Undergraduate Research & Collaborative Scholarships
Private College Scholars at the Capitol, 2009
The following UST students were presenters at the sixth annual Scholars at the Capitol event, held on February 19, 2009.-
Madison Bruber
WAR AND SOCIETY: AN ADRIATIC ISLAND IN LATE ANTIQUITYThe goal of this project was to investigate how the militarization of the Adriatic region in the 5th century and the Gothic-Byzantine Wars in the 6th century affected an island settlement, using historical and archaeological evidence. During Late Antiquity there was an increase of instability throughout the Mediterranean due to the decline of the imperial political order and the rise of warfare. The Adriatic islands were central to military events, but historical sources are scarce. In order to fully understand the effects of the war on socio-economical and cultural issues, archaeological fieldwork was carried out to see what remains could help us better understand life during the war. The project was centered around a Roman villa settlement in Soline Bay on the island of St. Clement in Croatia. Through survey and excavation we saw how cultures are intertwined in trade and sale of goods—pottery being a main indicator and how a once wealthy Roman villa was transformed into a naval port for war.
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Senta Riley (pictured) and Hoang Bui
UNDERWATER ROBOTICS*Over the summer, we had the opportunity to work with Dr. Greene, Dr. Thomas, and Paul Roczniak in order to create a remotely operated vehicle (or R.O.V.). In order to do so, we brainstormed on several ideas regarding the hull design, other aesthetic and mechanical aspects that were necessary to build this machine. We determined that our robot’s main purpose was to see what life is like underwater and also collect water for Geologist, Kevin Theissen. In order to make this a reality, we bought a waterproof camera, and attached it to the R.O.V. To make sure that the camera worked, we tested it in our lab by turning all of the lights off and pointing it into the darkest corners of the room. Not only that, but when we tested the R.O.V outside the lab at Long Lake and Dr. Greene’s pool, we made sure that the camera was one of the first working parts on our test run. For out robot to be able to move, we attached five motors and propellers on various locations so that our robot has four different degrees of freedom: x, y, z and yaw. One difficulty for this portion of the project was determining whether or not the motors are powerful enough. After testing the R.O.V for the first time, we determined that our motors were not powerful enough, this made us consider two possibilities; should we add another motor or should we flip the direction of the motor. In the end our solution was to add another motor. The last aspect of our project was to make sure that our robot was remotely operated. In order to do so, we had two team members focus on building a control box, which connected to the robot itself.
*Research team included students Idy Akpan, Tony Andrade, and Peter Ihrke.
Faculty Collaborators: Dr. Chris Greene and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas; Student Collaborator: Paul Roczniak
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Danielle Scotti
THE FEMALE ARMY NURSE: HER TRANSFORMATION SINCE WWIIAnalyzing the changing societal gender stereotypes and actual roles and duties of female nurses from World War II to the present day was the goal I achieved in this project. Secondary sources provide a broad general view of how society views women’s war efforts and military nursing, both positively and negatively. My research focused on the changes in these stereotypes and the various experiences of the women nurses during WWII, the Vietnam War, and present day operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Primary sources such as letters, interviews, and oral history transcripts, diary entries, and contemporary magazine articles and newspapers directly assist in revealing how women army nurses view themselves and how they are perceived. This allows us to examine how society’s views of women and their war efforts correlate with how the women themselves viewed their duties. Studying the three war periods reveals variations in the number of women involved, their work conditions, the reasons women joined the military at the time of their service, but most importantly reveals how the stereotype of women’s involvement in war has transformed. Despite all the differences in responses to the variety of questions asked, each nurse interviewed felt satisfied with the work they performed while serving and their experience assisting their country in a time of need.
