Four physics majors are working with Dr. Davis and Dr. Levine on data logger projects.

These are devices which control and read input from sensors and save them to an SD card for later use. Thus far, their designs utilize an Arduino microcontroller, custom circuit boards, and a simplified C-like open-source language. Versions have been fabricated to study biological systems, a factory floor-room in Knox Indiana (see March 18, 2023 post), beehives in Grand Rapids Michigan and a standard classroom model for use in high school and middle school courses on Earth and space science and environmental science.

Along with the data loggers themselves the are developing a book of lesson plans which meet Indiana state requirements for inclusion in classes in Earth and space science, environmental science, physics, chemistry and biology. The third part of the tool is an instruction packet on 3 different analysis packages (Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers) and how to do graphing and data analysis – something that teachers struggle with in teaching their students.

Versions of the loggers for physics and biology courses are being fabricated now and 10 local science teachers have expressed interest in using these devices in their classrooms. Specialized versions have also been fabricated for courses in IU South Bend’s department of biology: BIOL-L 102 (Introduction to Biological Sciences) and BIOL-L 474 (Field and Laboratory Ecology).

The team has just started working with the IU’s Innovation and Commercialization Office to start a company to fabricate these on an industrial scale. The incoming director of research for the University of Minnesota has asked to partner with us to provide dataloggers and lesson plans first for underserved communities. We aim to provide this integrated tool to schools across the country at very low cost in money and in required training of teachers.

IUSB physics professors Ilan Levine and Brian Davis, in coordination with emeritus biology professor Peter Bushnell, have established a broad collaboration with three different teams of marine biologists in an effort to reduce shark bycatch – the inadvertent catching of sharks – in commercial fishing operations.

Notably, sharks have an organ which detects electric fields, and Davis and Levine have designed low-cost electric-field generating devices to deter sharks from fish hooks, which they refer to as “shark ticklers.” Preliminary controlled tests have been quite encouraging regarding their effectiveness, and Levine and Davis have been working with IUSB physics and biology students to assemble the ticklers at IUSB for ocean deployment with their collaborators. Thus far, the IUSB team has fabricated roughly 1,000 devices for field-based efficacy testing. They have already won external funding from NOAA to support this work, and they hope to expand the scope with new grant submissions underway.

Below is a picture of biology major Tori Hartl on-site for a field deployment of the shark ticklers in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, and a picture of Tori with physics major Seamus Cash by a large collection of the devices nearing final assembly. Other students involved in this work include physics majors Cosmo Cripe, Phillip Derrickson and Nicholas Good.