Grand Challenges Initiative - Scott Cummings, Dan Haub, Ryan Millares, Nicholas Mirchandani, Sean Robbins Archive - Grand Challenges Initiative

Parallax – A Virtual Reality Tool for Teaching Astronomy Concepts Scott Cummings, Dan Haub, Ryan Millares, Nicholas Mirchandani, Sean Robbins

May 11, 2020 by Grand Challenges Initiative | Student presentations

Parallax seeks to be a learning experience that combines traditional teaching methods with virtual reality supplements to enhance student understanding of traditionally taught astronomy concepts. Lecture order and content is based upon the California Department of Education’s standards for 8th graders’ knowledge of astronomy. Lectures are followed by virtual reality sessions which aim to grant

Martian Alfalfa Experiment Nick Callen, Dela Hatfield, Cole Ternes, Logan Welsh

May 11, 2020 by Grand Challenges Initiative | Student presentations

We have conducted an experiment that directly compares the growth of alfalfa plants in Terran soil, No Nutrient sand, and Martian soil, both with and without the presence of inoculant. These six soil types were given a few weeks to grow and then were harvested to be analyzed. An R program was written to analyze

Detecting Microplastics in the Environment with Fluorescence Spectroscopy Emma Kocik, Gabriela Nerhood, Garrett Bolen, Alexandra Schmelzer, Camille Troncone, Finn White, Abbey Riley

May 9, 2020 by Grand Challenges Initiative | Student presentations

Our grand challenge is to solve the problem of microplastic pollution in the ocean. We sought to find an efficient method to identify microplastics in natural seawater samples as current sampling methods are costly and time-consuming. Fluorescence spectroscopy was explored and showed promising results as a quick way to differentiate between and identify specific plastic

Improving Foster Parent Retention through Effective Training: Attachment Theory Jillian Anderson, Luisa Baldino, Maddy Galvin, Brenden Kelety, Titan Mitchell, Kacie Sakamaki

May 8, 2020 by Grand Challenges Initiative | Student presentations

30-50% of foster parents leave the program within a year (Gibbs). This unfortunate trend can be seen across the country, and it is largely due to lack of appropriate training among foster parents (Newton). This lack of training is what prompted our project, designed to promote accessible and quality education to foster parents anywhere. For

Police Duty: A Drunk Driving Detection Simulation Ayden Best, Michael Kulinich, Bianca Newell, Arshia Sharma

May 8, 2020 by Grand Challenges Initiative | Student presentations

Our project aims to reduce the number of fatal car accidents caused by drunk driving. To do this, we created a simulation that detects whether a person is driving safely or unsafely based on changes in vehicle-based driving measures. We found that this simulation could be implemented into a car’s CAN bus system in the

2019 GCI Showcase Highlights Team Arduino: Developing a Wearable Heart Health Monitor

May 7, 2020 by Rebecca Green | Student presentations

This team began their project in their Freshmen Foundations Course of the Grand Challenges Initiative in Fall 2017. At the time, the team was made up of students majoring in biological sciences and biochemistry who had never written a line of code. By the end of their experience, they had learned how to create a

2019 GCI Showcase Highlights Featured projects from the inaugural cohort of GCI teams.

May 4, 2020 by Rebecca Green | Student presentations

As our students put the final touches on this year’s posters, let’s take a look back at the work done by last year’s cohort. First up, a team who took on the grand challenge of providing clean water to the world. Take a look at their poster below! CleanWaterPoster.pdf