Elizabethtown College's Summer Creative Arts and Research Program (SCARP) was created to support independent student scholarship under the sponsorship of a faculty mentor. The program is a non-credit experiential learning program designed to enhance professional skills and provide a competitive advantage to participating students in the pursuit of career opportunities and graduate studies.
Participating faculty scholars and researchers also benefit from student involvement in support of professional scholarship and research agendas.
Injury Recovery in Athletes
Joey Wagner is creating an app that aims to help runners improve form and prevent injury. Wagner has been working diligently alongside his Etown faculty mentor, Professor of Engineering Kurt DeGoede to develop the app that utilizes sensors worn on user’s arms, feet, and around their waist to track movement and improve running form, with the ultimate goal of reducing wasted motion. Currently in the early stages of this project, Wagner analyzed different codes that can be used to help support the app during its development.
Coprocessor-Agonistic, Zero-Code, Vision Processing System for the First Robotics Competition
Nathaniel Brightup and Steven Klinefelter are designing an open source, zero-code artificial intelligence program that will help high school students with limited resources to be able to compete in the international FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).
Brightup and Klinefelter have been working closely with their Etown faculty mentor, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Peilong Li on designing the artificial intelligence program that the robots can use in the FRC competition, where teams of high school students are challenged to design, build, and program robots. The program that the two Etown students are designing uses a visual detection system that automatically identifies marked game objects on the competition field such as cones, cubes, or balls. Once they are identified, the robot will automatically proceed to hit a set target.
Mount Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church – Building Survey and Floor Plans
Juan Parra Castro and Chris Reilly are working off-campus this summer at Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Lewisberry, Pa., surveying the space, and taking detailed measurements to design updated blueprints that reflect the building’s renovations.
The work is crucial for the safety of the building’s occupants as the new flooring plan will provide the local Fire Department with a birds-eye view for an evacuation plan.
Using EMG to Quantify Fatigue with Ergonomic Handled Tools
Casumpang is spending her summer on campus researching levels of fatigue when using ergonomic handled tools. Casumpang has been working alongside faculty mentor and Assistant Professor of Engineering & Physics Mark Brinton, testing different hammers to determine which type of handle creates the least amount of fatigue. To test fatigue, Casumpang applies electrode sensors to skin and runs a swing test, followed by attaching a weight to the hammer and holding it upright.
eTherapy App (phase IIIa)
Computer Science and Data Science major A.J. Botticelli is working on campus this summer on the third generation of eTherapy, a mobile application previously designed by Elizabethtown College students and faculty to provide biofeedback in occupational therapy and physical therapy sessions. The objective for improving the app this summer is to fix bugs within the app to allow a full release of the application.
Botticelli is working on this project for the second consecutive summer, which is a continuation of over 10 years of collaboration between various Etown Engineering and Occupational Therapy students and faculty.
Effect of Biomimicry on Perceived Intensity in Electrocutaneous Sensory Feedback
Robert Midura is conducting research on campus this summer to help create a natural feeling for prosthetics by using electric stimulation.Midura has been working alongside faculty mentor and Assistant Professor of Engineering & Physics Mark Brinton, researching different variations of electrical stimulation in hopes of finding a cost-effective and minimally invasive solution for prosthetics users to regain natural feeling. The ultimate goal of Midura’s research is to find the parameters that make artificial stimulation feel the same as human touch.
A College Chatbot System Leveraging Large Language Models and Customized Data
Computer Science major Alexander Fox and Computer Engineering major Joshua Stoner worked on campus this summer to develop a cutting-edge resource that integrates the Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Chat GPT, and virtual reality to potentially be used in guiding prospective students through the admissions process by helping them learn more about Etown.
Fox and Stone are working closely with Etown faculty mentor Jingwen Wang, developing two variations of the chatbot program, a web, and virtual reality version. The web version is being designed to serve as a way for users to ask any question about the College, providing convenient access to information. The virtual reality version is an innovative way for prospective students to experience campus from the comfort of their home.