UAH celebrates Research Week with 11th Research Horizons Poster Session highlighting undergraduate student innovation

March 3, 2025 - HUNTSVILLE, AL. – To celebrate Research Week, Undergraduate Research at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is highlighting the 11th UAH Research Horizons Poster Session, March 4 from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., on the second floor of the Charger Union. Research Week activities on the UAH campus are being featured from March 3-5 to promote and recognize the creative scholarship of undergraduate students at UAH, a part of The University of Alabama System.

Throughout the year, UAH undergraduates from all disciplines participate in collaborative research and projects under the mentorship of UAH faculty, researchers and staff, developing skills in problem solving, analysis and communication, while working in hands-on learning environments with real-world implications. The experience gained helps student researchers chart their career paths and build resumes and portfolios for the job market after graduation. During Research Week, undergraduates across a wide variety of disciplines have the opportunity to present their research to gain feedback by interacting with other students and visitors during the open event.

"UAH's strengths come from its origins as a research-driven institution dedicated to solving real-world problems," says Dave Cook, director of undergraduate research and the UAH Honors College. "UAH fully embraces this role, and thanks to mentorship from our outstanding faculty and research staff, offers undergraduates the opportunity to enhance their education by becoming engaged scholars through the application of co-curricular activities like undergraduate research.

"Undergraduate research provides our students with the tools and experience needed to solve difficult problems in new and creative ways," Cook notes. "Likewise, research experience encourages students to begin the move beyond classroom learning and to becoming life-long learners, resulting in professional development gains that prepare our students for success in graduate school and the workforce."

The 2025 poster event offers projects that run the gamut from the Earth to the sky: from the wonders of an ancient Greek shipwreck and the development of a butterfly inspired micro aerial vehicle, to fiber-reinforced composites in aerospace and automotive crashes; creating metallic catalysts from asteroids using pulsed lasers; and a baseline survey of meiofauna from the Paint Rock River.

One of those student researchers is Samuel Arnold, a junior double majoring in chemistry and physics, who has his eye on unlocking next-level chemical manufacturing. In his research, he has been able to explore near-Earth environments in outer space by studying pulsed lasers and their ability to create metallic catalysts in space. "Why haul heavy metals from Earth, when space has its own treasure troves?" Arnold asks, noting that M-type asteroids are packed with iron, nickel and rare-earth elements – the perfect materials for building the future of space exploration.

For Evelina Gustafsson, an exchange student from Sweden who was recruited for soccer, undergraduate research at UAH has provided a rare early glimpse into what her career could be like. The sophomore math major has been demonstrating a way of computing an easier and more efficient method of computing the Weyl character formula using geometric patterns. "I've always wanted to do research," Gustafsson says. "It's helped me figure out what I want to do after my undergrad because I get to try it now and not later."

This year, 43 undergraduates are participating in the poster session, representing a diverse group of disciplines, including psychology; sociology; art, art history and design; mechanical and aerospace engineering; industrial & systems engineering and engineering management; mathematics; chemistry; physics and astronomy; atmospheric and earth science; biological sciences; emerging media and the Salmon library archives and special collections.

Other research events featured throughout the week include the Research Center and Lab Expo from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in the Charger Union main lobby on March 3, as well as Undergraduate Research Ambassador events from 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. in the Morton Hall atrium and a resume and email writing workshop from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in Suite 129 of the Shelby Center for Science and Technology, both on March 5.