Research Experience for Undergraduates Projects

Click below to scroll down to each year period:

2023-2024
2021-2022
      2015-2020 
2012-2014      2009-2011
2006-2008      2003-2005
2002-2002      1998-1999








Title: Incorporating Forward-Looking Signals into Covariance Matrix Estimation for Portfolio Optimization
Authors: Tejpal Ahluwalia, Robert Hark, Daniel Helkey, Nicholas Marshall
Industrial Sponsor:
Wellington Management
Faculty Advisors:
Marcel Blais
Title: Modeling Multidimensional Tolerance Stack-up in Excel Using Monte Carlo Simulations
Authors: Garrett Castle, Salil Gadgil, Michael Walker, Gregory Zajac
Industrial Sponsor: Gillette – Procter & Gamble
Faculty Advisors:
Matthew Willyard
Title: Modelling Cancer Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cancer Cell Population Growth
Authors: Brian Barker, Sarah Bober, Karina Cisneros, Justina Clina, Amanda Thompson
Industrial Sponsor: Center of Cancer Systems Biology
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne Weekes


REU 2009-2011

Title: Geometry and flow effects on the performance of vertical residential geothermal heating systems
Authors: Justin Boyer, Spencer Frei, Kathyrn Lockwood, Gregory Stewart
Industrial Sponsor: New England Geothermal Professional Association
Faculty Advisors:
 Burt Tilley
Title: Pricing and Hedging Variable Annuities Using Monte Carlo Methods
Authors: John Collins, Daniel Gitelman, Kevin McDermott, Dimin Xu, Xiao Xu
Faculty Advisors:
Dr. Matthew Willyard
Title: Evaluation of Glucose Sensor Simulated Use as a Predictor of Device Performance
Authors: Michelle L. DeVeaux, Sasha S. Indarte, Samantha M. Noreen
Industrial Sponsor: Instrumentation Laboratory
Faculty Advisors: 
Zheyang Wu
Title: Conditioning the Capital Asset Pricing Model to Incorporate Macro-Economic Based Variables
Authors: Maria Jansen, Maria Casandra Rusti
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors
Faculty Advisors:
Marcel Blais
Title: Sharpe Ratio Versus the Information Ratio: Capturing Minimum Variance Portfolios
Authors: Alexa Atamanchuk, Zack Liu
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
Faculty Advisors: 
Marcel Blais
Title: Mathematical Modeling of Cobbling Instabilities In Steel Rod Fabrication
Authors: Emily Cody, Matthew Lapa, Kevin Park, Maia Valcarce
Industrial Sponsor: Siemens VAI
Faculty Advisors: 
Burt Tilley
Title: Minimum Bias Approach to Determining Automobile Insurance Premiums
Authors: Erica Choi, Robert Lang, Jackie Micheller, James Phillips
Industrial Sponsor: Hannover Insurance
Faculty Advisors: 
Jon Abraham
Title: Mathematical Modeling in Metal Processing
Authors: Forest Lee-Elkin, William Montbleau, Stanislav Oks
Industrial Sponsor: Morgan Construction Company
Faculty Advisors: 
Bogdan Vernescu
Title: Stock Selection Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Authors: Michael Abrahams, John Whittingham
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
Faculty Advisors:
Marcel Blais
Title: Passive Currency Hedging Analysis
Authors: Brendan Bettinger, Jessica Zehel
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
Faculty Advisors:
Marcel Blais
Title: Modeling Traffic Flow in Long-term Work Zones
Authors: Dustin Dickerson, Daniel Kamenetsky, Paul McLaughlin, Amanda Miles, Amanda Persichetti
Industrial Sponsor: Massachusetts Highway Department
Faculty Advisors: 
Suzanne Weekes
Title: Interpolation Algorithms for Interfacing FDTD and FEM Meshes in Multiphysics Modeling of Microwave Sintering
Authors: Stephen Demjanenko, Ryan Northrup, Kathleen Nowak
Industrial Sponsor: EMPA – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Thun, Switzerland
Faculty Advisors: 
Suzanne L. Weekes, Vadim Yakovlev


REU 2006-2008

Title: A Macroscale Model for the Growth of Glioblastoma Multiforme Incorporating Tumor Cell Heterogeneity
Authors: David B. Brown, Stephanie Browne-Schlack, Thomas Seaquist, Erin Vinnedge
Industrial Sponsor:  IBM
Faculty Advisors: 
Suzanne Weekes
Title: Disposition Effect and Momentum: Modeling Irrational Behavior to Explain Apparent Momentum in Stock Prices
Authors: David P. Brown, Pulak Goswami, Xiao Han, Evan Herring, Jian Wang
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
Faculty Advisors: 
Marcel Blias
Title: The Effect of Missingness on the Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials of Disease Modifying Agents
Authors: Sara Adler, Jennifer Boyko, Laura Hou
Industrial Sponsor:  Pfizer
Faculty Advisors:
Jayson Wilbur
Title: Modeling Stock Returns and Optimizing Bond Portfolios
Authors: Naomi Brownstein, Patrick Crutcher, Yu-Jay Huo, Sean Skwerer, Grant Weller
Industrial Sponsor: State Street Global Advisors (SSgA)
Faculty Advisors: 
Bogdan Doytchinov
Title: Mathematical Model of the Self-Tapping Screw Insertion Process
Authors: Jonathan Adler, Matthew Bader
Industrial Sponsor: Bose Corporation
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne Weekes
Title: Quantifying Uncertainty in Predictions of Hepatic Clearance
Authors: Paul Bernhardt, Jaye Bupp, Morgan Gieseke, Nathan Langholz, Christopher Steiner
Industrial Sponsor: Pfizer
Faculty Advisors:
Jayson D. Wilbur
Title: Expert System Design for Long Term Care Underwriting
Authors: Wendy Chen, Rachel Danson, Mary Korch, Melissa Moon
Industrial Sponsor: John Hancock
Faculty Advisors: 
Arthur C. Heinricher, Jon Abraham
Title: Mathematical Modeling of Cobbling Instabilities in Steel Road Fabrication
Authors: Emily Cody, Matthew Lapa, Kevin Park, Maia Valcarce
Industrial Sponsor: Morgan Construction
Faculty Advisors: 
Burt Tilley
Title: Mathematical Modeling of the Self-Tapping Screw Insertion Process
Authors
Jason Miller, Alla Shved, Lingfeng Tang
Industrial Sponsor:
Bose Corporation
Faculty Advisors: 
Suzanne Weeks, Bill Farr
Title: 1D and 2D Modeling for a Coupled Electromagentic-Thermal Boundary Value Problem
Authors: Dena Feldman, Erin Kile, Daniel Lawver, Jody Mullis
Industrial Sponsor: Ferrite, Inc.
Faculty Advisors: 
Vadim Yakovlev, Suzanne Weekes


REU 2003-2005

Title: FEMLAB Electromagnetic-Thermal Model of Microwave Thermal Processing
Authors: Christopher Mirabito, Anu Narayanan, David Perez, Brenton Stone
Industrial Sponsor: Ferrite Company, Inc.
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne L. Weekes, Vadim Yakovlev
Title: Portfolio Optimization with Non-Smooth Constraints
Authors: William Bade, Jessica Clark, Alex Mills
Industrial Sponsor: Goldman-Sachs
Faculty Advisors:
 Arthur C. Heinricher
Title: Estimating the Cost of Extending a Term Insurance Policy
Authors: Nathanial Burch, Sarah Hartenstein, Razvan Ionescu, Eugene Quan
Industrial Sponsor: John Hancock Life Insurance Company
Faculty Advisors: 
Jayson Wilbur, Andrew Swift, Jon Abraham
Title: Numerical Models for Tumor Growth
Authors: Erica Johnson, Christopher Long, Brian Skjerven, Kimberly Ware
Industrial Sponsor: IBM Corporation
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne L. Weekes
Title: Volatility Costs for an Assigned Risk Plan
Authors: Dustin Chase, Suzanne Ferrell-Locke, Kimberly Millard
Industrial Sponsor: Premier Insurance
Faculty Advisors:
Arthur C. Heinricher
Title: Alternate Methods for Covariance Estimation in Portfolio Analysis
Authors: Ruth Griswold, Andrew Magyar, John Penuel, Jessica Scheld, Jean Wilsher
Industrial Sponsor: New Frontiers Advisors
Faculty Advisors:
Carlos Morales
TitleModelling iBOT Belt Dynamics
Authors: Michael Coleman, Heather Griffi, Erin Haller, Christopher Kim, Sidharth Rupani
Industrial Sponsor: Deka Research and Development
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne L. Weekes
Title: Estimating the Covariance of Stock Returns to Calculate a Minimum Risk Portfolio
Authors: Amy Cohen, Mary Gruber, Jessica Jajosky, Adam Czernikowski, Megan McKinney, Trinh Pham

Industrial Sponsor: Deutsche Bank
Faculty Advisors:
Arthur C. Heinricher, Carlos Morales


REU 2000-2002

Title: Mathematical Model for an Electro-Pneumatic Pulsed Jet Actuator
Authors: Borislav Mezhericher, David Stoltzfus, Matthew Willyard
Industrial Sponsor: Applied Mathematics, Inc.
Faculty Advisors:
Bogdan Vernescu
Title: Analysis of Intelligible Speech in a Noisy Environment
Authors: Jared Dixon, Sonja Petrovic, Ravi Srinivasan
Industrial Sponsor: DEKA Research
Faculty Advisors: 
Suzanne Weekes
Title: Statistical Procedures for Failure-Mode Testing of Diagnostic Systems
Authors: Andrew Jalil, Alex Lenkoski, Patricia Tong
Industrial Sponsor: Veeder-Root
Faculty Advisors:
Arthur Heinricher
Title: Modeling the Dynamics of a Motorized Wheelchair
Authors: Rachael Hageman, Katherine Kline, Leonard Wilkins
Industrial Sponsor: DEKA Research
Faculty Advisors:
Christopher Larsen
Title: Modeling Fluid Flow in a Positive Displacement Pump
Authors: Blythe Ashcraft, Erin Renk, Jennica Sherwood
Industrial Sponsor: DEKA Research
Faculty Advisors:
Suzanne Weekes
Title: Detecting Failure in Vapor Return Systems
Authors: Ivan Ramler, Thomas Wakefield, Thomas Wright
Industrial Sponsor: Veeder-Root
Faculty Advisors: 
Arthur Heinricher
Title: Analysis of a Laying Head
Authors: Brook Andersen, Sandor Swartz, Rebecca Wasyk Garth Johnson, Brook Andersen, Sandor Swartz, Rebecca Wasyk
Industrial Sponsor: Morgan Construction
Faculty Advisors:
Bogdan Vernescu
Title: Moral Hazard
Authors: Micahel Escovitz, Edward De Guzman, Barbara Hess, Wendy Kooiman, Douglas Mitarotonda, Katherine Tranbarger
Industrial Sponsor: Premier Insurance
Faculty Advisors:
Arthur Heinricher


REU 1998-1999

Title: Pricing of a Child Rider
Authors: Sarah Winne, Bryan Heilman, Christopher Shane
Industrial Sponsor: John Hancock
Faculty Advisors: 
Arthur Heinricher and Anne Wiedie
Title: Optimal Shape Design in Metal Processing
Authors: Catherine Lee, Brendan Hogan
Industrial Sponsor: Morgan Construction
Faculty Advisors:
Bogdan Vernescu
TitleStatistical Models Predicting Demand for Loans Against Permanent Life Insurance Policies
Authors: Xiomara Carrero, Samuel Pruitt, Lauren Wheeler
Industrial Sponsor:  John Hancock Insurance
Faculty Advisors:
Ann Wiedie and Art Heinricher
Title: Pressurized Pipe Modeling
Authors: Brian Ball, Paul Dostert, Jake Woods
Industrial Sponsor: Veeder-Root , Simsbury, CT
Faculty Advisors:
Roger Lui
Title: Optimal Cession Strategies
Authors: Kristin Blenk, Jesse Field
Industrial Sponsor: Premier Insurance
Faculty Advisors:
Arthur Heinricher
Title: Design of a Bending Pipe
Authors: Cecily A. Coia, John J. Cotter, Samuel J. Ellison, and Scott Lonergan
Industrial Sponsor:  Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance
Faculty Advisors: 
Prof. Jon Abraham
Title: Estimating Success Probabilities of Variable Life Insurance via Simulation
Authors: Jonathan Van Haste, Heather Stultz
Industrial Sponsor: John Hancock Insurance
Faculty Advisors:
Ann Wiedie
Title: Optimal Control of HVAC Systems
Authors: Ane Coughlin, Dwayne Ellington, Brian Rieksts, Ellen Phifer
Industrial Sponsor: UTRC
Faculty Advisors: 
Arthur Heinricher and Bogdan Vernescu