Community Flood Risk Assessment from Rising/Surging Seas Project
Kevin Kupietz, Elizabeth City State University
Globally 634 million people, 10% of the world's population, live in coastal areas less than 10 meters above sea level. According to 2010 census data, 123 million people, 39% of the United States population, live in coastal counties with an estimated increase to this number by 8% in the 2020 census. As natural disasters have been seen to increase in frequency and severity in the past five years coupled with expected sea rises from climate change it is important that anyone involved with the safety and resiliency planning of their organization/community have an understanding of how to scientifically assess risk from flooding in order to mitigate and recover from the effects. This project allows students the ability to develop skills to utilize computer modeling systems and to apply the data to real world communities in examining risk to structures as well as different groups in the community.

Synthesis of the Intermediate of a Catalytic Reaction: An NHC-Stabilized, First-Row Transition Metal Complex
Meng Zhou, Lawrence Technological University
The advanced synthesis laboratory course object allows students to study the synthesis, purification, and characterizations of a new diamagnetic organometallic complex of a first-row transition metal. The air-stable complex is stabilized by an N-heterocyclic carbene spectator ligand. It also bears an actor ligand and therefore, is potentially a reactive intermediate of a catalytic reaction. The synthesis of a reactive intermediate is the key to elucidate the mechanism of catalysis. The instructor chooses the first-row transition metal and the actor ligand based on his or her interests. The CURE starts from an NHC-ligated complex that does not bear this actor ligand but is otherwise similar. In our CURE, an anion ligand-replacement reaction was used to install the actor ligand, but an instructor may choose other approaches. The students will evaluate their results by standard spectroscopic analyses using UV-vis, FT-IR, and proton NMR (60 MHz or above) analysis.

Design2Data
Ashley Vater, University of California-Davis
The D2D program is centered around an undergraduate-friendly protocol workflow that follows the design-build-test-learn engineering framework. This protocol has served as the scaffold for a successful undergraduate training program and has been further developed into courses that range from a 10-week freshman seminar to a year-long, upper-division molecular biology course. The overarching research goal of this CURE probes the current predictive limitations of protein-modeling software by functionally characterizing single amino acid mutants in a robust model system. The most interesting outcomes of this project are dependent on large datasets, and, as such, the project is optimal for multi-institutional collaborations.

Race & Incarceration in The USA Overtime: Analysis of Trends & Forecast
Shyamal Das, Elizabeth City State University
The course in Race and Ethnic Relations examines the evolving nature of America's social and cultural diversity in terms of different race and ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and American-Indians), and the issues of racial prejudice, hatred, and discrimination in the country. In so doing, students complete the final paper based on research on the relationship between race and incarceration. The research utilizes arrest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics website. Students derive the research questions and corresponding hypotheses based on their review of literature. Based on their data analysis, they attempt to explain or interpret the arrest data on the relationship between race and the arrest rates by types of crimes. There two steps: (1) individuals complete data gathering and analysis as well as interpretation in the first place; and (2) groups will be formed by at least three students in each. The groups will prepare the final group paper and present the findings in the class. The current assignment illustrates on the Step 1 of the final project. Each student will select an assigned crime type (see the Assignment Topics) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics database, and run the graphs to show the trends by race. Assess whether students can explain the arrest rates by race. Then each student runs another analysis to forecast the arrest rates for the coming ten to fifteen years. The final group outcomes will be presented in the class. The proposed CURE incorporates a STEM component into social science as students run forecasting models for an important social problem in the USA.

Laser spectroscopy of atmospherically relevant molecules and clusters in helium nanodroplets
Paul Raston, James Madison University
Superfluid helium nanodroplets present an ideal medium for the study of chemical dynamics at the molecular level. Their low temperature, enormous heat conductivity, and weakly interacting nature allow for the investigation of various things, such as how molecular rotation is effected by a solvent, and how molecules interact with each other. These two topics will be addressed in the lab by (1) measuring the spectra of unexplored molecules in helium nanodroplets and determining their rotational constants; this data will then be used to test known models describing the interaction between the molecule and helium solvent, and (2) synthesizing and characterizing unexplored molecular clusters in an effort to better understand molecular solvation; students will solvate the "unexplored molecule" with an atmospherically relevant species (O2, N2, H2O), and investigate the resulting clusters with laser Stark spectroscopy.

Proton Conduction Studies of Pyridyl Diimide-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks
Pius Adelani, St. Mary's University

Hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borate Ruthenium(II) Complexes Containing Phosphine or Phosphite Ligands
Jocelyn Lanorio, Illinois College
This course-based research will introduce students in an advanced inorganic chemistry course to air-sensitive and catalysis. Students will examine a series of ruthenium(II) hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borato complexes with phosphine or phosphite ligands using modern instrumentation and specialized equipment such as Schlenk line and drybox. The first two meetings should be devoted for literature search, familiarization of instrument operation, and selection of phosphine or phosphite ligand along with student submitting proposal that contains the safety protocols and handling of the chemicals involved in their selected system. Four meetings will then be designated for the synthesis and characterization of the complex. The students run catalytic and control reactions and determine the percent yield of the product using 1H NMR. The synthesis and catalytic conditions are modified from previously published research articles. This experiment combines complex synthesis, characterization, data analysis and data sharing.

Investigating Neural Stem Cell Regulation in the Zebrafish Brain
Rolf Karlstrom, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
By now we have all heard about adult neural Stem Cells (nSCs) and the great promise they hold for treating neurological diseases, especially neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's Disease or Alzheimer's Disease. We'll talk more about these cells in the course. In order to be useful in treating human disease, we must first learn what controls nSC division (proliferation), and what controls the types of neurons and glia that are produced (differentiation). Many labs around the world are working hard on these problems using a variety of lab animals; from worms to flies to fish to rodents to humans (using human induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells). In this course we will take advantage of the experimentally accessible larval zebrafish to perform experiments designed to learn more about the regulation of nSCs and neurogenesis, the process of making new neurons and glial cells needed to make a functioning vertebrate brain.Why are new neurons (and glia, never forget glia) produced in the adult brain? One obvious answer is that this adult neurogenesis helps maintain the brain as it ages (e.g. replacing cells that die). While this may be true to some degree, especially for glial cells, we know that most cells in the brain simply aren't replaced when they die (a fact highlighted in neurodegenerative diseases) and it is not simple to replace functional neuronal connections. A relatively new idea is that new neurons and glia may be generated in parts of the brain as a normal part of the brains ability to function to guide behavior and respond to the environment. In this course students will learn about the regulation of stem cell proliferation and differentiation and we expore the idea that the generation of new neurons is part of normal brain function, helping zebrafish larvae to maintain internal physiology (homeostasis) in response to a changing environment. Students will become familiar with zebrafish embryonic and larval development, will design and implement experimental treatments of larvare, dissect larval brains, perform a chemical reaction to fluorescently mark proliferating cells, image larval brains using a fluorescent microscope, and count proliferating cells.

Optimizing Pedal People
Annie Raymond, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
This course is an introduction to mathematical modeling. The main goal of the class is to learn how to translate large broadly-defined real-world problems into quantitative terms for interpretation, suggestions of improvement and future predictions. Since this is too broad of a topic for one semester, this class focuses on linear and integer programming. The course is centered around a research project that involves optimizing different aspects of the bike-powered trash-recycling-compost-collection service Pedal People.

Intelligent Mechatronics Research and Education - Autofocus
Xian Du, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Technology today makes it a lot easier to take pictures and videos, but there still somethings that remain a challenge such as autofocus. In this course, you will learn about how autofocus systems in cameras work and how to use the autofocus for manufacturing and production inspection and tracking. As the students learn, they will participate in the modeling, design, fabrication, assembly, programming, and control of an autofocus prototype. They use their skills and knowledge in product design, transmission, 3D printing, optics, and programming in this project. They will evaluate and improve the prototype on moving targets with the TAs and graduate students in the Intelligent Sensing Lab. Ultimately, this course will provide mechanical engineering students with a meaningful undergraduate research experience for their future career, while providing instructor and graduate teaching assistants with more data in the ongoing intelligent mechatronics research projects.