Students look at a poster for their summer vacation independent research project.Brooke Delarocco/The Quadrangle
by Brooke Delarocco, staff writer
Manhattan College Summer Research Scholars gathered at Kelly Commons to discuss their research and celebrate their discoveries on a variety of topics.
A select group of students were selected to advance their research proposals over the summer. After months of research, each student visually and verbally expressed their findings and why they were important.
The ceremony began with remarks from Dr. Geralda M. Shields, dean of the School of Technology and Design at the City Polytechnic Institute of New York. She has had many mentors herself over the years, so she felt she needed to share some advice she once received from one.
“He said, ‘When you think about research, think about how your research produces practical science,'” Shields said. “Because it’s not just about publishing research for research’s sake. It’s about putting a book on a shelf and being able to say, ‘I did this.’ I did the research. ” The job of an academic is to have a positive impact on society. ”
In addition to leaving her students with advice, she lavished praise on the work they completed over the summer. As the room was filled with mostly undergraduate researchers, she encouraged them to continue her research and learning.
“Research shows that students benefit from research experiences, which promote persistence in degree and graduate study,” Shields said. “…In particular, undergraduate research has been shown to be particularly effective in increasing student retention. [students] And it typically includes career paths for people who are not represented in their industry. ”
A wide range of research themes were gathered from all divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation. Mimi Lopez, her third year student at MC, studied the impact of social and emotional education practices in today’s schools. She was able to speak with three state Teacher of the Year award winners and gather data from them to support her findings. As stated in the poster, “building relationships and community, self-management/coping strategies, and self-reflection” were her three key practices that Lopez found as an integral part of her learning.
“I hope all this information will help teachers become better educators,” Lopez said. “And Manhattan College’s education programs will know how to incorporate social and emotional learning into their education.”
Irish step dancer Emily Grace took a different approach to her research project when looking deeper into lower limb injuries in Irish dance. As a member of the dance community, she feels underrepresented in her injury research and wanted to do her own research.
“I’m a dancer,” Grace said. “I’ve been dancing since I was 6 years old. I’m also an exercise science major, so I talk a lot about injuries, but it’s always related to basketball and soccer.”
She was immediately interested in the topic as she has tied so much of her life to dance and still competes as an Irish step dancer.
“The problem with Irish dancing is that when you take all the jumps and land, your heels don’t touch the floor, which is very unnatural for the human body,” Grace says. “That sends shock through the ankles, knees and lower legs.”
Her key findings show that the top five injuries seen in Irish step dancers are: “sesamoiditis/sesamoid fractures, fifth metatarsal fractures, tendon/ligament tears, foot/hip tendonitis, and stress fractures.” ” was found to be.
Fourth-year student Jack Griffin focused his research on developing an “inexpensive mobile app for measuring PT INR.” PT INR essentially measures how fast or slow your blood clots, and Griffin’s goal was to make the process of testing this faster for patients. Often people who take medications such as warfarin need to have these tests done weekly or biweekly, and people who are in the emergency room may need to take tests every hour. .
“These devices are very expensive and may not be readily available in low-resource settings, such as rural clinics or countries where these devices are not available,” Griffin said. “The plan for this app is to be a stand-in for point-of-care devices.”
With a well-developed design, Griffin was able to measure and test a blood sample, plug this information into a simple mathematical formula, and derive results in about a minute and a half. He is still working on making this the most efficient product possible.
This topic is very close to Griffin’s heart, which is why he decided to take on the challenge.
“My late grandfather was taking a lot of blood-thinning drugs until he died from COVID-19 two years ago,” Griffin said. “I always like to think about how I can help people with my projects and what I do. I mean, this is something that me and my mom have actually thought about and that we can actually do. , we could ultimately help them.”
The level of research that was celebrated was immense. Mr. Shields left the stage offering encouragement to both current and future scholars.
“Every opportunity is beneficial,” Shields said. “…and I’m just saying that because it’s okay if the line isn’t straight, that’s okay. And as part of your undergraduate studies, you get the experience to decide ‘where do we go next?’ .”