Annette Bennett
My study will test the direct effect of song exposure on circulating hormones that promote prosocial behavioral states. I will use an operant conditioning paradigm that allows birds to self-stimulate with auditory playbacks to uncover whether or not both females and males choose to listen to songs when housed in isolation. Observed changes to levels of estradiol, testosterone, and vasopressin will allow for the speculation on the role of song for social cohesion and the ethological relevance of song. Evidence of this would allow for the further study of social […]
Christie Bao
About 15% of reproductive-aged couples worldwide are affected by infertility and an even greater percentage of women experience abnormal uterine bleeding. Risk factors for abnormal female reproductive health include heavy smoking, hormonal disorders, age, obesity, and stress. While chronic or severe stress has been shown to have implications for human health and disease and past research has established harmful effects of stress on reproductive health, the exact mechanisms by which hormones of the stress response interact with neurons regulating the reproductive system are still unknown. This project will examine how […]
Penelope Martindale
Baseball occupies a unique space in American culture as a phenomenon rich in meaning for individuals and the nation alike. The game is a symbol of American virtue, grit, and skill, a game played by good, hard-working American men who know and love it, at least in popular imagination. Film is crucial to the maintenance of this myth; however, baseball films falter when it comes to those who are not men. There are no women in the major leagues, and yet, images of women who are curious and enthusiastic about […]
Andy (“Yuying”) Liu
Do you know that sleep deficits might be foreshadowing Parkinson’s Disease (PD)? In fact, PD-related sleep problems, such as insomnia, excessive daytime somnolence, and REM sleep behavior disorder can begin decades before the display of motor dysfunction. Previous studies have identified a subset of GABAergic neurons in medial substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) to be preferentially active in states of sleep and low motor activity, and they also promote sleep when activated. Based on a newly developed behavior categorization system, I will investigate whether the activities of these GABAergic neurons […]
Nicole Ling
Children turn to their parents for security, affection, and guidance. Parenting styles – ways parents interact with their children – directly impact children’s emotional welfare and their future decision-making, work, social interactions, and habits. Authoritative Parenting (AT) means setting limits in a nurturing way. Authoritarian Parenting (AR) means strictly reinforcing obedience. It is essential to assess the psychological factors that influence parenting style, for earlier identification and intervention of adverse child mental health outcomes associated with poor parenting. Parental depression increases the risk of maladaptive parenting styles, which in turn […]
Yueling Lisa Li
My project seeks to establish a trajectory of the material, technical and stylistic transformation of ceramics by comparing Chinese and Portuguese ceramics object produced in early modern period. Chinese porcelain has been a continuing source of fascination for global importers, and among the vast diversity of styles the most famous type is the blue and white porcelain, which comprises the majority of Chinese export cargoes to ports across Southeast Asia, Middle East and Europe. Influenced by the Chinese porcelains, European pottery studios assimilated the popular chinoiserie style and firing and […]
Arushi Lahiri
The evolutionary arms race between viruses and bacteria has set the stage for evolving research about CRISPR and other bacterial defense mechanisms and viral responses. Yet, little has been done to map viral subversion genes/proteins to specific bacterial defense systems. The purpose of my research will be to explore the relationship between novel bacterial defense systems and responsive phage subversion strategies immunity. More specifically, I will be extracting these defense systems before running phage assays across a variety of E. Coli phages to evaluate the susceptibility—and lack thereof—of each phage […]
Sanjana Kotha
While there has been a great amount of progress in understanding the genetic basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there remain patients who carry novel mutations and do not have definitive diagnoses. Common patient mutations in ASD are known to overlap many genes coding for transcription factors (TFs). TFs regulate gene expression, and consist of DNA-binding domains and activation domains. It is currently unknown where in TFs these mutations are enriched. TFs have only recently been tiled and screened for activation domain activity. Before this, while variants associated with ASD […]
Xiangwei Kong
My research will focus on Electronic-Photonic Cryogenic Transmission/Egress Links, which enable high-speed, low-power data transmission between a room-temperature computer processor and computing units operating at cryogenic temperatures. Despite significant progress made in recent years on the individual components that make up the Optic link, such as the electro-optic modulator, on-chip laser source, and millivolt amplifier, there has been a lack of focus on evaluating the tradeoffs between them and the overall architecture. Thus, my goal is to propose and evaluate cryogenic egress link architecture that guarantees stability, efficiency, and speed.
Matthew Kim
Recently in Japan and the US, there’s been a rise in the denial of atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army against victims of military sexual slavery, also known as “comfort women,” who are primarily Korean, Filipinx, and Chinese. In the US, this has been marked by events like a Harvard Law scholar writing that the enslavement was consensual labor, a lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court filed by a right-wing Japanese group against building a comfort women memorial and intimidation at events where comfort women have spoken. These events […]