Calling all students interested in conducting research!
Kean Research Days is a campus-wide event that includes faculty and student research and the ability to show creative presentations.
This annual event provides students the opportunity to present their preliminary or completed research and creative activities to the campus community.
It was held in the Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) Building and it was a two-day event. Presentation formats included posters, oral presentations, panel discussions and exhibits.
This year President Dawood Farahi visited the event looking at different presentations. Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeffrey Toney was around to present the Researcher of the Year award to Naomi Horowitz, School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences.
The event was broken into three categories: keynote speaker, faculty presentations and student oral presentations and posters.
The keynote was held on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 and was showcased by Hannah Donovan with her presentation on Souls and Machines: Designing the Future of Content. Students and guests packed in to see Donovan at 9:30 a.m.
"I use the word design very loosely because it's really just a way for us to express ourselves whether we're working in technology, whether we're developing, whether we're writing copy or if we are making things for other people," she said. "Design thinking is a big part of what we do when we invent the future. It's a discipline that allows us to think beyond what exists today and imagine something new."
Donovan is a design and product leader based in Brooklyn. She has been building consumer-facing experiences in music, entertainment and media for over a decade and speaks about her work internationally.
"I design for desires not needs. Content without context is meaningless, content without connection isn't relevant and content without perspective has no feeling. When we actually know what we want there is context, connection and perspective," said Donovan.
Aside from the lovely presentation by Donovan, faculty presentations were in the making. There were 10 presentations by many influential staff from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Dr. John Burke, College of Education, presented "A Preference for Simple versus Complex Stimuli: A Possible Precursor to a Pivotal Disturbance in Autism."
Dr. Vikas Grover and Dr. Mahchid Namazi, Nathan Weiss Graduate College, presented "Preschool Speech Language Screenings: A Faculty-Student-Community Partnership."
Dr. Donald Marks and Dr. Jennifer Block-Lerner, Nathan Weiss Graduate College, presented "Rendezvous with Rhetoric: Recontextualizing (and Reconceptualizing) Diagnosis in Behavioral Health Practice."
Dr. David Joiner, a part of the New Jersey Center for Science, Technology and Mathematics (NJCSTM) presented "World of Data: Using Unity Game Engine for Scientific Visualization."
Dr. Jonathan Mercantini, Dr. C. Brid Nicholson, William Schroh and Rachel Goldberg, College of Liberal Arts, presented "Alexander Hamilton at Liberty Hall."
Dr. Kai Wang, College of Business and Public Management, presented "Crowd-sourced Idea Generation: The effect of exposure to an original idea."
Frank J. Esposito, History; Dennis B. Klein, History; Sue Gronewold, History; Gilbert Kahn, Political Science; Brid Nicholson, History and Isabella Costa, the Masters of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (MAHGS) student, presented a panel called "Are Millennials Concerned About Genocide?"
Dr. Paul Croft, College of Natural, Applied and Health Sciences, presented "Climate Change in NJ."
Craig Konyk, Michael Graves College, presented "Digital Hand Skills Toward Enhanced Productivity."
Dr. Joyoung Ha, Bridget Lepore and Dr. Julia Nevarez with moderator Dr. Karin Beck presented a panel called "Assessment Update: Exploring Assessment of “Active Citizenship."
Dr. Ha presented examples from the School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Lepore dressed grading verses assessing and Dr.Nevarez used examples from sociology to address why it is important that students understand the need to be active citizens.
"There is a reason to be a part of the alumni organization, because it's connectivity and it helps graduating and students who have graduated," said Dr. Ha.
When doing their panel the speakers had many points to make.
"It is important to have alumni because you have a group of peers," said Dr. Nevarez.
Student poster presentations were on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Princewell Agbontane, a graduate studying biotechnology, presented his poster on stress and anxiety. The purpose of the research was to analyze the effects of stress and anxiety on college students in comparison to memory loss.
Carla Casal, Abidemi Olaoye and Stephanie Baron presented their poster on using games to increase student interest in computer science.
"We taught teachers games so they could teach their students as well," said Olaoye, a senior studying information technology.
Lindsey Bodnar, Diana Habib, Lira LLolla, Sarah Mack and Katarina Mladenovic presented their poster for GC-MS Profiling of Ailanthus altissima and Simarouba glauca leaves and bark.
Mirna Giron and Quintin Ferraris presented their poster on GC-MS and UHPLC-HRMS Analysis of Aechmea Magdelanae Rhizome against E. coli and S. aureus.
Hederlyn Martinez, a senior studying environmental biology, presented her poster on engaging students on renewable energy.
"We want to educate as much as possible because renewable energy is helping the environment," said Martinez.
Roanne Jimenez with the help of Olu-Owatade Jemima presented Glioblastoma Modulation of Signaling in Microglia in which Jemima had some words to share.
"Stopping cancer cells is very important," Jemima said.
Kevin Pak and Marina Faustin presented a poster on the synthesis of Amide Compounds as Potential Inhibitors of CCR1.
"We synthesize compounds to act as CCR1 antagonist in hopes of preventing cancer," said Pak.
Yassel Hernandez, John Mikhail and Julia Annuzzi presented their poster on Headspace and Liquid Auto Sampler Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analysis and Profiling of Moringa Oleifera for Pharmacological Activity.
"The plant does antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal and it has properties that can help with illnesses," said Annuzzi.
Dihzae Bailey, a freshman studying architecture, explained why he participated in Research Days.
"I wanted to do Research Days because since the architecture program is a new program and such, no one wanted to take the initiative to actually go outside of the program instead of just designing. So I wanted to take the initiative and be the person to for architecture," Bailey said. "I think Research Days is important for everyone because you can learn from your peers."
Throughout the STEM Building, there were student posters from the College of Education, College of Liberal Arts, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, NJCSTM, College of Business and Public Management, Michael Graves College and Nathan Weiss Graduate School.
Student oral presentations were also on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Presenting Chao Chen, Juan Iglesias and Xiaoding Lin explained that social engineering can lead to cyber attacks.
Anterior Cerebral Artery Stroke by Kristie Reilly and Laura Lorentzen involved a case study developed by a student team in an undergraduate neuroscience class to link functional brain anatomy to cardiovascular attack in a teaching style format.
Water Impacts: Capacity in the Kaleidoscope of Society at Kean University by Blair Gomes in which an explanation of water capacity was shown through data, maps and other artifacts.
Climate Change Analysis, Modeling, Assessment and Policy for New Jersey by Allison Tulli, Arnoldo Larasiria, Davina Campbell-Washington and David Olivo in which they studied climate change through analysis, modeling and assessment when considering policy implications.
Climate Change and Encroachment: The Great Swamp and the Environmental and Sustainability Science Movements in N.J. by Naomi Horowitz in which she studied the Great Swamp region of N.J.
Using Technology to Support Social Skills in Children with Autism had students Emily Jurcsek, Wesley Williams and Kalanie Vega examine social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using traditional training skills and computer programs.
We Are US: A True Cultural Mosaic by Yasmine Abid, Shammi Ahmed, Gabriel S. Alexander, Jordan Bardzik, Debra Frost, Christy Ha, Lauren Heteji, Jayse Lewis, Leanne Manna, Brandon Perez and Emily Saltysiak in which a senior seminar in art history wrote a collection of essays analyzing artworks within current national politics.
Evaluation of Monoculture and Polyculture Farming Techniques in China by Malcolm Edeen and Naomi Horowitz in which research was taken from Yun Lianghu's farm to determine which farming techniques have advantages.
N.J. Fun! by Fabiola Marque, Hana Park and Hoyer Young in which they investigated what they could fix within the community.
Impact of Global Warming by Marcy Arroyo, Kevin Sorensen and Filipe Feliciano in which their goal was to explain why global warming is important.
Life, Skills and Linguistics: The World War II Scrapbook by Jessica DiFranco, Leanne Manna and Angelina Lysenko in which they studied letters, newsletters, photographs, newspapers and transcripts from the World War II time period.
The event was eligible to all Kean University students who wanted to conduct original research, original data collection or creative work under the supervision of a Kean faculty member. Aside from individual work as well as team members were welcomed in the event.
Octavia Salas, a senior studying public relations, had a lot to say as an outsider looking into the event.
"I'm seeing so many topics and different interests and subjects. I like the information and pictures," Salas said. "It's cool because it is my first Research Days."
Students interested in participating in Kean Research Days next year can visit www.research.kean.edu.
