Current Research Projects
Applicant: Meghan Baruth
Title: Community Health Assessment Projects
Period of Support: May 27, 2025 – May 1, 2026
Abstract: It is important that the health status of various communities is understood. Such information can be used to inform community needs and thus projects/interventions to address the needs. Further, data should be collected on the specific population that is being targeted (i.e. you want to hear directly from them). This can be done via a formal needs assessment where you collect data on a number of different health topics of interest (it can be broad or very narrow in scope, depending on the focus/interests of the researcher). These type of data allow us to ‘hear from those we need to hear from’.
Applicant: Issah Ibrahim
Title: Simulation based control of induction motor using power electronic drive circuit
Period of Support: May 27, 2025 – May 1, 2026
Abstract: Variable frequency drives are essential for speed control of 3-phase induction motors. They are used primarily to adapt the motor's speed to the needs of a particular application. One key advantage of variablespeed motor drives is energy efficiency. Recall that mechanical power provided by a motor is equal to the product of its mechanical speed (ωmin radians per second) and the applied mechanical torque (Tm in Newton-meters). Hence, one can achieve higher efficiency by ensuring the application runs at a lower speed when possible. A related example is the low-speed operation used on escalators with no passengers. There are numerous approaches one can deploy to control a machine's speed, e.g., external variable rotor resistances, variable input voltage magnitude, etc. A much better approach involves the control of both the input supply voltage magnitude (Vs) and the supply frequency (fs). By controlling the supply frequency, it is possible to vary the synchronous speed of the machine (remember that ωs = 2πfs/P1, where P1 is the number of pair poles of the machine). On the other hand, the supply voltage magnitude can be used to control the amplitude of the machine's peak torque.
Applicant: Jonathan Lecureux
Title: Antibiotic testing of campus-isolated coliform bacteria under nutrient-deprived conditions
Period of Support: May 27, 2025 – May 1, 2026
Abstract: Recent research has shown that bacteria grown under nutrient-scarce conditions can be more resistant to antibiotics than those grown under normal conditions. We plan to quantify coliform bacteria from campus water sources, isolate those bacteria, and measure the effects of different antibiotics on their growth under both normal and nutrient-deprived conditions. Students will be tasked with collecting samples, generating both normal and reduced-nutrient growth media, and gathering data following standard antibiotic assay protocols. Once their data has been collected and organized they will present their data in poster form at the SE&T Research Symposium.
Applicant: Rhett Mohler
Title: Gathering and processing of historical data for a mapping project at Bay City State Park
Period of Support: August 25, 2025 - December 31, 2025
Abstract: For the 2025-2026 academic year, I was awarded sabbatical leave to complete a project at Bay City State Park. Specifically, I will map both historical and modern features in the park, both for the sake of improving the user experience in the park in modern times, and to ensure that historical sites are not lost. Completing this project will require spatial data from a larger number of historical and modern sources to be located, processed, and, in many cases, created. As I mentioned in my sabbatical application, this would be a perfect project for a geospatial student to gain experience in these areas. Specifically, the student will learn how to acquire historical aerial imagery and data, how to process that imagery so that it is usable in a modern Geographic Information System (GIS), how to acquire land ownership records, how to digitize older data, how to acquire/create data in the field, and other geospatial techniques. Eventually, these data will be shared with the public in an online mapping system such as ArcGIS StoryMaps or ArcGIS Online. The student working with me in fall 2025 will probably not get to the online mapping stage, and I anticipate that the fall 2025 phase of the project will primarily be about data gathering, processing, and creation, with the mapping taking place mainly in winter 2026.
Applicant: Christopher Nakamura
Title: Pulsed Diode Lasers & Spectrometer Calibration for Advanced Physics Lab Instruction
Period of Support: May 27, 2025 - May 1, 2026
Abstract: In this proposed project we will work to extend and solidify previous work developing ultrafast pulsed diode lasers using gain-switching, a technique in which the drive current is quickly turned on and off via electronic modulation to create pulses in the range of 50-100 picoseconds in duration. The purpose is to explore low-cost pulsed lasers that can be useful in the upper-division physics lab curriculum. The proposed work also connects to a funded project that begins in July of 2025 which focuses exploring the use of absolute irradiance calibration optical spectrometers in the upper-division physics lab. An absolute irradiance calibration is one
which tells us how optical power is distributed across the spectrum in true power units instead of arbitrary units of “counts”. Optical spectrometers are a useful tool for characterizing laser output. Furthermore, pulsed lasers are useful in performing optical excitations in compounds and materials that exhibit fluorescence (i.e. compounds and materials that are often potential laser gain media). These can yield broader spectra that span tens to hundreds of nanometers. These broader spectra especially benefit from measurement with a spectrometer that has absolute irradiance calibration, because the calibration eliminates shape distortions that uncalibrated
spectrometers can introduce and because we are often interested in understanding how much optical power, in real units, we can get out of the materials given known and controlled optical excitation conditions. Recently, high-precision calibration lamps have become sufficiently inexpensive (<$5000) and procedures straight-forward to the point that this is also an area where we can develop curricular materials beyond the traditional upper-division physics labs. The intersection of these two projects provides a natural opportunity for students to perform experimental work that develops skills relevant to physics careers in engineering, R&D and academia.
Applicant: Kavi Senanayake
Title: Integrating Physics-Based AI for MRI Medical Image Analysis
Period of Support: May 27, 2025 - May 1, 2026
Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an essential imaging technique, which serves as a noninvasive, radiation-free imaging modality with unparalleled soft tissue contrast for clinical applications [1]. The traditional MRI scans are time-consuming due to the dense sampling of k-space data, which is required for noise-free, high-resolution images. However, long-duration scans can cause patient discomfort, increase operational costs, and limit patient throughput. The most cost-effective and time efficient method is faster scanning to subsample the data space while leveraging computational methods for reconstruction [2]. The reduced scan time and undersampling introduce image noise and artifacts. The MR image signal dynamics are governed by the laws of physics and can be modeled and used for image reconstructions [3]. This project proposes a novel technique to integrate physics-based deep learning models for reconstruction to enhance the MRI image by reducing the image noise and image artifacts. This project provides extensive training for a Physics major, offering experience in computation physics, python programming, and AI-driven imaging analysis, which could be beneficial for post-graduate studies or future career goals in the field of medical physics, and computational sciences.
Applicants: JoAnne West and Julie Brehmer
Title: Future Teachers are On FYRE for Elementary Literacy Instruction (Year 3)
Period of Support: August 25, 2025 - August 21, 2026
Abstract: Preparing teachers to provide strong early literacy instruction is one priority of SVSU’s graduate and undergraduate teacher education programs and faculty, Drs. JoAnne West and Julie Brehmer. To that end, Drs. West and Brehmer have engaged in reflective research to support early career teachers who are SVSU alumni who are in their first years of teaching through a comparative case study that engages first-year teachers in a literacy-focused Community of Practice (CoP) for two consecutive school years. Through analysis of data sources, including primarily transcripts from CoP meetings, participant survey data collected at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year, CoP meeting notes, presentations, researcher memos, and artifacts, the researchers and student researchers will actively engage in analysis across multiple sources to identify themes in the data around teachers implementation and practices. We theorize this study will have implications for research, teaching, and practice. These implications may include better understanding whether and how early career teachers’ enact ambitious literacy instruction, improved teacher preparation at SVSU, enhanced university school partnerships, and shared commitment of the educators in building this community of practice. Our student workers this year benefitted from mentorship in research methodology and project management along with getting a first-hand look at the triumphs and challenges of first-year teaching before they had their own classrooms.