Kevin Yu
This project involves constructing an online database of metaphors in Akkadian, one of the main languages of ancient Mesopotamia. The work is part of my graduate student mentors thesis, which looks at distinctive literary features of Akkadian literature. We will both analyze the internal structure of these metaphors and their distribution within a corpus of cuneiform texts. The theoretical analysis of the metaphors will be based on George Lakoffs Conceptual Metaphor Theory, while the distributional analysis will use a data visualization program called Gephi. Our online database will be based […]
Kameswari “Kamu” Potharaju
While it is well-established that the social determinants of health play a monumental role in patients management of their health, there is more to be learned about how a deeper understanding of the social and physical environment can be applied to shape beneficial interventions. Learning how a patients neighborhood affects their ability to visit the doctor in their area or have access to a caregiver can inform the design of technological tools that address these pain points along a patients journey to access quality healthcare. This summer, I will be […]
Ruchika Singla
Embryos begin development using maternally-deposited RNA, but at a critical point in development, embryos begin to transcribe their own genomes. In Drosophila melanogaster, the maternally-deposited transcription factor Zelda is a key regulator of this transition. It binds to non-coding regulatory sequences known as enhancers to regulate the activity of early expressed genes. While the presence and actions of Zelda are known, details regarding its mode of enhancer activation and interactions with other proteins are still not well understood. My goal is to identify proteins that Zelda interacts with with the […]
Amy Zhang
The precise regulation of gene expression programs is fundamental for all cellular processes. The control of gene expression involving transcriptional activation and/or transcriptional repression is achieved by highly specific protein complexes. The aim of my work is to understand the mechanistic details of the yeast transcription repressor, the SIR complex, which is made up of three proteins: Sir2, Sir3, and Sir4. The SIR complex is critical for the epigenetic regulation of gene expression and the maintenance of chromosome stability. The comparative analysis of the different mechanisms of transcription repression processes […]
Teela Huff
My research involves the collection and analysis of linguistic data on the Central Je language Xavante, an Amazonian language of central Brazil. Like many Amazonian languages, Xavante is under-documented and undergoing major changes due to increasing contact with Brazilian government and society. It contains unique qualities that are of special interest to the research community, such as a lack of velar consonants (e.g. [g, k]) and the presence of glottal consonant clusters (e.g. [p]). Documentation of these characteristics is key to expanding the field’s understanding of what is possible within […]
Kaamya Talwar Sharma
My research will examine queer subjectivity in urban India, focusing on the role of virtual spaces in the development of queer identities. Through interviews and virtual participant observation, my project will use a sociological, post-constructivist, post-colonial approach to explore what the process of realization of ones non-heterosexuality feels like in urban India. Specifically, how do globalization and class, as well as the associated language, discourses, and interaction with queer spaces, affect the queer urban Indians experience of sexuality? Related questions include how and why online and offline discourses on lesbian, […]
Deisy Garcia
Jehovahs Witnesses, a small Christian religion, are discouraged from conducting outside research on their religious organization. JW.ORG, their online website, is their recommended source of information. Today, social media platforms are ubiquitous, and Jehovahs Witnesses are constantly exposed to apostate websites; Youtube, Reddit, and Facebook discuss the religious organization from a different perspective which may challenge a members beliefs. Thousands of Jehovahs Witness members exit the religious organization each year, losing their social ties during the process. Taken together, this raises the question: What role does exposure to social media […]
Takao Kakegawa
While hybridization has historically been thought to hinder evolutionary processes, the idea that it might sometimes drive evolution instead has been gaining momentum in recent years, even in modern-day humans. Hybridization can sometimes result in extreme traits not observed in the parental species that allows hybrids to occupy new environments or eat new things. My graduate student mentor and I will address questions about how hybridization has impacted a group of Caribbean pupfish that have specialized on weird diets, like fish scales.
Lucy Sandoe
My project will try to address the possible hazards associated with the Mendocino Triple Junction, where the Pacific, North American, and Gorda plates meet. This project will use Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and python programs to measure and model ground deformation in order to further understand the uplift that results from the intersection of the three tectonic plates. These deformation models are a novel approach to characterize whether faulting, aseismic deformation, or deeper mantle processes cause uplift in different parts of the region. From this characterization, this project aims to […]
Michelle Tampa Flores
This project asks, how can agriculture work for both people and in the environment? Through field, greenhouse, and lab work, this research explores how diversified farming practices influence soil health, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and wild bee communities. In the field, my graduate student mentor and I are working with small-scale farmers of color embedded in the monocultural landscape of Californias San Joaquin Valley and investigating how their farming practices influence soil and pollinator health. In the greenhouse, we are conducting greenhouse experiments to determine the mechanistic connection between […]