College of Charleston School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering

EVSS Graduate Student Jake Coffman is working at the Stono Preserve with studying its unique reptile and amphibian communities!
https://youtu.be/1ZbcwD4sFkQ?si=dh3vmrPmdfQQkvn1

The Biomedical Physics program recently received a NIH-INBRE grant to support a state of the art brain imaging device! The device uses near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). It has been used in collaboration with Dr. Bill Manaris in a project with music therapy, as well as in the lab of Dr. Sorinel Oprisan in a project involving AI and machine learning.

College of Charleston Alumni are working in planning Sullivan's Island resilience plan! Eight graduates from the College's Master of Science in Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program are involved in the project.

https://today.charleston.edu/2024/08/20/environmental-science-alumni-formulate-resiliency-plan-for-sullivans-island/

The Celebration of Summer Research Poster Session was a huge success! A huge thank you to all who attended and presented!

SNES Dean Seth Pritchard wants to see you at the Celebration of Summer Research on Monday, August 19 at 2:00 pm in SSMB!

Ashley Hubbard and Aasim Khan are working in the lab of Dr. Meredith Frazier this summer to better understand the structural and functional characterization of enzymes that cut viral RNA.

The Celebration of Summer Research Poster Session is one week away! The deadline for abstract submission is tonight at 11:59 pm and the poster printing submission is Wednesday, August 14 at 12:00pm. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s research!

Earlier this summer Juliana Martel and Blythe Gergely took to the US Virgin Islands with Dr. Adam Ali. Their research focused on studying water quality using satellite based remote sensing methods. While in the US Virgin Islands they collected field samples and carried out calibration and validation.

Cady Hoffmann's summer research consists of using temporal networks and NLP methods for forensic analysis of emails and text messages. Pictured above is Cady with a visual representation of the text message dataset as a temporal network.

Today the spotlight is on our very own Dr. Norman Levine! Dr. Levine is a professor in the department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences and the Director of the Lowcountry Hazards Center. Check out what he had to say below:
https://www.postandcourier.com/hurricanewire/hurricane-debby-charleston-lowcountry-rain-flooding/article_392a8eb2-533a-11ef-b08d-37c4703e1f4f.html

A few weeks ago the Forsythe lab visited the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA to meet with collaborators and shadow in their lab.
The students who attended were Jenna Parker (BS Biochemistry and Mathematics '25), Julianna DeMauro (BS Biology and BA Biochemistry '26), and Jamirika Randall (BS Biology and BA Intl Studies '27).

Simon Salazar-Marin's summer research focuses on the practical application of Software Engineering principles within the AWS ecosystem. His project covers an in-depth exploration of cloud-based software architecture, deployment strategies using Amazon S3, and the distinctions between machine learning and deep learning in software scenarios. It emphasizes investigating Amazon tools for data processing, cleansing, and transformation, addressing data quality and compliance through ETL processes.

Emilie Perelman (B.S. Chemistry, 2025, on the right) and Ella Jennings (B.S. Biochemistry, 2027, on the left) are working this summer with Dr. Marcello Forconi to fully characterize the products of a particular reaction called “Kemp elimination”, to elucidate its reaction mechanism, and to quantitatively determine how fast the reaction proceeds in different solvents. They use several laboratory techniques, including UV spectrophotometry and NMR spectroscopy. They are planning to present their research at SERMACS in Atlanta, GA, in late October.

Gautam Ghosh M.S., a graduate (Class of 2023) of the Graduate Program in Marine Biology at CofC, recently had his thesis research accepted to the Journal of Proteome Research. Gautam’s project involved the study of proteins from California sea lions suffering from domoic acid toxicosis. He was advised by Dr. Michael Janech and collaborated with experts at The Marine Mammal Center and National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gautam is now a Ph.D. student studying proteomics at Ohio State University.

Jakub Sieskiewicz is working with Dr. Ghosh this summer to understand the different aspects of wire antennas. Jakub runs simulations to discover what is ideal for multiple variables and analyzes the results to figure out the best ways to reduce costs and maximize gains.

Dallas Beardsley (B.S. Physics, 2026) is working with Dr. Alem Teklu to investigate green reduction methods for graphene oxide to create energy efficient super capacitors. This technology could be the next major step in electronics, revolutionizing how fast we can charge them and even replacing the current rare earth metal batteries in use all over the world today.

Day 5 of Stem 360 was all about Computer Science and Math at Harbor Walk. After a busy week, the students took advantage of Computer Science's COMPASS room and games. Then we wrapped up with a farewell from Dean Pritchard. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did!

STEM 360 Day 4 was held at the College's Stono Preserve. Students participated in a human diseases lab and took a nature walk around the preserve to identify different species of plants and animals they encountered.

Day 3 of STEM 360 had students running experiments in chemistry and physics labs. Students learned about chemical reactions in one lab and conducting electricity in another lab. They also made slime and bracelets with UV beads to take home.

STEM 360 Day 2 was all about marine biology. The students visited our marine lab on James Island, where they conducted a plankton workshop in the morning. In the afternoon, they got up close and personal with animals in our fish and marine invertebrate collection and during a touch tank exhibit.

We welcomed twelve high schoolers to our STEM 360 day camp this week. We started off yesterday with sessions on paleontology, geology, and physics. Each day the campers focus on a different STEM field. We are excited to share our adventures as the week goes on.

Conner Entzminger is studying running performance in lizards. Specifically, he is interested in changes in limb joint function during running as lizards progressively fatigue. His project will focus on the Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) and the Six-Lined Racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineata). With this project, he hopes to learn more about which muscles power running in lizards and ultimately how evolution has shaped differences in locomotor performance and muscle function.

Aidan Riordan, CofC Data Science, Statistics, and Economics student, recently presented at the Metaheuristic International Conference in Lorient, France. His research discussed generative AI and was so well received that he was invited to present at upcoming conferences. He was also the only undergraduate presenter at the conference. Congratulations Aidan!

In case you haven't heard! The School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering is splitting into two new schools: The School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and the School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics. Make sure to give our new accounts a follow! College of Charleston School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics

Brendan Wurts and Charlie Jindrich are working with Dr. Leilei Shi to develop a simple yet powerful method for detecting nano-scaled particles using impedance flow cytometry. This technique is label-free and rapid, and it can be used for the early diagnosis of diseases, including cancer. They were awarded a grant from ADAPT in SC to support their summer research.

Philip Scott is a rising junior Chemistry major in his second summer of research with the Barker lab. Philip is working on a Pd-catalyzed cross coupling reaction and is nearing completion of the experimental work for a manuscript that will be submitted later this year. Chem and Biochem at the College of Charleston

Congratulations to Biology major Jakob Highducheck on being selected to the US-UK Fulbright Summer Institutes Program!
Tap the link to learn more: https://today.charleston.edu/2024/05/23/biology-major-to-attend-fulbright-uk-summer-institutes/

Cesare Harvey (B.A. Astronomy, 2024) and Gabe Wohlfarth (B.S. Astrophysics, 2026) are part of Dr. Chris Fragile’s research group that is using supercomputer simulations to study how fast massive black holes can grow when fed material from their surrounding environment. They are also working on matching their results to observations made by such telescopes as NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Both students were awarded grants from the School of Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering.

Congratulations to Della Evans for receiving the Barry Goldwater Scholarship! Della is a biochemistry student working with Dr. Delaney at MUSC. Read more below:
https://today.charleston.edu/2024/05/03/honors-student-receives-goldwater-scholarship/