Having the opportunity to build on one’s education in a practical setting truly solidifies both the understanding of the individual and the awareness that individual will have when seeking to begin their professional career. This has truly been my experience with the I-CUREUS program at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´. Receiving the I-CUREUS award allowed me to continue said research into the fall of 2017. Before this project, I really never considered graduate studies an option; I didn’t think a research centered approach to learning would be something of long-term interest, nor did I anticipate just how fulfilling such work could be. The I-CUREUS program truly helped to expose me to research and has greatly influenced the path I will be taking in the future.

Through this project, Jason had the opportunity to to gain experience working with composite materials, designing weight weight structures, selecting propulsion systems, generating aircraft simulation models, and working with UAV avionics systems. He gained hands-on knowledge of UAV operations as it pertains to geophysical surveying, power plant selection, and the refinement simulator models for training and hardware in the loop simulations through analysis of real-world flight data.

I am very thankful I got the opportunity with I-CUREUS this semester as it really allowed me to learn so many knew things about research that I had never known before. It also allowed me to gain very valuable skills that I can take with me to graduate school. I was able to work on my own research project (i.e., study design, ethics, recruit and run participants, analyses and prepare a final thesis on the research findings) and I was able to help my supervisor with other studies that she was working on in the lab (i.e., emailing participants, running participants in lab, coding data, monitoring online survey participation, crediting participants on SONA, working Qualtrics, etc.).

I-CUREUS has been an enriching learning experience! I have learned many different lab skills, worked with lots of people and had the opportunity to work on a really cool project. It was also an opportunity to apply some of the techniques that I have learned the theory about in my classes and this made the concepts easier to understand. Therefore, I-CUREUS has given me lab skills and helped me in my classes.

Sara Siddiqi presenting at the I-CUREUS April 2018 Conference

Please refer to the general information for I-CUREUS should you wish to see what’s new this year and for information about the program.

Note: applications take a minimum of 3-weeks to process. No applicants should plan to start their project until Monday, Sept 11 to allow for the administration of the first batches of applicants at this busy time of year. Should you have further questions, please review all information online or email discovery.centre@carleton.ca

Good luck with your application!

Back, from left to right: Anne Wilson, Crystal Wong, Vicky Madge, Travis Swan. Front: Nana Frimpong.

By Bianca Chan, TLS Staff Writer

Five ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ students were among a group of undergraduates who took to the stage in Memphis earlier this year to prove that it is not only graduate students who are conducting influential research.

Nina Frimpong, Vicky Madge, Travis Swan, Anne Wilson and Crystal Wong represented ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ at the – the largest showcase in the U.S. for undergraduate research across all fields of study.

Though they all come from diverse research backgrounds, the five ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ students say they took away similar experiences that have helped affirm career paths and encouraged growth and discovery in new fields of study.

Thanks to the iCUREUS research internship provided by the Discovery Centre, these young researchers and future ones like them will have the opportunity to present their research and underscore how influential undergraduate research can be.

Madge, a biomedical engineering researcher, says that it’s rare for undergraduate students to enter graduate studies with conference presentation experience. The skills she has developed both at NCUR and through undergraduate research will benefit her graduate studies greatly, she adds.

“I think I have improved my skills of reaching out to audiences of different academic backgrounds,” she says. “Coming from a biomedical engineering background, it is easy to get lost in the jargon. I learned how to deliver my research in such a way that it speaks to a larger audience.”

Wong agrees. She researched negotiating a Canada-China Free Trade Agreement and says that the research experience helped develop her analytical and communication skills, especially her ability to interact with professors and approach primary sources.

Travis Swan, Vicky Madge and Nana Frimpong stand outside the registration area of the conference.

In many cases, the experiences gained and skills honed through participating in NCUR 2017 has spurred an interest – and a confidence – in career and graduate pursuits, something these students say is one of the most valuable takeaways from this experience.

“Nanotechnology was a novel area of research to me and I was open to learning new things and growing to become specialized in that field,” says Frimpong, who studied under chemistry professor Maria DeRosa. She says that presenting at NCUR made her realize the importance communication and collaboration have in the research community.

“I learned that to be successful in research, you had to be open to collaboration since one area of research cannot solve a problem but many areas come into play to produce a final solution,” she says.

“This experience enabled me to better understand published works relevant to the project which informed future works, helped me to learn how to balance working with and without supervision, communicate better as a scientist and jumpstart my career as a researcher,” she adds.

For Wilson, the practical skills she gained through NCUR 2017 bolstered her education in ways that are not easily achieved in a classroom setting.

“The hands-on experience provides a level of insight into how research methods work in practical ways that you don’t necessarily understand from reading about it in a textbook,” she says. “There’s a lot of time, energy, skill and expertise needed to successfully carry out research projects and participating in that process is very educational.”

Wilson adds that it’s not just the specific techniques used in the lab that will help her going forward, but also more general academic and organizational skills that are changing how she approaches her work, both inside and outside of an academic setting.

Research is often considered to be an activity for graduate students. Only recently has its value in undergraduate education been recognized. And now, because of students like Frimpong, Madge, Swan, Wilson and Wong, it’s proving to be a high-impact practice for all levels.

She says:

My research was in structural fire safety engineering under the supervision of Dr. John Gales. My role in this research was to create the test plan, make the test samples, and perform and analyze the results from the experiments. I specifically looked at the behaviour of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) with external steel plated connections in fire. To do this, I used two pieces of equipment available in the ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University fire laboratory; the LIFT apparatus to propagate flame down a sample, and a cone calorimeter to apply a heat flux to a sample surface.

The purpose of this project was to study the behaviour and to develop the imaging technique to help define external connections in fire. Engineered wood products (EWP) are becoming increasingly popular as a construction material when compared to traditional steel, masonry, and concrete construction. Laminate veneer lumber (LVL) is a popular construction material choice in mass timber applications, specifically mid-rise construction, for its strength properties in comparison to traditional timber members. Connections between members are either external connections or internal concealed connections fabricated out of steel or other metals.

My research was actually quite different from my coursework as there are not many courses in fire engineering offered at the undergraduate level. I used my knowledge from CIVE 4202 (Wood Engineering) to explore options for different connection styles to test while I was creating test plans. Additionally, I did a comprehensive literary review at the beginning of the research to expand my knowledge base. The research was done for a undergraduate thesis style research project (CIVE 4907) which is similar to the capstone design project (CIVE 4918) for engineering students although is it an elective. It is a two-term class available to students in their final year of engineering and provides credit for an 8-month research project.

Arlin was the primary author on two papers and presented her research at Fire and Materials 2017 in San Francisco, California.

I have gained so many skills from my research project! I have become more comfortable in the laboratory, more confident using both of the testing apparatus’s with the help of a laboratory technologist, and more experienced fabricating test samples on my own. I have gained insight into the profession of fire safety engineering and the behavior of timber in fire. I was also able to collaborate on this research with the National Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

I would definitely recommend the I-CUREUS program, it was a way for me to get funding as an undergraduate student for my undergraduate thesis!

Students who apply through the Discovery Centre are considered for a fully paid trip to Memphis (including airfare, accommodation and conference fees.) Upon review by the Provost, those selected will be given further application instructions. Students who apply directly to NCUR, however, will not be considered for financial support.

The application deadline is growing near, so and fill in the online form before November 24, 2016. Good luck!

The Discovery Centre was pleased to host an undergraduate conference on March 30th to celebrate the work completed by participants of the Centre’s I-CUREUS and Badar Travel Award programs. The students concise presentations were well received, by an audience of students, faculty, staff and the Provost. The event was captured and celebrated further by the himself.

It is with pleasure that the Office of the Provost and Vice President (Academic) and the Discovery Centre for Undergraduate Research and Engagement sent students to the US National Conference on Undergraduate Research in early April 2016.

If you’re interested in participating in opportunities such as these please follow the Discovery Centre’s social media and website for upcoming dates and details.

One of the projects that I helped out with in the SESL was the Guarded Hot Box, which is an apparatus that allows for rapid testing of the thermal resistance of wall components. Some of my contributions included drafting engineering drawings of multiple stud wall assemblies, building those walls, and re-arranging the layout of thermocouples within the apparatus. This work as well as my research on compact thermal energy storage made effective use of my undergrad coursework pertaining to graphical design, heat transfer, and renewable energy systems. Compact thermal storage is a promising technology that will enable the Canadian deployment of renewable heating systems such as solar thermal on a greater scale.

Current seasonal solar thermal systems that use the sensible heat of water are limited by the unfeasibility of their large storage requirements. I have come across state of the art research that involves storing heat thermochemically in markedly smaller volumes, which will make implementing renewable heating systems in the future a lot more practical. The work I was involved in during the term of this award gave me the opportunity to apply and improve upon my drafting abilities as well as it got me interested in pursuing graduate studies with my independent research.

The I-CUREUS program is a great opportunity for undergraduate students that are interested in getting involved in research and practical learning that is outside of classroom.

Dylan Bardy