Students Impress in 2024 UREP Project Presentations

Libby Sullivan| May 14, 2024

Undergraduate student research continues to thrive at New York Tech, with the 30 College of Engineering and Computing Sciences students showcasing their projects on May 9 as part of the Undergraduate Research and Entrepreneurship Program (UREP) providing the most recent evidence.

Presenting their projects on topics ranging from developing green roofing systems for urban agriculture and using AI in dentistry to building robots to mitigate unsolved home invasions, studying the impact of flash floods on electric vehicles in New York City, and much more, the eight teams comprising students from both New York campuses highlighted the findings of their group research or entrepreneurship projects conducted under the guidance of faculty mentors. UREP provides each team with $500 to cover the cost of supplies and materials; the projects can run for a single semester or extend to multiple semesters for teams pursuing further development. 

Since the spring of 2018, more than 300 students have participated in this program established by Associate Professor Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D., who welcomed faculty, staff, students, and other attendees to the seventh annual event.   

Addressing the student participants, Dean Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., said, “All of you have had a chance to work closely with the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences faculty in an undergraduate research project, which is a really valuable experience for you personally and professionally, and an amazing thing to put on your résumé for whatever pursuit that you have in mind after graduation.”  

Teams featured undergraduate students, ranging from first through fourth year, and from programs including computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering. Most teams were co-ed. Presented projects included:

2024 UREP Projects and Teams

  • Comparative Study of Hydroponic Plant-Disease Detection Systems
    Team members: Joseann Boneo, Best Justus, Alysar Tabet
    Faculty mentor: Houwei Cao, Ph.D.
  • Identifying Dental Cavities from X-Ray Images Using Cnn
    Team members: Sarah Allrozamo, Tanuza Abdin, Hannah Ocampo
    Faculty mentor: Huanying (Helen) Gu, Ph.D.
  • Thermoacoustic Refrigeration
    Team members: Sheikh Ahmar, Jericho Lee, Ernesto Rosas Romero
    Faculty mentor: James Scire, Ph.D.
  • Home Invasion Detection and Prevention
    Team members: Shan Caballes, Dani Gulino, D’ron Strapp, T’ron Strapp
    Faculty mentor: Kirti Mishra, Ph.D.
  • Level Crossing Analog to Digital Converter Representation Using Chebyshev Polynomials
    Team members: Pavan Kanakkassery, Emilio Santana-Ferro, Damian Sarjudas
    Faculty mentor: N. Sertac Artan, Ph.D.
  • AI Detection in Creative Writing
    Team members: Elijah Ewers, Vighanesh Gaund, Cheuk Tung Ho, Wedad Mortada, Tanat Sahta  
    Faculty mentor: Wenjia Li, Ph.D.
  • Interactive Visualization Tool for NYC Open Data
    Team members: Ali Elshehawi, Ali Khachab, Guang Wei Too, Alan Yuan
    Faculty mentor: Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.
  • A Study on the Current Effects of Flash Floods in NYC on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
    Team members: Mekan Agahanov, Angily Ally, Isha Kaur, Ishaan Singh
    Faculty mentor: Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.

Beheshti noted that the variety and depth of the projects speak to the hard work that the teams have put in. He recognized and thanked the faculty mentors and reiterated to the students the importance of this experience gained by “handling an open-ended problem, outside of your classroom, that you owned, and you managed to take from an idea to a concept” and beyond.

More News

Three students with their professor

Dedicated to the Pursuit of Knowledge

Students and alumni from the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Health Professions, and College of Osteopathic Medicine shared research findings at impressive industry conferences.

Group of students with faculty and industry experts

Students Learn About Spectrum Technology From Industry Experts

Industry leaders, faculty, students, and staff from universities across the country gathered on the Long Island campus for Spectrum Sizzle, an undergraduate spectrum workshop funded by the National Science Foundation.

Students with their professor

Cybersecurity Graduate Students Rank 25th in MITRE’s eCTF 2025 Competition

First-time participants, 10 cybersecurity students from the Vancouver campus break into the global top 25 in prestigious Embedded Capture the Flag (eCTF) challenge.

Portrait of Henry Ruiz

Understanding the Cellular Underpinnings of Obesity

In his research, Assistant Professor Henry Ruiz, Ph.D., is looking to understand what makes fat cells grow, which could lead to new and improved obesity treatments.

Portrait of Gunn Aggarwal

Entrepreneur, Treasurer, and Robotics Designer

When computer science student Gunn Aggarwal devised a business idea for a class, she didn’t envision the level of success that it would soon reach.

An artificial hand and human hand holding a grain

Forging New Frontiers in Computer Science

When Siddhant Bhandari (M.S. ’23) and Surbhi Hirawat (M.S. ’23) got together for dinner one evening, they had no idea it would inspire them to do research to help preserve their Indian traditions.