Xiamara Martinez Peredia
This project will focus on transition-age youth (TAY) in the foster care system. TAY are among the most vulnerable young adults in our society and are at increased risk for various negative outcomes including homelessness and low educational attainment. Although the child welfare system is concerned with improving their outcomes, it has not considered how their histories of maltreatment and foster care may impact their self-love and their subsequent relationships with adults. This project will employ a mixed-methods approach and aims to: 1. Examine the impact of maltreatment and foster […]
Mason Haberle
Numerical linear algebra underlies much of the modern world. It is essential to a wide variety of situations, and, as such, it is of great interest to analyze and optimize the underlying algorithms. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in optimizing algorithms to reduce communication, which is frequently many orders of magnitude slower than performing calculations. The Hlder-Brascamp-Lieb inequality and the Red-Blue Pebbling Game are two powerful approaches to theoretical analysis of communication, and both are used to derive communication optimal lower bounds. Once these bounds have […]
Skylar Clark
My research project will probe how the relationship between the protagonist and their society as illustrated within the 19th century realist novel functions as a reflective allegory for idealized national identity. I posit that the consolidation of recognizable cultural markers ,including language idiosyncrasies, geographic landmarks, and social traditions, connects character and setting in a unique way which sheds light on the idea of a singular national persona in literature; further, literary realism inevitably embodies a sense of cultural consolidation through the construction of a limited fictional setting, so as to […]
Sophia Brown-Heidenreich
Among U.S. foreign policy historians, the Spanish-American War of 1898 marks a commonly accepted turning point for the course of U.S. expansion and the countrys status as a great power in the European-led international system. Newer scholarship, however, has reevaluated the wars centrality for American imperial ascendance, and this project seeks to contribute to these efforts by scrutinizing an earlier moment in American history. Through an analysis of a conflict which brought the Cleveland administration to the brink of war with Bismarcks Germany, I intend to examine the intellectual influences […]
Gabby Collins
Lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and queer (LBPQ) women are in a unique position as members of two subordinated groupswomen and sexual minorities. However, common understandings of prejudice and bias may be failing to capture the unique experiences that stem from the intersection of these two groups. Specifically, peoples understanding of homophobia focuses on the struggles of gay men and overt legal forms of bias; and peoples understanding of sexism centralizes the experiences of cisgender, heterosexual women, despite evidence to suggest that LBPQ women face more severe forms of objectification and harassment. […]
Daniela Muoz Lopez
Previous research has identified reinforcement learning (RL) as a cognitive process that uses rewards to help us learn which actions will yield better results over time. This process is influenced by decision making which allows us to maximize our rewards and minimize our punishments. The neural aspects of RL are well studied and can be linked to various brain regions such as the prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex. Currently, it is unknown whether RL is impacted by impulsivity. Impulsivity plays a major role in the understanding of personality traits and refers […]
Danny Cohen
More so than in other developed countries, United States adults are unprepared for retirement. Stagnating wages and the gradual death of defined benefit pensions in the private sector are largely responsible, as private employees are unlikely to have a guaranteed income stream in retirement beyond Social Security. These employees, however, often have access to defined contribution pensions (like 401(k)s) that allow them to contribute their own earnings to tax-advantaged accounts that can be accessed in retirement. In my study, I analyze the impact of state legislation on private employees decisions […]
Megan Sousa
Research on bacterial antibiotic resistance evolution has primarily been carried out in liquid culture; however, many infections are in the form of biofilms. Biofilms are composed of bacteria embedded in a complex matrix that protects pathogenic bacteria making them highly virulent, much more difficult to treat in patients, and an important focus of medical research. One interesting characteristic of biofilm growth is that genetically-identical cells can differentiate into multiple cell types, such as motile cells, which can swim within the biofilm. It is unclear how much these swimming cells can […]
Jasper Murphy
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that is present in 84% of dairy and 38% of beef cattle in the USA [Buehring]. Even more threatening is the discovery that humans are also infected with BLV and the frequency of BLV DNA in mammary epithelium from women with breast cancer (59%) was significantly higher than in normal controls (29%) [Buehring]. This association of BLV with breast cancer motivates research toward generating a treatment. In my research project, I will attempt to knock out the essential tax region of the BLV […]
James Pierce
The geological core of North America, known as Laurentia, is a product of a collision that occurred some 1.85 billion years ago. The Superior Craton of eastern Canada collided with the Hearne and Wyoming Cratons to the west, creating the Trans-Hudson Orogenic Belt and the foundation for Earths putative first supercontinent, Nuna. As igneous rocks form, they record the direction and magnitude of Earths magnetic field as remanent magnetism. Ferromagnetic minerals, such as magnetite, align their magnetization in the direction of the prevailing magnetic field. After collecting samples that date […]