The Swanson School of Engineering Office of Research Publishes the Fifth Edition of Ingenium

PITTSBURGH (April 1, 2019) … David A. Vorp, Associate Dean for Research and the John A. Swanson Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, recently unveiled the fifth edition of Ingenium: Undergraduate Research at the Swanson School of Engineering. The publication is a collection of articles that highlight student research accomplishments from the School’s 2018 summer research program.

“With each edition of Ingenium we have produced, it has been exciting to witness the growth of our undergraduate students when presented with the opportunity to directly engage in scientific research,” said Dr. Vorp in an introductory statement. “Applying what is learned in the classroom is only the beginning of an engineer’s career. The application of this knowledge and information presents countless opportunities to create, build, and encourage the students of today to create the prospects of tomorrow.”

To be considered for publication in Ingenium, undergraduate students submitted an abstract summarizing the results of their research to an editorial board comprised of 41 Swanson School graduate student researchers across all departments. The highest-ranking abstracts were invited to submit a full manuscript to undergo a peer-review process by the editorial board.

The co-editors-in-chief for the 2019 publication were Michelle Heusser, a bioengineering graduate student, and Lisa Stabryla, a civil and environmental engineering graduate student. 

"Working on Ingenium was an extremely rewarding experience because it taught us about the peer-review process from an editorial standpoint and allowed us to provide the undergraduate students with a similar professional experience from an author's standpoint,” said Stabryla. “It was also a nice opportunity to implement new ideas that I felt would have helped my professional development when my undergraduate work was published in the 2016 edition of Ingenium."

For the first time since its launch, the Ingenium editorial board selected an “Editors’ Choice” article that represents an outstanding and well-presented piece of student work that provides scientific enhancement to its field. The designation went to Lydia Kuebler, an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering and materials science, for her research article, “The influence of nitrogen doping on electrocatalytic activity of FeN4 embedded graphene.” 

"Lydia's manuscript was nominated by the editorial board and ultimately selected because the reviewers felt her work was well-written at every stage — from initial abstract to final revised manuscript — and because she demonstrated professionalism in her response-to-reviewer document,” said Heusser. “Her exemplary manuscript reflects the type of student work we strive to showcase in Ingenium."

Another change to this year’s publication was the use of categories to give a more viewer-friendly experience. Ingenium is color-coded into four different categories: computational research, device design, experimental research, and review. The new format also highlights the researchers by including a headshot and brief biography of the students and mentors.

Read the full publication at https://issuu.com/pittswanson/docs/ingenium_2019.

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