UMTC Undergraduate Research Presentations and Papers (UROP)

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This collection contains posters, scholarly papers, and other presentations prepared by undergraduate researchers, including presentations made at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, the McNair Scholars Symposium, and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Additional undergraduate work can be found in the Homecoming Student Scholar and Public Engagement Showcase

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 1992

Community design/building in Japan & China: From Participatory Design to Co-design
(2024-05-13) Liu, Xiaotong
Community design is always a crucial component of architecture design. And a crucial factor that should be taken into account in the community design process is resident involvement. Today, "co-design" is growing in popularity. "Co-design" refers to the inclusion of locals in the designing and building process of the project. Architects should engage community members and get feedback from them continuously. In Japanese community residents are highly motivated to participate in the planning and construction process. The community's participation in design and construction has a lengthy development history, beginning with rehabilitation projects that happened as a result of the periodic earthquakes and tsunami (Jiang, 2023). This essay documents six Japanese community design cases, analyzing their histories, current status, benefits, and involved parties. A matrix examines the various participant kinds, behaviors, and levels of participation. Inferences are drawn about how to move the current participatory design process to the co-design stage, and with a Chinese case as an example, how to apply Japanese participatory design techniques to Chinese community design.
Characterizing perception of transcutaneous electrical stimulation on the external ear via psychometric functions
(2024) Haider, Azaan
Tinnitus is a condition where one has the perception of a sound, such as ringing or hissing, despite the absence of an external auditory stimulus.1 Tinnitus affects around 740 million people worldwide.2 For some, this perceived sound can be irritating, decreasing their quality of life. Despite this, few effective treatments exist for tinnitus, launching research into developing new techniques.3 Two new and promising treatment strategies are transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and bimodal stimulation. Both have been shown to be effective, portable, and noninvasive.4,5 Both treatment options make use of paired electrical stimulation (e-stim) and sounds to induce therapeutic neuromodulation that alleviates tinnitus symptoms. A key element of e-stim is the intensity–the amount of stimulation delivered (referred to as e-stim level here). While there is a growing body of work on taVNS and bimodal stimulation, there remains no consensus on the optimal e-stim level for tinnitus treatment. In this project, we aimed to understand the variability of the perceptual threshold of e-stim in tinnitus participants.
Marriage & Migration: Examining the Role of Legal Actors in Constructing Narratives
(2024) Makori, Eunice; Horner, Kimberly; Bethke, Isabel
Shifting away from institutional approaches to examining the roles of legal actors or immigration law and policy, this research takes a special focus on how narratives are constructed and employed within marriage and migration. In that, this literature review takes a particular focus to how law functions as a form of narrative within examining the use narrative strategies by legal actors in meditating marriage and migration
Race in Brazilian Political Campaigns
(2024-05) Rodriguez Yado, Marina
The Significance of Ancient Mitochondrial DNA in Establishing Genetic Ancestry
(2024-05) Lindahl, Laena E.
Within this study, the mitochondrial genomes of ancient Homo sapiens were analyzed to mark ancestral connections among the ancient people of the Caribbean and Puerto Rico; samples examined were found across Southern and Central America. Literature references house large amounts of genomic data which can be compared to each other. These papers show that mitochondrial DNA can help make connections between groups through maternal haplogroup identification. This project not only compiled and organized this data but gave insight to how mitochondrial DNA can be used to find genetic links among a group of ancient people which can later be compared to modern.
Human Facial Perception of Primates Through ERP Measurement, 2024, Poster
(2024-05) West, Abigail E
Several studies, some using electrophysiological methods, have examined the capacity of humans to perceive primate faces. Through subsequent data, humans are confirmed to be far more adept at recognizing human faces, and less skilled at recognizing non-human primate faces. However, comparative perceptual research utilizing non-human primate species as stimuli is limited. In this study, I utilized EEG technology to compare the amplitude and latency of the P1 and N170 components in adults when exposed to chimp, macaque, and human faces. I determined that chimpanzee faces result in a significantly higher P1 amplitude, as well as a faster N170 latency. Human faces, meanwhile, showed a significantly higher N170 amplitude. Macaque faces demonstrated a faster P1 latency. These findings support non-evolutionary mechanisms for facial processing. In addition, the results from the chimpanzee face trials align with previous literature regarding human perception of threatening faces. Overall, through the measurement of the P1 and N170 components, more insight could be gained in regards to human perception of different primate species.
Applying Antiracist Research Principles in Psychology: A Case Study of The CARPE DIEM Project
(2024-04) Sabia, Monir; Boles, Mallory; McIntyre, Kleara; Berg, Kalina; Lundeen, Ellen; Arnold, Jax
Historically, developmental psychology research has primarily studied White families through a color- and power-evasive lens and has applied deficit models to other ethnic-racial groups. To rectify inequities in the field and apply research that will promote racial justice, many individual researchers and the American Psychological Association (2019) have proposed antiracist guidelines to best guide researchers, support minority populations, and inform policy. For this poster, we extracted 38 antiracist research recommendations from six published articles, clustering them into four overarching principles, including 1) Supporting and amplifying BIPOC researchers and leadership, 2) Commitment to ethical translational and community-based participatory research, 3) Acknowledgement of researchers’ positionality and racial/ethnic bias within the project and commitment to ongoing learning, and 4) Explicit exploration of participants’ ethnic-racial identities, resilience, and systems of oppression. To illustrate these principles in action, we describe methods and team members’ reflections from The CARPE DIEM (Courageous, Antiracist, and Reflective Parenting Efforts: Deepening Intentionality with Each Moment) Study, a three-year, longitudinal, mixed-methods study evaluating an antiracist parenting intervention for White mothers and their young children. Implementing these principles encourages antiracist practices and equitable research that uplifts marginalized families and communities, and promotes a diverse, collaborative lab culture.
Public Perceptions Of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization
(2024) Reeves, Mya L; Borgida, Eugene; Schumacher, Lucas
This 2-wave panel study examines the relationship between Separate Spheres Ideology (hereafter, SSI), abortion attitudes, and attitudes toward reproductive health policies. Prior research on gender ideology has focused on prescriptive and descriptive stereotypes, but this study aims to test the validity of SSI as a measure of gender ideology in the context of abortion attitudes. It was generally expected that those respondents who endorse SSI, who are theoretically committed to preserving the gendered-status quo in society, will be more likely to endorse the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization (hereafter, Dobbs) and related policy attitudes when the Dobbs decision is depicted as a threat to the gendered status quo. The surveys were administered through Prolific, an online research panel. The analytic focus was to test the interaction between SSI at Time 1 and the experimental factors presented at Time 2. Wave 1 included baseline measures, such as SSI, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, political ideology, and political party, which served as control variables in the data analysis. In Wave 2, participants were randomly assigned to either the control condition or one of two experimental conditions (Positive Impact or Negative Impact). Survey questions in Wave 2 measured various dependent variables, including attitudes toward abortion. The interactions between AAI and both treatment paragraphs had positive associations with emotion scores.
Pilot Study, Adapting a Social Skills Program for Autistic Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
(2023) Lee, Jiyeon
This pilot study evaluates the effectiveness of a tailored therapeutic intervention, the PEERS® program, for autistic adolescents with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Traditional social skills programs often exclude those with IDD, underscoring the necessity for specialized adaptations. This research focuses on adapting the PEERS® program to meet the unique needs of this population, emphasizing enhancing social skills and improving quality of life. Utilizing a collaborative approach with the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and the Speak Right Now team, the study integrates comprehensive literature reviews, preliminary interviews with potential participants and their caregivers, and detailed feedback mechanisms to refine the intervention. Preliminary findings suggest that tailored interventions may significantly improve social skills acquisition among autistic adolescents with IDD. The ongoing study aims to validate these findings through further community-informed adjustments and empirical testing, contributing to more inclusive and effective social skills training programs.
Understanding the Varying Levels of Effectiveness in Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: A Comparative Analysis of Truth Commissions
(2024) Manushri Ivaturi
Recognizing gender-based violence in truth commissions plays a significant role in confronting the injustices of the past. This research explores the puzzle of why some truth commissions more effectively address conflict-related sexual violence than others. The research draws insights by comparing the cases of Colombia and Sierra Leone, where strides have been made in ensuring the documentation of women’s experiences, and contrasting them with less successful examples from Guatemala and South Africa.
Green Ash 2001 Flood Event at Mississippi River Floodplain
(2024-04) Danz, Jeremy; Trumper, Matthew; Crawford, Daniel
With the help of Professor Daniel Griffin, throughout the semester, I have been working with Green Ash tree samples. My goal has been to examine and identify whether or not a flood in the Mississippi River floodplain in southern Minnesota in early 2001 shows a significant difference in the early wood vessel size leading to significantly smaller annual rings in that year. To get the early wood vessel size, for each sample, the images were retrieved using a high powered robotic GigaMacro camera where many images were taken and then stitched together. Once a final composite image had been created, it was uploaded to DendroElevator where it was measured for the five years preceding the 2001 flood event and the five years following the event using a tool in DendroElevator which is a database of tree core samples to gain a larger picture of how the flood affected the area.
NAMPT as a Potential Biomarker for Daporinad Treatment: Analyzing Protein Expression in Gene-Modified Prostate Cancer Cell Lines
(2024-04) Lee, Lauren; Lee, Adam; Zhang, Weijie; Huang, Yingbo; Huang, R. Stephanie
Gender in Brazilian Political Campaigns
(2024-04) Duarte Possebon, Daphine
Since 1989, when Lula Inácio da Silva ran for presidency for the first time, Brazilian politics became more polarized. The main competition has been between Lula's left party, know as the Workers Party (Partido Trabalhista, PT) and his opponents. Among his biggest competitors, Jair Bolsonaro from the Liberal Party stands out as a known figure from the right side of polarization.
The Role of Social Media and Mindfulness in Adolescents’ Divided Attention
(2024-04-30) Haig, Michaela; Martin, Timothy; Zelazo, Philip
In this study, we examine the potential effects of a short mindfulness intervention on divided attention in adolescents. Recently, social media has been demanding increasing amounts of divided attention among its users. Understanding how to mediate these impacts is vital to helping today’s adolescents successfully retain attentive capabilities. We recruited middle and high school students at a local charter school to participate. Students were given a 5-minute open monitoring, focused attention, or control listening exercise. Then, we administered a measure of divided attention created for this study. In this, participants watched a 2-minute dual-stream video and were instructed to either pay attention to the video on the left only (and not get distracted by the other video) or to watch both videos simultaneously (divide their attention). Then, participants answered a series of questions about both videos to measure their information retention. We found no significant effects of mindfulness on divided attention, nor support for the efficacy of the divided attention measure. Future directions are discussed.
Characterizing the Effects of Composition on Lung Surfactant Monolayer Collapse through Fluorescence Imaging
(2024-04) Kelpsas, Josephine, K; McAllister, Zachary; Zasadzinski, Joseph, A
Reduced Layer 4 Neurogenesis of the Primary Somatosensory and Primary Visual Cortex in Mice with Sall1 deficient microglia
(2024-04) Jaruseviciute, Ema; Nakagawa, Yasushi
Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS) that emigrate into the brain until the formation of the blood-brain barrier, where they undergo final maturation and differentiation. Microglia are known to be involved in formation and maintenance of neuronal circuits, repair after injury, and neurogenesis. However, not much is known about the mechanisms of early microglia development and their effects on early neural cell development. Through gene expression profiling, the spalt-like transcription factor 1 (Sall1) gene has been identified as a signature microglial gene, as other members of the mononuclear phagocyte family do not express it. Our lab recently found that Sall1 is essential for normal morphological and molecular maturation of developing microglia. Thus, Sall1 conditional knockout (cKO) mice can be used to test the requirement of normal microglia development in neural cell development. Using these mice, we are analyzing neurogenesis in the neocortex and synaptic pruning in the visual system. In postnatal (P8) Primary Somatosensory (S1) and Primary Visual (V1) cortex, we found that there is a significant reduction in the neurogenesis of layer 4 (L4) neurons (S1: p=0.007, n=11; V1: p=0.034, n=9). This suggests that normal microglial development is required for normal neuron development. To investigate the cellular mechanism for such a role in microglia, we are analyzing brains in which the neurons are birth-dated by 5-Ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) at E14.5. In addition, we plan on analyzing different developmental stages, like P1, to learn whether the impeded development mechanisms are embryonic or postnatal. Lastly, we are analyzing early postnatal visual thalamus, where retinogeniculate axons from the two eyes are segregated in an activity- and microglia-dependent manner, using Cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) injection.
Wood Adhesive from Lignin Biomass: Effects of Crosslinker and Nano-Reinforcement
(2024-04-29) Wist, Kyle; Tze, William Tai Yin
Lignin accounts for about 30% of the dry mass of wood and provides rigidity and stability to woody plants. In pulping operations, lignin is removed to liberate the paper making fiber. Lignosulfonate is a byproduct of sulfite pulping. An estimated one million tons of lignosulfonate is produced annually. This byproduct is easily recoverable but underutilized. Due to the function of lignin as a natural binder of adjacent cells, lignin biomass has been investigated for wood adhesives. This study aims to improve the competitiveness of lignosulfonate-based adhesives by incorporating bio-based additives. The specific objective is to examine the effects of citric acid as a crosslinker and cellulose nanofiber as reinforcement. To achieve the research objective, adhesives were prepared in various mass ratios of lignosulfonate, citric acid, and cellulose nanofiber. The adhesives were applied to wood surfaces and hot pressed to form single lap joints. Lap joint specimens were pulled apart to test for the shear bond strength of the adhesives. Results showed that the addition of citric acid increased the shear bond strength by 29% and the addition of cellulose nanofiber increased the shear bond strength by 27%. In wet conditions, lignosulfonate and citric acid did not perform nearly as well as phenol formaldehyde, but by incorporating 25% phenol formaldehyde to lignosulfonate and citric acid made the adhesive directly comparable to neat phenol formaldehyde. This suggests potential for lignosulfonate to significantly add bio-based content and reduce the non-renewable carbon in petroleum-based wood adhesives.
Race in Brazilian Political Campaigns
(2024-04) Cabrelli Rusconi, Isabella
Using Robots to Retrieve Water Quality Metrics on the Lakes of Minnesota: A Proof of Concept
(2024-04-26) Anye, Nathan, A
The Role of Environmental Factors in Formation of Hyphal Aggregation in Fomitopsis betulina
(2024-04-28) Anglin, Sarah, A
Fomitosis betulina is a brown rot fungus used in laboratory research. The species has a unique mycelial morphology in solid state culture, forming raised hyphal aggregations. To determine the impact of environmental factors, F. betulina was grown in extreme environmental conditions, including High Light, High Temperature, and High CO2 concentration. Hyphal aggregation counts were compared, and found to be significantly different in some but not all of the treatments. This suggests that environmental factors play a role in the formation of hyphal aggregations.