By Cooper Wang Class of 2025

Detection of Black Ice in Autonomous Vehicles Using Inertial Measurement Based Binary Classification Neural Network

Editor’s Note: The Taft STEM Research Fellowship is a yearlong, advanced study program for students pursuing interdisciplinary STEM research beyond the classroom. Fellows work closely with faculty and expert mentors, collaborate with peers, and apply their research to real-world problems, culminating in a public presentation to faculty and field professionals. The course combines independent scholarship with structured support and offers opportunities to explore research that bridges multiple STEM disciplines.

Abstract

Black ice poses significant challenges to driving, specifically autonomous driving, due to its difficulty to detect and its impacts on vehicle safety. Present methods for detecting black ice, although accurate, are still vulnerable to external environmental influences and cannot function in certain environments. Therefore, the research looks into novel methods of all environment black ice detection, using inertial measurement data collected with a scale model of vehicles to train neural networks for binary classification of road conditions. The resulting method from two separate neural network structures are 98.8% and 99.5% accurate respectively, and deployment of the neural network onto Tensor Processing Units (TPU) is proved to be feasible with the average inference time being 0.75 milliseconds and the standard deviation being 0.13 milliseconds. A Two Proportions Z-Test also proves the method’s improvement in accuracy to be statistically significant.

Poster

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By Hannah Cha Class of 2025

Effects of GABA Treatment on Locomotive Behavior Recovery in Sleep-Deprived Drosophila melanogaster

Editor’s Note: The Taft STEM Research Fellowship is a yearlong, advanced study program for students pursuing interdisciplinary STEM research beyond the classroom. Fellows work closely with faculty and expert mentors, collaborate with peers, and apply their research to real-world problems, culminating in a public presentation to faculty and field professionals. The course combines independent scholarship with structured support and offers opportunities to explore research that bridges multiple STEM disciplines.

Abstract

The prevalence of sleep disorders and chronic sleep deprivation in modern society has become a significant public health concern as the consequences of inadequate sleep extend beyond mere fatigue, impacting various aspects of human health and function. This study investigates the effects of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the recovery rate of locomotive behavior in sleep-deprived Drosophila melanogaster, utilizing the open-field assay to observe their movements. Wild-type flies were categorized into eight groups: female and male, put in an 18-6 LD cycle or 12-12 LD cycle, observed under GABA treatment, and no GABA treatment. Results revealed that the substitution of GABA in wild type flies results in an increased rate of activity, whereas flies fed a traditional diet showed a continuous decrease in locomotor activity. Although the data collected supports the hypothesis, further research is needed to confirm the relationship between GABA application and locomotive behavior.

Poster

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By Jolin Yu Class of 2025

Laughing in the Face of Chaos: Absurdist Comedies Across Eras

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

What in the world could Socrates, one of history’s most celebrated philosophers, possibly have in common with Eric Cartman, the chaotic antihero of the crude and often outrageous animated series South Park? At first glance, absolutely nothing. One is an emblem of classical thought and reason; the other is a cartoon character known for his selfishness and vulgarity. And yet, these two figures share an unexpected connection, one that might make you rethink how we view comedy, philosophy, and the absurd.

By Joya Xu Class of 2025

The Evolution of Mental Health Treatment in America Through the Lens of Danvers State Hospital

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

In the 1940s, a mother who could no longer discipline her son sent him to a towering state hospital on Hathorne Hill to receive treatment. When officials asked him to sign his name forty years later, he held a pen up to the paper and drew a rough sketch of the hospital. The consequences of neglect and inadequate treatment this story, a feature in a September 6, 1987 issue of the Lynn Sunday Post article entitled “Too Many Patients to Treat, Human Flood Turned Hospital into Madhouse,” exemplifies was not an uncommon occurrence at the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, which later came to be known as the Danvers State Hospital. Although many patients entered for mental health reasons, several of them ultimately became prisoners at this snake pit of a hospital.

By Eliza Visconsi Class of 2025

Dual Lenses: Art and Documentation in the Photography of Dorothea Lange

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

“We’ve had no work since March. The worst thing we did was when we sold the car, but we had to sell it to eat, and now we can’t get away from here. . . . This county’s a hard county. They won’t help bury you here. If you die, you’re dead, that’s all.” Nettie Featherston, a migrant woman, wife, and mother living in the impoverished Texas Panhandle during the height of the American Great Depression, said these words to Dorothea Lange. Lange was a photographer working for the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration, traveling across rural America to tell the stories of its suffering inhabitants through photography. By saying, “they won’t help bury you here,” Featherston verbalizes a sense of government abandonment and a lack of solidarity with others. This quote explicitly describes her exhaustion and hopelessness, and the accompanying image implies it. By viewing both, one could observe and understand her fatigue, a feeling shared by many Americans during the Great Depression.

By Linda Li Class of 2025

Peace Or Chaos: The Media’s Legacy of Woodstock & Altamont

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

It all started in 1967 with an ad in The Wall Street Journal: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate business opportunities and business propositions.” What followed was an unlikely collaboration that would culminate in one of the most iconic cultural events of the twentieth century. Two years later, half a million people gathered on a farm in Bethel, New York, for what would be billed as “three days of peace and music,” witnessing the most iconic musical performances of the decade. However, Woodstock was far from the utopia we remember it as; plagued with heavy rain, food shortages, deaths, and overdoses. Still, Woodstock became a culturally defining moment that lived on through movies, books, and songs, symbolizing the peace and love of 1960s counterculture.

By Justin Lu Class of 2025

Unit 731: The Haunting Legacy of Ishii Shiro

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

Six prison guards forcibly submerge a man’s arm into a tub of ice. The man screams and begs them to let go, seeking any last ounce of humanity. The guards stare coldly at him, their faces devoid of expression. A doctor in an all-white lab coat stands behind a glass panel and barks an order in a foreign language. Then, the guards finally release him. The man realizes that, to his horror, his arm is now frozen solid with a thin film of ice covering every inch of his skin. He falls to his knees, catching his breath, but the doctor shouts something from behind the glass. The man looks up to see the guards with a lit blowtorch.

By Jamie Li Class of 2025

The Cost of Progress: Black American Sign Language and the Cultural Paradox of Integration

Editor’s Note: The History Fellowship program offers students the opportunity to conduct college-level independent research on a historical topic of their choice, resulting in a substantial academic paper and oral presentation. Through guided discussions, structured support, and access to both on- and off-campus sources, students learn and apply the practices of professional historians.

During the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show, Rihanna’s performance fascinated millions. At the same time, her American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter drew substantial attention with her confident and expressive performance, inciting millions of likes on social media. As the first Black Deaf woman to perform in a Superbowl show, Justina Miles, the interpreter, received praise on social media, including comments like “sis was Rihanna in her other life,” “She was the real halftime show,” and “sis should’ve performed on stage.” Little did most viewers know that she was using Black ASL, a dialect of ASL born from segregation and shaped by the intersection of Black and Deaf cultures.