Today concludes the first week of this year’s Young Scholars Program; the Michael B. Silevitch and Claire J. Duggan Center for STEM Education is delighted to welcome our 2024 cohort of scholars to campus!
The Young Scholars Program (YSP) is a free program that aims to provide rising high school seniors with the opportunity to enrich their educations and future careers through meaningful hands-on research and projects hosted by Northeastern University.
Our twenty-seven scholars spent this past week adjusting to a busy schedule, participating in team-oriented activities, and exploring each of their various labs across campus. This included presentations on key topics such as lab safety from Northeastern’s Office of Academic and Research Safety (OARS) and public safety from Northeastern’s Police Department (NUPD). As the YSPs are approaching their final year of high school, we’ve utilized morning homeroom to educate the scholars on such things as the CommonApp website, personal essays for college, and even had Northeastern’s Student Financial Services (SFS) offer a great insight on navigating the college financial aid process. Professor Najme Ebrahimi joined us for lunch on Wednesday, where she gave an insightful presentation on the “Next Generation of Smart Wireless Worlds and the Role of CHIP Act.” We also had the pleasure of learning about “Data and Management Science to Address Opioid Epidemic Crisis” from Professor Muhammad Noor E Alam and “Portable and Self-Cleaning Advanced Electro-Oxidation Systems for Distributed and Point-of-Use Water Treatment” from Muhammad Fahad (researcher in Akram Alshawabkeh’s lab). Thank you to all of our presenters!
Of course, the scholars met their faculty and graduate student mentors who helped them get accustomed to their labs and research projects. Their research ranges across many different topics of study within the College of Engineering*:
- ‘Healthcare Analytics,’ Muhammad Noor E Alam, Associate Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- ‘Portable and Self-Cleaning Advanced Electro-Oxidation Systems for Distributed and Point-of-Use Water Treatment,’ Akram Alshawabkeh, George A. Snell Professor of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering; Senior Vice Provost in the Office of the Provost; Director of PROTECT Superfund Research Center
- ‘Solar-Powered Phone Chargers,’ Mahshid Amirabadi, Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ‘Subharmonic Tags for Localization,’ Cristian Cassella, Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ‘In silico modeling of the dynamic assembly of disulfide-rich mucinous glycoprotein,’ Srirupa Chakraborty, Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry and Chemical Biology; Affiliated Faculty in Physics
- ‘Motivated learning in adolescence,’ Juliet Davidow, Assistant Professor in Psychology (*College of Science)
- ‘Testing the “Vascular Hypothesis” and Endothelial Glycocalyx Role in Alzheimer’s Disease,’ Eno Ebong, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering; Affiliated Faculty in Biology
- ‘Cyber Hardening of Additive Manufacturing,’ Xiaoning “Sarah” Jin, Associate Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
- ‘Decoding 6G Safety: A Look at Terahertz Radiation,’ Josep Jornet, Professor and Interim Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair; Associate Director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things
- ‘Data analytics in preterm birth research,’ David Kaeli, COE Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering; Program Director of Data Science; Affiliated Faculty in Bioengineering and Khoury College of Computer Sciences
- ‘Engineering microfluidics for human health applications,’ Abigail Koppes, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering; Affiliated Faculty in Bioengineering
- ‘Automatic Calibration for Improved Suppression of Interference Signals in Wireless Receivers,’ Marvin Onabajo, Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ‘Bones adaptation to mechanical load,’ Sandra Shefelbine, Associate Dean for Space and Special Initiatives in the Office of the Dean; Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Bioengineering
- ‘Distributed Connected-and-Autonomous Vehicle Navigation,’ Lili Su, Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
We also made time for a few hands-on Engineering Design Process activities! In the images seen below, the Young Scholars had a lot of fun working in pairs to build paper towers, competing against each other to test the success of their designs. They worked in larger groups to construct unique contraptions in an egg drop activity and were hosted by CoE’s Civil and Environmental Engineering to participate in an Earthquake Lab. The scholars continued to grow closer over lunch, bonding over their favorite spots to eat in Boston and sharing the progress made in their labs.
YSPs in the CEE Innovation Center are building their towers to test on the shake table.
YSPs working on their paper tower builds.
YSPs getting ready to deploy their egg drop contraptions off of the Columbus Garage ramp.
We wrapped up a successful week with a campus-wide scavenger hunt, splitting off into groups headed by each coordinator and racing to find the answer to each hint. We are so excited for the upcoming weeks and cannot wait to see what the YSP students will achieve this summer!
Co-Coordinator Angel’s scavenger hunt group posing in front of the mural “A World of Innocent Discovery” by Cedric Douglas.
