Students Present Research to State Legislators

Working in the community and self-driving cars were the topics of posters presented this semester by Millersville University students at a state-wide conference. The students were able to share their research with Pennsylvania legislators at the Capitol on March 7.

The Annual Poster Conference allows undergraduate students at PA colleges and universities to present their research to Pennsylvania’s key decision-makers. Throughout the day, students interacted with members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate while also sharing ideas and experiences with their peers.

Two groups of students attended the conference with research topics of “Community-Engaged Research at the Center for Public Scholarship & Social Change” and “Autonomous LiDAR-Based Environment Navigator (ALiEN) 2.0.”

Dr. Carrie Smith, coordinator of the Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change and associate professor of Criminology, Sociology and Anthropology, explains the work of the “Community-Engaged Research at the Center for Public Scholarship & Social Change” research team. “In this poster, we highlight the center’s work with local non-profit organizations to assist with their program evaluation and research needs. We discuss our work in the following areas: neighborhood improvement, public safety, children of incarcerated parents, housing and support and resources. We also discuss how the center trains and mentors students in community-engaged research, focusing on their experiences and learning outcomes.”

Alicia Hill, a senior criminology major with minors in government and psychology, presented for “Community-Engaged Research at the Center for Public Scholarship & Social Change.” She explains what it means to her to have this opportunity, “I’m so excited to be able to present our poster at URC-PA, as I’m honored to be able to represent the awesome things that the Center for Public Scholarship and Social Change does for the larger community as a whole.”

The “Autonomous LiDAR-Based Environment Navigator (ALiEN) 2.0” research project further explores the new sensors used in self-driving cars. Students from the MU robotics team developed ALiEN 2.0, which resembles the technology of a self-driving car on a smaller scale as it includes distributed control systems that include a LiDAR sensor, five machine vision cameras, a global position system (GPS) module and chassis drive controllers.

Elizabeth Maschke, a sophomore manufacturing engineering technology major, explains the significance of this event and her research. “Attending and presenting is significant as our research can provide advances to the world of automation and robotics. It also signifies the hundreds of hours my team and I have put into developing our research.”

Smith notes how proud she is of all the students involved, “We’re extremely proud of our students and the wonderful jobs they did.”

The students who presented for the “Community-Engaged Research at the Center for Public Scholarship & Social Change” include:

• Alicia Hill, senior sociology major with a concentration in criminology and minors in government and psychology from Lancaster, PA
• Lyndsey Kregel, freshman sociology major with a concentration in criminolgy from Fallston, MD
• Amy Sheeley, junior psychology major with a minor in sociology from Gardners, PA

The students who presented for the “Autonomous LiDAR-Based Environment Navigator (ALiEN) 2.0” include:

• Elizabeth Maschke, sophomore manufacturing engineering technology major from Mount Laurel, NJ
• Dennis Nguyen, sophomore dual major of Automation and Robotics and Mathematics from Lancaster, PA
• Ian Troop, Automation and Intelligent Robotics Engineering Technology major from Lancaster, PA