Brookdale STEM Fellowships by New Jersey Space Grant Consortium

A NASA-Sponsored Program

Cohort 9 (2022-2023)

Abbey Isaac

Abbey Isaac

Major: Biology
Mentor: Dr. Siobain Duffy

Anthony Nesbitt

Anthony Nesbitt

Major: Physics
Mentor: Dr. Raul Armendariz

Eddy Perez Carrillo

Eddy Perez Carrillo

Major: Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Kevin Squire & Dr. Christopher Ochs

Nicole Cassandra Tagle

Nicole Cassandra Tagle

Major: Chemistry
Mentor: Lori Uffer & Tom Riley

Previous Cohorts and Projects

Cohort 8 (2021-2022)

Jack Arteaga

Jack Arteaga
Major: Computer Science

Helping the Visually Impaired with Object Detection

Those who have visual impairments are at times restricted in movement due to the inability to distinguish objects in front of them. Object detection, a computer vision technique, can be used to detect and avoid objects. Using off the shelf hardware and a pre-trained object detection model, an object avoidance system was built to facilitate the navigation through a space for a visually impaired user. The system can process a live video feed where it can detect and calculate the distance of objects in the database from the camera/user. Once a certain distance threshold is crossed an alert is triggered communicating an object is ahead. This paper evaluates the current approaches to object detection and demonstrates how it can be implemented in an object avoidance system to help the visually impaired. *The objective of this paper is to determine if off the shelf hardware and object detection techniques can be used to provide live object avoidance of everyday household items to the visually impaired.

Presentations and Reports

Poster Presentation
Project Report
PowerPoint Slides


Christine Mayo
Major: Mathematics

The Physics of Flight

This project aimed to investigate the cube-square law to understand the physics of flight and predict the size of the wings required for increasingly large creatures, and if there was an upper limit to a flier’s size. I studied the relation between lift and gravity, with the square-cube law as context; this led me to research wing loading. I investigated how Bernoulli’s principle and Newton’s third law of motion contribute to flight and learned about thrust and its effect on lift for certain angles of attack. I also researched the largest flying creatures known to have existed on earth.

Presentations and Reports

PowerPoint Slides