Students Partnering with Faculty (SpF)

 Investigating mRNA mutations and their effect on germ granule formation 
Matthew G. Niepielko, NJ Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics

Kean has University recently established the Center for Pandemic Research. SARS-CoV-2, the virus  responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is an RNA virus. Additionally, two vaccines that are approved  for use in the United States are mRNA-based vaccines. In this project, students will get hands-on  experiences in how to work with mRNA, which is extremely sensitive to environmental and experimental  conditions. In this project, both students will learn about mRNA structure, how mutations alter mRNA  function, how to work with mRNA, how to extract mRNA from cells, how to quantify mRNA, and how  we obtain the sequences from mRNA samples. Thus, this project will fulfil the mission of the newly  established Center for Pandemic Research while providing our Kean students with the experience and  expertise decided by biotechnology companies to battle this pandemic. 

Build a Nutrient Film Technique Hydroponic System and Compare it to the Deep Water Culturing Hydroponics in Lettuce Growing
Dongyan Mu, School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences

This project proposes to build a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) hydroponic system and then compare it with the Deep Water Culturing (DWC) hydroponics in growing lettuce. The project will include three steps:

1. Build a NFT hydroponic system and install it in the Science Building at Kean University.
2. Grow lettuce in two hydroponic systems (NFT and DWC) with wastes from fish as nutrients.
3. Compare lettuce yields, nutrient contents, resource use, human and environmental impacts in two systems.

Social Distancing Risk Assessment Monitoring: An AI Approach
Daehan Kwak, School of Computer Science and Technology

In the midst of COVID-19 and until it is contained, COVID-19 is unfortunately embedded as part of
our life. Many nations remain in a closed or semi-opened state and certain environments pose an
increased risk for the continuous spread of the virus. There is no doubt that physical interaction
provides a breeding ground for this virus. The WHO and CDC recommends wearing masks and social distancing to minimize the spread of the virus. While many cities are reopening cautiously now, businesses, workplaces, and public sectors rely on social distancing to remain open. However, there is a lack of solutions to monitor social distancing. In this study, we develop a Social Distancing Risk Assessment Monitoring (SDRAM) application using Computer Vision and Deep Learning to monitor, analyze, and evaluate social distancing practices in any environment such as, business, schools, workplaces, public sectors, or any enclosed/outdoor space, that has a camera. 

Migratory stopover and breeding ecology of passerines utilizing restored grassland and
landfill sites in the New Jersey Meadowlands
Cailin O’Connor Fitzpatrick, School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences

This project’s goals are to (1) determine the usefulness of historically contaminated reclaimed grassland  sites in the New Jersey Meadowlands as migratory stopover and breeding habitats for native wild birds, (2)  track migratory routes and potential areas of loss for avian species of conservation concern by applying  Motus radio-tracking nanotags to select species, and (3) fully train two Kean University students with the  unique skillset necessary to successfully operate a banding station while providing them with valuable field  experience and support. 

Online analytics and visualization on covid-19 pandemic
Ching-yu Huang, School of Computer Science and Technology

This project focuses on researching how to develop online tools that can visualize and automate the analysis of covid-19 pandemic data dynamic interaction with geographic, health, and environmental factors. The research combines three components – data collection, data analytics, and online visualization. Several programs will be implemented to automatically download the tweets, covid-19 related datasets, process and extract the important information, and save the data into a centralized database. Other datasets such as health and environmental factors will be manually downloaded from the open sources. Several data mining methods will be adopted to identify the outliers and relationships between datasets and conclude the impacts by joining them to perform the statistical analysis.

Enhancing Immersive Experiences of Asbury Park Boardwalk History
Edward Johnston, Robert Busch School of Design

The mission of this project is to empower Kean University students with the opportunity to  collaborate on innovative design research by enhancing immersive visualizations of various buildings  and structures that used to exist on the Asbury Park Boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Within  the design disciplines, students need to create experiences for public audiences in order to be  optimally prepared for the professional world. This project will further elevate Kean University’s  profile of being a center for research excellence in its promotion of the historic significance of the  Asbury Park Boardwalk and its appreciation among all audiences. 

Partnering with students and professionals to produce a new play, written by Jan Balakian, Dreams on Fire, set during the 2016 election, about college students, The Armenian Genocide, and epigenetics—the transmission of trauma across generations.
Jan Balakian, English Studies

Dreams on Fire is the first play to dramatize the relationship between college students, mental health, a grandmother, and epigenetics—the transmission of trauma across generations—through the Armenian Genocide. Director of new American plays, Joseph Megel, told me, “I have never seen a play about these issues.” As a professor of literature, playwriting, and of The Armenian Genocide for our graduate program in Holocaust and Genocide studies, my play connects every aspect of my work-- my teaching, scholarship, and my creative work. My new play takes mental health into a new direction. It is currently being considered by Yale’s Emerging Playwriting Contest and was workshopped last summer by the American Repertory Theater in San Francisco. 

Education on diabetic foot care: Addressing health disparities of an urban at-risk population through improved health management in self-care
Victor Michael Camacho, Department of Occupational Therapy

In 2020, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 34.1 million adult Americans, over 10% of the population, are currently living with diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed). Further, 88 million people have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes which equates to 1 in 3 Americans (CDC, 2020b). While the CDC did note an increased awareness of pre-diabetes in the past 10 years, the number of those unaware of their condition has remained high. Throughout the last decade, the number of diabetic and pre-diabetic individuals, as well as racial and ethnic minorities developing type II diabetes, has escalated dramatically. The CDC reports that as adults age, their susceptibility to developing diabetes increases. In adults aged 65 and older, the incidence of diabetes was found to be at 26.8% (CDC, 2020b). 

Psychological Resilience to Stress Among Early Childhood Teachers During COVID-19 
Jennifer Chen, School of Curriculum and Teaching

The goal of this research study is twofold: 1) investigating potential relationships among  teacher stress, teacher efficacy, teacher job satisfaction, and social support; and 2) testing the  extent to which these variables may be individually and collectively related to psychological  resilience among a national sample of early childhood teachers teaching in grades (preschool  through 3rd) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to contribute knowledge to the field  of education by examining an enduring issue confronting the teacher workforce: teacher stress.  The findings of this study will help inform educational and psychological interventions how best  to mitigate teacher stress, thereby enhancing the betterment of the teaching profession. After all,  early childhood teachers’ psychological well-being does affect their abilities to support young  children’s learning and development as well as the nature of their interaction with them (Buettner  et al., 2016; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Jeon, Buettner, & Grant, 2018; Zinsser, Christensen, &  Torres, 2016). Thus, if teachers are psychologically resilient to stress, they will likely be more  effective in their teaching, which will in turn, contribute to better learning and developmental  outcomes in young children. It is also conceivable that psychologically resilient teachers can  better serve as resilience models for their students and effectively teach them to be resilient to  stress in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Architecture and Design Students Envision the Post-COVID Built Environment
Denise Anderson & Craig Konyk, Michael Graves College

The goal of this proposal is to secure a Students Partnering with Faculty (SpF) grant to further develop  and support the projects proposed by Architecture and Graphic Design students as a result of the  Faculty Seed Grant, "A Kean MGC Post-Pandemic Design Think Tank." The mission of the Design Think  Tank is to explore how designers can prepare for the next pandemic by looking at it as a holistic and  human-centered design initiative and meeting the needs of people we are designing for. As an  interdisciplinary team of MGC students in Architecture, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, and Interior  Design programs, the project objective is to research the effects of the pandemic on the use of public  spaces and propose ameliorating design strategies for the built environment of the future. Students will  present their design concepts of the seed grant at Kean Research Days 2021. 

COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS OF DECOMPOSITION.
ANALYSIS OF THE STAGES OF DECAY THROUGH AN EVALUATION OF
THANATOLOGICAL PHENOMENA, INSECT ACTIVITY, MICROBIAL AND FUNGAL
PRESENCE
Maria Denise Gemmellaro, School of Natural Science/Biology

The goal of this study is to gain a comprehensive knowledge of decomposition which can will be incredibly  useful in the field of ecology, and even more important in the field of forensic science. Ecologically speaking, a decomposing body is nothing more than a rich but ephemeral ecosystem, which  can provide shelter and significant trophic resources for many taxa (Barton and Bump 2019). To truly  understand how nutrient recycling works in nature, it is essential to look at everything that plays a role  during decomposition; this type of knowledge has enabled ecologists to evaluate the richness of a given  ecosystem, to describe the ecosystem of certain groups and consequently assess habitat loss, species  displacement and biodiversity reduction, in order to develop conservation strategies.  From a forensic perspective, this information shines light on the major piece of evidence any crime of scene  could have (the body) and allows for a more accurate estimation of the circumstances of death, including  location, manner and time of death (Krinsky 2019). 

Research on Inclusiveness in Computer Science Education
Yulia Kumar & Juan Jenny Li, Computer Science

We are building an online platform to teach artificial intelligence (AI) to high school and college  students interested in this area for the purpose of potentially getting a degree in computer science and  eventually becoming professionals in this field. In particular, we are focusing on the young females, as  our school is affiliated with The Women in Computing (NCWIT) non-profit organization and we are  strong supporters of Inclusiveness of females in computer science research. Our faculty mentors have been involved in outreach, recruitment and mentorship of students from New  Jersey Schools for more than 10 years, but also teach AI to undergraduate and graduate students at Kean  University (Union, NJ). During the ongoing pandemic, the need for some sort of entity that could replace  the physical interaction between mentors and mentees became necessary and top priority. 

Using UAVs to Investigate the Impact of Abandoned Graphite Mines on Vegetation Growth
Joseph Sarnoski, School of Environmental and Sustainability Science

The goal of this project is to determine the impact of abandoned graphite mines on the health of nearby vegetation around the Kean University Skylands campus using aerial photography obtained by UAVs (drones). The area had been the site of various commercial mining operations from 1848-1931. The literature review could find no long term study that has been conducted around the sites, despite the knowledge that graphite mining creates numerous environmental issues, such as groundwater contamination and sinkholes. Though graphite itself is not harmful to the environment, the process and the abandoned mine could remain hazardous for many years to come. 

The person of the interviewer: Contextual behavioral science-informed oral history
Jennifer Block Lerner, Advanced Studies in Psychology & Abigail Perkiss, Department of History

Our main goal is to develop a training protocol for oral history practitioners. These resources will be grounded in CBS and also incorporate other trauma-sensitive perspectives (e.g., Gubi et al., 2018). Students in Kean’s Psy.D. program will collaborate with Dr. Abigail Perkiss, who has expertise conducting and training others in oral history. Once a training protocol is drafted, it will be shared with undergraduate students in Dr. Perkiss’ courses with significant oral history components. We are developing a pilot study this semester (spring 2021) to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the protocol for those students who are conducting an interview as part of HIST 4000: History of Disease. Feedback gleaned will further shape the training for investigation in a larger-scale trial during the 2021-2022 academic year.