* Indicates Hawk Talk speaker is an Honors School student
Jillian Bodiford*, Senior, English-Education
Theatre Saved My Life: The Benefits of Theatre Activities and its Crucialness in Public Schools
Without theatre, I would not be who I am today. The focus of this thesis examines the vital role of musical theatre programs in schools, nurturing creativity, teamwork, and essential life skills, offering a unique space for personal and academic growth. The sad reality is that theatre programs are struggling to survive, facing budget cuts that threaten their existence. Through a blend of literature review and data analysis, this research underscores the social, emotional, and academic benefits of theatre participation, highlighting its positive effects on communication, problem-solving, leadership skills, and more. The thesis also explores alternative ways to integrate theatre into the traditional curriculum, proposing solutions to address funding challenges. A sample unit plan included in the appendix illustrates how theatre can be adapted within classrooms, advocating for policies to support and protect these programs. This thesis defends the importance of preserving musical theatre in schools as a core component of a well-rounded education for future generations.
Nick Carducci, Graduate Student, Software Engineering
Revolutionizing Event Attendance at Monmouth University
Monmouth University’s Student Scholarship Week is embracing innovation with a new web portal and mobile application designed to streamline student attendance at campus events. This system, developed in collaboration with Executive Assistant to the Provost LoriAnne Perrine, University Librarian Kurt Wagner, Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Dr. Shannon Clifford, and Supervisor Assistant Professor Weihao Qu, allows students to check in effortlessly using a QR code scanner while tracking their event participation in real time.
Andrew McGovern, Senior, Software Engineering
Omar Ahmed, Senior, Computer Science
ParkShark: Revolutionizing the Campus Parking Experience
Navigating campus parking is a daily challenge for students, faculty, and administrators alike. ParkShark is an innovative end-to-end solution that transforms the campus parking experience through advanced technology, automation, and real-time data analysis. Our system eliminates traditional parking permits by introducing digital ParkShark Tags that communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) with our mobile app, seamlessly tracking vehicle locations and providing real-time parking availability for all parking spots on campus.
For everyday users, the ParkShark iPhone and Android applications deliver intuitive interfaces for locating available parking spots in their preferred lots at their preferred arrival times, as well as receiving live notifications about spot closures and campus announcements. The everyday user simply places their assigned ParkShark Tag anywhere on their car’s dashboard, similar to an EZ-Pass device, and everything is handled automatically; the ParkShark Tag seamlessly communicates with the mobile app to report the parked vehicle to the server, allowing for a completely hands-free experience and eliminating the hassle of manual check-ins.
For campus police and parking enforcement, the ParkShark Patrol iPad app streamlines enforcement of campus parking policies, ticketing of policy-violating vehicles, and real-time spot monitoring. The ParkShark Admin web portal provides the police headquarters with powerful oversight tools that allow the police department to efficiently manage lot closures, campus alerts, ParkShark Tag assignment and replacement, and ticket statuses.
Behind the scenes, ParkShark Intelligence powers the system with a robust database and API which stores and analyzes all incoming and outgoing data, and a differential GPS station that corrects reported GPS data down to the centimeter. This smart backend service ensures unparalleled accuracy in spot tracking and information transfer.
ParkShark is an integrated cutting-edge software-hardware solution to revolutionize campus parking, providing a more intelligent, efficient, and user-friendly experience for all. Join us to explore the research, development, testing, and innovation that drives this transformative system, setting a new standard for smart campus infrastructure.
Carlee Migliorisi, Graduate Student, English
Wendy Let Me In: The Unknown Story of ‘Born to Run’
For over fifty years, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” has won its way into the hearts of music critics and fans as one of the greatest albums of all time, specifically the title track, which remains one of his most well known songs. However there are still some pieces of the album’s history that have yet to emerge, one being the definite identification of Wendy from “Born To Run”. There are still characters that have yet to be fully ascertained, the most prominent being the leading lady in “Born to Run”, Wendy. To uncover the identity of Wendy, the journey must first begin back in 1974 at the Jersey Shore.
Looking back on the rise of Springsteen’s success following the release of “Born To Run,” it appears as though this was a true instance of “overnight-success” which is not really the case. His first two albums did not chart and he was on a 3 album deal with Columbia records. It was understood among the band that the next album might be the last on account of the lack of success presented by the previous two. With this idea in mind, Springsteen decided to give this album everything he had left in him; if he was going out, he intended to go out with a bang. During this time the young Springsteen was also on the hunt for a place to live. Up until this point he had lived in various apartments along the Shore with roommates or girlfriends (sometimes with girlfriends who still lived with their parents), as his parents had picked up and left for California five years prior. This time he was ready to rent a place on his own where he could focus on his craft as a songwriter.
Victoria O’Malley, Senior, Marine & Environmental Biology & Policy
Measuring the Body Size of Diamondback Terrapins from Drone Imagery
Drone ecology is a novel field in conservation and biology. They are able to provide an unbiased and non-invasive approach to population assessments among other objectives. Drones have also been used for anti-poaching efforts, and land-cover classifications. With this project, our objective was to use drone imagery to identify and measure Diamondback Terrapins, Malaclemys terrapin, populations. These are the only brackish water adapted turtles in North America, and due to human impacts are declining across their native range. Annually, Diamondback Terrapins form large breeding aggregations, this provides an opportunity to study the population in a given space. Comparative to traditional turtle sampling methods that include trapping and other invasive procedures, drone imagery is a non-invasive approach. Flight procedures would include conducting flights at various above ground heights over an aggregation using a DJI Phantom 4 Pro. The images overlap one another to ensure each individual is accounted for. Using the computer software ImageJ, carapace length and width were able to be measured. To validate these measurements, previous trial runs occurred with 3-D printed shells at a given size. Drones provide a new approach to further understanding vulnerable wildlife populations without direct contact. Diamondback Terrapin population assessments can benefit from drone usage especially as drone ecology further develops.
Noelle Parrino, Graduate Student, Speech/Language Pathology
CELEBRATE: A Gaming Club for Children who Stutter
In my presentation, I seek to explore the ubiquitous but often overlooked issue of online data security. I will highlight the common practice of multiple accounts with identical passwords, and the potential risks that come from such a thing. Drawing from personal research and projects, I seek to discuss a system for an Account Manager of my own that is designed to prioritize user privacy and security. Through this, I intend to delve into the process of designing Software, programming languages like Java, and essential security practices such as encryption and basic data protection. With a overarching theme on empowering users to protect their data and privacy online, I look to offer a timely and practical discourse on a topic relevant to all Internet users.
Madison Patterson*, Senior, Biology
Evaluating Predation Risk of Eastern Box Turtles in a Suburban Island in Monmouth County, New Jersey
Globally, reptile populations are on a staggering decline, and turtles are especially at risk. One of the leading causes for this is a result of habitat loss. Eastern Box Turtles (EBT) are terrestrial turtles that are vulnerable across their range and a species of special concern in New Jersey. One factor affecting box turtle populations aside from habitat loss are predators impacting nest success by eating box turtle eggs and hatchlings. It is known that there may be an increased abundance of opportunistic, generalist mammalian predators in urbanized environments. However, there is little research on how an influx of urban-adapted mesopredators may affect nesting success of box turtles found in habitats facing urban encroachment. In this study, I deployed motion and heat activated camera traps to understand the mammalian mesopredator community in a local conservation area surrounded by human development with a known EBT population. I then created artificial EBT nests adjacent to camera traps to observe the predation rate of box turtle eggs in this park, and which predator species were found to depredate them. I found a 91% depredation rate of artificial nests, with the majority of depredation conducted by raccoons and red foxes. This information can be used to inform management decisions to protect a sensitive population of an already vulnerable species.
Christopher Reigel*, Senior, Marine & Environmental Biology & Policy
Comparative Study of Quantitative eDNA with Capture Data for Atlantic Sturgeon in the New York Bight
The use of quantitative eDNA to monitor fisheries is a noninvasive and cost-effective method that may be implemented to bolster the monitoring of key management and endangered species. Water samples for quantitative PCR analysis were collected adjacent to gillnets deployed for an acoustic tagging study of Atlantic Sturgeon, and from sites adjacent to deployed acoustic receivers. eDNA values from the qPCR were compared against the actual capture values in both the gillnet and acoustic data to indicate a correlation between eDNA and those methods. Preliminary results indicate a significant positive correlation between eDNA and capture data from the gillnet survey.