Interdisciplinary Research

Interdisciplinary Research Sessions at Research Week 2026

In addition to events hosted by each school and college, this year we have sessions to highlight interdisciplinary research that bridges disciplines, addresses complex societal challenges and fosters collaboration across UDC’s schools and colleges, federal agencies, industries, organizations and communities.

Interdisciplinary research plays a central role in expanding UDC's research capability as well as boosting our visibility and reputation as a research institution. When faculty and students from different disciplines collaborate by integrating methods, theories and tools from their respective fields, they can broaden their scope of inquiry and develop more comprehensive and innovative research projects.

These interdisciplinary sessions will also serve to promote knowledge-sharing in order to better mobilize collective expertise to form research teams and apply for funding.

Interdisciplinary collaboration also helps to foster long-term research networks and establish a sustainable research ecosystem that will generate successful, fundable ideas and impactful projects.

April 7 – 9

Interdisciplinary Research Sessions Schedule

Tuesday, April 7

8:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Auditorium
Lamond-Riggs Campus

Continental breakfast begins at 8:45 a.m.

Presentation List
Time	Topic	Presenter(s)
8:50 – 9 a.m.	Opening Remarks
9 – 10 a. m.	Keynote Presentation
10 – 10:30 a.m.	Session: Emerging Approaches in Artificial Intelligence: Human Interaction and Sentiment Analysis
	Integrating Socialization and Self-Efficacy in the Application of AI	Kelli A. Hill and Kahlil Green CAS
	Hybrid Negation: Enhancing Sentiment Analysis for Complex Sentences”	Miftahul Qorib SEAS
10:30 – 11 a. m.	Session: Panel Discussion
10:30 – 11 a. m.	Scholarly Communications at the UDC Library	Catherine Meals, Tricia Clarke, Jacob Hopkins LRD/Library
11 – 11:30 a.m.	Session: Engineering Resilient Systems: From Autonomous Rescue Robotics to Battery Safety and Urban Food-Water Solutions
	Designing an Energy-Efficient Autonomous Rescue Robotics Platform for Hazardous Emergency Environments	Tomika Williams SEAS
	Investigating Thermal Runaway and Gas Venting in 18650 Lithium-Ion Cell: A Case Study Using ANSYS Fluent In-Built Battery Module	Justin An SEAS
	Urban Hydrology and Food Self-Provisioning: The Case for Rainwater Harvesting and Aquaponics in Washington, DC	Christopher Iweriebor CAUSES
11:30 a.m. - Noon	Session: Panel Discussion
11:30 a.m. - Noon	Integrating Archival Research in Undergraduate Courses: Making it Real – UDC’s History for Today’s Student	Jennifer Sparkman Bartee and Christopher SELS

Wednesday, April 8

9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Student Center, Ballroom
Van Ness Campus

Continental breakfast begins at 9 a.m.

Presentation List
Time	Topic	Presenter(s)
9:10 - 9:15 a.m.	Opening Remarks
9:15 - 10:15 a.m.	Keynote Presentation	Elsayed Talatt USRA
10:15 - 10:45 a.m.	Session: Innovations in Quantum Computing, Space Engineering, and Intelligent Systems
	Quantum-Enabled Smart Biochip for Sustaining Astronaut Health in Deep Space	Kadijah Talib SEA
	Calibration of Quantum Computational Software	Patrick Hall UDC-CC
	Solving the Travelling Salesman Problem on the IBM Quantum Computer	Patrick Ezigbo UDC-CC
10:45 – 11:30 a.m.	Session: Strategic Responses to Uncertainty: Earnings Management and the Resilience of NATO
	Geopolitical Risk and the Trade-Off Between Accruals and Real Earnings Management	Ruonan Liu and Sung Namkung SBPA
	The External Threat Paradox in NATO: A Conditional Theory of Security Community Resilience	Guy-Maurille Massamba CAS
11:30 a.m. – Noon	Session: Panel Discussion
11:30 a.m. – Noon	Library Support for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning	Catherine Meals and Meghan Kowalski LRD/Library
Noon – 12:30 p.m.	Lunch
12:30 – 1:30 pm.	Session: Cybersecurity, AI Governance, and Smart Infrastructure for Resilient Systems
	A Multi-layered Security Approach: Integrating Risk Management, Firewalls, and Intrusion Detection for Sustainable Cyber Defense	Divan Voges SEAS
	"From Prevention to Recovery” A Comprehensive Study of Risk Management, Incident Response, and Contingency Planning in Information Security	Yibekal Chaka SEAS
	Quantum Corners: Improving Emergency Response with Smart Traffic Management and Quantum Sensors	Cameron Lewis CAS
	A Triple Stakeholder Approach to AI Governance	Anshu Arora and Amit Arora SBPA
1:30 – 2 p.m.	Session: Panel Discussion
1:30 – 2 p.m.	Innovating How We Value Research: Metrics, Equity, and Institutional Transformation	Rodney Trapp, Jaret C. Riddick and Chad Womack CAUSES
2 – 2:45 p.m.	Session: Governance, Global Risk, and International Engagement Across Time
	Oddities in the Now-Permanent 20-Percent Deduction for Non-Corporate Business Income	Rebecca Rosenber DACSL
	Navigating Geopolitical Risk: The Impact on M&A Activities in Upstream Industries	Sung Namkung and Ruonan Liu SBPA
	Sculpting International Affairs in the Nineteenth Century: Edmonia Lewis and the Centennial Exposition of 1876	Jasmine Noelle Yarish CAS
2:45 – 3:45 p.m.	Session: Panel Discussion
2:45 – 3:45 p.m.	UDC’s Assessment Cycle in Action: A Cross-Campus Conversation	Rebecca Graham, Catherine Meals, Annie Ramos-Pizarro, Raysa Leer-Gray, Kimberly Crews, and Sandra Jowers-Barber Office of Planning and Institutional Effectiveness/University Assessment Committee
3:45 – 4:30 p.m.	Session: Bridging Knowledge, Confidence, and Policy in Civic and Professional Education
	Knowledge, Confidence and Policy Awareness During ICE Encounters Results form a Pre-Post Educational Intervention Study	Andrea Doctor UDC-CC
	The Impact of Age, Gender and Education on A-Priori Time Spent in Filing Taxes: An Empirical Study at a University-based Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Clinic	Suzan Abed, Ravi Chinta and Debra Robinson-Foster SBPA
	Educational Gap in Gender-Affirmation Surgery Training Within U.S. Plastic Surgery	Michael Ha UDC-CC
4:30 – 5 p.m.	Session: Panel Discussion
4:30 – 5 p.m.	Exploring AI & Robotics Interdisciplinary Curriculum & Research @ UDC-SBPA	Anshu Arora, Amit Arora, Mohamed Sepehri, Shannen Graham, Joselyn Bercian and Phoumysack Chanthalath SBPA

Poster Presentations

12:30 – 2 p.m.
Student Center, Heritage Hall
Van Ness Campus

Presentation List
Time	Topic	Presenter(s)
12:30 – 2 p.m.	Nanoscale Computer Devices	Pawan Tyagi SEAS
	Single-Molecule magnet Bridging Along Exposed Sidewalls of Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Diodes for Molecular Transport Studies	Pius Suh SEAS
	Medicinal Plants and Healthy Aging: Promise or Hype	Darryl Wallace and Phronie Jackson CAS and CAUSES
	Dissemination and Implementation of Evidence-Based Mental Health and Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs for Older Adults	Phronie Jackson CAUSES
	Accessible Biomechanics: Validating OpenCap/OpenSim Workflow for Clinical Gait Analysis	Ji Chen SEAS
	Effectiveness of Green Infrastructures in Removing 6PPD-Q: Literature Review	Roxane Chidlaw and Nancy Reyes CAUSES
	Enhanced TabNet: Attentive Interpretable Tabular Learning for Hyperspectral Image Classification	Messan Anato SEAS
	Comparative Evaluation of Hemp, Coconut Coir, and Rockwool Substrates in Controlled-Environment Microgreen Production	Olivia Howard CAUSES
	Technology Gap for Monitoring and Treatment of PFAS in Water: A Literature Review	Christian Luna CAUSES
	Safeguarding the Capital’s Water Future: The DC Pure Water Initiative	Danielle Simmons CAUSES

Thursday, April 9

8:45 a.m. – Noon
Student Center, Ballroom
Van Ness Campus

Continental breakfast begins at 8:45 a.m.

Presentation List
Time	Topic	Presenter(s)
8:50 - 9 a.m.	Opening Remarks
9 – 9:30 a.m.	Keynote Presentation	Anna Quider The Quider Group
9:30 – 10:15 a.m.	Session: Evidence, Impact, and Innovation: Transforming Health Studies
	A DRG-level Study of Variance in Hospital Charges and Its Determinants: Evidence from the 2019 National Inpatient Data in the United States	Samaneh Torkzadeh, Mohammad Alshareef, and Ravi Chinta SBPA
	Perturbation Platform for Reactive Balance Testing: Device Design and Validation	Michael K Bennett SEAS
	Psychological Impact of Perceptions of Infertility and Childlessness: A Systematic Literature Review	Caroline Oyuyo UDC-CC
10:15 – 11 a.m.	Session: Transformative and Inclusive Approaches to Teaching and Learning Across Disciplines
	Transformative Reshaping: A Critical Conceptual Framework for Teaching, Belonging, and Inclusive Excellence in Higher Education	Albert A. Pearsall III UDC-CC
	Conceptual Synergies in HBCU Collaborations: Bridging Theory and Practice	Ravi Chinta SBPA
	From Textbooks to Cadavers: Comparing Anatomy Teaching Models	Michael Ha UDC-CC
11 – 11:30 a.m.	Session: AI Across Domains: Security, Human Productivity, and Creative Education
	NATO and Software-Designed Warfare: Resilience as Sub-Threshold Deterrence	Guy-Maurille Massamba CAS
	Imagining an Empathetic AI Manager: Higher Worker Satisfaction and Productivity	Kwema J. Ledbetter WDLL
	The 10th Muse: Generative AI As a Catalyst for Creativity in Art Education	Davide Prete CAS

Poster Presentations

12:30 – 2 p.m.
Student Center, Heritage Hall
Van Ness Campus

Presentation List
Time	Topic	Presenter(s)
12:30 – 2 p.m.	Medical Nutrition Therapy for African American Women Undergoing Breast Cancer Treatment	Celia Bastin CAS
	Kinetics and Spectral Characterization of UVC-Induced Photodegradation of Emetine Hydrochloride	Carin Smith and Emah Assimewlui CAS