Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Computing Sciences students at Elon have numerous opportunities to participate in experiential learning through research.

Research opportunities may involve work on campus with Elon professors or work at other institutions. Recent students have worked on improving GPS for phone-based computer gaming, understanding and developing design principles for digital magazines, data mining to understand online communities, and addressing mobile touchscreen security mechanisms.

Students may also elect to participate in research opportunities off campus including ones supported by the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program (REU).

Computing Sciences students and faculty members regularly participate in research supported by SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences), a program sponsored by the Elon Undergraduate Research Program.

Students may also receive financial support for their research as Elon College Fellows, Honors Fellows, and Lumen Prize winners.

Students routinely present their research on campus at the annual SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Forum).

SURF presentations

Spring 2024

  • Translating Computer Game Mechanics to Mixed Reality – presented by Gerald Fuller and Nikesh Bajaj; Dr. Pratheep Paranthaman, mentor
  • Assessing the Effects of Various Gaming Platforms on Players’ Affective States and Workload through Electroencephalogram – presented by Spencer W. Graham and Nikesh Bajaj; Dr. Pratheep Paranthaman, mentor
  • Addressing Class Imbalance in Machine Learning Using Variational Autoencoders – presented by Clayton McLamb; Dr. Scott Spurlock, mentor
  • Extracting EEG Artifacts From VR Game Mechanics – presented by Alecxander Wilson; Dr. Pratheep Paranthaman, mentor
  • SolAR: Immersive Learning through an Augmented Reality Application – presented by Henry Agyemang; Dr. Pratheep Paranthaman, mentor
  • Symptom Tracking Gamified: Exploring the Impact of Gamification Principles in a Mobile App for Symptom and Wellness Tracking – presented by John R. Pittman; Dr. Shannon Duvall, mentor

Presentations from past years

Past SURF presentations in Computing Sciences

Faculty research interests

Faculty members in Computer Science at Elon have expertise in a wide variety of research areas as shown below. Students interested in these or other topics are encouraged to contact the appropriate faculty member for discussion and possible collaboration.

  • Elizabeth von Briesen: computational social science, agent-based modeling, complex systems, computer science education
  • Shannon Duvall: artificial Intelligence, machine learning
  • Joel Hollingsworth: operating systems, distributed processing, networking
  • Duke Hutchings: human-computer interaction, usability, usable security, information visualization, computer science education, data science education
  • Ryan Mattfeld: LiDAR, accelerometers, virtual/augmented reality, wearables, mHealth, computer science education
  • Sims Osborne: real-time scheduling, simultaneous multithreading, timing analysis
  • Pratheep Paranthaman: serious games, game UX, game design and evaluation, mixed/virtual/augmented reality, brain-computer interface, and crowdsourcing
  • Scott Spurlock: computer vision, machine learning, computer science education