Student Research

What are you researching?

We are researching antimicrobial resistance and its prevalence on IUP campus and surrounding areas. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the process of bacterial adaptation, resulting in the creation of antibiotic resistant enzymes. Specifically, the enzymes produced by the bacteria we are researching are β-lactamase, which is produced to combat β-lactam antibiotics (e.g. penicillin). These antibiotic resistant genes make antibiotics, ineffective, in turn they are unable to kill the bacteria. Ultimately, the plan is to collect soil samples; test if the bacteria contain AMR, to delve into any potential causes; and determine preventative measures to lessen the abundance of AMR within the environment.

Why is it important?

This research is important as AMR poses a potential threat to modern day medicine. It takes years to produce new antibiotics: however, bacteria are constantly adapting. Between our antibiotics and their adaptivity, it is a constant back and forth. Furthermore, researchers worry that we will run out of effective antibiotics by 2050, causing the potential for the common cold to become deadly. To protect modern day medicine, it is crucial that this matter is researched and that a preventative measure is sought for.

What are you researching?

The overall goal of this project is to determine whether or not Mirtazapine (an a-typical anti-depressant) is capable of preventing relapse to the highly addictive drug- Methamphetamine.

The model used in this study is known as Conditioned Placement Preference (CPP). CPP consists of 4 distinct phases: Habituation, Conditioning, Extinction, and Reinstatement. During the Habituation phase, mice are allowed to explore the whole apparatus. Any mouse that shows an initial bias to either side of the apparatus will be excluded from the study. Phase 2, Conditioning is when mice receive either saline or methamphetamine (alternating) and are restricted to the corresponding side of the chamber. It is expected that at day 16, the post-Conditioning test will reveal that mice have a clear preference for the methamphetamine side of the chamber. During phase 3, Extinction, mice are split into control and experimental groups and receive either Mirtazapine or saline for 22 days. It is expected that by day 22, the mice will no longer show a preference for the Meth side. For the final phase, Reinstatement, mice are given a priming dose of methamphetamine and allowed to explore both sides of the apparatus. It is expected that the control group will show reinstatement of preference for the Meth side of the chamber.

If our hypothesis that Mirtazapine can prevent the reinstatement of preference for the Meth side of the chamber, the mice treated with Mirtazapine will not demonstrate a preference for the Meth side.

Why is it important?

Methamphetamine is one of the most highly abused drugs worldwide. Deaths resulting from overdose to this highly potent stimulant have become an increasing concern among healthcare professionals in the past decade. Currently, there is no known drug therapy option for individuals fighting the intense withdrawal symptoms associated with recovery from addiction to methamphetamine.

What are you researching?

Dr. Farnsworth and I worked with the Evergreen Conservancy (based in Indiana county) to analyze data from streams in Indiana county. The Evergreen Conservancy is a non-profit organization that focuses on the health of local streams as well as educating the community about environmental related disciplines. They have put in stream data loggers into 40+ streams in Indiana county that record temperature (Celsius), water level (M), as well as conductivity (converted into total dissolved solids (TDS) mg/L). For the past 12 years a data point has been taken every 15-30 minutes in each of these stream locations. The Evergreen Conservancy has provided us with this data to further analyze since it has been underutilized up into this moment. Dr. Farnsworth and I spent our summer learning python coding from scratch so we could more efficiently sort through data and analyze it for further use. We have gotten our code to remove outliers in the dataset as well as some pressure correction adjustments. This research will continue for the rest of my time as a student at IUP and will continue with other students for years to come.

Why is it important?

It is important to analyze these stream characteristics to help monitor our local streams. These characteristics can be important in other assessments regarding wildlife, recreational use, and other uses of the stream and how it can impact the community. Working with the Evergreen Conservancy is important to us because we are working directly with the community to help further educate others.

What are you researching?

For my research, I partnered with Commonplace Coffee to look at the caffeine concentration of one specific blend over the roast time. The blend we used was Yuki Minami, and there were 13 samples – one green bean and 12 minutes of roast time. We used a UV-Vis spectrophotometer to measure caffeine. We first had to create standards with our solvent (ethanol water) with known amounts of caffeine to give us an idea of how much caffeine we were measuring. To prepare the samples for testing, the beans were ground up and soaked in the solvent for a week. A vacuum filtration system was set up to extract the caffeine from the grounds. This liquid was then diluted appropriately to be within the realm of the standards.

Why is it important?

This research is important because it helped me grow my confidence in the lab, as well as gave me an insight of how research really works. There are ups and downs to research, and I was able to feel them both. I am applying to graduate programs for food science, and this was a kickstart to what I could be doing with a degree in food science. This research also showed me the possibilities of what can be done in research. The research I performed was only a small portion of what could have been done/what can be done with this specific set of coffee beans.

What are you researching?

The goal of this project was to scan the internet for services that were either potentially vulnerable or had known vulnerabilites. Software nowadays is incredibly complex and can often carry vulnerabilties for many years before they are discovered and exploited by attackers. These vulnerabilities can impact mission critical scenarios, like hospitals, that commonly run on old and unpatched software.

Why is it important?

Many people don't update their software because their existing setup "just works". Support deadlines are willfully ignored, as long as their services continue to work. The goal of this project was to find vulnerable installations and inform them of the impact that their outdated system can and will have on them and their users.

What are you researching?

I am researching if transgender athletes have any legal protections, especially focusing on Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, today. Doing it objectively, I wish to see where the law stands with gender identity and the law. Gender identity combines privacy, personability, and expression into one when the law attempts to interpret it and make legislation. Putting Title IX into the mix also adds an element as legal protections originally made for cisgender women in sports are now under question as to whether it fully encompasses transgender athletes as well. This research was done primarily by reading direct source material from various court cases at state-by-state levels and looking at legal interpretations through various academic scholars in political science.

Why is it important?

This research is important because there are approximately 1.5 million transgender people living in the United States. As this is a sizeable number of people, researching the current legal protections they have or do not have is vital to these people. It also allows us to see where this current hot topic could go in the future federally.

What are you researching?

My research aimed to explore the causes and characteristics of abnormalities and anomalies in Internet of Things (IoT) networks using Federated and Centralized Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The research was also used to explore edge based IoT sensors implementations and how well each algorithm was able to detect anomalies with them.

Why is it important?

• Privacy matters and is typically lost when training large AI models
• Federated Machine Learning helps to ensure privacy when training
• With further research and development can be used to better study areas of healthcare and security that were previously blocked
  
  

What are you researching?

My research involves the use of Generative Adversarial Networks, which is a machine learning framework that is used as an approach to generative artificial intelligence, that processes images through a discriminator until the images processed soon become a certain percentage similar to the original images. In the case of my research, I am utilizing Generative Adversarial Networks to denoise an image, by having the image run through the generator multiple times until a conclusion is made. The image will then be compared to the original image and determine the effectiveness of the generator at different noise intensities at different trial levels, also known as epochs.

Why is it important?

This is important because this allows for further research into the concept of denoising images into a relatively original state by utilizing deep learning and artificial intelligence.

What are you researching?

In rural areas across the country, music departments of various schools tend to form unique communities with other schools in the area through various activities. For many rural communities, musical events are highlights within and outside of the school music community.

One such community is in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, where, despite its small population, band programs thrive. Bands in the area form a community of practice in which they perform at events, participate in trips, and often interact with each other. This project reveals what causes these communities of practice to form, important pillars of these communities, and how they benefit the music programs that participate.

Why is it important?

Despite over half of counties in the US being determined as rural, there is a severe lack of research into the music programs of these schools. Often if any music research is done, it is conducted in a rich suburban school, but rural schools have a completely different culture and different tendencies. This project shows one of the unique parts of rural education and shows that it can be beneficial.