Projects by Category

1. Humanities: Literature, arts, civics, ethics, social systems, politics
2. Sciences: Biological and physical science, and math
3. Education: Teaching & learning approaches
4. Business and Technology
5. Health-related: Physical, emotional, psychological

Humanities Science Education Business and Technology Health-Related

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Humanities

Create accessible, curated digital editions for students and the public good!

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Tonya Howe
Faculty Department	English
Academic School	Design, Arts & Humanities
Academic Department	English
Contact Information	thowe@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	English, History, Education, Communication, IT, any
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	Participate in a federally-funded digital humanities grant! Help me read, research, annotate, and prepare for the web a selection of canonical literary texts. These texts will be available on a publicly-accessible database for students like you and faculty like me to use in the classroom. We will learn basic XML development on our way. See the current website and sample texts:
Date Posted	April 7, 2020

Diversifying Literacy Education from Past to Present /
Literacy in Common, Literacy in the Community

Faculty Mentor	Michelle Zaleski
Faculty Department	Literature & Languages
Academic School	Design, Arts & Humanities
Academic Department	Literature & Languages
Contact Information	mzaleski@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Any
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 1	Recovering the Voice of Indian Students in the Jesuit Archives
Description Project 1	While we know the history of famous Jesuit colleges in the U.S. and Europe, schools like Georgetown and the Gregorian, we know less about Jesuits universities established outside the West. And, we know even less about the students they taught. Jesuits became famous during the Renaissance for teaching rhetoric and writing, but what kind of voice did this give their students? This project involves looking for student voices within digitized 16th and 17th century Jesuit letters and reports about their mission to India. Students will gain familiarity with multimodal, decolonial, and translingual archival research methods. Proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Latin, or Tamil is preferred.
Title Project 2	Literacy in Common, Literacy in the Community
Description Project 2	This project invites students into the research design of a pilot study investigating how community engagement can be used to diversify literacy education and empower multilingual, multicultural students today. Students will gain familiarity with new research on literacy and mobility and community writing. Students interested in and passionate about social justice and community outreach are encouraged to apply.
Date Posted	April 3, 2020

African American theater, Orson Welles, and Community Film Festivals

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Marguerite Rippy
Faculty Department	Literature & Languages
Academic School	Design, Arts & Humanities
Academic Department	Literature & Languages
Contact Information	mrippy@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Any, based on student interest
Position Availability	Summer, 2020
Description Project 1	I am currently working on a book about the road tour of the Federal Theater Project 1936 Macbeth, directed by Orson Welles with a cast of African and African American dancers, actors, and musicians, as it traveled through the segregated American South. Students could work on posting archival materials for classroom and public use, reviewing potential primary and secondary materials for research at local archives and MU library, or developing teaching lesson plans, depending on their interests. Students could also help develop grant proposals to support archival study or to find engaging ways to bring archival materials into the classroom.
Project 2	I need students to help research the mission of D.C. area film festivals in order to better understand the evolving role of these events within the Washington, D.C. community. In particular, researches would examine festivals and community identity. For example, festivals focused on ethnic or cultural representations (Italian, Jewish, or German cinema festivals), political causes (D.C. Environmental Film Festival, or service orientations (Washington West festival). Student researchers would help compile a list and description of local festivals, along with festival mission statements and supporting materials. They would also reach out to festival organizers to interview them about community involvement, programming goals, economic success, and film selection processes.
Date Posted	March 28, 2020

Two Shakespeare Projects — Popular Movies/Politics or Health Sciences

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Amy Scott-Douglass
Faculty Department	Literature and Languages
Academic School	School of Design, Arts, and Humanities
Academic Department	Literature and Languages
Contact Information	amysd@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	any major is welcome, depending on the student’s interest
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	Avengers, assemble! I am working on a book about borrowings from Shakespeare in popular movies and shows, including Spider-Man, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Coco, Black Panther, Kiss the Girls, House of Cards, and Madam Secretary. The focus is on the cultural politics of these adaptations. The goal is to analyze how, by adapting character types and other elements from Shakespeare, the creators of these movies and shows are talking back to racism, nationalism, and sexism. I welcome interest from any major since the project spans multiple disciplines: English, Media and Performance Studies, Art, Graphic Design, Communication, Education, Women’s Studies, History, and Politics. Students should have an interest in researching secondary sources, both scholarly and public, on whichever component(s) of the project interests them when it comes to the plays, the movies/shows, and/or the methodological approach. Students may also help to review and analyze the primary sources of their choice, depending on the students’ own interests and research goals.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

How Journalists Promote and Defend the Value of Journalism

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Kimberly Meltzer
Faculty Department	Communication
Academic School	School of Design, Arts & Humanities
Academic Department	Communication
Contact Information	kimberly.meltzer@marymount.edu; 703-908-7673
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Open to all majors, undergraduate and graduate students
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	American news organizations have publicly been on the defensive and offensive in a variety of ways over the past four years. I am looking for a student to assist me with summer research conducting and transcribing interviews with journalists and searching for and saving news items to a database. The research project is about how journalists and their news organizations are endeavoring to meet the reputational and informational challenges they face from a variety of sources. The challenges may take the form of reputational attacks, informational and image altering and manipulation, and even threats and real physical harm. Journalists from the Washington Post, CBS, and CNN will be interviewed. The student may also assist with analyzing the findings from the research and writing them up in a journal article.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Local Immigration Policy in the DMV

Faculty Mentor	Matt Bakker
Faculty Department	Sociology
Academic School	School of Sciences, Math, and Education
Academic Department	Sociology
Contact Information	mbakker@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Sociology, politics, and others as appropriate
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	This project examines the different policy approaches adopted by local governments across the DMV area to address immigrant communities. Scholarship on local immigration policy has emphasized the “variegated landscape” of policies around the country, including welcoming and inclusive communities that work to integrate immigrants within the local social fabric to more exclusionary communities that are openly hostile towards immigrants, particularly the undocumented. Both types of communities are well represented in our local region. The research this summer will involve, at a minimum, the collection of news reports and official documents about policies adopted in various localities across the region, and analysis of documents and statistics related to local policies and their impacts on the immigrant community.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Depictions of the Police on Television

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Sarah Fischer
Faculty Department	Criminal Justice
Academic School	School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Education
Academic Department	Criminal Justice
Contact Information	sfischer@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Any
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	Research demonstrates that the public learns about crime and police procedure primarily through television. However, most research on television’s depiction of the criminal justice system to date has analyzed who television shows portray as criminals and how shows depict the use of forensic evidence. This project involves analyzing episodes of two television shows—NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) and BBC’s The Fall to examine their depictions of police procedure, police officers, and the decisions police officers make.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Science

Creating Virtual Worlds (AR/VR Design) / Production of PPE with 3D Printing

Faculty Mentor	Eric Bubar
Faculty Department	Biology and Physical Sciences
Academic School	School of Sciences, Math, and Education
Academic Department	Physics
Contact Information	ebubar@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Any
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 1	Creating Virtual Worlds (AR/VR Design)
Description Project 1	The student(s) will learn open source game engine software (Unity or Unreal Engine), open source 3D asset design software (Blender) and low-cost 3D scanning. They will complete basic tutorials to explore the use of open source software in creating virtual/augmented reality environments. A focus will be made on creating virtual worlds that are usable with either android-based virtual environments (google cardboard) or the Oculus Quest. Students will first create a simple virtual environment making use of premade assets available within the chosen game engine while simultaneously exploring digital asset design creation. Final project goals include the creation of virtual tours of real world environments created from 3D scanning, modeling of a virtual Globe Theater with potential integration of virtual character actors or the creation of a game-based forensic crime scene investigation teaching/learning experience. Significant technical skills with computers (either Mac OSX or Windows), possession of a high-quality gaming-caliber computer with advanced GPU and an interest/familiarity with virtual reality gaming are desirable qualifications for interested applicants.
Title Project 2	Production of PPE with 3D Printing
Description Project 2	The Covid-19 global pandemic revealed significant faults in the global supply chain of medical supplies, particularly with obtaining personal protective equipment (so-called PPE). Traditionally this form of safety equipment (N95 respirator masks, goggles, face shields, gowns, gloves, etc.) were considered single use items that needed to be discarded after one use. Supply chain issues necessitated that medical providers in many cases either reuse PPE for entire weeks, utilize homemade cloth masks to supplement reused PPE or, in some cases, not be permitted to use any PPE at all. The global 3D printing/maker community identified this flaw and rapidly deployed a variety of open source, 3D printable PPE equipment which thousands of hobbyist 3D printer owners began to print and deploy in the thousands to their local communities. This project aims to have a student investigate the causes of these global supply chain issues, identify approaches to mitigate these issues in the future, create a model of distributed manufacturing using local 3D printing resources and examine a variety of open source 3D printable PPE (including face shields, respirator masks and DIY ventilators). Throughout this project the student will be responsible for conducting these investigations while also producing PPE for testing and, once validated, delivery to medical providers in need (including hospital staff, first responders, nursing home employees/residents/etc.). The student MUST have access to a reasonably powerful PC or Mac, have strong technical/engineering skills and excitement to tinker with mechanical devices (i.e. a 3D printer), be local to the Marymount area (DC, Maryland, VA) and have sufficient space and ventilation in their home to operate a 3D printer continuously for several weeks.
Date Posted	April 16, 2020 – Updated

Sea Turtle Tagging and Monitoring

Faculty Mentor	Todd Rimkus
Faculty Department	Biology & Physical Science
Academic School	SSME
Academic Department	SSME or Academic Affairs
Contact Information	trimkus@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	All
Position Availability	Summer, 2020
Description	Sea turtles are explored in Belize. We have internship opportunities and research opportunities in Belize for the summer. Being part of a research team and exploring the possibility of tagging a turtle and monitoring it’s movements as it forages and rests between nesting events.
Date Posted	April 15, 2020

Analyzing Coronavirus Data

Faculty Mentor	Amanda Wright
Faculty Department	Biology and Physical Sciences
Academic School	Science, Mathematics, and Education
Academic Department	Academic Affairs
Contact Information	awright@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Biology or Biochemistry
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	We will be analyzing data available from various sources to examine the spread of coronavirus through the US and other countries. Using this data as a baseline, we will use NetLogo, an agent based modeling program, to predict viral spreading behavior under different situations and circumstances. The culmination of this project will be a written case study on viral community spread that will be submitted for publication.
Date Posted	March 28, 2020

Agent-Based Modeling using NetLogo

Faculty Mentor	Jacquie Rische
Faculty Department	Mathematics
Academic School	School of Sciences, Math, and Education
Academic Department	Mathematics
Contact Information	jrische@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Mathematics, Biology, Biochemistry, or anyone with an interest in programming
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	I am interested in agent-based modeling. This is a type of model where you program a computer simulation to look at the interactions of “agents” (according to the rules you determine). NetLogo is a free, “programmable modeling environment for simulating natural and social phenomena…NetLogo is particularly well suited for modeling complex systems developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to hundreds or thousands of ‘agents’ all operating independently. This makes it possible to explore the connection between the micro-level behavior of individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from their interaction,” (source: https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/faq.html). These models are used in many different disciplines, so I am happy to work with students from any major who have an interest in programming. I have ideas for a project involving the spread of language, but I am also happy to look at other topics that interest you. Check out https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/ to see some of their sample models.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Designing Chemistry Card Games & Developing Chemistry/Biochemistry Case Studies

Faculty Mentor	Deana Jaber
Faculty Department	Biology and Physical Sciences
Academic School	School of Sciences, Math, and Education
Academic Department	Biology and Physical Sciences
Contact Information	djaber@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Biology/Biochemistry/Education
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description Project 1	Designing Chemistry Card Games Game-based instructional design is well established in the literature as a creative teaching supplement. Games have been used for teaching purposes and have yielded successful pedagogical results. In this research project, the student will design a card game for a chemistry concept that students struggle to understand. The student will get to choose the topic they want to work on! Our research group has developed two card games that have been published in the Journal of Chemical Education in 2017 and 2019. Check them out to get a better idea of the research project. This project would be a perfect fit for a student looking to work on research where chemistry and education intersect.
Title Project 2	Developing Chemistry/Biochemistry Case Studies
Description Project 2	Are you interested in a research project that allows you to explore science education? Do you enjoy writing fictional stories based on real-world examples? If the answer is yes, then this project might be of interest to you! The student will investigate the release of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into the environment with the hope of understanding the science behind how these compounds react in the human body and our surroundings. Based on the findings, a fictional story featuring a real-world example will be developed to help students understand the chemical reactions that the PFAS compounds undergo. The case study will be used in a chemistry/biochemistry course and will be evaluated for its effectiveness on student’s learning of the science at hand.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

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Education

Create accessible, curated digital editions for students and the public good!

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Tonya Howe
Faculty Department	English
Academic School	Design, Arts & Humanities
Academic Department	English
Contact Information	thowe@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	English, History, Education, Communication, IT, any
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	Participate in a federally-funded digital humanities grant! Help me read, research, annotate, and prepare for the web a selection of canonical literary texts. These texts will be available on a publicly-accessible database for students like you and faculty like me to use in the classroom. We will learn basic XML development on our way. See the current website and sample texts: https://anthologydev.lib.virginia.edu
Date Posted	April 7, 2020

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Business and Technology

The impact of Change Manage and the adoption of IT projects / The role of ethics in IT Leadership

Faculty Mentor	Sue Conrad
Faculty Department	Information Technology and Cybersecurity
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Information Technology and Cybersecurity
Contact Information	sconrad@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	IT and Business Majors
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 1	The impact of Change Manage and the adoption of IT projects
Description Project 1	This project will review the theories of Change Management and apply them to implementation of new infrastructure Information Technology systems. The research will focus on how Change Management must be integrated into the design and development process of IT systems.
Title Project 2	The role of ethics in IT Leadership
Description Project 2	This project will discuss the skills needed to be an Information Technology leader in today’s complex world and how ethics influence the decisions made by those in control. It will discuss how ethics influence data driven decisions and evaluate the external pressures which impact reporting and actions of these IT leaders.
Date Posted	April 13, 2020

Understanding the ED utilization for non-traumatic dental visits among the Medicaid-enrolled children in Maryland, 2017

Faculty Mentor	Uma Kelekar
Faculty Department	Healthcare Management
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Department of Healthcare Management
Contact Information	ukelekar@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Healthcare Management, Business, Public Health Education and Promotion, Nursing, Data Science
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	Nationally, there were over 2 million dental-related Emergency Department (ED) visits in 2014 with an average charge of $992. Emergency department utilization for non-traumatic dental conditions (NTDCs) among children remains a major public health concern in the United States. Over the last decade, beyond expanding Medicaid, the state of Maryland has taken several steps to improve access to dental coverage among its Medicaid beneficiaries. These reforms have arguably been critical in decreasing per-capita dental care utilization in EDs among children and the share of outpatient ED dental spending from children. This study will utilize secondary data from the Maryland’s State Emergency Department Database (SEDD) for 2017 and update the literature on the latest volume and nature of NTDC- related ED visits among its pediatric population. Using bivariate statistical analyses, we will identify the key socio-economic factors (such as age, race, location) associated with ED utilization among its Medicaid enrollees and compare them to those with other insurance. Using cost data, we will be able to estimate the overall charges associated with ED utilization among the pediatric population. In conclusion, we will discuss our findings in the light of health disparities in public health dentistry. The student can help with the literature review, cleaning and analyzing data, writing sections of the manuscript.
Date Posted	March 28, 2020

Cyber Warfare, Cybersecurity Education & Bayesian Network Analysis for Cybersecurity

Faculty Mentor	Donna M. Schaeffer, PhD
Faculty Department	Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Data Science
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Data Science
Contact Information	donna.schaeffer@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Cybersecurity
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Project 1 Title	Cyber Warfare
Project 1 Description	Cyber warfare, Multi-domain warfare, Alert fatigue/Breach Fatigue, Cyber Security, Cyber Kill Chain, Attrition Warfare
Project 2 Title	Cybersecurity Education
Project 2 Description	A study to assess the need for intelligence training and education for non-classified personnel
Project 3 Title	Bayesian Network Analysis for Cybersecurity
Project 3 Description	A study to look at the application of Bayesian network analysis to predicting cybersecurity breaches.
Date Posted	March 28, 2020

On the Monetary Union of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Amel Ben Abdesslem
Faculty Department	Accounting, Economics & Finance
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Economics
Contact Information	abenabde@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Economics
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	The goal of this research project is to assess the viability of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) monetary union. The common objective of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar was to establish a complete economic integration through the creation of a single currency by 2010. Following the suspension of the unification process since May 2010 and the spreading phenomenon of Euroscepticism, we will examine the future prospects of the Gulf countries’ project, that nearly formed the second monetary union by size, by studying the economic structures of the GCC monarchies, the synchronization of their business cycles and the optimality of the currency area. This project requires a student with attention to detail and willingness to learn about quantitative methods. Students will collect data and will conduct a review on the literature. Proficiency in Arabic is preferred but not required.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

A Synergetic Approach: Applied Machine Learning and Network Analysis to Identify Criminal Activity

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Faleh Alshameri
Faculty Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Contact Information	falshame@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Information Technology, Data Science
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 1	A Synergetic Approach: Applied Machine Learning and Network Analysis to Identify Criminal Activity
Description Project 1	The purpose of this research paper is to unveil the vulnerabilities of the blockchain and highlight the capabilities of machine learning collaboratively with network analysis techniques.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Analyzing Job Post Prediction Using Data Mining Tools

 

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Faleh Alshameri
Faculty Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Contact Information	falshame@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Information Technology, Data Science
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 2	Analysis job post prediction using data mining tools
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Using Textual Data Mining to Analyze Phishing Emails

 

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Faleh Alshameri
Faculty Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Department of Information Technology, Data Science, and Cybersecurity
Contact Information	falshame@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Information Technology, Data Science
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Title Project 3	Using textual data mining to analyze phishing emails
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Disinformation: The Coronavirus Campaign

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Diane Murphy
Faculty Department	IT/Data Science/Cybersecurity
Academic School	School of Business and Technology
Academic Department	Data Science
Contact Information	dmurphy@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Information Technology
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	The first part of the project is to look at the publicly available sources of information on the spread of the coronavirus and speculate on the sources of true and false information and the purpose of spreading such information. It will look at the distribution techniques and the sources as well as the message content using natural language processing (NLP). The second step in the project will be to use a machine learning model to predict disinformation being released on the topic.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

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Health-Related

Theatre / Shakespeare Performance and Health Studies

Faculty Mentor	Dr. Amy Scott-Douglass
Faculty Department	Literature and Languages
Academic School	School of Design, Arts, and Humanities
Academic Department	Literature and Languages
Contact Information	amysd@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Any major is welcome, depending on the student’s interest
Position Availability	Summer 2020
Description	I am working on a book that combines research in two fields: Theatre / Shakespeare Performance Studies and Health Sciences. The focus is on the potential health benefits of the Performance Arts – especially “verse” arts such as music, poetry, musicals, and Shakespeare plays—when it comes to people who are neurologically challenged. Students should have an interest in researching and reviewing recently published secondary sources but may tailor the focus of the research to their interests—whether that may be scientific journals, medical studies, pedagogical case studies, literary criticism, and/or popular media / press. Students could research sensory-friendly play performances for children with ASD; drama and music therapy as alternative treatments for Alzheimer’s; theatre productions performed by or for residents in senior homes; casting practices and productions featuring actors who are disabled, impaired, or cognitively challenged; plays that are about characters who suffer from dementia or deal with caretaker stress and illness; bias of theatre critics when reviewing performances of older actors or neurologically impaired actors.
Date Posted	March 17, 2020

Sexuality and Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

Faculty Mentor	Linda McKenna Gulyn
Faculty Department	Psychology
Academic School	School of Sciences, Mathematics and Education
Academic Department	Psychology
Contact Information	lgulyn@marymount.edu
Appropriate Majors/Programs	Psychology, Sociology, Health Professions, Education, Counseling
Position Availability	Summer, 2020
Description Project 1	Conduct a review on the literature concerning attitudes about sexuality among individuals with developmental disabilities.
Project 2	Design a pilot study utilizing a survey of attitudes about sexuality and disabilities
Project 3	Conduct survey, analyze data and prepare a manuscript based on research on sexuality and developmental disabilities.
Date Posted	March 17,2020

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