On this week's episode of The Sci-Files, your hosts Mari and Dimitri interview Emily Bolger. Emily Bolger is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering. She works in the Computing Education Research Lab (CERL) with Dr. Danny Caballero. Her dissertation research uses Natural Language Processing to identify and synthesize themes in Instructional Change Strategies in Undergraduate STEM Literature. Systematic literature reviews critically collect and evaluate findings from a specific area of research. In collaboration with her colleagues, the analysis seeks to identify themes in undergraduate STEM education specifically focused on literature highlighting instructional and curriculum strategies. Extending previous work conducted about 15 years ago, the team is repeating the analysis with new literature and assessing the integration of machine learning tools. With developments in Natural Language Processing, the field behind tools like ChatGPT, there are many techniques available for assisting our researchers in extracting information from the literature. The team explores how machine learning methods can provide new insights to traditional methods in systematic literature reviews.

Emily also works with her colleagues in CERL to develop curriculum materials for CMSE’s undergraduate Data Science and Computational Modeling courses, particularly assignments that focus on data ethics and algorithmic bias.

If you're interested in discussing your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Mari and Dimitri at thescifileswdbm@gmail.com. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter and Instagram!

On this week's episode of The Sci-Files, your hosts Mari and Dimitri interview Aubree Marshall. Aubree is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology. They work in the MSU Bioarchaeology Lab with Dr. Gabe Wrobel, and their research interests include understanding health, diet, and food access in ancient Maya populations, specifically from Central Belize. To do this, Aubree analyzes the proteins and micro-remains extracted from dental calculus - the same stuff your dental hygienist scrapes off your teeth! Dental calculus, or tartar, fossilizes in life, meaning that the materials found in the matrix would have passed through the individual's mouth before death. This method allows bioarchaeologists to study food specificity and access, something that previous dietary study methods cannot provide. In turn, this allows us to begin to understand the relationship between food access and different aspects of social identity (i.e., osteological sex, age, and socioeconomic status).

If you're interested in discussing your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Mari and Dimitri at thescifileswdbm@gmail.com. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter and Instagram!

Mari and Dimitri interview undergraduate student researchers from Michigan State University's Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP). The second episode of this 2-part series features Chris Lin, Kevin Villatoro, and Darnilla Samuel.

If you’re interested in discussing your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Mari and Dimitri at thescifileswdbm@gmail.com. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter or Instagram!