Students share research findings at Undergraduate Research Opportunities showcase

Almost 50 students from across Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) gathered in person to present findings from their summer research projects at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities (URO) showcase. The students’ investigations, experiments and creative activities ranged from studying how computer software can help authors tell interactive stories in a digital age to developing methods for recovering rare earth elements after processing.

The URO program is funded by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and offers students a meaningful, paid opportunity to participate in Scholarly, Research and Creative (SRC) activities. The program, launched in 2019, allows students to learn research-related skills, work directly with a faculty mentor and gain hands-on experience to further their academic and career development. For many students, the URO program allows them to work in a lab or conduct research outside of the classroom for the first time.

“From the URO’s inception, the focus has been on giving recognition to the important role that undergraduate students play in our research enterprise, and the opportunity we have to provide you with the experiential opportunities to explore, discover and think about which scholarly research and creative activities you might contemplate for your next career steps,” said Steven N. Liss, TMU’s vice-president, research and innovation, while addressing students at the event.

The students spent 14 weeks working on their investigations and projects over the summer. They shared their work with peers and faculty at the two-hour showcase event, which took place at the Sears Atrium on September 21, 2022.

Below is a small sample of the projects presented by URO showcase participants.

Rare Earth Element Recovery

As supply shortages of electronic parts and medical equipment continue, the need for cost-effective ways to process the rare earth elements used to make them grows. Chemical engineering student Michael Chan and his supervisor professor Huu Doan investigated how adding adsorbents to the water used in the initial processing of rare earth elements can recover residual metal. The experiment was conducted at a lab scale, but Chan says the results were very promising. A cost analysis of a small mine in South America found the potential for increased profit margins when using the adsorption technique.

“Initially, it was a lot of reading, watching YouTube videos and then asking my supervisor a lot of questions because you really have no idea how to do this,” said Chan who had his first opportunity to work in a lab through the URO program after studying in virtual labs during the pandemic. “The research is amazing but working in the lab and actually gaining first-hand experience is rewarding.”

Captive Labour—A Curatorial Exploration

Preparing to help professor Alison Matthews David with an upcoming book and exhibition, fashion student Camilla Leonelli Calzado found her interest piqued by a donation to the Fashion Research Collection of tools used in shoemaking workshops at Kingston Penitentiary in the 1950s and 60s. This led her to explore the history and current state of prison labour in Canada for her project.

“I wasn’t really aware it was such a prevalent issue historically in Canada,” she said. She delved into the issue, examining historical tools, visiting museum collections and reviewing archival texts from the Kingston Penitentiary. She said the labour was framed as a training and rehabilitation opportunity for offenders but often did not provide much in the way of skills beyond assembly line work. To assess modern practices, they conducted interviews and research such as examining financial statements and other public documents. They even ordered inmate-crafted products like moccasins.

An upcoming exhibition at The Catalyst, which will feature historical objects, photos, and modern-day displays, is based on this research project. The exhibition launches November 3 and will be open to the public November 4 to 30.

Knowledge Mobilization in Disability Arts Research

Caitlyn Rose, a student in the School of Disability Studies, explored how to share disability studies knowledge to the public through disability-arts-related knowledge mobilization activities. Some of her work included reviewing the Crip Ecologies: Vulnerable Bodies in a Toxic Landscape exhibition (external link, opens in new window)  at the Art Windsor-Essex gallery, which she visited virtually. Her review was published online, allowing her to learn about critical analysis and accessible writing while sharing knowledge with the public.

Another part of her project, supervised by professor Eliza Chandler, was to work on curriculum development for Bodies in Translation (external link, opens in new window) , a research project promoting the development and study of activist art. She wrote sub-modules based on the work of disability artist David Bobier for a forthcoming interactive online platform and wrote image descriptions using a poetic approach.

“The objectives of my project evolved a lot over the course of the summer to meet the needs of the people involved, which is really just a part of organizing a project with access as a central tenet,” said Rose. “One of the most salient things that I took away from this summer is that access is an ongoing and ever-shifting process that really needs to be grounded in the current needs of the dynamic communities that you need to serve.”

Distributed Path Planning for Mutli-Robotic Systems Using Gaussian Belief Propagation

Mechanical engineering student Matthew Olver shared his work on developing better pathfinding algorithms for robots, allowing them to move from one point to another with a higher degree of efficiency. Supervised by professor Sajad Saeedi, Olver’s project could prove useful for systems of robots travelling long distances and working together, such as in shipping, transportation or in warehouses facilities.          

“Because this algorithm operates distributedly instead of collectively … it doesn’t send data to a centralized computer system. The robots communicate between each other, so it allows these robots to essentially better plan and accomplish tasks in a more efficient manner than other algorithms currently out there on the market,” he said. This is accomplished using Gaussian Belief Propagation algorithms, which bolster efficiency in advanced robotics systems. Olver notes that robotics is a relatively new application for these types of algorithms.

He is testing custom-designed robots to assist with the data collection required for the algorithms using a Vicon camera system, which is also used for motion capture work in big-budget movies. To mount the cameras, 3D-printed parts were created to further customize the robots. Olver displayed the parts at the showcase.

Literary Platforms and Procedural Creativity: Studying Ink/Inky

As a writer who is interested in video games and entertainment, English student Jeremy Andriano found the perfect research project: learning how to use Inky software to write stories for the digital age and how to teach the software to other students.

“These are inter-reactive,” said Andriano of the stories he created with the open-source software, which has also been used to develop mobile games. “Software like this allows you to write manuscripts that react to the reader as the reader reacts to them. It goes beyond the Choose Your Own Adventure novels when we were kids.”

Andriano spent the summer discovering what the software can do—like adding details to the manuscript so scenes change based on what the reader might already know—and writing a few stories that will be used as a guide for professor Jason Boyd’s future students. His work will help teach writers who don’t know computer code how to write stories using the software and help them to think about writing in different ways. Andriano says programs like these give writers more freedom to create non-linear stories and could also be used for writing instruction manuals and training materials.

Undergraduate Science Students’ Perspectives on Failure and Help-Seeking

As a biology student, Holly Yee knows first-hand how afraid of failure her STEM peers can be. “Unfortunately, in STEM, we are all grade-driven,” said Yee. “It's like if you get a bad grade, you’re doomed. You think, ‘Oh man, my future, it's gone!’”

Given the competitive nature of STEM programs from the undergraduate to post-doc level, Yee and professor Krystal Nunes set out to gather undergraduate STEM students’ perspectives on failure and help-seeking as they study and plan for their futures. To do so, a survey was administered to professor Nunes’ students.

Previous studies have shown that students who identify as women, ethnic minorities or as a part of marginalized populations are more likely to be affected by fear of failure. While the majority of the students surveyed saw failure as negative, they also believed that they could bounce back from failure if given the right circumstances. The survey also looked into help-seeking habits and found students felt more comfortable seeking help via email and from teaching assistants rather than their professors. The findings have identified areas for future research opportunities such as investigating how to help students embrace failure and in turn encourage help-seeking.

The Workplace Experiences of Transgender Adults on Drink Cravings: A Secondary Analysis of the Predictors of Alcohol Use and Consequences in Transgender Adults (PACT) Pilot Study

After working as a research assistant at TMU’s Clinical Addictions Research and Equity (CARE) lab since August 2021, Tara Raessi had the opportunity to pursue a secondary data analysis of a CARE lab pilot study through the URO program.

“I wanted to see if there was a difference between drink cravings for transgender persons who experienced gender minority stress at the workplace compared to other situations outside the workplace,” said Raessi who recently graduated with a BComm (Honours) in law and business from the Ted Rogers School of Management and is now pursuing a psychology degree.

Working with professor Sarah S. Dermody, Raessi took the data from a random survey conducted by CARE lab via an app on participants’ phones and separated the 1400 entries into three groups: transgender persons who experienced gender minority stress at the workplace, transgender persons who experienced gender minority stress not at the workplace, and transgender persons who experienced no gender minority stress. She compared each group and their drink cravings and found that while there was a correlation between gender minority stress and drink cravings, the workplace context was not a factor. In the future, she would like to investigate if other contexts such as family gatherings have a similar effect.