2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engaging Undergraduates in Research: A Hands-On, Practical Approach

Abstract:
This Evidence-based Practice Paper provides an overview of Fairfield University's Undergraduate Research Summer Residency (URSR) program, designed to promote undergraduate research. Now in its third year, the 2024 program continues to offer students stipends, paid summer housing, and the opportunity to engage in voluntary research. The eight-week program, from June 1st to July 27th, requires students to dedicate 15 hours per week to their respective research projects and attend weekly seminars on topics such as responsible conduct of research, intellectual property rights, regulatory aspects (IRB and IACUC), and grant writing.
This year’s program features 34 undergraduate students (11% of the undergraduate body), 14 high school researchers, and 10 faculty mentors, overseeing 25 diverse research projects. Among these, two key highlights is the development of a programmable, affordable drone designed for autonomous swarm navigation in GPS-free environments and Machine Learning for Brain Activity Analysis. With students collaboratively conducting research into innovative technologies.
The program culminates in poster presentations, where students showcase their research to faculty, peers, and the public. Supported by Fairfield University’s School of Engineering and Computing, the URSR continues to grow in scope and impact. This paper details the program’s structure, participant diversity, and key research projects, with a focus on the drone navigation project and the brain activity analysis project, concluding with survey results that reflect the program’s contribution to student development and interdisciplinary learning.

Authors

Dr. Djedjiga Belfadel Fairfield University [biography]

Djedjiga Belfadel is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Bio Engineering department at Fairfield University. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from University of Connecticut in 2015, in electrical engineering. Her interests include embedded system
Danushka Bandara Fairfield University [biography]

DANUSHKA BANDARA received the bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2009. He received his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA, in 2013 and 2018, respectively. From 2019 to 2020, he worked as a Data Scientist at Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY, USA. Currently, he is an
Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
at Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, USA. His Current research interests include Applied machine learning, Bioinformatics, Human-computer interaction, and Computational social science.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025