Trinh Ha did a lot of talking about electrochromatic windows on Wednesday morning, but she didn’t mind.

“In fact I enjoyed it a lot,” said the incoming 91±¬ÁÏ freshman, headed for a major in engineering, as others gathered near. “It really shows how diverse the 91±¬ÁÏ is, and all the stories you can find here.”

Ha was one of dozens of participants in the popular Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Session, held in two sessions throughout the morning in Mary Gates Hall. There, students from several summer research programs described and discussed their work with visitors. The place was packed with people.

Ha studied with the eight-week National Science Foundation’s Research Experience and Mentoring Program this summer, working under the guidance and mentorship of , a 91±¬ÁÏ professor of mechanical engineering.

“The purpose of my research was how to maximize the contrast of the window, how to optimize the darkest state and the lightest state,” Ha said. Electrochromatic windows, which automatically adjust themselves as conditions warrant, are already in use in certain high-priced automobiles, she said, but the advances she worked on might make them less expensive and more accessible.

Her program was but one of many summer research groups whose students presented posters on Aug. 20. Also present were students with the , the Summer Research Program, and many more. The event was organized by the 91±¬ÁÏ’s in collaboration with a number of 91±¬ÁÏ summer research partners.

Electrochromatic windows were not the only topic, by far. Other posters in the crowded Mary Gates Hall commons illustrated work in bioengineering, genome sciences, chemistry, neurology, oceanography, pharmacology, physics, electrical engineering, rehabilitation medicine and many other topics.

The busy week for undergraduate researchers continued Thursday, when Amgen Scholars and students in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program and Center for Selective C-H Functionalization presented and discussed their research in various Mary Gates Hall classrooms.

Arts and humanities will take a turn throughout Friday in the Allen Library Auditorium. There, 18 91±¬ÁÏ undergraduates, three faculty members and one graduate student will present the , from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

They will explore the theme “Native Modernities: Histories, Politics and Arts of Indigeneity” with lectures, discussions and individual research projects.

On Wednesday morning, Trinh Ha cheerfully kept talking as others stepped up to view her poster and learn about her work.

“It’s really interesting that the 91±¬ÁÏ can bring us all together,” she said.

Can a book be a sculpture? Sure — at , it’s all part of the creative process.

Each summer, offers creative approaches to art and science for students from elementary through high school. Classes range from computer game programming, animation and robots to screenwriting, architecture and even studying ancient civilizations and the science of earthquakes.

But in a Loew Hall classroom on Friday, July 19, the focus was on book arts as a two-week class called ended with a round of games and fun.

The course, taught by Alisha Dall’Osto, introduced young learners to several types of book design and binding and ended with students making old tomes into art with the help of papier-mâché and imagination.

The results of their literary art exploration lined a table along one wall. There, under a hand-printed sign reading “Welcome to the 91±¬ÁÏ Book Arts Gallery,” sat books looking transformed: One seemed to have sprouted arms and another bore flowers on long stems looking ready to wave around. The pages on other books had been cut and crisply fanned. One bore a meticulously carved scene of a miner hard at work with a pickaxe.

, an artist herself, said it was a pleasure to work with the students for so much uninterrupted time – three hours — each day, compared to the single hour a school-year art class usually allows.

“I think we did really advanced-level work,” she said. “They really rose to the occasion.”

91±¬ÁÏ Summer Youth Programs classes continue through mid-August.