Computer Science Projects
2014: Music Analysis Algorithms
Senior CS majors Andrew Trautmann and Ben Burwell developed software to read MusicXML files for musical pieces, analyze the musical content, and assess the difficulty of the entire piece and of individual sections.
2014: Culinary Scheduling Assistant Application
As his CUE, senior CS major Tim Gee created a app to analyze a set of recipes and determine the optimal sequence of steps to prepare them concurrently. He received first prize in the student poster competition at the 2104 Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Northeastern Meeting, at Providence College.
2014: Genetic Algorithm Population Simulation
As his CUE, senior CS major Chris Zumberge created a population simulation that used genetic algorithms to evolve effective behaviors, and used a graphics engine to animate the results. He presented and demoed his project in the student poster competition at the 2104 Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Northeastern Meeting, at Providence College.
2014: Library Research Security
As his CUE, senior CS major Bill Dolan worked with Trexler Library systems librarian Tim Clarke to monitor how publishers track patron searches in library databases. He presented his project at the 2014 Lehigh Valley Computer Science Celebration.
2011-2014: Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning in Computer Science
Marianna Giercyk, Laurianne Ojo- Ohikuare, Tim Gee, and Mike Walsh collaborated with Professor Clif Kussmaul to develop and refine classroom activities for computer science that use Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, a research-based instructional strategy. There work was supported by a National Science Foundation TUES grant to Professor Kussmaul and by summer research grants from Muhlenberg.
2012: Smartphone Sobriety Test
As their Software Engineering team project, CS majors Matt Horn, Averill Morash, and Tim McClung developed a phone app to estimate blood alcohol level. Their venture proposal won first prize at the 2012 Muhlenberg College Innovation Challenge.
2012: Solar Cell Case
As a team project in their first year seminar (FYS), Trevor Cardo, Mike Filippone, Ben Burwell, and Cora Wallace developed a cell phone case with a built in solar charger. Their venture proposal won third prize at the 2012 Muhlenberg College Innovation Challenge.
2011: Web Design for Robotic Surgery
Senior CS major Peter Ashman worked with a local surgeon to prototype a social networking site for physicians and medical students who use or are interested in robotic surgery.
2008 - 2010: Scholarly Repository (DSpace)
Trexler Library staff wanted a way to archive digital materials, including College publications and scholarly publications by faculty, staff, and students. Professor Clif Kussmaul helped library staff to evaluate a variety of FOSS options, including DSpace, EPrints, Fedora, and Greenstone. In Summer 2008, Clif installed DSpace on a test system and assisted library staff with evaluation. In Summer 2009, OIT installed DSpace on a college server. Spring 2010, Clif helped the library and OIT to customize the user interface and import data from other sources.
2009: Galileoscope Ecommerce Site (Drupal)
For the 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA), a team of astronomers and educators designed the Galileoscope, a high-quality, low-cost telescope based on Galileo’s original telescopes. Professor Clif Kussmaul developed and continues to maintain the Galileoscope web site. Clif evaluated several options, and settled on the Drupal content management system, and UberCart, a package to add ecommerce capabilities to Drupal. Clif updated the uc_edi package to export customer orders, and wrote software to transfer this data to the shipping company. In its first year, the site handled over 25,000 orders for over 50,000 Galileoscopes.
2008-2009: Library Catalog (SubjectsPlus)
Trexler Library staff wanted to improve catalog functions, including search, faceted search, subject guides, and internal library operations. During Summer 2008, Student Chelsea Lobdell and professor Clif Kussmaul worked with library staff to examine appropriate FOSS tools. They installed and evaluated several FOSS projects, including Koha, VuFind, libdata, Drupal, and SubjectsPlus. Chelsea presented her work at the EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, 2009. For their Fall 2008 capstone CS project, Chelsea and student Adam Harrington worked with library staff to customize SubjectsPlus. During Spring and Summer 2009, Chelsea also worked for the library as a paid consultant.
2008: Intellectual Property Management System (Drupal)
The Center for Advanced Technology & Innovation (CATI) in Racine, WI has a portfolio of patented technologies that can be licensed by student entrepreneurship teams (E-Teams). Professor Clif Kussmaul designed and implemented the InovaED web site to allow E-Teams and faculty advisers to search the database, request access to specific patents, and report on the status of resulting projects.
2007: Tutor Management System
The Academic Resource Center manages many tutor-tutee relationships, and wanted a better system to management and analysis. During Summer 2007, student Chelsea Lobdell investigated system requirements and evaluated FOSS and commercial solutions. She presented her project at the 22nd Annual National College Learning Center Association Conference, 2007.
2005-2006: Moodle Portfolios
Faculty wanted to experiment with digital portfolios for RJ Fellows Program. Professor Clif Kussmaul installed and supported a portfolio package in the Moodle learning management system (LMS).
2005-2006: Video Analysis of Motion
During Fall 2005, professor Clif Kussmaul and students Travis McDemus and Emily Skrzat visiting Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, and saw a system to help clients with rehabilitation by tracking body motions and using them to control video games. (The Nintendo Wii was not released until Fall 2006). Travis and Emily presented their work at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Northeastern Conference, 2006, and during summer 2006 Travis worked on a related research project.
2005: Entrepreneurship Education Wiki (TWiki)
As part of a 2005 grant from the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), a team of primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) faculty developed resources for entrepreneurship education. Professor Clif Kussmaul created and maintained a wiki web site (using TWiki) to facilitate communication within the grant team and to make resulting resources available to the larger entrepreneurship education community.
