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Viewbook 2008-09 - Research projects


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How much does an elephant weigh?

Electrical engineering students help zoo visitors find out this and a lot more by working on repairs and improvements for the 30-year-old interactive displays at Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose. Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant that will help the engineering school participate in more community-centered projects, and eventually incorporate engineering into other parts of the University curriculum, in the 2006-07 academic year faculty members like Kate Wilson and Shoba Krishnan collaborated with the local zoo to benefit both the exhibits and the students.

Junior and senior mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering students spent a quarter troubleshooting the system, developing a wiring schematic, determining what need to replaced, and then repairing the system with new parts. While some groups focused on the existing displays, other groups began to imagine and design new interactive exhibits that could also be installed at the zoo, putting the circuitry and engineering knowledge they’ve gained to use.

And how much does an elephant weigh? The average African elephant weighs about 6 tons; Asian elephants weight a little bit less.

Associate Professor Shoba Krishnan: “When you look at projects in a lab setting, it’s very structured. With this type of project, students have to come up with an idea that they think will work on their own and test it and learn from that. It’s very open, very different, and some students really respond to that.”

Brian Drocco ’08: “It’s more hands-on, not just circuit analysis. This is a real possibility for a real project.”
Alberto Fonts ’08: “We wanted to develop something about habitat; why certain animals have certain features. So our exhibit would ask kids to match features to different climates. This is better than just sitting in class.”
Laya Yadgar ’08: “Instead of using computers, we have to go back and use the ‘bread board’ to see what’s working.”
What motivates a pigeon?

To study learning, behavior, and choices, Assistant Professor of Psychology Matt Bell gets help from some feathered friends and student research assistants. The pigeons are his subjects, working through experiments that he designs to test preference and resistance; the students help program and run the experiments.

bell and dulaney“I’ve always asked questions like, "I wonder what would happen if...?" so being a research assistant gave me a chance to answer my questions through experiments. In the summer, I programmed an experiment for the pigeon subjects and later began actually running experiments. I’ve learned that pigeon behavior is not all that different from human behavior; a lot of what we learn may actually generalize to humans. I see real-world, human applications of our research all the time. It’s really interesting to learn how much of behavior is controlled by rewards and punishment.

I chose Santa Clara because I didn’t want to get lost in a big school and I knew that that wouldn’t happen here. I’ve learned here that it takes critical thinking (plus hard work) to make progress, both personally and professionally. I’ve also become more aware of my ability and duty to influence and change the world around me.”

Alana Dulaney ’07
B.S. in Psychology, minor in music
Department of Psychology Research Award
Best Poster Award Recipient, Western Psychology Conference for Undergraduate Research in Psychology at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA 2006 & 2007
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