of Russian and/or Ukrainian.

Special Comments

Students should have completed at least one course in Russian literature and one in Russian history.

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 3

Research Location: Remote

Contact Information: Anna Brodsky (email: brodskya@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Major Choice Literature Review (Elisabeth Gilbert)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

How do college students choose their academic majors? Every student has their own story, but our team is working on a systematic literature review of the research on this topic, with the goal of publishing articles that will help colleges promote their programs. You will work alongside Professor Gilbert to catalogue findings from previous research studies. Depending on our progress and your interests, you may also have the opportunity to write up your findings and coauthor one or more academic journal articles (during either the summer or subsequent academic terms). Flexible work hours and locations, with regular team meetings throughout the summer.

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Prerequisites

Ideal candidates will be experienced and comfortable with reading academic articles, detail-oriented, and self-motivated with strong time management skills. No prior coursework required; all necessary training will be provided.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 3

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Elisabeth Gilbert (email: egilbert@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Technology Health and Cognition Lab (Wythe Whiting)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

Students will be working on three ongoing programs of research in the THaC Lab using a range of methodologies. The first program utilizes actigraphy to examine associations between daily physical activity and well-being. The second utilizes survey methods and objective measures to examine cognitive and affective processes surrounding the valuation of different emotional states. The third utilizes qualitative data analyses to explore themes in a body of large-scale participatory art installations.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Preference will be given to students who have already been trained in the THaC Lab and/or have taken CBSC 250.

Special Comments

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Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 3

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Wythe Whiting (email: whitingw@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Project 1: Energy-Driven Pattern Formation; Project 2: Physics-Informed Neural Networks (Chong Wang)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

Project 1: We are interested in energy-driven pattern formation in multi-constituent physical and biological systems. The total energy of these systems includes two terms. The first term, called the growth part, favors large domains with minimum interface. The second term, called the inhibition part, prefers small domains. Exquisitely structured patterns arise as the balance of these two terms. Examples include morphological phases in block copolymers, animal coats, and skin pigmentation. Project 2: Neural networks are computational models inspired by the structure of the human brain, capable of learning from data and making predictions or decisions. Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) are a machine learning approach that incorporates physical laws into the learning process of neural networks. Unlike traditional neural networks that primarily rely on data-driven methods, PINNs combine data with physical constraints (such as partial differential equations and ordinary differential equations) to enhance their modeling capability and prediction accuracy for complex scientific problems.

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Prerequisites

Having knowledge in multivariable calculus and ODEs will be an advantage. Or you are willing to spend extra time to learning them.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 3

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Chong Wang (email: cwang@wlu.edu)

CLOSED: Politics, LGBTQ identity, Morality, Accuracy. & AI and Education Study. (Jacob Gibson)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/9/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/15/2025.

Project Description

There are three projects being worked on. One is looking at the accuracy of making judgments of individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community. The other is looking at personality, moral reasoning, and the accuracy of judgments based on political affiliation. We are also working on a project looking at how AI is used in the classroom and how it is helping and harming students.

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Prerequisites

I prefer it if you have taken a research methods and stats class but that is not required.

Special Comments

No travel or courses.

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/9/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/15/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Jacob Gibson (email: jgibson@wlu.edu)