University of Wisconsin-Stout provides ample applied opportunities for students to grow their knowledge and skills, so it’s only fitting that several students recently presented their research focused on growth, in one form or another, to a national audience.
From a project that explored the use of an app-controlled robot to optimize plant growth to an animated short film about a mysterious gardener on a futuristic oil rig, a dozen UW-Stout students presented their research April 7-9 at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh.
The annual event, which drew 4,000 students from institutions across the United States, promotes research, scholarship and other creative activity by undergraduates. “Attending a national conference on undergraduate research provides students with invaluable opportunities to present their work, network with peers and professionals, and gain insights that can shape their academic and career paths,” said Anne Hoeltke, director of UW-Stout’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. “It fosters a sense of community and inspires students to pursue their passions with greater confidence and enthusiasm.”
Robotic study seeks optimized plant growth
Among UW-Stout’s undergraduates was Jessica Qualich, who presented research she conducted last year as part of LAKES REU, an interdisciplinary research program that draws undergraduates from around the nation to UW-Stout each summer. Qualich, a junior from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, used a FarmBot, an automated robotic farming system, to grow kidney beans in the Jarvis Hall Greenhouse Lab. Her research, “Experimental Design for Optimizing Plant Growth Using a Programmable Farming Robot,” was meant to lay the groundwork for future experiments using the robotic system, which among other things can water and weed a plant bed and monitor seedling growth, said engineering Professor Devin Berg, Qualich’s faculty mentor.
Using a programmable web app to control the robot and gather data, including through an onboard camera, Qualich spent two months tracking how different inputs impacted the growth of bean plants. “Research was not something I ever planned on doing,” acknowledged Qualich, a mechanical engineering major. “But taking the time and doing the whole process of research, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would like to continue doing research throughout my career after I graduate from Stout.”
Berg said taking part in NCUR is a valuable experience because it allows undergraduates to demonstrate their own research contributions rather than just remain in the background providing support to graduate students and faculty. “The ability to present their work in that kind of national venue is really useful,” he said.
Examination of Alzheimer’s, dementia draws high-level praise
Another of the student researchers was Sarah Vicchiollo, a senior from Greenville majoring in video production, who shared a book she created, “Growing the Garden of Change: Sharing the Stories of Those Affected by Alzheimer’s and Dementia.”
Vicchiollo’s book began as an assignment in the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography course taught by Professor Keif Oss. The assignment asked students to delve deeply into a movement or an organization, challenging them not only to take photos but to make contacts and dig deeply in pursuit of a story, Oss explained.
Vicchiollo decided to focus on Alzheimer’s because of how her grandfather’s diagnosis with the disease had impacted her family. She began by photographing Walk to End Alzheimer’s events in New Richmond, Minneapolis, and Eau Claire.
“I was able to talk to a lot of people and hear about their stories,” she said. Oss encouraged Vicchiollo to go beyond simply documenting these walks, and she accepted the challenge and used the network she developed to interview and photograph families impacted by Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as professionals who work with them.
Oss said Vicchiollo excelled at pursuing multiple angles as well as working around obstacles, such as when the widow of a man who died of dementia declined to be photographed. “I thought she was really resilient,” Oss said of his student. “She takes advice, and she doesn’t take the easier choice all the time.”
Ultimately, the project resulted in a 40-page printed book which made its way into the hands of an executive with the Alzheimer’s Association, who was so impressed by Vicchiollo’s work that he reached out to her and was surprised to discover she was a college student.
In addition to being accepted by NCUR, where it won a second-place award in the “Elevating the Arts” exhibit, Vicchiollo’s work received Student Honorable Mention Award at UW-Stout’s Research Day in April 2024.
“It has been an extremely rewarding experience,” Vicchiollo said. “I definitely hold a lot of respect for Dr. Oss for pushing me to continue to pursue opportunities to share my work. I think that’s the greatest highlight of the video production major and Stout being polytechnic: It pushes you to really apply yourself and show the work that you can do.”
Students explore efficient melding of 2D, 3D animation
While much of the research presentations at NCUR consisted of posterboard displays, a team of UW-Stout students used the conference to showcase their innovative animation efforts. Alexis Bellotti, a senior from Kaukauna, shared work that she and four other animation and digital media majors did to create an animated short, “Jilly & Juno,” for their capstone course under the mentorship of Professor Michael Heagle.
The film is a charming tale of two young sisters living on a futuristic oil rig, one of whom pushes the other down a mysterious pipe, causing her to encounter a flower-cultivating robot. Appropriately, Bellotti’s presentation is titled “Exploring Mixed Media Pipelines for Animated Short Films.” The mixed media, in this case, is the combination of 2D and 3D animation employed by the team, which is blended to create the final product – an approach increasingly taken by professional animators in such films as “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
“We knew we wanted to do a big world, and drawing big worlds is very time-consuming, especially with 2D, and so is drawing robots in 2D,” explained senior Sarah Pflughoeft, of Menomonee Falls.
Creating certain elements in 3D allowed for a quicker workflow to create frames that could be blended with more traditional hand-drawn 2D images, she added. Pflughoeft is part of the project animation team that also includes Casey Blackwood, of Waukesha; Megan McDowell, of Albertville, Minnesota; and Emery Christian, of St. Paul.
Bellotti said she was excited to represent the team at the conference, as well as to represent and inspire other School of Art and Design students who might not think of their work as research because it doesn’t involve traditional experimentation or data collection. “I hope that we paved the way for future art and design students to know that this is something you can do,” she said of taking part in the research conference.
Broad spectrum of research
NCUR, the largest symposium of its kind, featured several other UW-Stout students from a variety of disciplines. These students, their projects and faculty advisers are:
- Madeline Candline, of Pooler, Georgia, chemistry, “Changes in Chemical Properties of Surface Waters in Dunn County,” adviser Ana Magdalena Vande Linde.
- Valacia Casper, of Taylor, applied social science, “Political Opinions Over Women’s Health Care and its Effect on Female Voters,” advisers Tina Lee and Courtney Juelich.
- Luke Denney, of Byron, Minnesota, computer science, “Kintsugi 3D Builder: User Experience Design & Implementation,” adviser Michael Tetzlaff.
- Addy Lanthier, of Esko, Minnesota, professional communication and emerging media, “SMARTArt Development and Curation: Salvador Dali’s Inferno,” adviser Mitchell Ogden.
- Marshall Leininger, of Appleton, studio art, “Sing Into My Mouth: Evaluating the Intersection Between Nature and the Internet,” advisers Tamara Brantmeier and Amy Fichter.
- Emery Christian, of St. Paul, applied social science, “College Students Opinions on Workers Unions, Minnesota and Wisconsin” and “The Loneliness Epidemic and Political Alignment, Exploring How Politics Influence the Social Connections of College Students,” advisers Nels Paulson, Lee and Juelich.
- Nik Nelson, of Minneapolis, and Corey Brisiel, of Eau Claire, applied social science, “Off-Campus Housing in Menomonie Wisconsin,” advisers Lee and Juelich.
- Cassie Sciarra, of St. Paul, applied social science, “Social Determinants of Substance Use Disorders and Addiction Treatment: Evidence From Arbor Place Professionals,” advisers Lee and Juelich.
- Dane Talbott Settle, of Madison, industrial design, “Hungry: Alternative to Touchscreens in Toys,” adviser Emily Pieper.
In addition to these students, UW-Stout faculty mentors Arthur Kneeland, Kim Zagorski, Tetzlaff, and Lee, as well as Chela Cea and Hoeltke from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs attended the conference.
