Projects 2024

Investigation of Societal Development in Ecuador and other Bolivarian Countries through an...

Information: The project aims to conduct a comprehensive exploration of the Ecuadorian musical diaspora, particularly focusing on its evolution and cultural impact within the New York/New Jersey area, while also delving into the contributions of Luis Humberto Salgado. The methodology includes an extensive literature review, archival research using local newspapers to trace migration and musical evolution, interviews with Ecuadorian cultural organizations and musicians, and a focused study on Salgado's work. The purpose of this project is to bring it to the Rutgers community and the greater New Brunswick community.; Brandon Mejia (Information Technology & Informatics); Kathleen Lopez (Associate Professor, History; Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies) & Robert Ramos (Instructor, Latino and Caribbean Studies)

Investigating Incidental Urban Nature and Its Reasons for Being

Information: The proposed research is the beginning of a long-term project that will investigate sites of human-ecological interaction that are often called abandoned, derelict, neglected, empty, or wasted spaces. Rather than treat them as "empty" or "wasted", the project takes these sites seriously as productive spaces which have been left derelict by prevailing governmental and administrative policy frameworks and imaginaries, but which remain active, productive, and valuable for humans and non-humans who operate outside of dominant frameworks.; Avery Groves (Geography), Initha Selvaumar (Environmental Studies & Cognitive Science), Kyle Raymundo (Information Technology and Informatics), Nick Furnari (Geography) & Sarah Ahmad (Undeclared); Nathan Gabriel ( Associate Teaching Professor, Geography)

Investigating the Interactions Between Microplastics and Human Cells

Information: In the 2023-2024 academic year, I was incredibly grateful to receive support from the Interdisciplinary Research Program on my project “Characterizing Nanoplastic Interactions with Biological Materials.” For the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year, I would like to continue work on this project, engaging a new group of undergraduate students on micro and nanoplastic research. Thanks to the funding in the previous year, we have established how to generate micro and nanoplastics, visualize them under a microscope, and describe their interactions with our cheek cells. We have done this on dried slides, observing a static interaction between the cheek cells and the microplastics.; Naomi Gallic (Cell Biology and Neuroscience), Onyeka Okoye (Cell Biology and Neuroscience), & Riya Patel (Public Health); Cassandra Nelson (Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Exercise and Sport Science)

A Comprehensive Approach to Brain Radiation Therapy

Information: Radiation therapy plays a pivotal role in cancer treatment. Doctors use different levels of radiation to target cancer cells in the body and effectively treat the cancer. Our research would focus on the different processes of radiation therapy in the brain. We would work to build a treatment planning system in an app that models radiation therapy in the brain, and potential complications that could arise from treatment. This app would equip doctors with the tools to make quick calculations and insights into potential treatment plans.; Aidan Beelitz (Computer Science), Kaya Canikligil (Cell Biology & Neuroscience), Scott Hiltner (Physics) & Tyler Matsumoto (Computer Science); Amitabh Lath (Professor, Physics & Astronomy) & Chingyun Cheng (Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology)

How you say the meaning you convey: Investigating the language of headlines and events

Information: There are countless ways to describe any given situation, and sometimes differences in phrasing can greatly impact the message we convey. Consider, for example, a situation in which a painting in a museum is missing. One might truthfully say (1) (active voice), or (2) (passive voice), or (3) (passive voice with an optional agent phrase). (1) Someone stole the painting. (2) The painting was stolen. (3) The painting was stolen by a thief. All three sentences mean roughly the same thing: there was a theft of a piece of artwork, and some person or other committed it. But subtle differences in these sentences influence the information brought into focus—in particular in how much attention is placed on the person responsible ((1) v. (3)), and whether they’re even mentioned at all (as in (2)). These differences, in turn, can shape how we think about a situation, how we encode it in our memory, and how we remember and recount the event later on. This issue may seem inconsequential when we’re imagining an art heist, but what about when we’re conveying messages to the general public about crime rates, vaccination and immigration policies, Supreme Court decisions, and election results—all pressing issues in this very moment.; Alexandria Kenney (Journalism and Media Studies), Isabel Holland (Philosophy), Mukul Ramesh (Computer Science), Samantha Fornini (Linguistics) & Vachagan Melikian (Computer Science); Kristen Syrett (Professor, Linguistics) and Shannon Bryant (Post-Doctoral Associate, Cognitive Science)

IRT Projects

Projects

Projects 2024 - 2025

Investigation of Societal Development in Ecuador and other Bolivarian Countries through an...

Investigating Incidental Urban Nature and Its Reasons for Being

Investigating the Interactions Between Microplastics and Human Cells

A Comprehensive Approach to Brain Radiation Therapy

How you say the meaning you convey: Investigating the language of headlines and events