“But what I wanted to do – or encourage them to do – is to eliminate those walls between silos and develop their academic interests and ideas, cutting across different disciplines so that the innovation and discovery can happen,” said Yusuke Yamani, Ph.D. associate professor in psychology.
By Kelsey Kendall

Research is not just for graduate students and Ph.D.s. at Old Dominion University. Undergraduate students are encouraged to get involved in research – whether for a class or independently – that helps them gain hands-on experience in their fields of study and take part in the innovative work coming out of the University.

Junior Eleanor Brodine first got involved in research after connecting in her sophomore year with Danika Pfeiffer, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Speech-Language Pathology. As a speech-language pathology student, Brodine has been able to do both paid and volunteer work in Dr. Pfeiffer’s lab, looking into how professionals can collaborate to better address the needs of preschoolers with developmental disabilities.

“I feel like it’s given me so much insight into what is in the field than when I was just doing the classes,” Brodine said.  “I’ve gotten to be a part of multiple studies and look at the flexibility and how versatile speech-language pathology is. There are so many more doors that I had never even considered and now I am considering them.”

The Perry Honors College’s Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship brings together honors students from across the University to conduct research as a class. This year, Yusuke Yamani, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology and the previous interim associate dean for the Perry Honors College, taught the class that included honors students with backgrounds in medicine, engineering and astrophysics and led them in studying “next-generation transportation” from the human factors perspective.

“You might see that many undergraduate researchers or students are kind of siloed in their own labs or in the department,” Dr. Yamani said. “But what I wanted to do – or encourage them to do – is to eliminate those walls between silos and develop their academic interests and ideas, cutting across different disciplines so that the innovation and discovery can happen.”

The class was more than what Epiphany Smith, a sophomore in electrical engineering, had expected. She thought she would spend the semester writing and reading research papers – and she only signed up because she needed the honors class credit. By the end, she was inspired, excited and determined to seek out more opportunities.

Under Dr. Yamani’s guidance, Smith and her classmates were able to share ideas about how transportation technology and psychology fit together. He encouraged the students to engage in discussions rather than sit through lectures and had them interacting with professionals from agencies like NASA, the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board. They also got hands-on experience with various technologies used to study transportation human factors such as eye tracking and flight simulation in Dr. Yamani’s lab.

The idea was to identify ways to improve transportation so the average American can get the resources they need more efficiently and cost effectively.

In another ongoing multi-disciplinary research project, a senior design class in mechanical engineering has worked semester after semester to build and improve the design of a deep-sea robot capable of detecting methane seeps at a lower cost than traditional methods. Associate Professor Krishnanand Kaipa, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Cong Wei, Ph.D., in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have taken on supervisory roles in the project and allowed the students in each semester to learn and build off what the previous class accomplished.

“Overall, we give high-level milestones and, ‘This is what the robotic system has to achieve. Can you now brainstorm?’” Dr. Kaipa said. “They are really good at coming up with creative solutions.”

They collaborate with Professor Alexander Bochdansky, Ph.D., in the Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences.

Whether through class or independently, these research opportunities provide ODU’s students with an avenue to dive deeper into their fields of study, work with people in other disciplines to explore complex societal problems and even get experience presenting their research. These three ODU groups were at the Network for Undergraduate Research in Virginia’s inaugural Undergraduate Research Showcase, where their research was selected for poster presentations alongside teams from across the commonwealth. On Feb. 6, these students arrived in the Virginia State Capitol to share their work with their peers and even some legislators, answering questions and presenting their findings.

“I think in the long run, being able to communicate and building those connections with the different schools and the different types of people will definitely help us,” said Jim Lee, a senior in mechanical engineering and team leader for the deep-sea robot project. “When you have to explain something to someone, you have to have a good understanding of it, so I think it does help us as a group and as individuals.”

Here are the ODU research teams that participated in the showcase:

  • “Interprofessional Collaboration in Early Childhood Settings: A Scoping Review:” Eleanor Brodine and faculty mentor Danika Pfeiffer, Ph.D.
  • “Next-Generation Transportation: A Course-Based Exploratory Approach:” Stacy Funches, Chandler Holeman, Max McKey, Ethan Skees, Epiphany Smith, Alvin Spruill, Holden Tatum, Jacob VanSparrentak, Zia Yandoc, and faculty mentor Yusuke Yamani, Ph.D.
  • “Design and Depth Tracking of a Robotic Quadrotor-Float for Exploration of Methane Seeps:” Jim Lee, Dylan DiBari, Earl Gomez, Jimmy Stephens, Tea Rumple, Rob Stuart, Alexander Bochdansky and faculty mentors Cong Wei, Ph.D. and Krishna Kaipa, Ph.D.