We will post new UCARE opportunities as we receive them. So keep checking back! UCARE opportunities are listed with the most recent submissions first. Please contact the faculty member directly if you are interested in one of the UCARE opportunities and plan to meet with that faculty member to discuss the position further. The UCARE deadline for 2009-2010 is February 13, 2009.

 

Study Cell Mechanics using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
AFM is first evolved as a high resolution imaging tool for inorganic materials, it has also been used to exert forces on cells, providing insight into their mechanical properties. The UCARE student will review the AFM applications in biological samples and use AFM, combined with light microscopy, to characterize the mechanical properties of cells by indenting cells using the AFM tip.
Linxia Gu, lgu2@unl.edu, Mechanical Engineering, Joseph A. Turner, jaturner@unl.edu, Engineering Mechanics, and Sundaralingam Premaraj, spremaraj@unmc.edu, Dental School

Environmental Implication of Nanomaterials, Dr. Yusong Li, Department of Civil Engineering, 472-5972, yli7@unl.edu.

The rapid development, escalating production, and widespread application of nanomaterials in recent years have been unprecedent. Such an increase in production and dissemination will inevitably lead to the release of nanomaterials into the environment, either from industrial sources or through disposal in municipal waste. The effect of nanomaterials on ecosystem health, the bioavailability, and potential pathways of engineered nanoparticles, however, is not very well understood. This research is to develop a web-based educational system for individuals involved in coursework, research, and professional practice to improve the general understanding of environmental impact of nanomaterials. A database for the environmental impact data of different nanomaterials will be established. An undergraduate research is needed to help with literature review, data collection, and database development on the environmental implication of nanomaterials.

Increasing Diversity in Nebraska Schools - What Do Teachers Need To Know? Elaine Chan, echan2@unl.edu

An undergraduate student researcher is wanted to assist in a school-based research project examining culture and curriculum in a diverse school community. The position is a one year position, with the possibility for extension to another year. The student would work with a faculty member (Elaine Chan) in a range of research activities, including but not limited to: computer-based research, literature reviews, school-based observations, library searches, and the collection, storage and organization of research data. Students in the Honors Program may see possibilities for connecting this research to the senior honors thesis.

Mechanical Effects on the Vascular System, Linxia Gu, 472-7680, lgu2@unl.edu
Characterization of local mechanical parameters, i.e., shear stress and circumference stress, will provide better understanding of the mechanism of vascular response. The UCARE student will work closely with faculty to build/operate a vascular response tester in response to changes in flow and pressure. There are existing designs for the tester. The students will develop bench top experiment and carry out tests using rubbery material instead of organic tissue. If you are interested in working with your hands, please contact: Linxia Gu, N120 SEC-Link, 472-7680.
Application Deadline: 2/12/2009

University of Nebraska Press, Manjit Kaur, University of Nebraska Press, 472-7703, mkaur2@unl.edu

A student is wanted to assist the Accelerated Publishing and Management department at the University of Nebraska Press. As publisher of twenty-two scholarly journals, this is a wonderful opportunity to gain professional publishing experience and an understanding of the journals business. The student would work with the production supervisor on all aspects of editorial and production of journals and offer general office support for the journals staff. No previous experience is necessary, just an interest in publishing. Please contact Manjit Kaur, Manager, University of Nebraska Press, mkaur2@unl.edu.

University of Nebraska Press, Heather Lundine, University of Nebraska Press, hlundine2@unl.edu

A student is wanted to assist the acquisitions department at the University of Nebraska Press. As publisher of 160 new scholarly and trade books each year, this is a wonderful opportunity to gain professional publishing experience and an understanding of the book business. The student would work with the acquiring editors on research projects and offer general office support for the acquisitions staff. No previous experience is necessary, just an interest in book publishing. Please contact Heather Lundine, editor-in-chief, University of Nebraska Press, hlundine2@unl.edu

Annotating and Digitizing the Collected Walt Whitman Interviews and Reminiscences

A student researcher is wanted to assist in creating what will be the first comprehensive edition of Whitman interviews-over 70 newspaper articles and about a dozen book-length pieces. Much of the initial work of locating microfilm originals, creating digital images, and transcribing has been done, and a preliminary version of the website has been mounted for internal use. The student researcher would assist in library and online research to locate information for use in annotations as well as a variety of other tasks (e.g., scanning, transcribing, encoding, proofreading) related to preparing the texts for publication on the Walt Whitman Archive ( www.whitmanarchive.org) and possibly in book form. The student will have the opportunity to learn about a variety of skills and technologies used in the online publication of scholarly material. No previous knowledge is required-just a willingness to learn. Please contact Dr. Brett Barney, Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, 472-4547, bbarney2@unl.edu

 

Civil War Washington Project

An interdisciplinary digital project exploring the evolution of Washington, DC, as the nation's capital during the Civil War Era and its cultural, social, medical, scientific, and military contributions to American development is looking for an undergraduate assistant who is interested in history, literature, and/or digital humanities to assist in various research and editorial endeavors. A basic familiarity with American history and literature during the nineteenth century is preferred. The work may include encoding historical documents in XML (Extensible Markup Language). An interest in learning and practicing digital research techniques, such as digitization of images, transcription/encoding of texts, or GIS, would be helpful, but no previous experience is required.

The goal of this project is to create a digital research and teaching tool that allows users to view and analyze social, cultural, medical, scientific, and military events and developments during the Civil War on a detailed map of Washington, DC, with links to texts, images, data, commentaries, and other digital sites to provide a multilayered portrait of the changing city and its broader national context as the war erupted, escalated, and concluded.

The undergraduate assistant will work through the UCARE program with Professor Susan C. Lawrence and Dr. Stacey Berry, Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at Love Library. Students in the humanities (especially history and literature) should find this a valuable introduction to digital research, as well as a creative endeavor and learning experience. Please contact: Prof. Susan C. Lawrence 623 Oldfather Hall Department of History University of Nebraska-Lincoln slawrence2@unl.edu

The ClassMaps Research Group, Beth Doll, Psychology, 472-2238, bdoll2@unl.edu

Schools represent the second most important caretaking environment for children who spend more than 15,000 hours in the care of teachers and other educators across their public school years. Nevertheless, there are few efforts to operationally define high-quality caretaking environments in schools. The ClassMaps Research group is working operationally define and assess quality caretaking in classroom environments, and to relate these features to children's school success. Our central hypothesis is that the academic engagement, academic progress, personal competence, and behavioral conduct of children will be stronger when their classrooms and schools predispose them to be self-regulated and socially competent. We meet weekly to coordinate our research tasks and seminar on key conceptual constructs, and then work in smaller groups on specific tasks. Our group includes faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and visiting scholars.

Scientific Computing of Complex Physical and Biological Systems, Dr. Florin Bobaru, Department of Engineering Mechanics, 472-8348, fbobaru2@unl.edu

Computer simulations of physical and biological systems are becoming the way of the future for scientific investigations and discovery. Novel methods based on nonlocal interactions have been developed in our research group with the aim of solving difficult problems where computational models have failed before. The UCARE student will work on one project from a list of topics that includes: simulation of the dynamics of swarms and fish schools, modeling of complex traffic flows, modeling of cells. Students excited about the use of computer programming and computational modeling in scientific discovery are invited to apply. The UCARE participant is expected to enjoy computer programming and algorithm development and to be able to learn about the physical and/or biological systems to be explored with the new methods of scientific computing. Knowledge of basic numerical methods in scientific computing is desirable.

Promoting Student Success through Integrated Media in the College of Arts and Sciences, Amy Goodburn, Arts & Sciences, 472-8291, agoodburn1@unl.edu

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) is the largest and most diverse college at UNL, comprised of 17 departments and 12 centers or programs and representing almost 5,000 undergraduate majors within the areas of humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. A&S seeks a student with experiences or interests in magazine/feature writing, public relations, and web design who would work closely with the A&S dean's office to profile and promote student achievement through a variety of media. These work experiences may include interviewing, photographing, and writing feature stories for the College's magazine, Columns; working with the College's web designer to develop stories of student success for the website, consulting with unit heads and advisors to develop story leads, and developing an overall integrated media plan for promoting stories of student success across the College.

The ideal candidate will be able to work independently, demonstrate excellent writing and editing skills, have strong interpersonal communication skills and enthusiasm for promoting the liberal arts mission of the College. Interested applicants should contact Amy Goodburn via email to submit a one-page resume and a writing sample.

 

A Biography of the German Scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), David Cahan, Department of History, (402) 472-3238, dcahan2@unl.edu

I'd like to find a UCARE student to help me with my project, a biography of the German scientist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894). I need someone who reads German (not perfectly, but good enough) and who is careful and reliable in their work. Anyone who reads German is potentially right for this job; it doesn't matter what his or her major is. Possible majors include German and History, but are certainly not limited to these.

 

Development of Bioreactors for Drinking Water Treatment, Dr. Xu Li, Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, (402) 472-6042, xulixuli@unl.edu

Environmental biotechnology provides a promising avenue to alleviate the current global water crisis by improving water quality. This research project will focus on the development of bioreactor technologies to remove multiple contaminants from drinking water sources.

The UCARE student will work closely with a Ph.D. student to build/operate bioreactors, test a range of water quality parameters, and monitor the microbial communities that are responsible for contaminant removal in the bioreactors. The project will provide the UCARE student an opportunity to get familiar with the literature in the field of environmental engineering, gain hands-on experience on building/operating bioreactors, and learn techniques to measure the chemical and microbial properties of water samples.

Undergraduate students with engineering and/or microbiology background are encouraged to apply. Please send me an email expressing your interest, and then we can schedule a meeting for you to learn more about the project.

 

Mechanical Effects of Osteoporosis, Engineering Mechanics

The study of the mechanical effects of osteoporosis through full field stereo optical surface strain measurement done on bone samples. The challenge in such studies is the complex and heterogeneous character of the bone which makes traditional studies difficult to interpret. The new stereo optical surface strain measurement system provides a method to do this characterization that overcomes most these difficulties. The student interested in this work should be willing to collaborate with students conducting numerical and theoretical modeling, but will be primarily focused on conducting experimental research and collaborating with experimenter to providing analysis and insight on these results. This is a collaborative program between the Engineering Mechanics department at UNL and Creighton University Medical (Merhdad Negahban, mnegahban@unl.edu, and Joseph A. Turner, jaturner@unl.edu, in Engineering Mechanics, and Mohammad Akhter, MOHAMMEDAKHTER@creighton.edu , Creighton University).

 

Characterization of Facial Prosthesis Materials, Engineering Mechanics and Dental School

A study of the effects of aging on facial prosthetic materials through the study of failure. Facial prosthetic materials are primarily very soft materials that are subjected to extreme weathering as a result to exposure to varying environments. This aging substantially degrades the material and reduces the usable life of these replacements. The student interested in this research will be conducting stereo optical measurements of the surface strains in samples prepared with different weathering to correlate with theoretical and numerical results. The student should be interested in collaborating with students that are conducting theoretical and computational modeling, but primarily work in the area of experimentation and analysis (Merhdad Negahban, mnegahban@unl.edu, and Joseph A. Turner, jaturner@unl.edu, in Engineering Mechanics, and Mark W Beatty, mbeatty@unmc.edu, Dental School).

 

Evaluation and Characterization of Mechanical Waves in the Skull, Engineering Mechanics

Traumatic brain injury resulting from head impacts and blasts is a major area of concern in sports injury, car accidents, and in blasts from improvised explosive devices. The material in the skull is heterogeneous and has directional properties that directly influence how waves move through the skull, and potentially influence the damaging results of such waves. The research will focus on measuring and characterizing the behavior of the bone through ultrasonic methods. The student interested in this work will be conducting experiments in close collaboration with senior students to measure, model, and analyze the response in the human skull and in animal models (Merhdad Negahban, mnegahban@unl.edu, and Joseph A. Turner, jaturner@unl.edu).

 

Dynamic Response of Blast Waves on a Head, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

The characterization of the effect of blast waves on a head can have a significant impact on understanding both the impact of the wave on the damage seen in the brain function (Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI), but also on ways to protect the brain from mild or severe TBI. The project focuses on studying the measurement of the response of a full head and associated materials under blast using experimental methods including dynamic stereo optical surface strain measurements of the head. The student interested in this project will work on a new research technique that uses very high speed cameras in a stereo optical setup to measure the effects of waves on the head, head models, and materials used for its protection. The student will need to have an interest in experimental setup and control, mechanical characterization, and response analysis. The student will be closely working with faculty and students on understanding the effects of blasts in materials and the head, and in setting up the blast experiments. (Merhdad Negahban, mnegahban@unl.edu, and Ruqiang Feng, rfeng1@unl.edu, in Engineering Mechanics, Carl Nelson, cnelson5@unlnotes.unl.edu, in Mechanical Engineering).

 

Jill Walahoski, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, jwalahoski2@unl.edu

Assessing the Impact of 4-H Youth Development on Outcomes in SET (Science Engineering and Technology)

This UCARE position will assist in designing a study and developing the tools to measure the impact of 4-H Youth Development on pre-determined outcomes for youth engaged in SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) projects or experiences. This study will build on the existing data which illustrates a self-assessment of 4-H participants in regards to the short-term outcomes. The study will likely utilize a mixed method approach to measure the attainment of behavioral outcomes which are outlined by Nebraska 4-H. In addition to design and development of the study, this student will also facilitate data collection, host focus groups, enter and manage data and report findings. No specific experience is required, however data entry experience working with Excel or SPSS and a familiarity with 4-H is preferred.

 

Dr. Jeonghan Ko, Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, 472-8634, jko2@unl.edu

Analysis of Carbon Footprints for the Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chain

One way to mitigate the global climate change is to reduce carbon emissions throughout the supply chain of products. A UCARE student will participate in the research on the environmentally sustainable supply chain. This research will focus on developing analysis tools for the greenhouse gas emission in the whole supply chain: from raw material extraction through manufacturing and transportation to storage and distribution. The research tasks include building mathematical and computer models of greenhouse gas emissions in a product supply chain and collecting relevant data.

In particular, the UCARE student will work with local companies to collect carbon-footprint and energy-consumption data of a mass-produced assembled product. The UCARE student will also help build computer models of greenhouse gas emissions of the product.

Basic analytical and computer skills are desirable.

 

Drs. Sharad Seth and Hong Jiang, Computer and Science Engineering, 472-5003/472-6747, seth@cse.unl.edu/jiang@cse.unl.edu

Exploring new challenges in the design and testing of chip multiprocessors.
In the last few years we have seen a dramatic change in the manufacture of semiconductor devices from single-processor devices to chip multiprocessors (CMPs). This trend has been forced on the manufacturers because the traditional approach to higher performance, namely, building smaller devices operating at higher speeds, could not be sustained due to excessive power consumption and reliability concerns.

The CMP solution involves integrating smaller devices into multiple processors that gain in performance not by higher clock rates but through parallelism. However, the solution brings a host of new problems in design and testing of computer systems built from CMPs. In our group, we have been exploring solutions to the challenges at various levels of abstraction.

We invite upper-division computer engineering or computer science majors to contact us if they wish to join in this research. Just send an email expressing your specific interests and background and we will schedule a meeting to discuss it further.

 

Dr. Alison Stewart, Professor of Art History, 472-5547, astewart1@unl.edu

Assist art history faculty member in research and teaching preparation, initially assisting in turning slide presentations into powerpoints (requires digitizing slides, finding images in on-line and electronic resources, among others). Later student woulds do research for a project centered around a Pieter Bruegel painting, Wedding Dance in the Detroit Institute of Arts that was purchased by a German and restored by a German-American from Berlin.

Undergraduate majors that might be applicable include: art history, history, German, art.

 

Dr. Maria de Guzman, UNL Extension Programs, mguzman2@unl.edu

Assist in evaluating UNL Extension programs - The goal of UNL Extension is to provide research-based information and programming to help individuals and families across the state. This UCARE position is for a student to assist in evaluating various programs that are aimed at helping strengthen family relationships, youth development, family finance, and health and nutrition. The student will assist in entering and managing data, and designing and implementing evaluation instruments. No specific experience is required as the UCARE student will be trained in data entry and management prior to starting the project. However, being comfortable in entering data into spreadsheets (e.g., Excel, SPSS) is preferred.
Please contact Dr. Maria de Guzman by email at mguzman2@unl.edu for information

 

Newell Decker, Special Education & Communication Disorders, 472-5456, tdecker1@unl.edu

I am in the beginning stages of developing a research project on binaural auditory processing of signals in a background of multiple talkers. There is evidence to show that certain children and adults have more than the usual difficulty with this type of task. The approach that I will take will be to use an electrophysiological approach to understanding this task. In simple terms, what we will be doing is recording electrical activity from the brain during these tasks. This type of project would potentially be interesting to students in Communication Disorders, Psychology or Biological Sciences.