Digital Commons Network^™

Microarchitectural Vulnerabilities And Performance Tradeoffs In Shared Scientific Computing, Zyad Abd-Elrahman, Santosh Pandey

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Introduction & Problem Statement

Shared scientific computing platforms are built for speed and utilization, but they create a security problem that isolation alone can't fully solve. Even with TEEs, containers, or a privilege separation in place, the hardware underneath remains a shared resource. Speculative execution, cache contention, interconnect timing, and similar microarchitectural effects can leak information or create integrity risks across protection boundaries without any malicious code involved. For CI operators running graph workloads, HPC kernels, or ML pipelines in co-tenanted systems, the threat is inherent in normal execution. The real question isn't whether these vulnerabilities exist, but it's what …

Optimizing Machine Learning Workloads Performance In Ml Accelerators, Chowdhury Nafiun Nuru, Santosh Panday

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

This project explores how to improve the performance of machine learning systems at the kernel level. As models grow in size, efficient execution depends on reducing data movement and using limited on-chip memory effectively.

Techniques such as tiling and optimized execution order are used to improve data locality and reduce memory overhead. These approaches enable better use of fast on-chip memory and minimize costly data transfers.

Using benchmark workloads, improved scheduling strategies are shown to reduce latency by avoiding suboptimal local decisions and enabling better global execution patterns.

Overall, this work demonstrates that kernel-level optimization can significantly improve performance and …

Autonomous Indoor Mapping And Navigation Using Ros2-Based Slam On A Jetson-Powered Mobile Robot, Daniel Schagen, Mark Halim, Chance Hamilton, Alfredo Weitzenfeld

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

This project presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an autonomous indoor mobile robot capable of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using a ROS 2-based architecture on resource-constrained embedded hardware. The system is built on a Yahboom ROSMASTER X3 platform equipped with a Slamtec RPLidar A1, IMU, and wheel odometry, running ROS 2 Foxy on an NVIDIA Jetson Nano 4GB inside a Docker container. The primary objective is to enable the robot to autonomously map an indoor hallway environment while navigating without human intervention.

The mapping pipeline integrates slam_toolbox for occupancy grid generation, with loop closure enabled and parameters tuned …

Domain Randomization For Robot Navigation, John Hightower, Danae Ferguson, Brendon Johnson, Alfredo Weitzenfeld

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Reinforcement learning enables robots to learn navigation policies in simulation, but performance often degrades during real-world deployment due to the sim-to-real gap. This work investigates domain randomization as a strategy to improve transfer for a Soft Actor-Critic navigation policy trained in a maze environment. Six targeted randomization methods are implemented including obstacle layouts, LiDAR noise, motion distance, positional noise, action perturbations, and maze switching to analyze how different sources of variability affect the robot’s ability to effectively navigate a maze. Results demonstrate the extent to which the robot can effectively generalize a policy for navigation given each domain randomization method, …

An Evaluation Of Biologically-Inspired Slam Models Against Traditional Models, Colby Mullins, Asadbek Nematov, Ross Volenec, Chance Hamilton, Alfredo Weitzenfeld

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

This research presents a comparative analysis of biologically-inspired SLAM models (RatSLAM [2], SeqSLAM [3]) versus traditional feature-based geometric SLAM (ORB-SLAM3 [1]) to establish a standardized framework for evaluating accuracy, robustness, and computational efficiency under varying environmental conditions. To ensure an equitable baseline, models are subjected to a unified testing pipeline across real-world datasets (Oxford RobotCar clear and overcast sequences) and controlled Webots simulations (day/night and seasonal centerlines) using timestamp-aligned 480p monocular PNG images. Within this pipeline, pose estimations are standardized to the TUM trajectory format, and spatial alignment and scale correction are applied via the evo evaluation library [4] to …

Investigating The Effect Of Input Modality On Reasoning In Vlms Using Zero-Shot Evaluation, Rodela Ghosh, Aviral Gupta, Ocean Monjur, Shrestha Datta, Anshuman Chhabra

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

This project investigates how input modality affects mathematical reasoning in vision-language models (VLMs). Using 100 samples from the GSM8K benchmark, we evaluate Qwen2-VL-2B-Instruct and LLaVA-v1.6-Mistral-7B across three conditions: text-only, rendered image, and a modality mismatch condition where image and text describe different problems. Both models show substantial accuracy drops under visual input — Qwen2 falls from 55% to 30% and LLaVA from 40% to 21%. In the mismatch condition, both models follow the text modality in over 75% of cases, revealing strong text dominance when modalities conflict. These findings suggest that rendering math problems as images meaningfully impairs reasoning in …

Risa: Robotic Interface For Sit-To-Stand Assistance, Hieu Tran, Rinat Mynnakhmetov, Ricardo Frumento Sr, Yu Sun

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Mobility limitations in older adults are expected to become increasingly prevalent, along with the larger proportion of the world’s elderly population over the next decades [1]. Among these problems is the difficulty many elderly individuals face when transitioning from a seated to a standing pose. Loss of lower-body strength and balance makes this daily activity near impossible without assistance. To address this motor impairment, solutions were developed. For example, the Elderly Bodily Assistance Robot (E-BAR) provides body-weight support using handles, pulleys, and frames [2]. While these systems demonstrate the feasibility of robotic assistance, they present key limitations. Firstly, mechanical designs …

Modality-Specific Confidence And Uncertainty Metrics For Vision-Language Models, Sahasra Kondapalli, Poyraz An, Trung Dong, Lara Radovanovic, Xiaomin Lin

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Introduction and Problem Statement

Vision-Language Models (VLMs) are increasingly being integrated into high-stakes environments, such as autonomous robotics used in shared workspaces and as multimodal medical assistant systems. However, current models still have inherent uncertainties, often producing errors or false confidence in responses [1]. Such errors, when passed undetected, can cause serious issues in medical implementations. In shared workspaces, false confidence can lead to safety hazards, or disruption. Du et al. present an evaluation of uncertainty, specifically in the field of human-robot interaction [2]. Such faults are only magnified with the addition of the vision modality, thus highlighting the need …

Beyond Folded Proteins: Assessing The Limits Of Ai Structure Prediction For Intrinsically Disordered Complexes, Juan Velasquez, Faith Robinson, Sebastien Ghent, Taseef Rahman

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Introduction & Problem

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and their associated “fuzzy” complexes represent a major unresolved challenge in structural biology. Unlike traditional protein complexes that adopt stable, well-defined tertiary structures, fuzzy complexes retain conformational heterogeneity even in the bound state [1]. This dynamic behavior is functionally important in processes such as transcriptional regulation, signaling, and phase separation, but it complicates both experimental characterization and computational prediction. Recent advances in deep learning-based protein structure prediction, particularly AlphaFold2 and its successors, have demonstrated near-experimental accuracy for ordered proteins [2]. However, these models are fundamentally trained on static structural data, primarily derived from …

Hacksee: Security Platform For All, Jamie Giarratana, Mohamed Eltonamly, Ben Gipalo, Robert Karam

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

HaCKSEE intends to provide an online hardware security training platform to educators at a reduced cost. By centralizing physical experiment hardware to a provisioning service and implementing timesharing via a dynamic queue system and custom hardware, we can dramatically reduce costs while retaining a familiar workflow. HaCKSEE allows students to flash custom firmware and experiments to experiment boards and return outputs (e.g. power-consumption data) to be displayed in the development environment.

HaCKSEE offers a new approach that enables educators and trainees to get started without the high barrier-to-entry costs associated with traditional hardware security training.

Self-Excitation As A Mechanism For Adaptive Behavior And Autism Spectrum Variation, Alicia Yuan, Alina Tu

Research Symposium

In this work, we explore how self-excitation, represented by excitatory self-weights (connection strengths from small populations of neurons to themselves), shapes adaptive behavior in dynamic environments. We hypothesize that the strength of self-excitation defines the autism spectrum in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We simulate networks where self-excitation ranges between 0 and 1, systematically varying other parameters of the model to confirm that our findings are robust to these changes. Our results suggest that the optimal level of self-excitation depends on environmental stability. In rapidly changing environments, lower self-excitation leads to more flexible responses, favoring individuals lower on the autism spectrum …

Ses And Cognitive Interdependence In Romantic Relationships, Emily Young, Alexis Coniku, Ledina Imami

Research Symposium

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) couples face many relationship challenges, from conflict to high rates of divorce. Recent work shows that, in response to these challenges, lower-SES people engage in self-protection, which may lower relationship satisfaction. These findings suggest that SES may influence the extent to which couple members perceive each other as one unit, which may contribute to important relationship outcomes. Here we test this idea by exploring if SES predicts people’s cognitive representations of their partner. Two studies (total N = 468) tested if: 1) SES was associated with cognitive interdependence (CI), as seen in spontaneous plural pronoun use …

Paired Fossil Burrows From Los Cabos Group Of Spain, Cambrian-Ordovician: A New Ichnotaxon Or Rosselia Prolifera?, Paige Grossenbacher, Maximiliano Paz

Research Symposium

The Middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician Los Cabos Group from Spain constitutes a >6000 m-thick succession deposited in the margin of Northern Gondwana. The succession is represented by sandstone and mudstone associated with deltaic systems affected by tides, waves, and storms. An unusual occurrence of a fossil burrow known as Rosselia was studied, in order to understand its morphology, potential producers, and ethology. Rosselia is usually represented by a single vertical tube that has a concentric infill, whereas the studied specimens are found in a paired form. The specimens occur in ripple cross-laminated and cross-bedded flaser sandstone interpreted to be …

Lighting The Blame: Socioeconomic Status And Lung Cancer Stigma, Maille Kimble

Research Symposium

Lung cancer is a highly stigmatized illness, and patients often face societal stigma that increases the psychological burden of coping with the disease while limiting access to high-quality social support and allyship within the medical system (Sudts et al., 2024). Stigma associated with smoking, in particular, may serve as a significant barrier to care and compromise health outcomes. This study investigates whether socioeconomic status (SES) contributes to the perpetuation of stigmatized beliefs about individuals with lung cancer. Individuals from lower SES backgrounds are frequently targets of prejudice and are more likely to be perceived as responsible for the adversities they …

Preventative Healthcare With Wings, Ella Bruzek

Research Symposium

Vultures are the most important scavenger species on Earth. They fill a critical niche for ecological and public health by rapidly locating and consuming carrion that may otherwise contaminate soil and water sources, allow for an increase in populations of mammalian scavengers, and lead to disease outbreaks. Vulture populations worldwide are declining. Of the six vulture species in South Africa, all species are classified as either vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. Ongoing threats such as black market activity, poisoning, and other forms of poaching continue to drive this population loss. This is frightening considering that in South Asia, where vulture …

Linkage And The Loss Of Short Stamens In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Natalie Dresdner, Scarlett Dellacona, James Bingman, Jeffrey K. Conner

Research Symposium

How do genetic correlations between traits contribute to evolutionary processes? This study investigates the role of genetic linkage in an unexplained geographic cline of floral trait loss in Arabidopsis thaliana. A diagnostic characteristic of the Brassicaceae family is the arrangement of four long stamens and two short stamens in each flower. These short stamens are adaptive in outcrossing and have lost this function in highly selfing A. thaliana. Short stamens demonstrate incomplete loss across A. thaliana’s native range, with fewer stamens produced at lower altitudes and latitudes. We hypothesized that short stamen number is correlated with one or more traits …

Perceptions Of Fairness And Competitiveness Amongst Trans Athletes, Roxie Freifeld, Ryley Steggall, Norah Holder, Rebecca Totton

Research Symposium

Recent years have seen a rise in discourse concerning the participation of transgender athletes in collegiate sports. Since 2020, 23 US states enacted laws barring transgender athletes from competing in sports on teams aligned with their gender identity. In February of 2025, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s collegiate sports. This policy was adopted by the NCAA. This study evaluated perceptions towards transgender women competing in collegiate athletics. In this 2x2 between participants’ design study, (n = 216) Prolific participants read a vignette about a college sprinter where the identity (transgender or cisgender …

How Nutrition And Physical Activity Shape Your Well-Being, Stacy Phillips

EFNEP

This publication will explore the link among nutrition, physical activity, physical health, and mental health and how it impacts whole-body well-being. Understanding how multiple aspects of a person's lifestyle can affect an individual's overall well-being is essential to providing better education on how to make better choices to improve their well-being.

Probing Vs Declarative Ads, Emily Young

Research Symposium

Finding common ground on controversial issues is essential for a functioning democracy. Can the way political messaging is packaged affect whether attitudes shift? Probing messages ask viewers how they feel on an issue, while declarative messages tell viewers how they should feel. I hypothesized that a probing message would be more effective in changing attitudes. Across two studies (N = 889, N = 158), I measured participants’ opinion on two issues (immigration and abortion). Two weeks later, participants saw an infographic supporting the opposing position with either a probing question or a declarative statement at the top. Their new opinions …

Anti-Transgenderism In The Us Sociopolitical Realm, Jasper King

Research Symposium

I investigate the contemporary anti-trans countermovement within the US and how it frames itself in opposition to trans* existence. Past research suggests that this countermovement arose partially in legacy of the modern anti-gay countermovement and partially in response to a perceived threat of a racialized gendered hierarchy. However, this past research is limited by not considering the roles the concepts of ideology and terrorism play in anti-trans debates, specifically with the phrases of ‘transgenderism’ and ‘radical gender/trans ideology.’ I assess three main sources of data: the content of about 2300 state-based anti-trans legislation from 2019 to 2025; anti-transgenderism sociopolitical commentary …

Addicted To Mom? A Disease We Can Afford To Spread, Tiffany N. Nightengale Dmd

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Awards And Recognition

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Address A Real Need In Special Needs, Andrew Jockers Dds, Ms, Veronica Ann Parnell Dmd, Matthew R. Cooke Dmd

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

What Dentists Should Know About Vaping And Tobacco

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Informed Consent Primer, Anthony E. Chillura Dmd, Ficd

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Empathy - Poverty In America, What Is Out Role?, Carlos S. Smith Dds, Mdiv, Facd

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Let's Talk Dentistry An Interview With Dr. Elizabeth Reynolds

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

2019 Virginia Meeting Recap, Megan Wyman

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Let's Get Personal - Meet Dr Elizabeth Reynolds

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

2020 General Assembly - Teledentistry Is On Our Agenda

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.