INDIANA, Pa. \u2013 Isabella Johnson of New Bethlehem, a junior languages and systems major in Indiana University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Cook Honors College, was selected to participate in IUP\u2019s 2026 Undergraduate Summer Opportunities for Applying Research (U-SOAR) program.<\/p>\n
U-SOAR is a 10-week summer program that offers selected undergraduate students, working with a faculty mentor, to engage in original, inquiry-based research, scholarship, or creative endeavors. Students also have the opportunity to attend professional development workshops and complete a number of enrichment programs related to research and career success.<\/p>\n
The program is open to students in all disciplines who are academically qualified, but students are chosen through a competitive application process. IUP\u2019s U-SOAR program is one of only a few summer university-wide research programs with participants from across all colleges and majors.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s project is \u201cField and Value Extraction from Heterogeneous Paperwork Using a Large Language Model.\u201d Her faculty mentor is Dr. Samuel Grieggs from the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences.<\/p>\n
Her project explores the use of a large language model (LLM) to identify and extract key fields and corresponding values from documents of diverse formats, including forms, scans, and semi-structured text. This approach reduces the need for format-specific extraction rules and offers a flexible alternative for automating document processing workflows.<\/p>\n
Johnson has been working with Dr. Grieggs on the project for the past semester and presented her work at the IUP Women in STEM Summit and the Scholars Forum.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy research is designed to reduce data entry, making it easier for small to large businesses to handle various types of ever-changing paperwork without requiring a full software overhaul or changing templates for every small change in company formats,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt will also be a tremendous tool for businesses still trying to switch from filing cabinets of documents to digital systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe record-breaking 2026 U-SOAR cohort demonstrates that undergraduate research is thriving at IUP,\u201d Associate Vice Provost for Libraries and Research Support Services Dr. Kelly Heider said. \u201cWith 52 students representing disciplines across the university, this year\u2019s program showcases the remarkable curiosity, talent, and dedication of our students. Their work, guided by outstanding faculty mentors, is preparing the next generation of researchers, professionals, and leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson, daughter of Kevin and Shannon Johnson, is a 2021 graduate of Christ Dominion Academy. She is a dean\u2019s list student and is a member of the IUP Competitive Programming Team.<\/p>\n
In addition to their individual research projects, students in the U-SOAR program attend presentations and seminars, including \u201cLibrary Research and Literature Reviews,\u201d \u201cThinking about the Research Design Process: Logic and Alignment,\u201d \u201cIntroduction to STEAMSHOP,\u201d and workshops on poster presentations and public speaking. Students also participated in a research panel discussion with students and faculty mentors who completed U-SOAR projects during previous summers.<\/p>\n
The culminating event for U-SOAR was the Research Symposium on Aug. 19 from 10 a.m. to noon in IUP\u2019s Sutton Blue Room when students presented their research through a poster session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANA, Pa. \u2013 Isabella Johnson of New Bethlehem, a junior languages and systems major in Indiana University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,227,65452,113311,1164],"class_list":["post-268826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-education","tag-indiana-university-of-pennsylvania","tag-large-language-model","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}