Sixth Student Research & Creative Opportunities Open House set Aug. 14

Students can find out about UAH research opportunities at the Student Research & Creative Opportunities Open House.

Michael Mercier | UAH

The sixth annual Student Research & Creative Opportunities Open House at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) will be held Monday, Aug. 14, from 2-4 p.m. in the Charger Union.

UAH's Office of Academic Affairs is sponsoring the event as part of the campus-wide UAH Week of Welcome Aug. 12-20. Students in all majors are encouraged to attend.

"One of the unique opportunities UAH offers its students is the chance to get actively involved in research and creative projects during their undergraduate academic careers," says David Cook, student research programs coordinator. "The Open House is a great opportunity to meet and speak with many of the faculty, research staff and students involved in undergraduate projects."

This event promises to be the largest ever, with more than 35 displays, including hands-on and close up looks at a wide variety of projects. Every college will be represented, and several departments, research centers and academic student clubs will be on hand to talk about how students can get involved.

"The Student Research Open House gives students a chance to find out some of the research opportunities they can become involved with while at UAH," Cook says. "It's also a chance for everyone to discover the many different kinds of research we do here, all at one event."

Among some of the high-profile, hands-on displays will be a helicopter flight simulator from the Rotorcraft Systems Engineering and Simulation Center (RSESC) and a MAX radar vehicle from the Severe Weather Institute – Radar and Lightning Laboratories (SWIRLL).

"It's amazing the amount of research going on at UAH, and it's surprising to students when they discover that they can get involved," Cook says. "Our undergraduates are doing things like studying atmospheric changes during a solar eclipse, designing simulation software to improve a local medical practice, working with underwater treadmill exercise to break new ground in type 2 diabetes research, designing and building energy-efficient tiny homes, examining the roles of accuracy pressure and time pressure in math anxiety and math performance, designing ways to exploit programming vulnerabilities built into various drone types for a takedown zone, archiving photographs and documents related to sailors and the maritime world from 1780-1820 into a searchable database, studying work-family balance and success in academia, and identifying nursing students’ self-care management strategies," he says. "And these are only to mention a few! We're really proud of the great things our undergraduates do."

Many students find it beneficial to get immersed in the creative aspects of a research or creative project as part of their overall learning, he says. The work can help make the educational experience more vivid and practical.

"I've seen many students find their passions through research. They begin to see how their studies translate into real-life situations, and it clicks," Cook says. "As a result, they leave UAH well-prepared for graduate school and the workforce because of the practical experiences they've gained. We hold this event to celebrate our student researchers, to inform our students of the opportunities to become involved, and to demonstrate the real benefits they can get from doing so."