The 2024 Research in the Rotunda featured 16 Freshwater Collaborative-funded research projects. Students shared more about their experience.
Aiden Drew and Josh Pederson created a video about their work. Watch the video.
Below is a Q&A with Aiden Drew.
Student: Aiden Drew
University: UW-Stout
Major: Applied Mathematics and Computer Science
Expected graduation date: May 2025
Mentors: Ahmed Elmagrous, Saleh Alneali, Keith Wojciechowski
Summarize the research and your role.
My research is on smart farming and precision agriculture. My role is to develop new ideas and build prototypes of new technologies that would be useful for growers. One of these technologies is a weather box that is placed in the grower’s field, which captures real-time data and sends it back to the grower by a mobile app.
What skills did you learn?
I have learned important team-oriented skills like team communication and time effectiveness. I am able to be creative in the way I approach a problem. There are no wrong answers, just ideas.
What are some of the opportunities you’ve had because of this research?
I’ve been able to attend different research conferences. At these conferences, I’m not only able share my research, but I also receive good questions/feedback from outside perspectives.
What kind of career do you hope to go into after graduation?
I hope to go into data science/analysis, where I can use different mathematical methods to approach data visualization.
How will this experience help you attain your career goals?
I am able to work with large sums of data, where I can learn new ways to approach data analysis/visualization. Working with experts in the field, I am able to learn from the best in terms of how to tackle different scenarios with math.