Undergraduate Research

College of Charleston student Ally Olejar, an astrophysics major from Raleigh, N.C., is spending her summer developing a method to produce computer simulations of black hole accretion disks. Her mentor is Astronomy Professor Chris Fragile and they are funded through a Summer Undergraduate Research with Faculty (SURF) grant. A black hole accretion disk is a structure formed by material (gas, plasma, etc.) in relatively close orbit around a black hole. Accretion disks of black holes are not just theoretical constructs; they are how we identify many black holes, as these are visible, whereas the black holes themselves are not. The best way to gain a better understanding of black hole accretion disks is to computationally model them using highly advanced computer programs. Much work has been done to simulate these systems accurately, but there has yet to be a code developed that enables a simulation that includes all the physics of a black hole accretion disk.

Geology Professor Vijay Vulava and College of Charleston Geology Major Lydia Nickolas earned a summer SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Funding) for their project entitled "Using Water Isotopes and Dissolved Organic Matter to Delineate Groundwater-surface Water Interactions in Low-gradient Watersheds." Southeastern coasts are among fastest growing communities in the United States. In Charleston area, urban land use has increased over 250% between 1973 and 1994 and is predicted to increase by another 200% by 2030. The resulting urbanization and demand for land has led to significant alteration of coastal watersheds and degradation of associated fresh and estuarine water body health. Compounding this problem are the many effects of climate change-related extreme weather patterns -- e.g., large floods caused by moderate storms -- that could have grave consequences for the ecology and people that live here. The overarching goal of our research program is to understand how climate change related precipitation in coastal environments affects the landscape. Over the past four years, we have established a watershed monitoring research site in the Francis Marion National Forest to study how rainfall is processed by watersheds and how streams form in the aftermath of a storm. We have also developed preliminary conceptual models of how rainwater is processed using chemical ion tracer techniques. These conceptual models will serve as a baseline from which to forecast the impact of urbanization and climate change on coastal watersheds. In this study, we propose to use stable isotopes of water and natural organic matter present to improve the conceptual model. These chemical analytes are expected to be transformed as rainwater is infiltrates soil and become part of the groundwater-surface water system. This information will help us develop a more rigorous model that could be applies in all coastal watersheds.

Forget heading home for the holidays, David Kutai Weiss '12 spent his winter break at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, simulating a visit to the Red Planet. For two weeks, the College of Charleston senior and his research colleagues lived in a tiny shelter in Utah in the middle of nowhere. Per simulation rules, going outside required them to don space suits and exit via an airlock. Travel across the desert could take place only on all-terrain vehicles, which are the closest equivalent to NASA Rovers. Maybe most taxing of all the rules, though, were the dietary restrictions: For the entire stay, Weiss and his crew could only eat dried food. One day, Weiss expects to make similar sacrifices during a real visit to Mars. As of Fall 2012, he'll begin a Ph. D. program in planetary geosciences at Brown University, with an ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut. At the College of Charleston, Weiss gained valuable preparatory experience for such an endeavor by lining up two summer internships with NASA and by taking a NASA mission design class taught by Professor Cass Runyon. During this class, Weiss and his College of Charleston classmates partnered with students in Alabama and France to design a hypothetical $800 million space mission. Their proposal was so good, Runyon gushes, judges were wondering if it was made not by students, but by professional scientists and engineers. Weiss credits the College of Charleston's geology department for giving him a strong science foundation as he pursues an advanced degree and his professional goals. Following his return from the Mars Desert Research Station, he was able to prepare maps at the College that pinpointed water sources in the desert and terrain that was friendly to Rovers. These same experiments, he explained, will likely be repeated by astronauts that land on Mars in the coming decades. And, if Weiss gets his way, he'll be among those pioneering men and women.

Honors College student Pooja Patel -- "Investigation of Threshold Energy Absorption for HPPH-mediated PDT in Pancreatic Cancer Cells" -- Our research group has been working in collaboration with physicians at Mayo Clinic to develop a method of drug and light dosimetry for photodynamic therapy (PDT). We are studying Panc-1 pancreatic cancer cells with the photosensitizer 2-[1-Hexyloxyethyl]-2-devinyl Pyrophenophorbide-a (HPPH) and 670-nm light. The goal of my project is to determine whether there is a threshold of absorbed light for irreversible destruction of photosensitized Panc-1 pancreatic cancer cells. The cells are loaded with 2 mg/kg of HPPH and 670-nm light is applied at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 J/cm2. Clonal assays are used to determine cell viability, accounting for cell death by both necrosis and apoptosis. After plotting the light absorption against cell viability, a threshold may be determined. This project will introduce a new set of data, which will be beneficial for the field of pancreatic cancer and Photodynamic Therapy.

Psychology major Branden Abushanab and Professor Anthony Bishara conducted a study to determine if the order of practicing music impacts retention. They considered two practice orders: fixed-order in which a person practices a particular task before switching to the next task and random-order in which a person randomly alternates two or more tasks. The purpose of this project was to determine whether fixed-order or random-order practice leads to better memory retention for piano playing and whether or not participants' judgment of learning during acquisition accurately predicts their retention 2 days later. More than 30 teams of College of Charleston students and faculty mentors conducted research this past summer as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research with Faculty (SURF) grant program. Teams investigated everything from pollution effects on the Lowcountry ecosystem to the revitalization of arts and finding an anti-cancer agent for prostate cancer. Every summer, the College awards up to $6,500 to SURF grant recipients, and the student is expected to work 40 hours a week for 10 weeks. The culmination of the research is participation in the college-wide "Celebration of Summer Engagement", which will is held annually in August. They are also required to submit a written project summary for public dissemination and are encouraged to submit results to regional, national and international publications.

A College of Charleston research team has developed Monterey Mirror, a new interactive music performance system with artificial intelligence capabilities. The Monterey Mirror is an electronic music generator, powered by computer programming, that mirrors a performer and takes the place of a human in a live performance. Like all mirrors, it reflects back aspects of the performer, so that the performer can objectively hear what others hear. It is different from a recording, in that it does not repeat musical material verbatim, but instead captures deeper patterns and makes them apparent. Monterey Mirror has been developed with funding from the National Science Foundation secured through computer science professor Bill Manaris. This spring, world-renowned composer and College of Charleston music professor Yiorgos Vassilandonakis used Monterey Mirror to compose a new piece for a mixed "ensemble" that consists of two human performers and two Monterey Mirror systems (one per performer). The Monterey Mirrors learn from the human performers and play back aesthetically similar musical variations. Vassilandonakis and Manaris along with Dana Hughes, a graduate student in the computer science department, just returned from presenting Monterey Mirror at the 2011 Congress on Evolutionary Computation. The Congress is one of the leading international events in the area of evolutionary computation.

College of Charleston students discover history on the College's research plantation during an archaeological field school.

Biology Professor Eric McElroy works with a Ph.D. student from Australia and an undergraduate College of Charleston student to study performance in marine organisms -- specifically the Southern Flounder and Blue Crab. Find out how fighting and pinching ability affect the species.

College of Charleston Professor Justin Wyatt and biochemistry major John Coward are further developing a novel anticancer agent focusing on prostate cancer using a compound derived from the antibiotic cytosporone E. This continues research that Wyatt and fellow scientists have been working on to develop new small chemotherapy drugs. This project is funded through the College's Summer Undergraduate Research with Faculty program. SURF grant recipients are awarded up to $6,500 and the student is expected to work 40 hours a week for 10 weeks. The culmination of the research is participation in the college-wide "Celebration of Summer Engagement."

Professor Erik Sotka and students research the effects of an invasive seaweed on the Lowcountry.

These first-semester College of Charleston students recently performed Terry Riley's avant-garde 1964 composition, "In C" on their laptop computers. Each student was enrolled in both Music Appreciation (MUSC 131) and Computer Science (CSCI 180) courses taught by faculty members Blake Stevens and Bill Manaris.