At SASH, Students Share Their Research with the RWU Community

BRISTOL, R.I. – Undergraduate and graduate students from all majors gathered over the week to present their research at the fifth annual Student Academic Showcase and Honors (SASH). The event represents the collective intellectual accomplishments of the university during the academic year and provides an opportunity for students to share their academic and creative activities with the RWU community.

The event featured student poster presentations, thesis presentations, capstone and other paper or project presentations; and also panel discussions, displays of design work, exhibitions of visual and multimedia artifacts, performing arts recitals, literary readings, theatrical performances, and spotlighting of Community Partnerships Center projects. Topics at SASH ranged from business analytics to load detecting walking boots to mathematical equations and restoring historical landmarks.

Many of the projects equip students with first-hand, professional work experiences that help prepare them to enter today's workforce while also benefitting local and global communities.

Along with the exhibit of student work, SASH programming featured Clark University Professor Ora Szekely delivering a keynote address titled "The Syrian Civil War and Refugee Crisis: From Bad to Worse."

Here are photos from the event and highlights of some of the student research:

For their senior design project, seniors Stephanie Gratiano, Alex Proulx, Evan Sage (pictured here left to right), Ty Herzog, Ariane Marquant and Patrick Williams designed a walking boot that monitors and notifies patients when they are putting too much weight on their injured foot.

As part of the Analytics Club, Michaella Petrucci '19 (left) and Brittany Watson '19 (center) analyzed data from Merck as part of a national analytics competition. Faculty member Farbod Farhadi (right) helped guide the pair of sophomores.

Kiserian Jackson '17 explains his team's study of hemocytic neoplasia, a disease that affects hard clams, to Karen Bilotti (left), associate director for RWU's Tutorial Support Service.

Jacob LePrevost '17 (left) and Joseph Sojka '17 (right) explain to Provost and Senior Vice President Andrew Workman how they – and team members Alexia Byusa '17 and McKenna Everding '17 – are conducting a full structural analysis of the east wall at Fort Adams, a National Historic Landmark, and designing temporary structures to prevent further deterioration of the fort as part of their senior capstone project.

Sophomores Sarah Wood, Haley Clancy and Aleena Abraham (left to right) researched the number of women that have been appointed to cabinet level positions by R.I. Governor Gina Raimondo's administration and compared it to former Governor Lincoln Chafee's administration.

Seniors Luyi Chen, Charles Flynn, Chynna Lopes, Amanda McCabe, Clifford Murphy, Leah O'Neil, Matthew Stein, Conner A. Sweet and Cody Thuesen developed a prototype device to detect if fish have been caught using cyanide.

The Fifth Annual SASH event was sponsored by the University Honors Program, Faculty Senate and the Provost’s Office.