ACE Program For Undergraduate Research In Engineering (PURE)
January 2013
Last semester, over thirty Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Armour College of Engineering (ACE) students, participated in the Fall 2013 Program for Undergraduate Research in Engineering (PURE) Research Expo. At the event, accepted PURE students presented posters detailing the research they had completed. ACE PURE provides undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct research alongside researchers at and outside IIT. The program is part of IIT Engineering Themes' distinctive education initiative, where students are allowed to study areas in which engineers can impact the entire global population while enriching and advancing their education. All ACE PURE projects are related directly to one of the current IIT Engineering Themes: Water, Health, Security, and Energy. Prizes were awarded for first, second, and third place in each of the four themes. The first-place winners were:
WATER
Lucas Roat, a third-year civil engineering major, was at the top of the podium among students in the Water Theme. His research, IIT Hydrologic Analysis, aims to shed light on the impact of urban compacted soils and vegetated surfaces on precipitation runoff. Lucas designed a tool that measures the infiltration rates of water into the soil at different sites on campus. Lucas hopes it will provide beneficial feedback to IIT about the conditions on campus so that Best Management Practices for stormwater may be implemented.
HEALTH
Third-year Biomedical Engineering student, Jose A. Rios, placed first under the Health Theme with his project Analysis of Cell Function in a Tissue-Engineered Model of Adipose Tissue The purpose of this research is to better understand obesity at a cellular level to prevent, diagnose, and treat people affected by diabetes and other diseases where obesity increases the risk.
SECURITY
Top honors in the Security Theme went to Luis Larco for his research into Predictive Policing. Luis is a fifth-year student at IIT with a dual major in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research was done in partnership with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and was funded by the National Institute of Justice. The project involves developing tools that the CPD could use to better understand the categories of crime that would allow them to deploy resources more efficiently into affected areas.
ENERGY
David Llavsky’s research project, Investigation of Convex Methods in Optimal Power Flow, took first place in the Energy Theme. David, a third-year Chemical and Electrical Engineering student, researched the accuracy and efficiency of the Convex Method of analyzing Optimal Power Flow. Optimal Power Flow problems are the way power grids are analyzed to minimize cost and power losses. This research will make power grids more efficient, which is of great importance as power systems move toward utilizing renewable, but non-dispatchable energy sources.
Please note that the acceptance for Spring 2014 ACE PURE applications has closed. Applications are currently being evaluated. Those who submit their applications will be notified soon as to whether or not they have been accepted into the program. The ACE Spring 2014 PURE Research Expo is currently scheduled for March 26th. More information will be available at a later date.
August 2012
Second-year undergraduate Deion DeBose had a very productive summer, conducting research under the auspices of Assistant Professor of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (CAEE) Brent Stephens.
His research centered on developing a thermal testing facility—known as a “hot box”—that can be used by manufacturers to better gauge and select materials for energy-efficient buildings.
“This whole undergraduate research experience was very worthwhile,” said Deion. “I now have a better idea of what to expect if I decide to pursue a research career.”
Deion was one of 27 students who participated this summer in the Armour College of Engineering Program for Undergraduate Research In Engineering (PURE). Part of the IIT Engineering Themes distinctive education initiative, ACE PURE, provides students with the opportunity to conduct research alongside IIT faculty mentors.
This summer, 19 faculty members welcomed undergraduates into their research laboratories. At summer’s end, all ACE PURE participants presented their respective research results at a poster session. Deion is pictured above (on the right) with Dr. Stephens at this session, which was held on August 14 in the Perlstein Hall lobby.
“This research opportunity increased my interest in algae-based biofuel production and exposed me to a field that I am thinking of pursuing in the future when I graduate,” said ACE PURE participant and Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE) undergraduate Gaby Sumampouw.
Gaby spent the summer with two other ChBE undergraduates conducting research under the guidance of ChBE Professor Fouad Teymour. Specifically, her research centered on converting oil to biofuel using lipase. Gaby is pictured above with IIT Armour College of Engineering Dean Natacha DePaola, discussing the team’s findings at the research poster session.
All ACE PURE projects relate directly to one of the current IIT Engineering Themes: water, Health, Security, or Energy. These themes represent areas in which engineers can impact the entire global population.
CAEE undergraduate Lucas Roat (pictured above) focused on the Water theme, conducting a hydrologic analysis of IIT’s campus alongside faculty mentor and CAEE Environmental Engineering Acting Director Paul Anderson. The aim of his research was to determine the validity of approximating infiltration rates from corresponding soil characteristics. This objective was accomplished by developing an instrument to measure infiltration rates on IIT’s campus in their natural setting, rather than in a lab setting.“I found this research program to be an incredibly valuable experience,” said Lucas. “It gave me insight into where I want to focus my efforts upon graduation.”
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) undergraduate Kathy Ho echoed Lucas’s sentiment.
Kathy devoted her summer to identifying the Heusler phase within compositions and pure ingots. Research such as this could one day lead to better energy-saving applications.
“The undergraduate research experience was quite amazing,” said Kathy, who worked with faculty mentor and MAEE Professor Philip Nash. “I could apply knowledge from my classes to the research while learning about new techniques associated with my field of interest.”
Pictured above at the poster session (from left to right) are ACE PURE faculty mentor and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Associate Professor Alexander Flueck with ACE PURE participants Chenqi Bao, Shoujun Deng, Linjie Li, and Subash Luitel. All four ECE undergraduates worked under the guidance of Dr. Flueck on a project entitled Faster Than Real-Time Power Systems Dynamic Simulation.
