Articles

Published articles from Bellarmine Symposium on STEM and Society.

• Effect of Rock Climbing on Neurocognitive Performance and Memory

  Alexandra Lu; Athena Li

  September 28, 2026

  Our goal was to test whether exercise improved memory test scores, and whether climbing had a greater impact on scores compared to cardiovascular exercise. We hypothesized that both rock climbing and cardiovascular exercise would increase number-recall scores, with climbing producing the greater increase...

• Data-Optimized Rebalancing Apparatus for Load-Balance Monitoring in Hiking Backpacks

  Neethika Vijay

  September 28, 2026

  Current hiking backpacks lack real-time load-distribution feedback, leaving hikers reliant on subjective awareness. This product-design-geared project asks: Can a backpack prototype integrating dual textile-based force sensors, an Arduino Circuit Playground, and NeoPixel/haptic actuators reliably detect shoulder load asymmetry and deliver real-time visual and vibrational feedback to the user? We evaluate success by whether the sensor produces a measurable resistance drop over 200Ω under 20lbs force, and whether the system triggers alerts when analog-read difference exceeds a calibrated threshold of 25–30 units...

• Pupil Tracking and Spiking Neural Network Modeling of Horizontal Nystagmus

  Samyak Jain

  September 28, 2026

  Nystagmus intensity changes with gaze direction, convergence, attention, and fatigue [2], so quantitative measurement is important for characterizing the condition and evaluating interventions. Video-oculography gives objective measures of waveform, amplitude, and frequency that supplement clinical examination [5], [7], and computational models can then test how alternating activity in ocular-motor pathways may generate the oscillations [3]. This study used video-based pupil tracking across several viewing and physiological conditions, together with a two-population neural model, to examine a possible mechanism for the observed rhythms...

• A Low-Cost Hearing Aid powered by Neuro-Adaptive System Integrating EEG-Driven Attention Detection with AI Beamforming to Improve Speech Clarity in Noisy Environments

  Arjun Goli

  September 28, 2026

  Conventional hearing aids and acoustic beamforming systems cannot determine which speaker a listener is cognitively focused on in multi-speaker environments, often resulting in amplification of unwanted background noise. This research investigates whether EEG-based auditory attention decoding combined with real-time SRP-PHAT and MVDR beamforming can accurately identify a listener’s directional attention and increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to traditional amplification methods. System performance was evaluated using directional classification accuracy, SNR improvement, and end-to-end latency measurements collected during controlled auditory attention experiments...

• Multilayer Coatings for Thermal Management for Robots in Outerspace

  Abhijay Konduru

  September 28, 2026

  For this research paper, WPTherml was used [5]. This Python package simulates the optical and thermal properties of multilayer surface coatings to determine how they can aid in thermal management in space. This package uses the transfer matrix method to calculate quantities such as absorptivity and emissivity. It enables the design of materials to control how much heat they emit, which is important for allowing robots to withstand extreme temperatures in space. This research investigates how various factors can be adjusted to design surface coatings that regulate heat and radiation exposure on the Moon and Mars...

• Comparative Analysis of Modular, Sequential, and Parallel Neural Architectures on Inference Accuracy and Latency

  Aryan Kulkarni

  September 28, 2026

  This paper investigates three neural network paradigms: (1) sequential (hierarchical layer stacking), (2) parallel (dual-branch processing), and (3) modular (decomposition via neural chains). How do these architectural paradigms compare in final regression accuracy (MSE) and training time across tasks of increasing nonlinear complexity, when all other training variables are held constant?...

• Automated Aerial Estimation of Floating Trash Density Using Computer Vision Techniques

  Ethan Cheung

  September 28, 2026

  This research aims to support volunteers and trash cleanup organizers by helping identify high-impact cleanup areas through automated analysis of aerial-style images. By providing a clearer and more consistent view of trash distribution over time, this approach has the potential to improve cleanup planning and support more effective monitoring of water resources...

• Cellphone Implementation to Address Distracted Driving Using Artificial Intelligence

  Ethan Chan

  September 28, 2026

  I developed a solution in which the very same device (e.g., cellphone) that causes distracted driving is utilized to detect and deter the distracted driving (Figure 1). Such novel solution requires the cellphone itself to determine (1) whether the cellphone itself is in a moving vehicle, (2) whether the cellphone is being used, and (3) whether the person using the cellphone is a driver. My research aims to evaluate whether a cellphone can be configured, via iOS app development in combination with AI training, to accurately determine three metrics, i.e., speed, phone usage, and driver identification, so that they can be combined in a processing architecture implemented in a cellphone to detect phone usage by driver...

• Why Digital Exposure Can Backfire: A Contact-Architecture Framework for Social Media and AI

  Isabella Chau

  September 28, 2026

  In this paper, the core question addressed is: What design elements differentiate digital contacts that combat prejudice from those that perpetuate it? This research proposes a contact-architecture approach, taking psychological literature on contact theory and applying it to technological algorithms...