Undergraduate Research

Academic Year Grants

Each semester, the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (RSCA) office offers the Academic Year Undergraduate Research Experience (AYURE) grant to support faculty-mentored student scholarship. 

 

AYURE Program Funding:

  • Up to $750 for supplies, participant payments, etc. to carry out the project.
  • AYURE awardees are eligible to later apply for travel funds to present their work at a conference, pending campus/state permission to travel. Students are eligible for up to $1000 in travel support, and faculty mentors for up to $600.

 

Eligibility:

These competitive grants are open to all full-time faculty and their undergraduate mentees.

We adopt a broad, inclusive definition of "research" and welcome applications from all academic divisions on campus (Fine & Performing Arts, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Library, School of Business, School of Education, and School of Science & Engineering).

Projects can take numerous forms. For example:

  • Some are faculty-driven projects in which the student learns valuable skills while helping to advance the mentor’s scholarship. Others are student-driven projects in which the faculty mentor guides a student eager to chase a budding interest.
  • Some are conventional scholarship, where the aim is to create new knowledge or creative works. Others are apprenticeships, where the aim is to train the student on the discipline’s core skills, such as how to use state-of-the-art equipment or how to play an unusual musical instrument. Still others are applied projects, where the aim is to assist a campus or community group by, for example, providing a consultative service.

Whatever its form, the main eligibility criteria are:

  • Through one-on-one training from the faculty expert, the project extends the student’s learning and professional development beyond what is possible in the classroom.
  • Projects are also intensive, taking the semester or longer to complete. Mentors should meet at least weekly with their student to discuss progress and problems that arise during the semester.
  • The student is involved at a high level in multiple phases of the project.

Most projects involve only one faculty mentor and one student. But we have occasionally supported larger projects with two faculty mentors and/or two students.

Spring 2022 AYURE Application:

 

 

Congratulations to all 2021 Fall AYURE award recipients!

 

Sophia Acquisto (Childhood Education, History Concentration)

Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Rutner (Library)

Project Title:  “My Hudson History”: An Educational App for Teaching Hudson Valley History

 

Hanaa Ahmed (Biology)

Faculty Mentor:  Maureen Morrow (Biology)

Project Title:  Characterization of BS71 Copper Resistance Capacity

 

Justin Boswell (Mechanical Engineering)

Faculty Mentor:  Ping-Chuan Wang (Engineering)

Project Title:  Investigating Fatigue Failure in 3D-Printed Stainless Steel with Ultrasonic Vibration

 

Jillian Dantona (Mechanical Engineering)

Faculty Mentor:  Rachmadian Wulandana (Mechanical Engineering)

Project Title:  Effects of 3d-printing parameters on the performance of vortex-induced bladeless turbines

 

Arlinda Durmishaj (Chemistry)

Faculty Mentor:  Megan Ferguson (Chemistry)

Project Title:  Properties of pyrolyzed chicken feathers

 

Danae Evans (Physics & Astronomy)

Faculty Mentor:  Anca Radulescu (Mathematics)

Project Title:  Universality of synchronization properties in dynamic networks

 

Ian P. Hanley, (Chemistry)

Faculty Mentor:  Miles Wilklow-Marnell (Chemistry)

Project Title:  Iridium Catalyzed Alcohol/Quinone Transfer Dehydrogenation

 

Yan Lok Ko (Electrical Engineering & Mathematics)

Faculty Mentor:  Anca Radulescu (Mathematics)

Project Title:  Mechanisms of recurring activity generation in the CSTC circuit

 

Natalia Kurek (Biochemistry)

Faculty Mentor:  Pamela St. John (Chemistry)

Project Title:  Improvement in Detection of Retained Estrogen Disruptor in Planaria

 

Sean Loughran (History & English)

Faculty Mentors:  Adrianna Martinez & Chrissy O’Grady (Library)

Project Title:  Comparative History: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 in the U.S.

 

Roy Ludwig (Geology)

Faculty Mentor:  Andrea Varga (Theatre Arts & Honors)

Project Title:  Microplastics  in  the  Hudson  River  Watershed: An  Examination  of  Plastic  Microfiber Waste Through Laundry and Potential Mitigation Strategies

 

Yana Miroshnychenko (Communication Disorders & Contract: Linguistics)

Faculty Mentor:  Oksana Laleko (Linguistics)

Project Title:  Grammars in Contact: A Linguistic Study of Russian in Brighton Beach, NY

 

Matthew Pesce (Biochemistry), Brianna Flood (Biochemistry), Jahed Miah, (Biochemistry)

Faculty Mentor:  Dominic McBrayer (Chemistry)

Project Title:  EI-MS Analysis of Challenging Amino Acids and Protected Peptides

 

Carrie Smithing (Physics)

Faculty Mentor:  Catherine Herne (Physics & Astronomy)

Project Title:  Attachment of B. bacteriovorusto prey using type IV pili