4 tuesday, april 12, 2011 News The Daily Tar Heel

Student channels power Pie a ButterfLy

of Wii console for therapy

by John Caison
staff writer
A game system most associate
with couch potatoes and killing
time could soon be the latest phys-
ical therapy tool on the market.
And it’s all courtesy of one
University student.
Stephanie Zolayvar, a junior
computer sci-
RESEARCH
ence major who
SPOTLIGHT presented her
work Monday at
the Celebration
of Undergraduate Research,
designed a program for the Wii
game system that recognizes spe-
cific movements.
dth/Robyn Ellison

D
The program, her faculty adviser
said, would make the daily rigor of aniele Dickerson, a member of Theta helps raise money for women’s secondary
physical therapy more enjoyable. Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, is pied education in Tanzania. S4Si will hold its 7th
“In physical therapy, kids are
asked to make movements that are as part of “Pie a Butterfly” in the Pit annual Auction for Education on Sunday at
difficult and painful,” said comput- on Monday to raise money for Students For 4 p.m. The silent auction will feature exotic,
er science professor Gary Bishop,
Zolayvar’s adviser.
Students International, an organization that internationally themed items.
“I thought it would be cool if we
could somehow reward these kids dth/Cameron Brown

Students show o≠ research

for making the movements.”
Those rewards might include
blowing up a zombie on a TV
screen or moving along a race-
track, he said.
“I presented a problem, and
Stephanie worked on coming up
with a solution,” he said.
Zolayvar worked with a Wii
remote, or Wiimote, programing
it to recognize 12 different move-
ments. She said her program ranges
in accuracy from 78 to 95 percent in
differentiating between intentional
gestures and random fidgets.
But it wasn’t as accurate in tell-
ing the difference between the spe-
cific gestures, a feature Zolayvar is
currently working to fine-tune.
“It would be awesome to actu-
ally replace the Wiimote with the
(XBox) Kinect or just a webcam so
the kid doesn’t have to hold onto
Junior Stephanie Zolayvar presents her research on gesture recognition
by using a Nintendo Wii to help children improve their motor skills.
the Wiimote,” she said, “and so you
have more absolute control over
what you see, whereas with the
Wiimote everything’s relative and
it’s really hard to get exact results.”
Zolayvar said while she ultimate-
ly wants to market her product,
she doesn’t expect to make a lot of
money initially given a low demand
for such products.
T he projec t is funded by
a stipend from Bishop and a
Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowship.
Zolayvar said her interest in
computer science was sparked by a
class she took in high school, as well
as by Bishop, whom she describes
as an enthusiastic adviser.
“What I love about computer
CUAB Comedy
PRESENTS
science is that you can make the
computer do whatever you want.
There’s not really any limits or rules
about what you can make it do.”
Bishop wasn’t the only one
impressed by Zolayvar’s potential.
“I think it’s a really good idea, and
it looks like she has some really good
preliminary results, so she needs to
keep working on it,” said Katarina
Haley, an allied health sciences
professor who attended the sympo-
sium.
“Her presentation is really prac-
tical. It was easy to get why she
did what she did immediately. She
strikes me as very knowledgeable.”
Contact the University Editor
at university@dailytarheel.com.
by Jeanna Smialek
Assistant University Editor
Junior Bethany Corbin finds
honor killings fascinating.
And at the Celebration of
Undergraduate Research on
Monday, she was able to share her
passion and hard-researched thesis
on the politics and minority rights
issues associated with honor killings
among Turkish Kurds and German
Muslims.
Corbin’s was one of 105 poster-
presentations that filled the Great
Hall of the Student Union. Another
35 students gave speeches on their
research projects during the event.
Pat Pukkila, director of the
Office of Undergraduate Research,
said the symposium was the largest
in the 12-year history of the event,
with a 17 percent participation
increase from last year.
“I’m sensing a lot of positive
energy in the room,” she said.
Pukilla said Alice Pilo, Allison
Howard, Alicia Mullis and Matt
Waters won a close vote for the best
“The thing is, there were no los-
ers,” she said, urging the rest of the
researchers to ask their depart-
ments to display their work.
Bobbi Owen, senior associate
dean of undergraduate education,
said undergraduate research has
been expanding at the University.
“Look at this room,” Owen
s a i d , ge s t u r i n g a r o u n d t h e
Union’s poster-filled Great Hall.
She said the projects used to be
shown in the Johnston Center for
Undergraduate Excellence, but the
event has outgrown that venue.
“It’s not going to be long before
they’re on the floor of the Smith
Center.”
Junior Denise Mitchell, who
helped at the event, said the exhi-
bition’s primary purpose was to
interest students in researching.
“The big stigma about research
is, ‘It’s not fun,’” Mitchell said.
But she said her own experience
researching discrimination — and
the projects at the fair — disprove
that perception.
undergraduate research offers the
University opportunities for col-
laboration.
“It’s beneficial to both faculty
and students,” he said.
Owen said researchers move
past the high school mentality of
reading and regurgitating infor-
mation and engage in academics.
“It’s a place to be original and cre-
ative — entrepreneurial,” she said.
O w e n s a i d t h e O ffi c e o f
Undergraduate Research has taken
and will continue to take funding
cuts in the face of systemwide bud-
get reductions.
But she said faculty commitment
has contributed to undergraduate
research’s continued growth.
“We’ve planted this one deep,”
she said. “It’s got really deep roots.”
Owen and Pukkila said outside
grants — coming from groups
like the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute and the Atlantic Coast
Conference — have helped the
office flourish.

Lewis Black posters, which will be displayed in

the Undergraduate Library.
Bruce Carney, executive vice
chancellor and provost, said
Contact the University Editor
at university@dailytarheel.com.

& Friends
Featuring Eugene Mirman, Colin Jost
and Host Bryan Tucker

Friday, April 15
& Saturday, April 16
8pm, Memorial Hall

$15 UNC Students, $30 General Public

On sale now at memorialhall.unc.edu
More information available at unc.edu/cuab

The UNC Sustainability Office presents

Local Food
Talk & Taste
with Joel Salatin
5:00 PM on Wednesday, April 13th
Hanes Art Center Auditorium
Limited Seating, RSVP Requested

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