SOFIA

Faculty Lead: Art professor Ashwani Kumar (Physics & Engineering)

Exploring the Metaverse: virtual worlds and the future of the reality

Metaverse is our new digital world, a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. True virtual reality creates the illusion of being in a different space. It can be used for training, treatment, and communication. In fact, on campus we use VR for the study of human anatomy. In this project you will learn to create digital assets in a virtual world of your own or in an avatar to explore the existing worlds.

An ideal student for this project will be a creative student with some exposure to digital arts (photo/video editing). Knowledge of any computer programming language (e.g., Python, C#, JAVA, HTML, Kotlin) is a bonus.

Faculty: James Godde (Biology)

Mapping Our Pilgrimage

The Wisconsin Way is a 130-mile pilgrimage from The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, near Green Bay, to Holy Hill Monastery, near Milwaukee. After walking 800 miles on El Camino de Santiago in Spain two years ago, I became interested in leading MC students on a more local pilgrimage. Geography, along with Geographic Information Systems, is another interest of mine. The first week of SOfIA, I plan to guide my group in biking the length of this pilgrimage, accompanied by guided readings, writings, and photography. For the final two weeks of SOfIA, we will take the materials we collected along the route and map it out using ArcGIS StoryMap or a similar platform that allows text and photos to be associated with a created map. When completed, we can offer to link our created website to wisconsinway.com for use by future pilgrims.

Students from a wide range of disciplines will likely be interested in this project, although they may be most interested in religion, art, creative writing, or the science behind creating a StoryMap. Applicants should be able to bike an average of 26 miles a day for five days during our pilgrimage as well as camp in primitive conditions.

Faculty: Janet Ugolino (Biology & Neuroscience)

Using C. elegans to investigate the relationship between smell and brain health

An impaired sense of smell has been linked to the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease, and mood disorders such as depression. During SOfIA, students will investigate this relationship between smell and brain health using the model organism C. elegans. C. elegans are microscopic roundworms with simple nervous systems that can be engineered to model specific diseases and disorders. The sense of smell is easily studied in these organism by examining their attraction to and avoidance of specific odorants. During this project student will gain experience collecting and analyzing data, using a dissecting microscope, and working with an organism commonly used in neuroscience research. 

Students interested in neuroscience or biology are encouraged to apply.

Faculty: Audra Goach (Chemistry)

Forensic Science Meets Escape Room

Are you interested in forensic science? Do you like puzzles and mysteries? In this SOfIA project, you will become an expert in fingerprint analysis, microscope techniques for identifying animal versus human hair, footprint identification, handwriting analysis, and instrumental analysis techniques for fabric and drug identification. You will put your skills to the test by building an escape room with another SOfIA group, “The Mystery of Making Mysteries”. Your forensic science clues and their storytelling will produce a fun and engaging activity for the rest of the SOfIA students to attempt to solve. We will spend quite a bit of time in a laboratory as well as taking various trips, including one to an Escape Room.

This project will be of interest to students that like chemistry, biochemistry, and forensic science.

Faculty: Shweta Arpit Srivastava (Communication Studies)

Intergenerational communication and gender norms

This project will be rooted in the concept of pedagogy of deep listening to understand senior citizens’ perspective on today’s gender norms and build intersubjectivity between Boomers I & II (born 1946-1954, 1955-64) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012). Boomers grew up with gender norms different from those we have today. Often, this difference results in intergenerational conflicts between family members and society at large. The students in this project will conduct deep listening interviews with consenting members (as per the IRB (Institutional Review Board) procedures) of the Monmouth community that belong to the Boomers I & II generations. The students will gain interviewing skills and understand the foundations of qualitative research along with intersubjective knowledge about intergenerational communication in the context of gender norms. The project will involve preliminary data analysis and presentations.

Faculty: Craig Vivian (Educational Studies)

Gaming the System

Gaming narrativity, gamification, game studies, and ludology. These are just a few of the terms you should know if you are interested in playing, studying, or designing games. Board Gaming is a thriving hobby, but it is also finding mainstream applications in the military, education, business, and community centers. In this SOfIA project we will learn about some of the current opportunities in gaming and will spend time analyzing mechanisms, thematic structures, and game genres—then design games for personal and commercial use. 

Gaming is currently being used to develop academic skills, achieve professional goals, and enhance divergent thinking and decision making. If you are interested in education, management, the entertainment industry, or computer programming—gaming will be in your future. Spend this summer taking alternative perspectives, seeing the world through a creative lens, and optimizing your thought processes at work or play. And, yes, have a ton o’ fun along the way.

Faculty: Shahed Quadir (Physics & Engineering)

Constructing a Robotic Car Using H-bridge Motor Driver

How does a robotic car move forward or backward? How can you control the speed and direction of an automatic car? Students will learn and investigate motor driver control techniques using an H-bridge. By varying the pulse-width modulation, the speed of the motor can be controlled. Using a joystick or sensor, precise movement can be achieved. In this project, students will learn the basics of embedded devices, how to apply engineering concepts to those devices, and some simple code to control them. No prior experience with robotics is required.

Students interested in science, physics, engineering, chemistry, or biology are encouraged to apply. 

Faculty: David Wright (English)

The Mystery of Making Mysteries

Whether it’s Sherlock Holmes on the page, Knives Out on the movie screen, or endless episodes of CSI, many of us love solving mystery stories. But how do you create a compelling mystery that engages and challenges audiences, inviting them to participate in the story? Writer and Monmouth College English professor David Wright will guide students through the maze of deciphering mysteries, both in print and on screen, in order to help them concoct their own surprising and thrilling stories. In addition, participants in this project will team up with the forensic science project to learn many of the crime-solving techniques and tools used by professional investigators. By the end of the program, these two groups will work together to create a fantastic escape room for other SOfIA participants to try and solve.

This project will interest students who love to consume and create great stories. Future writers, actors, media makers, and lawyers (among others) will enjoy the collaborative process, the films/stories, and various off-campus activities and guests. 

Faculty: Chris Fasano (Physics & Engineering)

Big Ideas for Big Problems: Nuclear Science Working in the Environment.

Understanding how nitrogen moves in the ecosystem in agricultural settings and how carbon might be captured are tremendously important problems that we need to learn how to solve, because they affect how we feed the world and how we manage the environment. Solving large and complex problems like these require big thinking across diverse disciplines, which is what a liberal education at a place like Monmouth College is about. In this project we will investigate using radioactivity and nuclear science to try to develop ways of tracking particular chemicals in the environment. We’ll use our nuclear laboratory (including our neutron generator and sources) to learn how to produce, measure, and detect radioactive isotopes with precision and then begin to develop techniques for tracking them in the environment. We’ll learn to use our precision detection equipment and develop our own detectors, if needed, as part of an ongoing project that crosses physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and environmental science. We may join our work with our field-deployable drones to find ways to measure directly in the environment. If time permits, we may even move our investigation to a research reactor in Missouri.

Students from physics, engineering, chemistry, biology, and environmental science can and will play an important role in developing and discovering new ways to understand big problems. This is a beginning — where you’ll see the challenges, the hard work, the risks, the successes, the failures, the excitement, and the potential.

Faculty: Andre Audette (Political Science)

The Environment and Well-Being

In this project we will explore local, national, and international environmental policies to determine what effect they have on humanity’s well-being. This will include some short environmental experiences - examining specific cases like plastic bag bans and international goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - and doing some light work with statistics (No prior experience required; we’ll learn what we need as we go.)

Students interested in law, politics, international affairs, and environmental studies will be most interested in this project.

Faculty: Alec Stinnett (Psychology)

Free Will, Responsibility, and ChatGPT

Generative artificial intelligence and large language models, like ChatGPT, have significant implications for the world of work and productivity. Recent experimental research suggests that participants assigned to work with ChatGPT are more productive, efficient, and satisfied than control participants. This project will test how people perceive their own work and the work of others when assisted by ChatGPT. Do people feel less agentic and responsible for their work when they receive assistance from ChatGPT? Do people attribute less agency and responsibility to others who receive similar assistance? Would you feel differently about this description if it were produced with ChatGPT?

Students interested in these or similar questions, or who have broad interests in psychology, philosophy, or statistics, are encouraged to apply. No experience necessary.