Student Project Examples

Student Projects

Students had the opportunity to be engaged in a variety of research projects. The projects centered around the following topics: Stony Brook University Covid-19 Positive Cases; A Lareg-Scale CT & PET/CT Dataset Test for Lunch Cancer Diagnosis; Framingham Heart Study Data Extract on Smoking & Hypertension; Using Data to Investigate Elephant Evolution; Evolution in Action: Data Analysis; HEad & Neck PET-CT-Cancer Dataset; Investigation Planarian Behavior & Regeneration.  

In each project, model building and data analysis played a critical role and was interwoven in a statistical and biological context.  Listed below is a brief description of each project as well as the names of students involved in the research. The students reported their research findings to their parents and university faculty on the last day of the Governor’s School.   

("Stony Brook University Covid-19 Positive Cases") - There were five students who participated in this project.

This collection of cases was acquired at Stony Brook University from patients who tested positive for COVID-19. The collection includes images from different modalities and organ sites (chest radio[1]graphs, chest CTs, brain MRIs, etc.).   

https://wiki.cancerimagingarchive.net/pages/ viewpage.action?pageId=89096912  

("A Large-Scale CT & PET/CT Dataset for Lung  Cancer Diagnosis")  -  There were five students who participated in this project.

The data were obtained from the OECD data base. This dataset consists of CT and PET-CT DICOM images of lung cancer subjects with XML Annotation files that indicate tumor location with bounding boxes. The images were retrospectively acquired from patients with suspicion of lung cancer, and who under-went standard-of-care lung biopsy and PET/CT. Subjects were grouped according to a tissue histopathological diagnosis.  

https://wiki.cancerimagingarchive.net/pages/ viewpage.action?pageId=70224216 

("Framingham Heart Study Data Extract on Smoking & Hypertension") -  There were three students who participated in this project.

Data collected over a 24-year study suitable for competing risks survival analysis of hypertension and death as a function of smoking.

https://www.rdocumentation.org/packages/ LocalControl/versions/1.1.2.2/topics/framingham/ 

("Using Data to Investigate Elephant Evolution") -   There were three students who participated in this project.

In this activity, you’ll investigate real data from elephants to learn how and why populations may change over time. First, you’ll explore the data set and come up with a question that interests you. Then, you’ll try to answer your question by creating a plot (graph) with the data. Finally, you’ll use the data to investigate specific changes in the elephant populations that could be caused by humans. By doing this activity, you’ll learn about forces that can drive changes in all populations.

("Evolution in Action: Data Analysis") -   There were five students who participated in this project.

In this activity, students analyze and graph data taken from a population of Gal`apagos finches before and after a major drought. These data track the morphological traits of 100 medium ground finches (Geospiza fortis) living on the island of Daphne Major. How and why do species change over time? In this activity, you’ll explore real data that scientists collected to investigate this question. These data were taken from a population of birds called finches, before and after a drought in the Gal`apagos Islands.

("Head & Neck PET-CT-Cancer Dataset") -   There were five students who participated in this project.

This collection contains FDG-PET/CT and radiotherapy planning CT imaging data of 298 patients from four different institutions in Qu´ebec with histologically proven headand-neck cancer (H&N) All patients had pre-treatment FDGPET/CT scans between April 2006 and November 2014, and within a median of 18 days (range: 6-66) before treatment. 

https://wiki.cancerimagingarchive.net/display/Public/HeadNeck-PET-CT     

("Investigating Planarian Behavior & Regeneration") -   There were four students who participated in this project.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could regrow any part of our bodies? That way, we could recover from any injury like Deadpool and other superheroes can. Although superheroes are made up, animals with amazing regeneration abilities do exist. Understanding how these animals, including starfish, salamanders, and planarians, regenerate lost tissues could someday help us improve our own abilities to recover from injury. Planarians are simple, multicellular flatworms found in freshwater streams and ponds. They are an ideal ani[1]mal for studying regeneration because they are small, grow fast, and are easy to take care of. In this activity, you will observe your own planarian and design an experiment to better understand how planarians regenerate.