Daphne Maskrey
This research project conducts rhetorical analysis of Title IX policy to investigate its limits in the pursuit of nondiscrimination. I ask: How does the language of Title IX contribute to the discourse surrounding sex-based discrimination, and what rhetorical limitations obfuscate Title IX’s declared pursuit of nondiscrimination? Based on my firsthand experience with Title IX, I hypothesize that Title IX enacts a discursive feedback loop wherein the language around sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination self-limits in the pursuit of nondiscrimination. My project hopes to point out the limitations of Title IX […]
Beatrice Mchugh
My thesis explores the aesthetic dialogue created by Nabokov in his usage and treatment of language. Through the apparent precision to which Nabokov’s language gestures, he in fact exposes the vagueness inherent in words. In doing so he facilitates the reader’s interrogation of the text as the creation of its author as well as their own subjectivity as reader, the consumer of its language. We must consider the connotative and denotative values of words; what each word has the potential to embody as well as what rifts it may expose […]
Kristie Moore
In 2010, brutal violence broke out in Southern Kyrgyzstan between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Preceded by decades of mistrust and conflict, this incident is one of the many manifestations of exclusionary nationality policies, discrimination, and interethnic tensions in the region that continue to plague the region today. Through interviews with young people and peacebuilding organizations in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan–specifically in the cities of Bishkek, Osh, and Tashkent, my research seeks to understand perspectives on multiculturalism, diversity, and interethnic relations. It will specifically consider how young people make sense of government […]
Fiona R. Murphy
While many have been taught that the middle ages were sexually non-existent, or at least avoidant, that could not be further from the truth. In the Early Irish Sagas (c. 8th – 12th centuries) stories of sex, infidelity and more are rampant. These stories, all of which were recorded by monastically trained scribes, are an incredible trove of information on the Early Irish opinions toward sexuality. Yet, as the field has opened in terms of gender studies, it still shies away from sex and even more so from the study […]
Luc Nguyen
Transistors are the building blocks of modern technology. Layering additional materials on top can greatly change the characteristics of these devices, but it can be a difficult process. What if, instead, a molecule layer could be deposited instead, and manipulated into a desired state? This is possible by placing molecules on top of graphene and applying voltages to control them. However, this process is time consuming, and simulations are a necessary preliminary step in order to gain insight into the behavior of molecules. Previous simulations have shown promising results, but […]
Afton Okwu
Comedy, particularly live comedy, is one of America’s oldest entertainment forms, with Blackness a primary target. On the minstrel stage, race was put on display, with the comedic register a powerful tool in shaping the zeitgeist’s understanding of Blackness and the American racial hierarchy. Gender politics, too, by way of the mammy caricature, was confronted through minstrel drag. By the latter half of the 20th century and into the modern day, Black comedians like Flipp Wilson, Tyler Perry, Dave Chappelle, and Jerrod Carmicheal have taken the spotlight with the weight […]
Erin Li
Acetaldehyde is a highly reactive carbonyl species (RCS) found in the human body as a result of partial alcohol metabolism (1). Increased acetaldehyde levels are often associated with pathologies such as alcoholic liver disease and Alzheimers (2). Despite its toxicity, tools for monitoring acetaldehyde in live specimen are underdeveloped, and current methods rely on the processing and destruction of the intact specimen. My project aims to develop a dye-based probe that utilizes chemical reactivity with acetaldehyde to convert a homoallylamine-functionalized dye platform into its aldehyde conjugate, resulting in a shift […]
Shuangyue Li
Embedded within the intricate tapestry of cardiovascular diseases lies the cornerstone of vascular health. Arteries are vital conduits responsible for delivering oxygenated blood away from the heart and to the body. It is known that Notch signaling is crucial for the mature development of vascular identity and network, and previous research on loss-of-function Notch receptors demonstrates impaired artery growth and remodeling. Previous research at the Wang lab has shown that pan-endothelial constitutive expression of Notch4 causes enlarged arteries, but it cannot exclude the role of hemodynamic perturbations. My summer project […]
Daven Lim
Genetic diversity has been widely associated with the adaptability and survival of populations, and extensive research has focused on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Despite also contributing substantially to genetic diversity, structural variation (SV) has been comparatively less studied. In particular, there has been little research that broadly surveys SV diversity and explores its relevance to conservation across the tree of life. This research aims to a) identify SVs that segregate within a single individual across diverse taxonomic groups, b) characterize the diversity, origin, and potential functional impact of SVs in […]
Matthew Liu
Understanding how and why proteins evolve is vital to grasping the fundamental biological processes governing everything from disease treatment to evolutionary biology. Classical sequence-based models of protein evolution make unrealistic assumptions ignoring behavior like coevolution of amino acids, which limits their explanatory power. Capturing such complex interactions requires a deep understanding of protein structure and how sites interact. To do this, my project introduces the first structure-based model of its kind for protein evolution, adapting models from protein design to contribute to a novel literature on deep models of protein […]