Empowering undergraduate students with research internships
From left are Joseph Barr, Carter Simmons, Kendall Nore and Jin Park, four students participating in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences experience-drive research internships.
Electrical engineering major Joseph Barr explored electronic circuit implementations of chaotic systems. Read more about Barr's research.
Chemical engineering student Kendall Nore worked to remove BPA and methylparaben contaminants from personal care products via water filtration. Read more about Nore's research.
Finding a way to protect users, Jin Park is applying machine-code analysis tools to detect patterns in machine instructions that indicate a program is ransomware and prevent it from being downloaded. Read more about Park's research.
Carter Simmons worked to advance the manufacture of porous borosilicate glass emitter tips for electrospray thrusters by developing a way to produce the tips easily and consistently. Read more about Simmons' research.
As the University strives to empower every undergraduate student with an experience-driven education, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences continues doing its part to achieve this goal and ensure students are ready to meet the demands of their careers.
Augmenting existing opportunities, the college launched the Undergraduate Student Engineering Research Program to introduce students to research in a professional capacity under the guidance of faculty experts. The program is funded by a WMU experience-driven learning venture grant.
“Undergraduate students who participate in research learn skills to succeed in both their courses and future employment or education. Through this program, we introduce research in a way that is accessible to those who cannot or do not traditionally participate—it’s an important step for student retention and future success.”
The project was spearheaded by Carr along with Dr. Kristina Lemmer, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Dr. Bob Makin, assistant professor of computer science; Dr. Damon Miller, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Dr. Jim Springstead, associate professor of chemical and paper engineering.
Meet four of the students who participated in the initial opportunity and learned new technical skills and new insights for their futures.
Joseph Barr’s undergraduate research project explored electronic circuit implementations of chaotic systems. Referred to as one of the most significant recent scientific concepts by the bestselling author James Gleick, chaos theory applies to many systems, including planetary motion, neural systems, chemical reactions, and the weather.
Barr, an electrical engineering student from Bangor, Mich., is building electronic circuits that are modelled by a set of equations that have a chaotic solution, gaining insights into the underlying theory and the effect of non-ideal components on chaotic behavior.
The Goal
The goal of Barr’s work was to develop and validate an electronic chaotic circuit and was supervised by Dr. Damon Miller, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Methods of Research
Numerically solve differential equations that describe the target system using a computer.
Develop an electronic circuit with dynamics described by the same differential equations.
To validate the chaotic circuit performance, compare quantitative features of data from the computer simulation and the circuit.
As part of his project, Barr cleverly simplified a previous chaotic oscillator design by considering the task from a different perspective.
“Since our research involved advanced topics and developing new knowledge, we may or may not find an answer to a specific question,” says Barr. “Previously I had trouble learning new material because I did not understand what the topic was used for. This research has given me a chance to see electrical engineering in action. I am grateful that this research has introduced me to the creative task of breaking down a unique problem into simpler questions that are more easily answered.”
About Barr
Barr is continuing his work during the academic year before graduating in spring 2025. He comes from a family of Bronco electrical engineers—his father is Josh Barr, B.S.’97, M.S.’99, and his mother is Louise Barr, B.S.’97, M.S.’99.
“I appreciate that I can earn an electrical engineering degree without needing to move far away from my family.”
And what about his longer-term goals? “I would like to work on the cutting edge, pioneering solutions to emerging problems, where specialized knowledge that is difficult to acquire is required.”
Kendall Nore’s research project focused on removing contaminants through water filtration from personal care products such as sunscreen, lotion and colognes, etc. There are measures already in place in the cosmetic industry to filter out metals and other waste in water, but no such measures filter bisphenol-A (BPA), used in making plastics and resin, or methylparaben, used in manufacturing cosmetics.
“I was tasked with looking into the extraction ability of these contaminants from water.”
The Goal
The goal of this research was to collect data on various deep eutectic solvent (DES) combinations that would best pull the contaminants out of the contaminant stock solution is diluted.
Methods of Research
Nore worked to prepare a DES of two different chemicals and a stock solution of a contaminant in water. The water was then diluted to various concentrations. A liquid-liquid extraction is performed in which a 1:2 ratio of DES and contaminant are mixed together and left to sit overnight. The following day the solution was separated into two layers (DES and aqueous), where the aqueous phase was extracted and analyzed using the UV-Vis spectrometry. After collecting the data, the final concentration of the sample was determined, and the extraction efficiency of the DES can be obtained. Nore completed this process for eight different DES systems and two different contaminants.
“The most important thing about this research was the hands-on experiences that I have gained as I have always been interested in lab work. Learning different data collection techniques and being involved in weekly meetings was also essential to the project. All of these experiences have helped to prepare me for the future in my career.”
“Interacting with my professors and other people in the lab helped to push me towards the decision to pursue my master’s degree,” says Nore. “This research internship has been especially important to me as I learned about things that I can use in the future within my career.”
Nore worked under the supervision of Drs. Jim Springstead and Mert Atilhan, both associate professors of chemical and paper engineering, and Neha Sawant, a doctoral student in chemical engineering.
About Nore
Nore plans to pursue her master’s degree before heading into the workforce full-time. She wants to enter the cosmetics industry and develop make-up and other personal care products.
“Since coming to Western I have had wonderful experiences. The chemical engineering program is amazing, all of the professors are great, and I am actually treated like a student rather than a number,” says Nore, who transferred to WMU after initially entering University of Kentucky. “I wanted to go to a bigger, D1 school. Ironically that had nothing to do with athletics but rather the feel of the campus/school. Western gave me that same D1 feeling but on a smaller scale which has worked out way better for me.”
Imagine a system that stops ransomware in its tracks. That is the focus of computer science student Jin Park’s project. To get there, he is applying machine-code analysis tools to detect patterns in machine instructions that indicate a program is ransomware.
The Goal
Park is working to develop a tool that can identify when ransomware is being downloaded and prevent it from being installed on a computer under the supervision of Dr. Steve Carr, associate dean for graduate programs and chair of the Department of Computer Science.
Methods of Research
Utilize angr, an open-source binary analysis platform, to compute control-flow graphs (CFGs) and identify specific operations.
Analyze source code of encryption algorithms and ransomware.
Implement a binary analysis tool with angr.
Detect encryption patterns and code obfuscation using symbolic analysis
“The most impactful lesson I've learned about conducting research is the importance of a structured and iterative approach. This involves breaking down the problem into smaller, manageable tasks, such as understanding foundational concepts like control-flow graphs and encryption algorithms, and then progressively building on this knowledge through practical implementation and analysis.”
About Park
A 4.0 student in computer science from Seoul, Park has a strong foundation in computer systems, C, and Python programming. He aspires to develop innovative solutions to minimize repetitive tasks, improve productivity and enhance the quality of work and life. Although graduate school is a possibility in the future, Park plans to work in his field after graduation to help his parents by supporting his younger brother's college tuition.
“My long-term goals include developing user-friendly tools like personal voice AI services for all age groups. These tools will provide support during emergencies and daily tasks, helping to reduce the incidence of critical situations and assisting individuals in making informed decisions to avoid cyber deception. Additionally, I aim to ensure fair utilization of online resources for those unfamiliar with digital devices through AI assistance, promoting digital inclusivity and safety.”
Carter Simmons’s undergraduate research project is to make glass emitter tips easier to reproduce consistently—and it’s one step in developing skills to achieve his lifelong goal of taking humas to Mars.
Simmons, an aerospace engineering student from Mattawan, Mich., is helping advance the manufacture of porous borosilicate glass emitter tips for electrospray thrusters. The thruster heads are porous borosilicate glass that are machined into a very small needle with a radius of curvature of about 50 micrometers. The unit is also called an emitter chip since it emits ions to produce thrust. In WMU’s Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments (ALPE) lab, these tips were previously machined using a lathe, so every new emitter tip had varying performance when firing the electrospray thruster.
The Goal
Simmons’ project is to make these emitters more repeatable by using a desktop CNC, computerized operation of machining tools. The intent is to make these tips have a more uniform performance when compared to the previous emitters. Carter is developing a method to make this process more automated and, therefore, more consistent. He works under the supervision of Dr. Kristina Lemmer, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.
Methods of Research
- Develop programs to identify which parameters make the best parts.
- Use photos of the tips to verify that they have been produced as expected.
- Quantitively test different emitter tips by firing the electrospray in a vacuum chamber to verify performance.
“I learned that I would really like to work in research,” says Simmons. “Even when failing at something in your research project, what you learn can be incredibly important for the future of your work and can lead to better results.”
About Simmons
Simmons will continue to work in the ALPE lab and plans to pursue a graduate degree after graduating in spring 2025. He is the guidance navigation and control team lead for Western Aerospace Launch Initiative (WALI) student organization.
He has worked at GE Aerospace as a quality engineering intern. “I helped ensure the parts we made were of tolerance by performing different capability studies and tweaking machines. It was truly eye opening and reassuring to see how much time and effort goes into quality engineering. Makes me feel confident whenever the plane I’m flying on has a GE engine.”
And for the future, Simmons has big plans. “It has always been a dream of mine to help get humans to Mars. I always knew I wanted to work in the space industry, it has been great to see I could actively work towards this goal as soon as I started at WMU.”