IME Students Explore Emerging Challenges Through Summer Research
Seven 2025 SURP projects gave students opportunities to investigate questions in technology, manufacturing and health care
From artificial intelligence and 3D printing to health care and facility planning, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering students spent summer 2025 investigating problems with implications well beyond the classroom.
Through Cal Poly’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program, or SURP, students worked alongside faculty mentors on seven research projects involving IME students, gaining experience with the questions, methods and uncertainty that come with conducting research.
Two projects explored the rapidly changing role of artificial intelligence. Industrial engineering student Alan Sebastian worked with professor Puneet Agarwal to evaluate how accurately large language models can identify misinformation. The research examined several AI systems and explored an approach that draws on responses from multiple models rather than relying on a single system to assess whether information is misleading.
In another project, industrial engineering student Keziah Gopalla worked with professor Duha Ali to compare the user experience of ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Google Gemini. The research combined usability testing with measures of users’ EEG responses to better understand how people interact with different conversational AI tools.
Industrial engineering student Harrison Blake and mechanical engineering student Maddie Howard turned their attention to additive manufacturing with professor Aditya Chivate. Their project investigated whether sounds and vibrations produced during fused deposition modeling 3D printing could be used to identify defects and monitor part quality. The approach could provide a lower-cost alternative to relying solely on visual inspection or evaluating parts after printing is complete.
Industrial engineering student Daniel Hopkins worked with professor Zhiyuan Wei on research examining how people’s travel patterns can be incorporated into facility location decisions. Traditional models often assume people will use the nearest facility. The project explored ways to account more fully for how people actually move and make choices, with potential applications to decisions about where essential services should be located.
Health care applications were the focus of several other projects.
Industrial engineering student Phoebe Eplett and biomedical engineering student Jessica Hu worked with Professor Xuan Wang on a multi-material 3D printing system designed to produce more realistic models for surgical planning and practice. Because the human body contains tissues with different physical properties, the project sought to move beyond models made from a single material by modifying existing 3D-printing technology.
Wang also mentored industrial engineering students Jaylan Mo and Zack Neddo on the design of an FDA-compliant 3D-printing lab for health care innovation. Their research examined regulatory requirements, facility layout and manufacturing workflows needed to support the development of medical-grade prototypes within a university setting.
A seventh project focused on the information radiologists use to evaluate their performance. Industrial engineering student Trevor Knotts and physics student Jemma Simpson worked with professor Jill Speece on the design of a performance dashboard that could highlight the metrics most meaningful to individual radiologists. The research examined how those measures could be identified and translated into a tailored tool to support continuous improvement.
Together, the projects reflect the range of IME research, from understanding emerging technologies to improving manufacturing processes and health care systems.
2026 SURP+ Symposium Coming Up
This year’s student researchers will share work completed during summer 2026 at Cal Poly’s annual SURP+ Research Poster Symposium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, at Engineering Plaza. The event gives the campus community an opportunity to meet student researchers and learn about projects conducted across Cal Poly’s summer research programs.
Support applied research opportunities for Cal Poly students by giving to the Summer Undergraduate Research Program Fund, which helps students work alongside faculty researchers and put classroom knowledge into practice.