Category: SRS Round 3 (March 2025)

Transmission of Intergenerational Wealth through Dating Markets (Hugo Blunch)

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

Project Description

The intergenerational transmission of wealth is facilitated in part by a marriage market preference for higher income. However, it is unclear how this wealth displayed in a marriage market. This study investigates how wealth is displayed in a dating market and the dating market advantage wealth can provide market actors.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Applicants must have completed Econ 202, Econ 203, and Econ 210 as well as the Math Sequence through Linear Algebra. Applicants should have some research experience before applying.

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: Hugo Blunch (email: blunchn@wlu.edu)

Automatically Generating Cost-Effective Test Suites for Web Applications (Sara Sprenkle)

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

Project Description

Web applications are pervasive and must be well-tested to maintain high quality. Test suites should uncover faults in the software, represent typical usage, and be generated and executed at a relatively low cost. In this project, we will explore applying genetic algorithms to web application testing using actual user requests. Genetic algorithms have many tunable parameters (e.g., fitness function and mutation operator probabilities) that greatly affect their results. We will explore the parameter space and recommend the combinations of parameters that yield the best results for several subject web applications. We will then empirically compare test suites generated using genetic algorithms with those generated with other techniques.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Taken CSCI-209

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: 1

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Sara Sprenkle (email: SprenkleS@wlu.edu)

Documenting deformation conditions of the mid-crustal Rockfish Valley Deformation Zone in the Virginia Blue Ridge (Jeffrey Rahl)

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

Project Description

The Rockfish Valley Deformation Zone (RVDZ) in the Blue Ridge of central Virginia preserves intense and localized deformation developed during convergence between Africa and North America ~320 million years ago. The RVDZ is a major structure developed within the crystalline basement of the Blue Ridge province; it has a thickness of at least 3 km and has been traced for over 120 km through central Virginia. These rocks represent an ideal naturally laboratory with which to investigate the rheology and microstructural evolution of mid-crustal shear zones, features essential to the strength and mechanical behavior of continental crust. In this project, we will document spatial variations in the deformation conditions of the RVDZ. Our work will involve literature review, field work, petrographic analysis, and electron-backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis to quantify crystallographic fabrics.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Students should have completed EEG 200. There are no other requirements, though students will benefit from having taken classes such as Structural Geology and Earth Materials.

Special Comments

This work will involve day trips to visit localities throughout the Blue Ridge.

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: 2

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Jeffrey Rahl (email: rahlj@wlu.edu)

Composition, Music Engraving, and Ethnomusicological Work (Shane Lynch)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/2/2025 and run for 10 weeks, finishing on 8/8/25.

Project Description

The applicant will work on the complexities of advanced choral composition for musical ensembles through assistance/editing of research/composition, especially focused on the ethnomusicological research of the music of Morocco and the Canary Islands. The student will combine these efforts with research/training at the Kodaly Institute at James Madison University. Using the skills gained, the student will use this experience and complete their own original composition or arrangement that will be submitted for publication or competition during the 2025-26 academic year.

Apply now

Prerequisites

The student should have completed the Music Theory sequence and have taken MUS 315 Orchestration/Arranging prior to completing this work.

Special Comments

The student must be able to attend the Kodaly Summer Music Institute at James Madison University as part of this work.

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/2/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/25

Estimated Project Duration: 10 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 1

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Shane Lynch (email: lynchs@wlu.edu)

Gastroimaginaries: Dreams of Food and Place in Peru and the American South (Catarina Passidomo)

Hybrid: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/9/2025 and run for 6 weeks, finishing on 7/18/2025.

Project Description

This project traces dominant and subversive narratives linking food and place in Peru and the American South (specifically: hospitality, nostalgia, multiculturalism, and sustainability). Summer 2025 research will focus on the aesthetic and ethical ideal of sustainability and how it is conceptualized in contemporary food movements. The broader project is situated within interdisciplinary critique of popular representations of food that celebrate its cultural significance without attending to the socioeconomic and ecological devastations wrought by contemporary (global, industrial, and corporate) food systems. Student researchers will assist with (1) ongoing scholarly literature review; (2) analysis of existing qualitative data; and (3) potentially engage in new qualitative data collection and analysis. Students will also serve as collaborators and thought-partners for the broader project

Apply now

Prerequisites

No.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/9/2025

Estimated End Date: 7/18/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 6 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: Hybrid

Contact Information: Catarina Passidomo (email: cpassidomo@wlu.edu)

Low Cost Design Techniques to Convert Radio Frequency (RF) Signals into usable DC power sources (Paul Aiken)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/30/2025 and run for 6 weeks, finishing on 8/8/2025.

Project Description

Extracting usable power from RF signals involves converting electromagnetic energy into a usable DC form. The following techniques will be explored using components employed in RF energy harvesting systems: 1. Tuned and matched antenna Design to capture RF signals from the environment and converts them into AC voltage. 2. Impedance matching techniques to maximize the power transfer from the antenna to the the rectifier circuit. 3. Rectification of AC signals to convert the captured AC signal into DC power for storage. 4. Voltage multipliers to get usable magnitude for DC voltages.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Students should have taken ENGN 295D-01 Analog Circuits and Applications and/or ENGN/PHYS 207 Electrical Circuits.

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/30/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/8/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 6 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 3

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Paul Aiken (email: paiken@wlu.edu)

Applied Memory and Decision Making Lab (AMDM Lab) (Nydia Ayala)

On campus: this project is scheduled to begin on 6/23/2025 and run for 6 weeks, finishing on 8/1/2025.

Project Description

Eyewitness misidentifications have played a role in approximately 70% of the wrongful conviction cases that have been overturned on the basis of DNA evidence. This lab focuses on evaluating how the behaviors witnesses exhibit (e.g., confidence, decision-making processes), can be used to predict the accuracy of an identification attempt. Summer Research Scholars will work on two distinct projects. The first involves a series of experiments on forensic object lineup procedures (vehicles) and the second investigates outside observers’ appraisals of eyewitnesses’ behaviors when presented with video recordings of lineup procedures. Throughout this experience, students will gain experience with stimuli generation, photo and video editing, programming experiments, and experimental methodology.

Apply now

Prerequisites

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

Special Comments

Project Information (subject to change)

Estimated Start Date: 6/23/2025

Estimated End Date: 8/1/2025

Estimated Project Duration: 6 weeks

Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: Nydia Ayala (email: nayala@wlu.edu)

US Economic History research on two projects related to (1) maternal health and (2) marriage laws (Katharine Shester)

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

Project Description

This position offers students the opportunity to work as a research assistant on two projects at different stages of completion. “Maternal Mortality and the Baby Boom” examines the effects of changes in maternal mortality rates on fertility and family formation during the mid-twentieth century. “The Effect of Blood Test Requirements and Marriage Rates in the US” explores the potential effects of state-imposed blood test requirements for marriage on marriage rates in the early to mid-twentieth century. Scholars will engage in a wide range of research activities, including finding, reading, and synthesizing relevant literature from related fields; locating historical documents and data sources; entering, cleaning, and organizing datasets; creating publication-quality tables and figures; and doing preliminary empirical analysis. Students will be involved in all steps of the research process, gaining hands-on experience in empirical research methods and data management. This position will also provide valuable training in Stata, a widely used statistical software in economics and social sciences.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Students should have already completed ECON 203 (Econometrics).

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: Katharine Shester (email: shesterk@wlu.edu)

Hyperpluralism: The Composition of Organized Interests in the Age of the Internet and Social Media (Brian Alexander)

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

Project Description

Social media and the internet have changed the nature of special interests and coalitions politics. This project develops a unique data set of organized interests in the era of social media, allowing for empirical tests of the changing nature of power in American politics. Specifically, the data set accounts for the formation of online political coalitions, including the issues, types of activity, and numbers of participants. This data can then be compared to historical data on traditional interest groups and political coalitions.

Apply now

Prerequisites

A student should be comfortable with statistical analysis (e.g. multiple regression, a statistical package such as STATA or R) and they should have completed at least some course work in social network analysis. This project will require regressions, SNA, and a desire to improve in using these tools. The project will require very intensive data gathering and subsequent analysis.

Special Comments

The project is part of my book project, where I am developing a theory of political power called “hyperpluralism.” The student will be a partner in developing empirical evidence and proofs of this theory. I will rely on your thoughtfulness and ambition to contribute to this research, which has the potential to be groundbreaking, if we’re successful.

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: Hybrid

Contact Information: Brian Alexander (email: alexanderb@wlu.edu)

Florence As It Was (George Bent)

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

Project Description

This project will call upon students to research and write annotations about works of art and architecture produced in Florence from 1300 to 1500. Students will then code these annotations so they may be embedded into 3D models of those objects.

Apply now

Prerequisites

Only students who have taken art history courses at W&L will be considered.

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: 2

Research Location: On campus

Contact Information: George Bent (email: bentg@wlu.edu)