Elon University's 32nd annual SURF Day brought together the Elon campus community for more than 250 presentations on a variety of research topics.
Elon University students and faculty weren’t in the classroom on Tuesday, April 29, but learning and scholarship were still on full display for the 32nd annual Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).
Every year, Elon suspends all campus activities to highlight undergraduate research – one of the five Elon Experiences. Students present their work through both poster and oral presentations across campus.
“When I walk into the SURF poster session I am overwhelmed with the energy our students bring to the Elon Experiences,” said CJ Fleming, associate director of undergraduate research and associate professor of psychology. “Every year at SURF allows me to reflect on how much amazing work we have accomplished as researchers and renews my enthusiasm for mentoring our students’ incredible work.”
Some of the 268 presentations included research on the impact of tariffs, how a book cover impacts reader choice, a board game to help students adjust to college and using soft robotics to help with hand mobility.
Favorite day of the year
“(SURF) is my favorite day of the year. It’s my favorite holiday, I like it more than Christmas and my birthday,” said Fedora Pollay ’25, a marketing major from Asheville, North Carolina. “It’s my favorite day of the year because it’s a random Tuesday in the week where you can be with all the people you want to be with and see your friends’ cool accomplishments.”
Pollay’s parents own a restaurant, so her project was an effort to help them by examining how people react to different styles of restaurant menus, such as a QR code or printed menu, specifically when there is an error, like food delays.
Working with Assistant Professor of Marketing Smaraki Mohanty, Pollay developed an online survey that found people were more dissatisfied or angry when there is a QR style menu, versus a traditional menu and an error occurred.
Food was also on the mind for Amalie Keefe ‘25, Jacob Karty ‘26, Margaret Dion ‘26 and John Lagarde ‘26. The four engineering students developed a robotic hand to automate the picking and pruning of purple beans. According to their research, there are robotic hands developed for picking strawberries, but not beans.
“The biggest issue between them is, when identifying things on plants, you have to be able to determine if the fruit is ripe or not and that looks different in strawberries versus beans,” said Lagarde.
Their SURF research is part of a larger project by Jacob Karty, a Lumen Scholar, Elon Honors Fellow and recently named Goldwater Scholar.
“Robotics in farming is a growing field in robotics,” said Karty, who is also majoring in computer science. “It can provide a stable food source for people in remote areas, just for people in general. It’s a cost-effective crop production. Picking and pruning plans is also a labor-intensive, manual labor job that is also not that stable for people.”
The students worked alongside Jonathan Su, associate professor of engineering, who also mentored Cassidy Parrish ’26, an engineering major who redesigned a robotic hand to help her father with hand movement and pain.
“It’s a really cool experience and I like that Elon offers the opportunity to do research in this way. At some universities, you’re just tacking your name onto something a professor is doing, but this is really your research,” said Parrish.
“It’s a really cool experience and I like that Elon offers the opportunity to do research in this way. At some universities, you’re just tacking your name onto something a professor is doing, but this is really your research.”
-Cassidy Parrish ’26
Preparing for the future
This year’s SURF Day included 150 poster presentations, 116 oral presentations, and two performances in 29 sessions. There were also two interdisciplinary symposiums, “American Studies” and “Leadership and Leadership Education.”
“SURF is my favorite day of the year at Elon,” said Jen Hamel, associate director of undergraduate research and associate professor of biology. “SURF shows us the breadth and depth of what students and faculty are doing on our campus – it is a celebration of undergraduate research and creative activity across all disciplines. Learning about work in other disciplines is inspiring and exciting!”
Elon is well-known for its commitment to undergraduate research and teaching. In 2024, Elon ranked #1 in the nation for excellence in undergraduate teaching for a fourth consecutive year by peer universities.
Several graduating students in the School of Nursing and Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education focused their research on how to help their future colleagues and even their future selves.
“Right now, for my capstone, I’m on night shift (…) and I was really interested in how it affects the body, how it affects your patient care. How does it increase your medication efforts? Does it decrease patient interaction,” said Aaliyah Jackson ’25, a nursing student.
Jackson worked alongside classmates Murphy Fournier ’25 and Birana Friedman to see how working the night shift can impact nurses. Through a literature review, Jackson, Fournier and Friedman found that prolonged work hours and poor shift scheduling can lead to cognitive decline, reduce vigilance and safety risks.
“Recommendations for future practice would include encouraging naps on night shift or walking around on night shift, because oftentimes there’s not much movement on night shift,” said Friedman. “Also considering a rotating night shift schedule that would be similar to the circadian rhythm.”
Teaching Fellow Addis Simonik ’25 is also focusing on the future of her field. An elementary education major and dance minor, Simonik wanted to find a way to combine her passions and incorporate it into her future classroom.
“I’m currently a student teacher in a kindergarten classroom, and just noticing general observations of my students that have a lot of built up energy, they need to get it out somehow,” said Simonik. “So how can you get students back to that focus and enthusiasm for the learning when they have all this built-up energy?
Through interviews with teachers across the U.S., Simonik found that movement can help improve focus and attention on a topic, but some teachers found limitations as the movement caused emotional regulation challenges for some.
“All students need movement, but it might not be the exact same form,” said Simonik. “Overall, I found there are many benefits to having movement in the classroom, you just have to analyze your students and use trial and error to figure out what works and what doesn’t.”
Not only is SURF Day an example of exemplary undergraduate research, but it shows the power of mentorship between faculty and students at Elon.
“SURF is a day that is made possible by contributions from people all over the university,” said Hamel. “It is such a great example of everyone on our campus coming together to support, recognize and celebrate our students’ achievements.”