Undergraduate Honors Students

Session 1

Ryan Anderson, "Using First Row Transition Metal Complexes to Produce Hydrogen in an Artificial Photosynthesis System" 

Advisor: Dr. William McNamara 

Chemistry

Not only is burning fossil fuels thought to be a major contributor to climate change, but there is also a finite amount. Therefore, renewable alternatives are needed to meet our future energy needs. Hydrogen gas is one such fuel source that produces only water when burned, making it a clean alternative. However, most hydrogen gas is currently produced by refining fossil fuels, diminishing its environmental advantages. My efforts have been toward developing inexpensive novel catalysts to produce hydrogen in an artificial photosynthesis system. More specifically, I have designed new ligands to coordinate with earth-abundant metals, resulting in active catalysts for hydrogen generation. Comparing the activity of these new complexes with existing benchmarks will inform future ligand design.

Ryan Anderson is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Chemistry at William & Mary. His research interests include inorganic catalysis and synthesis. He is currently exploring first-row transition metal catalysts for hydrogen production in an artificial photosynthesis system.

Brooke Braden, "Sing of Arms and Man: Literary Parallels in Vergil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost"

Advisor: Dr. Vassiliki Panoussi

Classical Studies

This project examines the extent to which Vergil’s Aeneid influences the characters, themes, and epic style of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Focusing mainly on the Carthage episode in Book 4 of the Aeneid in which Aeneas meets and falls in love with queen Dido, Brooke argues that the figures of Dido’s late husband Sychaeus, Dido, and Aeneas parallel those of Milton’s Adam, Eve, and Satan, respectively. Brooke also analyses how the appearance of epic themes such as fate and glory in both texts affects the characters’ personal motivations in similar ways, such as Dido’s suicide and Eve eating the infamous apple. Through an exploration of  the ways in which Virgil’s characters inform those of Milton, Brooke presents a more comprehensive understanding of both texts as literary paradigms of their respective eras, showing how the authors use epic as a medium through which to communicate their own particular agendas. In addition, by challenging the rather reductive view of Aeneas as merely the ‘pious hero’ and of Satan as the ‘fallen angel,’ this research invites a re-evaluation of established conceptions of epic heroism by probing the reception of the Aeneid in a 17th-century Christian Britain. Thus, this project aims to help bring a renewed awareness of the importance of reception studies, which is an emerging area of scholarly interest in the broader discipline of classics.

Brooke Braden is a fourth year B.A. candidate in Classical Studies in William & Mary’s Joint Degree Program with St Andrews. Her research interests include Latin epic poetry, early Christian texts, and classical reception studies. Her thesis explores the ways in which Milton, in his work Paradise Lost, draws on Vergil’s Aeneid in his characterization of figures such as Satan. 

Preston Budd, "On Conditional Reasons"

Advisor: Dr. Chris Tucker 

Philosophy

There are scenarios in which you are justified in performing one option A over another option B. Suppose that, in the same scenario, you were given a third alternative C, but you refuse to perform this option. You may think that you are still justified in performing A over B, but, in some scenarios, this is actually not the case. How does the addition of an unchosen alternative affect the pairwise comparison between two, unrelated options? In this paper, give a solution to this puzzle and, in the process, I defend the existence of a new kind of reason: the conditional reason. This, I argue, has implications for debates about conditional obligations and decision-theory.

Preston Budd is a Senior Philosophy major at W&M. He is especially interested in questions concerning Ethics and Practical Rationality, and his current research relates to conditional moral guidance: the guidance that morality gives us in the case that we ignore its original demands.

Duncan Campbell, "Sizing and Spearing: Quantifying Life History in Hawaiian Reef Fish via Histology"

Advisor: Dr. Drew LaMar

Biology

We conducted a histological analysis of two species of Parupeneus goatfishes, P. insularis and P. cyclostomus, from the island of Oahu in Hawai’i. The histological analysis was used to more accurately determine the fishes’ size at maturity and the seasonality of their reproduction. Gonad tissue samples collected between 2020 to 2022 were analyzed and compared to macroscopic measurements and microscopic images taken during the sampling process. These results were used to estimate the L50, the length at which 50% of the individuals are sexually mature. Bayesian regression analysis was used to estimate L50 from macroscopic measurements. Microscopic inspection with fresh gonads was found to be an accurate low cost alternative to histological analysis. Female P. insularis were found to reach 50% maturity at 106 mm, while female P. cyclostomus were found to reach 50% maturity at 245mm. P. cyclostomus has a reproductive seasonality of May - June, while P. insularis peaks between March - August. This represents the first documentation of L50 and reproductive seasonality for these species in Oahu.

Duncan Campbell is a senior in the Biology Department at William & Mary. His research focuses on life history and reproductive development in small reef fish. His Honors thesis focuses on two species of goatfish in the reefs around Oahu, and is the first study to examine their life history study using histology.

Isabella DiFulvio, "Asian American Community Building at W&M: A Digital Timeline into the Stories of Asian American Student Leaders, 1984-2021"

Advisor: Dr. Francis Tanglao-Aguas

Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies

Asian American student organizations are an integral part of William & Mary’s campus culture. While Asian American students only make up 7% of the school’s population, there are currently six registered Asian American multicultural organizations--the Vietnamese Student Association, Chinese Student Organization, Filipino American Student Association, Korean American Student Association, South Asian Student Association, Japanese Cultural Association---and one activism based organization--the Asian American Student Initiative. This project further historicizes the stories and the people behind the creation of these organizations by uncovering the attitudes and motivations of their founders. Through examining student organization records and primary sources, I create an interactive digital timeline detailing major milestones for Asian American student organizations, which juxtaposes a diverse range of stories from Asian American student leaders and explores student organizing in conversation with Asian American political identity beyond the William & Mary campus.

Isabella DiFulvio is a senior at William & Mary majoring in Computer Science and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies. Her honors thesis explores the history and founders of Asian American student organizations at William & Mary. Combining her interest in web development and Asian American studies, Isabella is also working on a website to historicize and share the stories of Asian American student leaders at William & Mary that she gathered from her honors thesis research.

Elizabeth Germain, "Perceived Descriptive Norms, Academic Stress, and College Student's Sleep Habits"

Advisor: Dr. Madelyn Labella 

Psychology and Sociology

Two connected studies explored the relationship between descriptive norms, college students' sleep habits, and academic stress. In both studies, college students (Study 1: N = 127, Study 2: N = 200) self-reported their sleep hygiene behaviors, sleep duration, and sleep quality, and estimated the responses they believed the average student at their school would provide. In the second study, students answered all sleep questions twice, once for the weekend and once for weekdays, and additionally completed measures of academic stress. Results of the first study, which was conducted over the summer, indicated that students overestimated the negative sleep habits of other students and underestimated the sleep duration and quality reported by other students. The greater their overestimation of other students’ sleep hygiene problems, the more sleep problems students displayed. The second study is expected to replicate these findings with data gathered during the semester. Additionally, we expect to find that higher academic stress is associated with worse sleep habits and perceptions that other students’ sleep habits are worsening as well. Understanding the role of perceived norms and academic stress in predicting students' sleep habits is crucial for developing interventions for this population, which is known to display poor sleep habits.

Elizabeth Germain is a senior at William & Mary pursuing a B.S. in Psychology. Her Honors Thesis explores the relationship between college students' sleep habits, their perceptions of other students' sleep habits, and academic stress.   

Min Guo, "Characterizing and Constructing a Promoter Library for Mycobacteria" 

Advisor: Dr. Margaret Saha

Biology

My project focuses on characterizing promoters and provides quantitative information for their strength in promoting transcription. Promoters can determine the extent to which their corresponding genes are expressed. However, there is little quantitative information on mycobacterial promoters, which makes it difficult for synthetic biology researchers to select the correct promoter for their genes. Synthetic biology is a branch of bioengineering that engineers circuits in living cells to perform certain functions. My project would characterize a wide range of mycobacterial promoters, which provides a tool kit for researchers in synthetic biology in circuit designs using mycobacteria. My project would also provide a promoter library that can be used for mycobacteria engineering, informing synthetic promoter designs, and studying native bacterial promoter function and structure. My project can also help researchers develop diagnostic tools and therapeutics by helping them study pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis. To test promoters, I would construct a plasmid vector that can be transformed into Mycobacteria smegmatis. There is a designed insertion site in the plasmid which allows me to insert the test promoter sequences. The overall strategy is to swap the test promoters in the plasmid and test their characteristics. 

Min Guo is a Senior student double majoring in Biology and CAMS at William & Mary. His research focuses include synthetic biology and microbiology. 

Hannah Khan, "Experiences of Multiracial Students at a PWI"

Advisor: Dr. Cheryl Dickter

Psychological Sciences

Experiencing a sense of belonging in college is very important and has been shown to affect prosperity and well-being (Gopalan & Brady, 2020). It is important to establish challenges that are unique to multiracial individuals when attending a predominantly white institution that could impact their sense of belonging. In the present study, we wanted to evaluate where in multiracial identity development college undergraduate students are in and what factors are influencing their attitudes toward their own racial identity and sense of belonging. 24 multiracial participants completed surveys assessing multiracial identity, sense of belonging, multiracial identity stage, and everyday discrimination. We hypothesized that students will identify most with Renn’s first stage of multiracial identity development, which says they will hold a monoracial identity (Renn, 2008). We expect to see that multiracial students with a monoracial identity will choose the identity they believe they are perceived as by others. When it comes to finding a sense of belonging, we think multiracial students will experience the feeling that they aren’t [insert racial identity here] enough for the monoracial groups on campus, therefore leading to feeling like they do not belong. We expect students who find communities on campus will experience a greater sense of belonging than those who do not (Hoffman et al., 2002). This research could inform the creation of identity based organizations designed for multiracial students and lead to further belonging and success of multiracial students at William & Mary. 

Hannah Khan is a senior undergraduate student in Psychological Sciences at William & Mary. Her research areas include stereotype, prejudice, and racial identity. Her thesis addresses sense of belonging and racial identity in multiracial college students at a Predominantly White Institution. 

Joseph O’Brien, "Towards Explainable Deep Learning: developing methods to uncover biases in deep learning satellite imagery models"

Advisor: Dr. Daniel Runfola  

Data Science

Recently, convolutional neural networks have shown promise in predicting local-level economic outcomes (Jean, Neal, et al. 2016). Convolutional neural networks often use several layers between input and output, resulting in opaque decision-making. While it is exciting to see models with a high level of predictive power being used to drive decisions, policymakers must be able to justify those decisions, especially when they involve the allocation of resources. My concern is that when we use deep learning models to drive real-world decisions, we risk losing the ability to explain decisions and uncover biases that may occur in these models. Especially in cases involving the allocation of aid, we must be able to justify our decisions and explain them to all involved parties. Through this research, I aim to develop methods that help us understand the ways these models function and uncover biases that may be inherent in them. My research thus far has involved using methods like Grad-Cam (Selvaraju, Ramprasaath R., et al. 2017) and Vanilla Backpropagation (Gu, Jindong, et al. 2018) in order to discern features highlighted in these models. I have now begun qualitative analysis seeking to discern what populations might be affected by algorithmic classifications.

Joseph O’Brien is a senior studying Data Science and Philosophy at William & Mary. He is primarily focused on exploring the intersections between deep learning and philosophical ethics, specifically examining the concerns regarding AI development and bias in deep learning models. He is also interested in exploring concept acquisition, propositional content, knowledge representation, and the symbol grounding problem in natural language processing and computer vision.

Grace Phillips, "Stress, Therapy Animals, and Resilience: Impacts of Animal Therapy on Neurological Markers of Stress in College Students"

Advisor: Dr. Danielle Dallaire

Psychological Sciences

Stress throughout college is associated with negative outcomes including poor health, poor academic performance, and depression (Brougham et al., 2009; Hudd et al., 2000). For decades, animal therapy has been used as a treatment option for stress; the presence of animals can increase happiness, mood, and sense of purpose for individuals of all ages (Johnson et al., 2008). Although studies have shown that animal therapy can reduce perceived stress and physical indicators of stress in college students, no study has focused on the neurological impacts of animal therapy on any population. This study used electroencephalogram (EEG) to analyze these neurological impacts of animal therapy on college student stress, specifically by measuring the stress resilience indicator (theta/alpha frequency ratio). Participants included 18 first-year college students participating in orientation (39% Male, 39% Female, 78% White, 11% Hispanic or Latino, 5.5% Multiracial or Biracial, and 5.5% Asian/Pacific Islander). Participants were first asked to answer questions regarding their current mood and stress. They then wore an EEG for two minutes before, 10 minutes during, and five minutes after interacting with a certified animal therapy dog. Data collection is complete and data analysis is ongoing. It is predicted that lower theta/alpha ratios, indicating lower stress levels and activity in the limbic system, will be found after participants interacted with the animal therapy dog. 

Grace Phillips is a fourth year honors student in the Psychological Sciences Department at William & Mary. Her research interests include neuropsychology, mental health, and animal therapy. She is currently exploring the impacts of animal therapy on neurological and self-reported stress levels for first-year college students. 

Ruyu Wang, "Exploring Moral Saints"

Advisor: Dr. Christopher Freiman

Philosophy

In my honors thesis, I research the controversial discussion about moral saints. Moral saints are people with exceptional moral worth. Philosophers have defined saints as people whose actions are as morally good as possible. They devote their lives altruistically to others. Although they make others’ lives better and seem to be the best people that we could imagine, it is controversial whether their lives are desirable on the whole. 

Some philosophers argue that being a saint is not good for the individual as he has to sacrifice too much good that he could have enjoyed otherwise. Susan Wolf holds that morality is not a suitable object of passion for people to devote themselves to. However, other philosophers argue that people have an obligation to devote their lives to performing morally good actions, and sacrificing some enjoyment is not of comparable importance with having good influences on others. Peter Singer claims that people are obligated to give up anything not of comparable moral importance to prevent something bad from happening to others. Saints who fulfill such an obligation may worsen their personal lives by having few material enjoyments, but they may ultimately live a worthy and noble life. 

I discuss different definitions of saints and propose my definition. I also discuss what kinds of duties they have and argue if their lives can be good for themselves. I also explore ordinary people’s duty: whether being a moral saint is an obligation to everyone and what role moral obligation should play in people’s lives.

Ruyu Wang is a senior undergraduate student in Philosophy at William & Mary. She has an interest in ethics, especially normative ethics. Her honors thesis focuses on moral saints: what duties do saints have? What can we learn from them? Ought ordinary people become saints? She plans to go to graduate school in philosophy in the future.

Session 2

Julia Ashworth, "Cohesion and Division within Protest: Brown Grove, a Case Study"

Advisor: Dr. Andrea Wright

Anthropology and Hispanic Studies

My research interrogates how solidarities are formed as external anti-Black racism and class dynamics put pressure on communities who are grappling with internal division based on generational differences. Some social scientific literature theorizes that successful protest is drawn from the teachings of the older generation, but I have found that younger generations play a key role in creating and maintaining successful protest in the midst of division. To better understand this division, I draw from decolonizing theorists (Fanon 1967, Mbembe 2003) as well as theorists who discuss race and racism, class, and gender roles in their works (Fields 2012, Taylor 2016, Shange 2019, etc) who deconstruct power relations.

My research is based in Brown Grove, a small majority Black community just north of Richmond, VA, where I have observed how community members, who had recently lost their battle to stop a large Wegmans distribution center, interpret division within their own community, and the ways in which they themselves have tried to overcome this division. Community members tell me that using social media creates new possibilities for overcoming internal differences, but I find that solidarity alone doesn’t necessarily create a successful movement. Rather, I argue that successful protest originates not only from community unity, but through a reevaluation of values and realignment towards collective interests within and outside of the community, as community members aim for possible change.

Julia Ashworth is an undergraduate senior in the Anthropology Department at William & Mary. Her research dives deep into community activism and protest, power relations, and the role of division within protest movements. Her Senior Honors Thesis interrogates how solidarities are formed as external anti-Black racism and class dynamics put pressure on communities who are grappling with internal division based on generational differences.

Yvette Bivins-Sanchez, "Mental Health Stigmatization: How Imagined Contact Effects In-Group and Out-Group Bias"

Advisor: Dr. Cheryl L. Dickter 

Psychological Sciences

One reason why psychological disorders are often first diagnosed during the traditional college years is due to stigma. Stigma is defined by three aspects: knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Higher levels of stigma are related to lower levels of mental health literacy. In this study, we investigated what white and minority individuals' perceptions of mental health are for in-group and out-group members and if a positive imagined contact task would decrease bias and stigma for negative perceptions of mental health in in-group or out-group members. White and Black students (n=200) participated in a one-hour online survey where they completed one of the four randomly assigned imagined contact task conditions. The four conditions were (University student with Depression x Caucasian or African American) and (University student with Depression x Caucasian or African American). Students also answered questions measuring their level of proximity to a person with mental illness, assessing the students' Depression if applicable, mental health literacy, feelings towards individuals with mental illness, intergroup anxiety and attitudes, as well as attitudes towards White and Black individuals. The level of mental health literacy and ability to recognize someone with mental illness was assessed before and after completing the survey by having participants read two brief descriptions of a young person. We will present the results of analyses testing the hypotheses, whether participants had negative perceptions of in-group or out-group members, and potential improvements in biases or stigmas towards in-group or out-group members.

Yvette Bivins-Sanchez is a fourth year undergraduate Honors student in the Psychological Sciences Department at The College of William and Mary. Her research areas of interest are White Privilege and Confronting Racism, Cultural Competence, Mental Health, and Stigma. Her Honors project focuses on mental health stigmatization in mono racial and multiracial interactions.

Avery Bradley, "Assessing the Orthogonality of Synthetic Genetic Circuits"

Advisor: Dr. Margaret Saha

Biology 

In the field of synthetic biology, a genetic circuit is a group of DNA components that respond to external signals and produce an output. Genetic circuits are being developed to help solve global problems, such as disease transmission and climate change. To function, genetic circuits must be added into a host cell. Orthogonality is the term used to refer to a lack of unintended interactions between an added genetic circuit and host cell. These unintended interactions can lead to the expression of different genes than would occur without the circuit. Host-circuit orthogonality ensures both safe and proper functioning of the circuit. Despite the importance of orthogonality to safety, researchers often assume orthogonality without testing, indicating that there is a need in the field for simple, accurate, cost-effective orthogonality assessment tools.

Genes that are differentially expressed when comparing cells with an introduced circuit and those without a circuit serve as potential indicators of a lack of orthogonality. To identify these genes, our group performed an RNA-seq experiment using RNA samples extracted from E. coli strains both with and without a genetic circuit present. By comparing the results of our experiment with others from the literature, we can determine if there are certain genes that are differentially expressed regardless of circuit type. By developing a method to sense changes in the expression of these genes, they can serve as a measurement tool of the orthogonality levels of different circuits, allowing the development of safer circuits.

Avery Bradley is a fourth year undergraduate student at William & Mary, pursuing a degree in Biology. She is interested in synthetic biology and its applications to addressing global problems. Her research addresses the impacts of genetic circuits on host-cell gene expression, with the goal of developing an accessible way to assess the orthogonality of genetic circuits.

Pinar Banu Caglayan, "Orthogonality Assessment of Synthetic Notch Constructs in Mammalian Host Cells"

Advisor: Dr. Margaret Saha

Biology

Synthetic biology holds immense potential for the improvement of human health. The challenge is to engineer mammalian cells for developing novel therapeutics that are safe and predictable both in and outside of the human body. Overcoming this challenge requires having a reliable and standardized method for measuring orthogonality - the lack of unintended interactions between synthetic systems and their host mammalian cells. In this research, we conduct RNA-sequencing analysis on mammalian cells that contain synthetic Notch systems and analyze the impact on the host cell’s transcription profile. Synthetic Notch is a recently developed system that utilizes the cell’s endogenous Notch signaling pathway for many applications in cancer treatment. As the field of synthetic biology continues to develop these systems, the assessment of their clinical safety has led to an increase in testing the plasmids in a variety of mammalian cell lines. Our goal is to identify the cell lines that are most widely used used in synthetic Notch research and conduct an orthogonality assessment by using RNA-sequencing technology. Through this analysis, we identify differentially expressed genes in the host cell and conduct further literature and in vivo research to understand the implications of the cell’s response to synthetic Notch. Ultimately, this research carries the potential to contribute to the future design of synthetic Notch systems with the host cell’s transcription profile under consideration.

Pinar Banu Caglayan is a fourth-year undergraduate student seeking a bachelor's degree in Neuroscience at William & Mary. She is passionate about bioengineering and synthetic biology research, especially in their applications to the biomedical field. She is currently exploring the impact of the synthetic Notch system, a cancer treatment tool in development, on various mammalian cell lines using RNA-sequencing technology.

Giselle Figueroa, "Rethinking ‘Feminicide’: The Role of Organized Crime Group Presence on Increased Violence Against Women in Mexico"

Advisor: Dr. Fiona Shen-Bayh 

International Relations & Hispanic Studies

Previous feminicide research in Mexico has centered around the cases of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and the idea that the introduction of neoliberal politics changed family structures and increased the vulnerability of women as they entered the workforce. This explanation, though powerful in the cases of Ciudad Juarez, does not explain why feminicide rates have increased across the country over the past two decades. This thesis highlights how Mexico’s War on Drugs and the intrinsic patriarchal ideologies and structures of organized crime groups (OCGs) reinforce gender hierarchies and increase the vulnerability of women. Through an analysis of state-level public government data on organized crime presence and feminicide and the development of two case studies focused on the states of Guanajuato and Queretaro, this paper contributes to the existing literature by approaching the study of violence against women through a focus on the influence of organized crime groups (OCGs) on feminicide rates across Mexico. This article adds to the conversation on the relationship between OCGs and violence against women by exploring feminicide outside of Ciudad Juarez, further emphasizing the severity of feminicide and OCG-related issues within Mexico and the country's negligence of its duty to investigate offenses and ensure its citizens’ rights to life.

Giselle Figueroa is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in International Relations and Hispanic Studies at William & Mary. Her research areas include Latin American politics, organized crime, human rights, and women's studies. Her honors thesis addresses the role of organized crime groups in the increase of feminicide (feminicidio) rates in Mexico through case studies focused on the states of Guanajuato and Queretaro.

Maheen Saeed, "Stereotype Threat and Testing Anxiety"

Advisor: Dr. Cheryl L. Dickter

Psychological Sciences

The current study will investigate how stereotype threat affects test performance and test anxiety, with a focus on the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Stereotype threat is the psychological phenomenon in which minority groups feel societal pressure to not confirm negative stereotypes; research shows it can negatively influence academic performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Evidence suggests that stereotype threat can have a negative effect on one’s working memory and lead to heightened physiological stress responses (Schmader et al., 2008; Thames et al., 2013). Furthermore, individuals who report high levels of perceived discrimination perform worse on memory tasks when tested by an examiner of a different race than their own racial in-group (Thames et al., 2013). By investigating the stereotype threat category of own-reputation threat (out-group), this study will better understand what non-white students may experience in academic settings at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) like William and Mary, which can adversely affect their academic performance (Shapiro & Neuburg, 2007). Black and White participants will complete a task under stereotype threat or in a control condition and the experimenter will be either Black or White. This study hypothesizes that participants will have higher physiological stress responses, as measured by galvanic skin response and heart rate, and perform worse on the mathematical task when the experimenter is of their racial out-group, and they are primed with a stereotype threat inducing statement before starting the mathematical stress task.

Maheen Saeed is a fourth year undergraduate student studying both Psychology and Social Justice at William and Mary. Her focal research areas include social justice within medicine, education, and academic discrimination. Her honors thesis addresses how the stereotype threat may affect an individual's academic performance. She hopes to use her research to encourage institutions to create more equitable and diverse learning environments.

Samuel Shen, "Situating Adriano de las Cortes' Viaje de la China"

Advisor: Dr. Lu Ann Homza

History

My research focuses on the Jesuit Adriano de las Cortes’ trip to China. Born in 1578 in Aragon, Spain, Adriano joined the Jesuit order in 1596. Eager to fulfill the Jesuit’s mantra: “the world is our home,” he applied to join the missionary in the new world. Instead, however, he was sent to the Philippines where he stayed for the next twenty-five years. Due to a shipwreck in 1625, he accidentally set foot on the country that for so long so enamored the missionaries and frustrated their attempts of entrance, China, the vast country that presented both great promises of conversion and mystery for its advanced state of civilization. however, Adriano was unlike his colleagues in China. Prior experience of in the Philippines had already inculcated in him notions about Chinese people, their culture, and most importantly, their goods for trade. Furthermore, yeas of experience working among the vastly diverse indigenous people had also introduced him to a more empiricist and interactionist approach of ethnography. My research focuses on Adriano’s “relation,” his account of his journey to China. I will analyze his perspectives, assumptions and, the ways that he observed a different culture, and the China that he presented. Adriano’s interests, choice of topics, and perspectives will inform the audience of both the tradition of the Jesuit, European ethnography, and Spanish imperial rule as well as how these traditions adjusted themselves on the fringe of the Spanish Empire.

Sam Shen is a senior undergraduate student majoring in history at William & Mary. His research interest mainly include European contact with the rest of the world in the early modern era. His undergraduate thesis focuses on the journey of a Spanish Jesuit named Adraino de las Cortes to China. He will graduate in May this year.

Rina Shou, "Regulation of testis stem cells and fertility by the Drosophila PINX-1 homolog, Chigno"

Advisor: Dr. Matthew Wawersik

Biology

Homeostasis of adult tissues depends on the precise regulation of stem cells and surrounding niches. Previous research has suggested that the novel gene, Childless Gambino (Chigno), controls stem cell maintenance and fertility in Drosophila testes. This system is comprised of two stem cell populations docked to a stem cell niche: sperm-producing germline stem cells (GSCs) and somatic cyst stem cells (CySCs). My research strives to understand Chigno function in these stem cells and their progeny. To do so, I have examined expression and localization of Chigno in adult Drosophila testes. As prior work from our lab has shown that somatic Chigno inhibition causes expansion of CySCs and the stem cell niche, I have also investigated mechanisms by which these changes occur. Specifically, I have been exploring the hypothesis that Chigno functions in testes somatic cells to promote CySC differentiation and/or to repress conversion of CySC into hub cells that comprise the testis niche. My data indicate that Chigno is localized to the nucleolus of GSCs, CySCs, and their early progeny in adult testes. As Chigno contains a G-patch RNA binding domain, this observation suggests that Chigno may play a role in RNA processing and/or metabolism. Additional data examining the potential function of Chigno in controlling CySC fate and stem cell maintenance will also be presented. As the closest mammalian Chigno homolog, PINX-1, is expressed in reproductive tissues and regulates telomere maintenance, this work has important implications for human infertility and cancer.

Rina Shou is an undergraduate senior majoring in Biology and minoring in Art & Art History at William & Mary. Her research interests include stem cells, developmental biology, and molecular cell biology. Her honors thesis explores the maintenance and regulation of stem cells in the male reproductive system.

Aravind Sreeram, "Structurally-Aware Films' Impact on Theory of Mind" 

Advisor: Dr. Cheryl Dickter

Neuroscience

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a critical sociocognitive skill that facilitates successful interpersonal relationships through allowing individuals to assess others’ thoughts and motivations to eventually predict their behavior. Clinical populations such as patients with autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD have been shown to lack ToM skills due to causes including delayed development in implicated neural pathways, and therefore suffer in a breadth of social situations. Artistic film has been shown to improve ToM skills, potentially due to its complex, multi-dimensional characters and plot situations. The current study aims to explore the potential of films consciously employing filmic techniques (called structurally-aware films) as a clinical intervention to improve ToM. Specifically, I aim to manipulate shot length and shot order to amplify ToM. Adult, neurotypical participants (n=150) will be recruited for the online portion of our study, viewing one of four films (2x2 design) followed by a neurocognitive test to assess ToM. In-person experimentation will use W&M students and feature an analogous procedure (n=30) with EEG recordings to measure temporal activation patterns during stimulus presentation. I aim to establish that shorter shots and non-chronological films yield higher ToM scores. I will also determine the extent of mu rhythm desynchronization observed in EEG measurements, reflective of mirror neuron activation and shown to be evident during ToM stimulation. This study hopes to pave the way to create a cost-effective, entertaining intervention for Theory of Mind.

Aravind Sreeram is a senior honors student at William & Mary. His research interests include neurological disorders and treatment outcomes, mental health, and social interaction. His honors thesis deals with exploring a potential intervention for Theory of Mind, a social skill that is damaged in populations with autism, schizophrenia, and ADHD.

Lydia Troup, "Considering the Accuracy of Fiat Boundaries: Ontology & Quantification"

Advisor: Dr. Daniel Miller-Runfola 

Data Science

Administrative boundaries - i.e., U.S. States, counties, or districts - are fiat boundaries; they exist purely as defined by human interpretation. Because of this, and despite their critical importance to government functions, accuracy is hard to define. In this analysis, I explore this topic using three boundary datasets: the open source geoBoundaries dataset, the humanitarian UN OCHA's Common Operational Datasets (COD), and ESRI's administrative divisions 0 and 1 datasets in the Living Atlas. The accuracy of each was quantified as the percent overlap between each dataset and an authoritative source, boundaries from the UN's Second Administrative Level Boundaries programme. Overlap was calculated for every division on a feature-by-feature basis. These values were then averaged to country and dataset wide values. geoBoundaries was found to be the most accurate, followed by UN OCHA and then ESRI. This research introduces a baseline into the literature, and helps to establish potential future directions for overcoming other challenges related to this topic.

Lydia Troup is a Senior Data Science undergraduate currently perusing a Bachelors of Science at William and Mary. Her interests are in Geographic Information Systems, visualizations, and spatial data science. Her honors thesis explores the struggle to create accurate spatial data representations of administrative boundaries, given administrative boundaries are inherently fiat boundaries.

Heather Christensen, "Radon Risk Mapping Using High Resolution Gamma Spectrometry and Social Vulnerability Indices in Northeastern North Carolina"

Advisor: Dr. James Kaste

Co-Authors: R. Lockwood, C. Berquist, K. Farrell 

Geology 

Radon (222Rn) is a colorless, odorless, inert radioactive gas that emits alpha radiation, making radon inhalation the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Based on previous low-resolution radon hazard maps, the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain is broadly generalized as low risk, yet indoor radon tests in the coastal plain of North Carolina show measurements as high as 54 pCi/L, approximately 18 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action level. Here we combine uranium-series radionuclide measurements from sediment cores with social vulnerability data to create higher resolution radon hazard maps. Using ultra low background high resolution gamma spectrometry, we measure 238U, 226Ra, and 210Pb in sediment cores within Nash and Edgecombe Counties in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. 

Radon disproportionately affects socially vulnerable and historically excluded populations, and thus the effects of radon gas cannot be generalized across a county’s population. We overlay demographic data relating to the themes of socioeconomic status, household composition/disability, and race/ethnicity/language from the Center for Disease Control’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) with measured values of 226Ra in core sections. In addition to high indoor radon levels, our study area shows a high vulnerability with regards to these three SVI themes. Preliminary measurements indicate that 226Ra varies widely within a single core, from 8.41 to 71.1 Bq/kg, and we will study the factors controlling this variability. Our results support the need for further mapping efforts in the North Carolina Coastal Plain to encourage radon mitigation and public health efforts.

Heather Christensen is a senior undergraduate Honors student in Geology at William & Mary. Her research areas include environmental geochemistry, environmental justice, and environmental political theory. Her thesis explores the influences of geological factors and social vulnerability on radon risk prediction in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. 

Grayson Hoy, "Rapid Machine Learning Classification of Single-Molecule Organic Fluorophores for Blinking-Based Multiplexing"

Advisor: Dr. Kristin Wustholz 

Co-Author: A. Seabury

Chemistry 

Multicolor super-resolution imaging resolves biological and material structures in unprecedented detail, but is constrained by its requirement for spectrally distinct fluorescent probes. To alleviate this limitation, our lab recently developed blinking-based multiplexing (BBM), an effective method for differentiating spectrally overlapped emitters such as rhodamine 6G and CdSe/ZnS quantum dots. This approach relies on blinking, defined as fluctuations in emission intensities of single molecules under continuous photoexcitation due to the formation of dark states. To take full advantage of BBM, this study focuses on expanding the palette of usable organic fluorophores and expediting classification through machine learning. We trained a logistic regression model - a machine learning approach - to differentiate between six structurally similar and spectrally overlapped organic fluorophores based on 650 individual blinking measurements obtained with a confocal microscope and ~ 1μW power and 532-nm laser excitation. We show that some organic fluorophores exhibit >90% classification accuracy, based solely on their blinking. Others, such as rhodamine B and rhodamine 560 (R560) are indistinguishable, consistent with the photoinduced conversion of RB into R560 upon laser excitation. Here, we demonstrate logistic regression’s ability to rapidly classify among spectrally-overlapped emitters, including structurally-analogous organic fluorophores for BBM.

Grayson Hoy is a senior undergraduate student in Chemistry at William & Mary. His research areas include computational chemistry, machine learning, and laser spectroscopy. His honors thesis focuses on how machine learning and statistical analysis can automate and expedite nanoscale multicolor optical imaging.

Marissa Incer, "Aggression In and Out of the Surrounding Space"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Stevens 

Psychological Sciences 

Social isolation is a common punishment used to address misbehavior in individuals, such as children with time-outs and prisoners in solitary confinement. It was thought to be an effective method for teaching good behavior or alleviating tense situations. However, this type of punishment may unknowingly worsen the punished individual’s aggression depending on the environment of isolation. The current study was divided into two parts. In the first portion, participants were isolated in a small (2x2 sq. ft) or large (6x6 sq. ft) space for a specific amount of time to observe if the space alone affected their aggression, which was measured through a questionnaire. In the second portion, a frustration-inducing task was given to a new set of participants while in the small or large space to see if that enhanced any pre-existing aggression. Any resulting differences in aggression enhancement between the small and large space conditions were analyzed. For the overall study, it was hypothesized that the small space would increase aggressiveness. The project aimed to further our understanding of the effectiveness of isolation methods for decreasing misbehavior, with the goal of providing policymakers with guidance regarding the value of utilizing such methods in schools, prisons, and other relevant settings.

Marissa Incer is in her final year pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at William & Mary. Her research interests focus on neuroscience and psychology. However, her honors thesis emphasizes the psychological perspective of the relationship between an individual’s immediate surroundings and their impact on aggressive behavior.

Grace Liscomb, "How East Asian-Americans' Attitudes toward Heritage Languages Reinforce or Weaken Sense of Racioethnic Self"

Advisor: Dr. Iyabo Osiapem

Linguistics 

I explore east Asian-Americans’ negotiation of identity through the attitudes they take towards their respective abilities to speak their heritage languages (HL). In this project, heritage language refers to a minority language that children learn at home, typically from parents and family members. Ideologically, I call upon He’s (2006) notion that identity is negotiated through speech.I utilize Corbin and Strauss’ (1990) grounded theory as a method of open analysis. The data I analyze is from 8 sociolinguistic interviews with 3 Korean-Americans and 5 Chinese-Americans. The first round of open coding has revealed a larger theme: in support of the literature, HL ability plays a crucial role in the formation of ethnic identity for all participants. Speakers may problematize their perceived weak proficiency, mainly internally by outright expressing so or taking on a playful tone about describing their HL abilities. Regardless, this negative self-evaluation may weaken their sense of ethnic self as they express guilt or regret. Further and more rigorous coding and analysis in the upcoming weeks will reveal more nuanced themes. However, I argue studying hyphenated identities and HL maintenance, we can understand how Asian Americans of varying backgrounds attach sociocultural value to their heritage languages and how they connect or disconnect to their ethnic identities.

Grace Liscomb is an undergraduate senior in the Linguistics program at William & Mary. Their research areas include sociolinguistics, heritage language maintenance, and Asian-American identity. Their honors project examines how second- and third-generation undergraduates of East Asian descent construct their ethnoracial identity based on their ability to speak their home language. They are currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree of Arts and Sciences and will graduate Spring 2023.

Lilly McClendon, "The Superpower of Sleep: Poor Sleep Quality Predicts Worse Executive Control Under Conditions of Stress"

Advisor: Dr. Meghan Quinn

Co-Author: C. Leslie-Miller

Psychological Sciences  

Background: Over 60% of college students do not obtain the minimum recommended amount of sleep daily and over 54% experience above average levels of stress. Exposure to stress and poor sleep each influence executive control, which is a set of cognitive abilities that are essential for daily functioning. Despite the prevalence of poor sleep and high stress, no studies have examined the joint impact of sleep and stress on executive control in students.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the impairing effect of stress on executive control is stronger in individuals who obtain poor sleep quality the previous night, relative to their average sleep quality.

Method: 71 undergraduate students recruited from William & Mary were randomly assigned to complete either a stress induction or a control task. Executive control was measured after the stress induction and control task. Self-reported sleep and wrist actigraphy were tracked for a week prior to laboratory tasks.

Results: Whereas sleep quality on the previous night did not influence executive control measured under control conditions, poor sleep quality on the previous night predicted worse executive control under conditions of stress, even after controlling average sleep quality and baseline executive control.

Conclusion: Sleep quality impacts the extent to which executive control is impaired by stress. Due to the importance of executive control and the common experience of poor sleep and stress, specific interventions should focus on educating and supporting students in obtaining sufficient sleep.

Lilly McClendon is a fourth year B.S. candidate in the Kinesiology & Health Sciences Department and Psychological Sciences Department at William & Mary. Her research areas include executive control, sleep, and stress. Her undergraduate honors thesis explores sleep quality predicting executive control under conditions of stress. 

Tara McLaughlin

Advisor: Dr. Tate Twinam 

Economics 

In the last 20 years, West Africa has seen over 8000 unique terror attacks committed by dozens of organizations with varied motivations, idealogies and levels of violence. Despite the difference between these organizations, they all use violence to achieve their political and religious goals which, in addition to devestating personal and community costs, has obvious economic implications from stuniting human capital to reducing confidence in investment and decreasing tourism. 

Using an OLS approach with heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation robust standard errors, my honors thesis seeks to determine how much of a negative impact terorrism has had on economic growth in West Africa. Using data from the Global Terrorism Database and economic data from the World Bank, this project ultimately argues that poor institutions, territorial dispersion, overmilitarization, and a poor investment environment can exacerbate terrorism and prevent the central or local governments from adequately responding to the threat leading to slowed growth. 

The model builds on the work of Blomberg, Hess, and Orphandis (2004) who measure the impact of terrorism in over 170 countries over time, with a “dummy variable” to represent African countries, which have been shown to have significantly slower growth than other regions. We wanted to unpack this inclusion of a variable representing “Africaness” in this paper, and many others in the empirical literature, to find out what exactly makes African growth unique with respect to the impact of terrorism.

Tara is a senior at William & Mary majoring in economics and minoring in math. Her thesis is studying the impact of terrorism on economic growth in West Africa. More broadly, her research interests include international security, non-state actors, development, and military issues.

Elizabeth Grace Moser, "The Effect of Spatial Surround on Brain Activity (EEG)"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Stevens 

Psychological Sciences 

Previous research has explored the effect that different-sized spatial surround may have on task performance. Prior research has indicated that performance on analytical processing tasks is heightened in smaller spaces, whereas performance on motor imagery tasks is enhanced in a larger space. The current study examines the effect open and enclosed spaces have on brain activity when individuals perform a motor imagery task. Participants were asked to imagine arm swings in either a small (2x2) or large (6x6) surround, while their brain activity was recorded using a wireless EEG. Participants were instructed to physically practice arm swings prior to entering these spaces and then were played a voice recording within each space that instructed them to imagine arm swings. We anticipated that task performance on the motor imagery task would be highest when participants were in the 6x6 surround and that this difference would be evident when analyzing the EEG data and examining the level of localized activation patterns within specific areas of the brain.

Elizabeth Moser is a senior undergraduate student at William & Mary. Her research interests relate to non-pharmacological solutions to health and human interactions with space and design. Her thesis utilizes neuroimaging techniques to address the effects spatial surround has on brain activity in the context of motor imagery task performance.

Anne Roman, "Phagelets: A Novel Infectious Particle" 

Advisor: Dr. Margaret Saha

Biology 

Mycobacteriophages, viruses that infect the genus Mycobacterium which contains many human pathogens including those causing tuberculosis and leprosy, exhibit immense genomic diversity much of which is not well understood. Our lab identified a novel viral particle called a phagelet that shares similarities to mycobacterial phages but contains a much smaller genome with several novel genes. These phagelets interact with a prophage called Herbert present in the genome of Mycobacterium Aichiense. Through bioinformatic analyses, I have investigated the genomic properties of these phagelets including genomic architecture and gene function as well as established evolutionary relationships among identified phagelets via clustering analyses. Preliminary analysis has shown surprising diversity in the ten phagelets that have been analyzed.  This project will provide further insight into how these phagelets interact with the host genome by employing transcriptome analysis of the infection process as well as functional analysis by removing specific genes.  This research contributes to further understanding of this novel system as well as an understanding of the genomic diversity of mycobacteriophages.

Anne Roman is a senior at William and Mary pursing a B.S. in Biology. She has an interest in virology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Her research analyzes phage infection dynamics and characterizes a novel phage particle.  

Ben Sanders, "Priming Coconut Vasculature for Self-Healing Applications"

Advisor: Dr. Hannes Schneipp

Physics

The coconut endocarp is uniquely suited to be used as a substrate for self-healing materials as it is porous and strong. Vessels which allowed the endocarp to grow do not weaken its structure, a common problem for other vascular networks. Coconut endocarp is one of the hardest and toughest wood tissues with a compressive strength of 230-270 MPa, that's comparable to mild steel, and a fracture toughness of 24.9±8.4 kJ/m^2. A two-phase process is used for the investigation of coconut endocarp as a substrate for self-healing materials. First, the flowrate of fluid through the endocarp based on the viscosity and pressure of the fluid will be characterized. Secondly, experiments will be conducted testing the effects of different healing agents on these coconut endocarp slices.  In the end this proposed project will create pieces of coconut with self-healing properties brought about by vasculature delivery.

Ben Sanders is a third year undergraduate student in the physics department engineering physics applied design (EPAD) track. His research concerns the coconut endocarp, the wooden exterior shell of the coconut. In his honors work he looks at the endocarp's application as a medium for a self healing material.

Olivia Wachob, "From Iapetan-Rifting to Atlantic-Drifting: Understanding Formation Conditions of Meta-Igneous Rocks, Central Virginia"

Advisor: Dr. Chuck Bailey 

Geology 

The Eastern Blue Ridge-Western Piedmont boundary in Central Virginia displays instances of rifting to bracket the timing of the Iapetus Ocean opening/development in southeastern Laurentia. Currently, few Iapetan time markers exist in this area, resulting in uncertainties in Iapetan transgression rates. This study presents the results of whole-rock geochemical analyses, U-Pb zircon and apatite geochronologic analyses, and thin-section petrographic analyses from micaceous metasandstones and diorite porphyry.

New LA-ICP-MS zircon data demonstrates that the porphyry unit yields a bimodal population of 350 and 174 Ma. Data from the micaceous metasandstone reveals Grenvillian provenance, with an age of 1120 Ma. LA-ICP-MS apatite data shows an age of 155 +/- 11 Ma for the metadacite porphyry sample and an age of 159 +/- 14 Ma for the second metadacite porphyry sample. Findings from petrographic thin sections reveal crenulation cleavages and an abundance of chlorite, mica, feldspar, quartz, and opaques in the metasandstone, indicating deposition during carbonate production on the Laurentian continental margin. The porphyrys confirmed igneous origins in thin section, with an abundance of broken plagioclase phenocrysts and a biotite-hornblende-rich matrix. These samples likely originated during seafloor volcanism post-Iapetus during the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. These ages and petrographic findings provide age constraints on rifting in Southeastern Laurentia and aid in the stratigraphic interpretation of the Eastern Blue Ridge-Western Piedmont geologic region of central Virginia.

Olivia Wachob is a William & Mary senior seeking a B.S. in geology and data science. Her research areas in the Geology Department include structural geology, igneous and metamorphic petrology, and geochronology. Her thesis is currently exploring the tectonic setting and temporal history of the eastern Blue Ridge.

Alexia Wheeler, "Identity-Building in Appalachia: A study of the vowel space of queer Appalachian speakers"

Advisor: Dr. Anya Hogoboom  

Linguistics 

I am examining how older queer Appalachian speakers use language to establish themselves within these two often opposing identities. Specifically, I am looking at how speakers use more or fewer features of Appalachian English to reinforce their place in the community or separate themselves from it. This study investigates how speakers who grew up and live in the area signal their Appalachian identity to show their in-group status within a wider community. By looking at feature use when the speaker is discussing either queer or Appalachian topics, we can see which identity comes through. In particular, I am looking at vowel pronunciations and how these vary depending on subject matter. This work also explores how a speaker's language reflects them specifically rather than just the larger geographic community. It brings focus to a speech community which is relatively unstudied but in a unique and often difficult position, and how these potentially contradictory identities can be realized in a single speaker's language.

Alex Wheeler is a undergraduate senior pursuing a B.A. in Linguistics from William & Mary. Her research areas are socio-phonetics and sociolinguistics with a focus on vowel production and vowel spaces. Her current work investigates speech production by queer people living in the Appalachian Mountains. 

Olivia White, "Elucidating the Role of Site-Specific Lysine Acetylation in Thyroid Hormone Receptor β1 Intracellular Localization" 

Advisor: Dr. Lizabeth A. Allison  

Biology 

Thyroid hormone receptors (TR) are nuclear receptors that regulate key physiological processes in a thyroid hormone-dependent manner. Although primarily nuclear localized, TRs rapidly shuttle between the nucleus and cytoplasm via nuclear localization signals (NLS) and nuclear export signals. Intracellular localization of TRα1 and TRβ1 is influenced by post-translational modifications. A prior study in our lab revealed that the acetylation of three lysines within the NLS of TRβ1 produced a significant cytosolic shift relative to wild-type TR. To determine whether acetylation of all three sites is required for altered localization, we transfected HeLa cells with GFP-tagged TRβ1 single or triple site acetylation mimics, GFP-tagged TRβ1 single or triple site non-acetylation mimics, and wild-type TRβ1. Nucleocytoplasmic ratio (N/C) scoring revealed a significant decrease of the N/C in each single site acetylation mimic, relative to wild-type. Average relative N/C’s of the single site acetylation mimics were not significantly different from the triple site acetylation mimic, indicating that the acetylation of one site alters localization to the same extent as the acetylation of all three sites. The average relative N/C’s of the single site non-acetylation mimics also were not significantly different from the triple site non-acetylation mimic or from wild-type, indicating localization is not influenced by the inability to acetylate either a single site or all three sites of TR. These findings further define the role of acetylation as a regulatory switch for TR localization.  

Olivia White is an undergraduate senior majoring in Biology and minoring in English at William & Mary. Her undergraduate research has been largely focused on thyroid hormone receptor mislocalization. Following her graduation in May 2023, she will be joining a lab studying anaplastic thyroid cancer as an IRTA post-bac fellow at the NIH.

Lucy Abell, "A "Peculiar Institution:" Slavery, Labor Relations, and Treatment at Eastern Lunatic Asylum, 1841-1862" 

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

History 

Panel: Honors 8, Friday, 2:45 PM 

Through a study of the wealth of documents left behind by the superintendent of Williamsburg’s Eastern Lunatic Asylum (ELA) from 1841-1862, my research attempts to improve our knowledge of life in antebellum Virginia. Dr. John M. Galt II, the superintendent in question, kept rich diaries of his day-to-day life there. Galt was an ardent Confederate, but despite his pro-slavery beliefs, he fought to maintain racially integrated treatment at ELA, and was the only doctor in the country to rely on an enslaved nursing staff to provide much of the care his patients received. In my work, I analyze Galt’s relationship with his staff and patients, and their relationships with each other in tandem with his treatment philosophies. In so doing, I work to develop our understanding of the ways in which such an environment could both support and undermine the slave system because of its association of slavery with medical practice. This will provide further knowledge of an unknown but important figure in the history of modern psychiatry. Additionally, it will create a window into the ways in which slavery and racism operated in the antebellum United States outside of more fully investigated domains such as farms or plantations. 

Lucy Abell is a senior at William & Mary, working on obtaining her B.A. in History. Her research interests focus on the cultural history of disease, and the ways in which illness and identities (race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality) intersect. Her honors thesis studies the broader impact of the culture of the antebellum US South on medical care at Williamsburg, Virginia's Eastern Lunatic Asylum. 

Kevin L. Bloodworth II, "FDI and Environmental Externalities in Southeast Asia"

Advisor: Dr. Luis Baldomer-Quintana 

Economics 

Panel: Honors 4, Thursday, 3:30 PM

Using a difference in differences casual inference test I look at how foreign direct investment affects deforestation within Cambodia. Cambodia participates in a long-term leasing program that allows companies to clear land in order to develop large industrial-scale agriculture. These concessions are often the source of land conflicts such as land grabs, forced evictions, and more commonly natural resource exploitation. Foreign nations have steadily begun to invest more into Cambodia. Foreign direct investment has begun to make up a higher percentage of Cambodia’s gross domestic product each year. As of the most recent data collected by Global Forest Watch, a majority of the current economic land concessions in Cambodia are owned by foreign companies. Forty-three percent of the total land dedicated to economic land concessions are used for rubber cultivation and rubber related agribusiness. It’s already known that the annual forest-to-rubber conversion rates closely follow the global price of rubber. In this paper we take that literature a step forward by looking at the conversion rates for all the major agricultural crops within Cambodian land concessions while also looking at the nation that is responsible for each concession. Quantifying the levels of deforestation specific nations and countries contribute to Cambodia. 

Kevin Bloodworth is a senior economics major at the College of William and Mary. His research areas include political violence, economic development, trade, and environmental outcomes. His undergraduate thesis looks at the impact of foreign direct investment on deforestation in Cambodia. The study implements a combination of geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical methods to identify the impact a land concessions ban has on forest cover within Cambodia. 

Alexandra Byrne, "Inalienable for whom? Activism and the politics of postcolonial restitution in French museums"

Advisor: Dr. Michael Leruth 

French and Francophone Studies 

Panel: Honors 5, Friday, 1:30 PM 

This thesis will interrogate the relationship between French museums, activists, and the government as it relates to postcolonial restitution of cultural heritage, often stolen from its country of origin under uncertain or exploitative circumstances. I will seek to understand 1) how museums address colonialism and restitution in their public rhetoric, 2) the legal and geopolitical barriers to restitution, and 3) the role of activists. I will consider each object as an entity, acknowledging that its existence in a French museum has changed its fundamental meaning in a uniquely colonialist manner. Activists thus formulate their responses and arguments for restitution in the dual context of the object’s original meaning and its new meaning in French museums. I hypothesize that restitution is currently driven by the wishes of those in power, but that France is currently experiencing a watershed moment in the restitution debate. As public awareness of repatriation grows, I argue elite control over cultural objects and museums will wane, ushering in a “great return” of objects and a shift in power of the global cultural landscape.

Alexandra Byrne is a senior at William & Mary studying International Relations and French & Francophone Studies. She is a member of the International Justice Lab at the Global Research Institute, where she studies human rights, memorialization, and transitional justice. Her thesis focuses on postcolonial restitution and activism in French museums.

Kailai Cui, "Inferring IoT device activity based on power consumption pattern"

Advisor: Dr. Gang Zhou

Computer Science

Panel: Honors 1, Thursday, 9:30 AM 

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming ubiquitous, and smart home is one of the most important applications of IoT. The smart plugs, as part of the smart home system, can act as power sensors that record power consumption data. Researchers have the used power consumption data of a smart bulb to infer its behavior. 

This paper proposes a power sensor-based system that infers smart home devices’ activities. The target IoT devices are voice assistants, smart cameras, and smart bulbs. We use the ACS712 power sensor that records time-series data of the devices’ power consumption. We formulated two classification problems: inferring device activity and the device type. We recorded and examined the power consumption pattern of multiple IoT devices as they perform different tasks. We pre-processed the data and transform them into two-dimensional images through Continous Wavelet Transformation (CWT). We designed and tuned a multi-task machine learning model that effectively classifies the device type and behavior. We validated that the system, when implemented on edge devices, can make real-time inferences.

Kailai Cui is a senior majoring in computer science at College of William and Mary. His reserch interests include embedded and mobile systems, Internet of Things security and applied machine learning. He is also interested in making such systems secure, efficient and reliable. At William and Mary, he worked under the supervision of Dr. Gang Zhou on IoT security. His research called Light  Auditor which protected smart bulb privacy via power side-channel auditing resulted in published paper in SenSys 22, a top conference in the field.

Carlee Dunn, "Crickets and Cicadas Sing: Terrestrial Invertebrates in a San Rafael Salt Marsh"

Advisor: Dr. Randy Chambers

Co-Authors: J. Gonzalez, M. Ferner

Biology

Panel: Honors 6, Friday, 2:45 PM 

As sea level rise continues, salt marsh ecosystems may face a number of changes that can have drastic effects throughout all levels of the food web.  Insects in particular play an important role in these ecosystems by providing food for endangered birds and mammals, so it is important to know how marsh insect communities vary by season, marsh habitat, water regime, and disturbance.  This study used salt marsh field work and insect sticky traps in China Camp State Park, San Rafael, CA to quantify these insect community differences.  We demonstrate that insects are extremely abundant in the low marsh habitat, especially in late summer and fall, but with low diversity whereas the high marsh habitat tends to have a greater diversity but lower number of insects.  Tentatively, we also show that increased sea level rise may lead to greater numbers of chironomids in the low marsh.  Finally, insect communities differ between the muted and tidal sides of a marsh bisected by a road, suggesting that changes to the road and associated hydrology may change the ecology of that section of marsh as well.  By identifying these differences in insect communities, scientists and managers can better understand which habitats in the marsh are most important as bird feeding areas and should therefore be prioritized for protection. 

Carlee Dunn is a senior Biology Major, Marine Science Minor at William & Mary.  She is broadly interested in marine ecology and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in coral reef ecology.  She was a NOAA Hollings Scholar this past summer and completed salt marsh research at China Camp State Park in San Rafael, California.  This research continued into her senior year as her Honors Thesis.

Natalie Garrigan, "NRF2: A Promising Target for Parkinson's Disease Therapies"

Advisor: Dr. Randy Coleman 

Neuroscience 

Panel: Honors 7, Friday, 2:45 PM 

With increasing human lifespan coupled with detrimental modern diet and lifestyle factors, the prevalence of age-associated neurological disorders has risen. Parkinson’s disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, is an age-related disease characterized by balance and movement challenges as well as cognitive defects that arise from the decay of neurons. As Parkinson’s ultimately leads to severe lifestyle impairments and death, researchers strive to pinpoint molecular targets that prevent disease progression rather than only temporarily improve the symptoms. Until recently, the molecular mechanisms of PD that underlie neuronal decay, such as oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, have been overlooked as promising targets for halting PD. As toxic levels of reactive oxygen species are commonly found within PD neurons, researchers seek molecular targets that combat this oxidative stress effectively. In particular, researchers have discovered the promising potential of the transcription factor NRF2, which regulates the production of antioxidant enzymes that scavenge reactive oxygen species. Using the literature on recent NRF2 and Parkinson’s disease studies, this research evaluates the effectiveness of various NRF2 activators, especially dietary compounds that can be administered via supplementation. By simulating the molecular effects of these NRF2 activators in silico, this research compares their optimal concentrations, bioavailability, impact on oxidative stress, and, ultimately, their effectiveness as PD progression inhibitors. 

Natalie Garrigan is a senior at William & Mary pursuing a B.S. in neuroscience. She has a fascination for the relationship between neurodegenerative diseases and diet, especially in light of the possibility for dietary phytochemicals to prevent neuronal degeneration. Her honors research explores the effectiveness of supplementing with EGCG (a green tea polyphenol) and other phytochemicals to prevent Parkinson’s Disease. 

Ivana Genov, "The Cult of the Nymphs: Identity, Ritual, and Womanhood in Ancient Greece" 

 Advisor: Dr. Georgia Irby 

Classical Studies 

Panel: Honors 4, Thursday, 3:30 PM 

Examining archeological and epigraphic evidence in its historical context, this thesis explores the Cult of the Nymphs venerated across ancient Greek poleis. It analyzes the nymph’s profound cultural and historical impact that is often overlooked in the study of ancient Greece. Female deities thought to embody an ecological site, such as fountains and springs, nymphs became fundamental to polis identity. Their locations were often central to city plans, and their faces depicted on coinage became representative of the city itself. In the community, nymphs were integral to rituals for major life events, most often in the lives of women. Their femininity and deification attests to the representation of women in Greek society, who, in particular, cultivated rituals in honor of the nymphs. Typically prominent in bridal, birth, and death ceremonies, the worship of the nymphs offered women rich ways of validating female experience in an intensely patriarchal society. By examining ancient coins, votive offerings, and architectural sites of ritual across the eras, this paper explores the value and significance of the worship of the Cult of the Nymphs in ancient Greece.

Ivana Genov is a fourth year undergraduate student, double majoring in Classical Archeology and Art History at the College of William & Mary. She is most interested in Greek and Roman art history, with a focus on the lives of women in the ancient world. She is thrilled to be continuing her education in the fall in pursuit of a joint JD/MA in Art History. 

Carter Hall, "Effectiveness of Community Health Workers in Assisting Low-Income Residents to Access Mental Health Care"

Advisors: Danielle Dallaire and Iyabo Obasanjo

Kinesiology & Health Sciences 

Panel: Honors 7, Friday, 2:45 PM 

Community Health Workers (CHWs) have become an integral part of connecting underserved populations to different resources, especially healthcare needs. As previous or current members of these communities, CHWs are equipped with the experiences and background to better understand and serve these populations. However, there is a significant gap in qualitative research with clients. With the Virginia Department of Health and Richmond City Health Department, phone interviews with CHWs clients in Richmond’s public housing communities allows for direct reflection and analysis of CHWs, specifically in helping residents access mental healthcare. Questions asked in interviews detail the relationship between clients and CHWs, as well as ability and effectiveness in accessing these suggested mental healthcare, substance abuse, and/or domestic violence resources. This qualitative research will allow for analysis and modeling of a current CHW-community integration program. Therefore, potential recommendations can be made for future models of CHW resource referrals in other areas across the country. Additionally, feedback from clients will help to mold CHW training and education to better suit the needs of their clients and communities. 

Carter Hall is an undergraduate senior at William & Mary studying Kinesiology & Health Sciences, with a focus in Public Health. Her Honors thesis explores the role of Community Health Workers in low-income communities and access to mental healthcare. After graduation, she will be working as a clinical research fellow at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Sarah Hawkins, "Inclusive Double Differential Muon Neutrino Charged Current Cross Section on Various Nuclei" 

Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Nelson

Physics  

Panel: Honors 1, Friday, 9:00 AM 

Neutrinos are a class of fundamental particles in physics that come in three different “flavors”, or types: electron, muon, and tau. Their study offers exciting hints of physics beyond the Standard Model. Of particular interest are neutrino oscillation experiments, which study the way that neutrinos change their flavor as they travel through space. However, measurements from these experiments depend on neutrino interaction models, which introduce uncertainty into their measurements. The MINERvA neutrino experiment was designed to perform precision measurements of neutrino interactions on different nuclear targets to better constrain these models. This research considers the inclusive charged-current interactions of muon neutrinos, which means that the interaction will result in the production of a charged muon. The goal is to calculate the double differential cross section as a function of transverse and longitudinal muon momentum, which is related to the probability that a particular interaction will occur. This will be done for each of the nuclear targets in MINERvA; iron, lead, carbon, and liquid water. First, a sample of interaction events that meet our criteria for these interactions must be selected, and background signals must be subtracted out before correcting for the effects caused by the detector’s resolution and muon acceptance. These measurements will ultimately be compared to both previous measurements and model predictions with the goal of better constraining neutrino interaction models and to reduce the uncertainty in future neutrino oscillation measurements.

Sarah Hawkins is a senior undergraduate student in Physics at William & Mary. She holds a broad interest in particle and nuclear physics research, and their honors thesis in the field of high energy physics utilizes data from the MINERvA neutrino experiment. They have hopes of attending graduate school after completion of her B.S..

Zoe Hutcheson, "Comparative Diet Analysis of Crayfish Using DNA Metabarcoding" 

Advisor: Dr. James Skelton

Biology

Panel: Honors 6, Friday, 2:45 PM 

With more than 300 species, the southeastern United States has the world’s highest diversity of crayfish. As abundant and often dominant omnivores, crayfish are presumed to have a strong influence on aquatic ecosystems through predation and herbivory. However, we have virtually no species-specific data on crayfish diet in-situ. Faxonius (formerly Orconectes) crayfish are native from Missouri to the Great Lakes, as far east as western Virginia. However, recently their range has expanded to the New River drainage in North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. Because of a lack of studies both on this specific invasion and crayfish in general, it is unknown how these invasive species will affect the ecosystem or even if they would change the ecosystem at all. While outcompeting the native species, they might be filling the same niche. To get a better understanding of the potential impacts of this invasion on aquatic invertebrate communities, the gut contents of both native Cambarus crayfish and the invasive Faxonius to were collected and analyzed via DNA metabarcoding to compare their diets. We also compare the gut contents of native burrowing crayfish to native non-borrowing crayfish to determine if the ecologically distinct species compete for food resources where they co-occur. Multiple sites were targeted to get a general idea of what invertebrates, plants, and fungi these crayfish are consuming and better understand how this invasion, and crayfish in general, affect their ecosystem. This work advances our understanding of the impacts that invasive generalist predators may have on aquatic biodiversity.

Zoe Hutcheson is a graduating undergraduate student majoring in Biology at William & Mary. Their research interests include parasitology, ecology, and molecular biology. Their project compares the gut contents of invasive and native crayfish species using DNA analysis to determine if they fill different dietary niches. 

Delaney Kirr, "Examining the Nutritional Quality of Mixotrophic Dinoflagellates Using Elemental Ratios and Fatty Acid Content"

Advisor: Dr. Amber Hardison

Chemistry

Panel: Honors 3, Thursday, 3:30 PM

Mixotrophic phytoplankton make use of both phototrophy and phagotrophy, and little is known about their role in aquatic ecosystems despite their high abundance. Elemental carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) ratios and fatty acid content in three mixotrophic and one phototrophic algal cultures were investigated under varying environmental conditions to determine whether cellular C:N:P ratios and fatty acid content of mixotrophs are stable under growth limiting conditions because they can switch to an alternative food source when stressed. Akashiwo sanguinea, Heterocapsa triquetra, Scrippsiella spp. (mixotrophs), and Chaetoceros muelleri (phototroph) were incubated for seven days under either Redfield (16:1 N:P) or nitrogen-depleted (4:1 N:P) media and under ambient light conditions or low light conditions (20% of ambient light). Cultures were sampled before and after incubation, and particulate organic C, N, and P levels and fatty acid content were measured. Preliminary data show that all cultures grew, as indicated by elevated organic C levels under the high light conditions, except A. sanguinea, which declined throughout the incubation, as confirmed by cell counts. The data for the mixotrophs H. triquetra and S. spp. show consistent drops in organic C, N, and P from high light to low light conditions, while the phototroph C. muelleri shows inconsistent trends in elemental concentrations across the four different experimental conditions. Fatty acids analysis is underway. When fatty acid analysis is complete, this study will summarize C:N:P ratios and fatty acid content of mixotrophs and phototrophs across varying environmental conditions, which has implications for higher trophic levels in ecosystems where mixotrophic and phototrophic algae serve as prey. 

Delaney Kirr is a senior Chemistry major at William & Mary. Her research areas include phytoplankton ecology, elemental analysis, and lipid extraction and analysis. Her thesis examines the nutritional quality of mixotrophic dinoflagellates and phototrophic diatoms using elemental (C:N:P) ratios and fatty acid content. 

Xiuyu Li, ""Peace" in Japan" 

Advisor: Dr. Eric Han 

History 

Panel: Honors 8, Friday, 2:45 PM 

This project examines the origin and evolution of the Japanese intellectual culture of peace. Japan's political and legal institution underwent dramatic transformation during the Allied Occupation. Its imperial institution was discredited; major political and military leaders was brought to the the Tokyo Trial; most of militaristic, fascist element was removed from power; and the Meiji constitution was rewritten as the "peace constitution," which denounces war and use of force as the nation's sovereignty. In response to this historical change, the Japanese intellectual discourse gradually incorporated the American-written constitution and its spirit of peace into the Japanese culture and nationalism. 

Xiuyu Li is a history and Japanese studies double major at William & Mary. His research interests include postwar Japan, intellectual history, Sino-Japanese relations, and Japanese cinema. His honors thesis explores the conception and culture of peace in postwar Japan.  

Robert Little, "1973: A Crossroads in British and International Energy Policy" 

Advisor: Dr. Amy Limoncelli

History

Panel: Honors 5, Friday, 1:30 PM  

1973 marks a turning point in the international petroleum industry. OPEC gained a greater voice for developing countries, but over the 1970s, the West decreased its dependence on producer oil and North-South dialogue quieted. With my honors thesis in history, I intend to elucidate how the processes of British decolonization in the Middle East helped lead to the 1973 oil crisis and argue that the British oil companies drove the United Kingdom’s response to the 1973 oil crisis, which necessitated substantial long-run implications on postcolonial energy flows and international relations. 

I combine multiple historiographies and primary British government documents from the National Archives of the United Kingdom at Kew to demonstrate how Britain acted as the key intermediary shaping the Western consumer response to the 1973 oil crisis. Using secondary and primary source analysis, I claim that the British government restricted the use of fossil fuels in the short term and, in the long term, that the British oil companies diversified fossil fuel sources in response to OPEC’s decisions to lower British and consumer dependence on the producers. My thesis aims to advance the historiography on the 1973 oil crisis by illuminating the influential role of the British oil companies and concluding that Great Britain failed to foster producer-consumer cooperation and decolonization in international energy policy as British oil companies developed offshore energy and reduced OPEC’s power to determine oil markets during and beyond the 1970s.

Davis Little is a fourth-year B.A. candidate in the History and Public Policy Departments at the College of William & Mary. He is writing an honors thesis in History on global energy developments in the 1970s, which touches on decolonization, energy, and political economics. He has a broad interest in policy history, economic history, and public policy, in particular energy and environmental policy.

Sigi Macias, "The Unseen Vaccine: Trans-Imperial Networks, Medical Exploitation, & Emerging Autonomy in Colonial South America (1795-1825)"

Advisor: Dr. Fabricio Prado

History 

Panel: Honors 8, Friday, 2:45 PM 

Following Edward Jenner’s vaccine discovery, leaders entered the nineteenth century with the renewed hope of curbing the smallpox epidemic. In 1803, Spain’s Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna (Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition) set sail to disseminate the smallpox vaccine throughout Spanish America and Asia, becoming the world’s first immunization campaign. Scholarship on vaccination in nineteenth-century Latin America has focused on this expedition; however, historians have largely neglected peripheral regions untouched by the mission. The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was one such area. This thesis will examine how the inhabitants of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata obtained a vaccine for smallpox, despite the Spanish Empire’s failure to ensure the delivery of the vaccine in the region. I argue that Río de la Plata’s trans-imperial networks and the elite’s selective adoption of Enlightenment ideas made possible the successful spread of the smallpox vaccine. Mercantile elites, Viceregal politicians, and ecclesiastic authorities utilized the region’s commercial system to acquire the vaccine from unofficial trans-imperial sources and exploit enslaved bodies to preserve and spread the medicinal pus. Further, religious authorities’ espousal of Enlightenment perspectives helped center and drive vaccination missions in urban centers and the hinterlands. These developments unveiled a level of colonial autonomy that shaped the local reactions to Napoleon’s invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 and the path to political Independence in the region (1810).

Sigi Macias is a senior majoring in History in the St. Andrews William & Mary Joint Degree Programme. Her research areas include global commerce, enslavement, medicine, science, and social connections in the Atlantic World. Her thesis addresses how commercialism, slavery, and regional autonomy impacted the spread of the smallpox vaccine in colonial South America (1795-1825).

Sreya Mallipeddi, "The Impact of Television Portrayals of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on Perceptions Toward ASD" 

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Burk

Neuroscience 

Panel: Honors 7, Friday, 2:45 PM 

The portrayal of ASD in television and films has become increasingly common. The impact this has on general awareness and knowledge of ASD is important to understand. In the past it has been shown that viewing educational films about Autism leads to individuals viewing people with autism more favorably (Scheerer et al., 2022). Additionally, imagining contact with individuals with autism has also been shown to lead to more favorable opinions about individuals with ASD (Burk & Dickter, 2021). 

Television portrayals can become a model for how people view individuals with ASD and it is worth analyzing how certain autistic behaviors may be exaggerated in media representations and how stereotypes can be perpetuated in these representations. Certain aspects of ASD such as savant skills are overexaggerated in media portrayals despite not being as prevalent in real life (Hansen, Tondevold, Fletcher-Watson, 2017). 

This study seeks to understand how different aspects of ASD in a single television portrayal of ASD impact the attitudes of college students towards individuals with autism Both educational videos about autism and imagined contact with an autistic individual have led to a change in attitudes toward individuals with autism. It is predicted that selected clips from a television show that either educate the viewer about ASD or have them relate to a character with ASD will have similar effects on attitudes toward ASD. While the clip that is more informational will likely improve overall knowledge about ASD the clip that is more relatable will likely improve attitudes and warmth and attitudes towards individuals with ASD. 

Sreya Mallipeddi is a fourth year undergraduate Honors student in Neuroscience at William & Mary. Her research studies attitudes towards individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how interventions, such as imagined contact, impact perceptions of ASD. Her honors thesis explores how different behaviors shown in television portrayals of ASD impact different aspects of college students’ perceptions toward individuals with ASD. 

Zoe Metzger, "Identifying Social Media Users that are Susceptible to Phishing Attacks"

Advisor: Dr. Alexander C. Nwala

Data Science & Sociology  

Panel: Honors 1, Thursday, 9:30 AM  

Phishing scams are a billion-dollar problem. According to Threatpost, in 2020, business email compromise phishing attacks cost the US economy $1.8 billion. Social media phishing scams are also on the rise with 74% of companies experiencing social media attacks in 2021 according to Proofpoint. Educating users about phishing scams is an effective strategy for reducing phishing attacks. However, phishing attacks continue to rise since people do not typically change their online behaviors. Existing research into predicting vulnerable social media users that are susceptible to phishing mostly focus on content analysis of their posts or the users they interact with, and not their behaviors. In contrast, in this research, we study the online behaviors of social media users on Twitter to identify those that are susceptible to phishing attacks. Specifically, we analyzed the behaviors of social media users that succumbed to phishing scams in comparison to a control group of users that did not, in an effort to identify behavioral patterns that distinguish them. The online behaviors include liking and sharing behaviors, types of posts, time spent posting, etc. We will apply the knowledge gained from our research  to build an online tool to reduce successful phishing attacks by informing social media users of their susceptibility.

Zoe Metzger is a graduating fourth year in the Data Science and Sociology departments at William & Mary. She has and will continue post graduating running data analytics for a cybersecurity team. She is currently exploring how to better use predictive analysis to better protect against harmful cybersecurity attacks.

Theresa Molin, "Development of Highly Thermally Conductive Nanocomposites"

Advisor: Dr. Hannes Schneipp 

Materials Science

Panel: Honors 3, Thursday, 3:30 PM  

We are designing a novel class of polymer composites featuring a significantly increased thermal conductivity. These materials will enhance conduction of heat away from thermally sensitive technological components, such as microelectronics. This is because most thermally conductive materials are also very rigid, thus minimizing contact area and heat conduction. Materials that can conform to surfaces are typically poor thermal conductors and so result in inefficient heat dispersion. Our research is dedicated towards the production of polymer-based nanocomposites that are both highly conductive and surface conforming such that they are hyper efficient heat dissipaters.  In the pursuit of this goal, we are investigating the interactions between nanomaterials and differing phases of polymer host matrixes of nanocomposites.  To this end, we conducted an extensive exploration process to find appropriate host polymers for nanocomposites with optimized thermal conductivity.  Following the results of that stage, we are using Atomic Force Microscopy to investigate the dynamics of differing phases of polymer and using those results to optimize processes to alter the phase of polymer host materials.  Following the results of that stage, we will use Scanning Thermal Microscopy to investigate how host polymer phase impacts the microscale thermal interactions of nanomaterials and their host polymers.

Justin Oei, "“Grant Us Wisdom, Grant Us Courage:” Theology in the Organ Music of Paul Manz"

Advisor: Dr. Tom Payne

Music 

Panel: Honors 5, Friday, 1:30 PM 

Through an investigation of the organ music of the American composer Paul Manz (1919-2009), this study will seek to link sacred music with the composer’s theological convictions, as well as with external circumstances that inform compositional practices. Manz’s organ works are widely performed in church and concert settings, especially in the American Lutheran tradition, and his motet E’en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come has become a staple of the sacred choral repertoire, selling over a million copies since its publication in 1954. Despite this, very little scholarship has been produced on his life and work. Broadly, this provides an avenue to investigate the practice of church music in American Protestantism and how it has diverged from its parent traditions.

The research question of this project is threefold: do the organ works of Paul Manz reflect the theological and political circumstances of mid- to late-20th-century American Lutheranism, and, regarding the 1970s doctrinal schism in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, how does he accomplish this? Finally, what impact did he have on sacred music in contemporary American liturgical churches? I posit that sacred music has the ability to act theologically, particularly when used as an instrument of propaganda or doctrinal criticism during conflicts in the church, and that Manz used his career to push for social change and greater ecumenical engagement in the traditionally insular Missouri Synod. 

Justin Oei is a senior Music major at William & Mary, currently working on his honors thesis on the music of organist and composer Paul Manz. His research interests focus on sacred music in the Christian tradition, particularly within the Anglican and Lutheran traditions; liturgical revision; and the work of J. S. Bach and Olivier Messiaen. An organist, harpsichordist, and vocalist, he has appeared locally in the Bruton Parish Candlelight Concert series and serves as the organist at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Norge, as well as the Canterbury Organist for Bruton Parish Church.

Alexandria Pomroy, "Carcinonermetes Carcinophila Salinity Tolerance and its Relation to Female Blue Brabs in Chesapeake Bay"

Advisors: Dr. Jeffrey Shields & Dr. Randolph Chambers 

Co-Author: A. K. Schneider

Biology & Philosophy 

Panel: Honors 6, Friday, 2:45 PM 

Given the economic importance of the Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, the recent population fluctuations have generated a growing need to better monitor the fishery. Knowledge of a female’s spawning history can indicate her reproductive contribution to the population. Being able to define the spawning history of blue crabs may improve efficacy of catch regulations and precision of annual proportions reported, specifically that of mature females with different spawning histories. The symbiotic relationship between the blue crab and Carcinonemertes carcinophila, a nemertean worm, has been used to identify the spawning history of mature females. The utility of the nemertean worm as a biomarker may be limited by an incomplete understanding of its biology. In this study, I experimentally tested nemertean stress and survival in low saline conditions, and potential to recover from hyposaline stress. Nemerteans can survive in 25ppt seawater following, up to, ~60 hours of exposure in 5ppt filtered seawater. I also used statistical modeling to determine carapace condition, egg stage, and location within the bay as reliable predictors of nemertean presence and abundance in ovigerous females. I also used statistical modeling to determine the effect of carapace condition, egg stage, and location as predictors of nemertean presence in ovigerous and non-ovigerous females. The high resilience to low salinity conditions and model results provide support for nemerteans as reliable biomarker of spawning history and migratory behavior of mature female blue crabs.

Alexandria Pomroy is a graduating senior at the College of William & Mary, receiving her B.S. in Biology, and secondary degree in Philosophy. Her broad research area is marine biology, but she has a special interest in marine ecology, species interactions, invertebrate biology, and fisheries science. She does her work on the basic biology of nemertean worms, and their relationship and impact on the blue crab's reproductive output, at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. 

Erin Ramsey, "Characterizing environmental regulation of Type I DNA Methyltransferase hsdM1 (HP0463) in Helicobacter pylori" 

Advisor: Dr. Mark Forsyth 

Genetic Engineering & Bioethics

Panel: Honors 7, Friday, 2:45 PM 

Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacteria that colonizes the stomach mucosal lining of approximately 50% of the world’s population. It is a leading cause of Peptic Ulcer Disease, with 10-15% of infections leading to ulcers or Gastric Cancer, and is unusual in its ability to survive for decades if untreated. The thesis explores the mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic regulation H. pylori utilizes to maintain such prolonged colonization in a harsh acidic environment, primarily through characterizing the effects of the Type I methyltransferase hsdM1 (HP0463), which is upregulated upon acid exposure. There is a growing body of literature that suggests that methyltransferases serve to regulate gene expression epigenetically, on top of their protective function in Restriction-Modification systems. We have shown that hsdM1 expression is altered in ΔLuxS mutants. Protein LuxS has been speculated to play a role in the activated methyl cycle as well as in quorum sensing, with byproduct AI-2 being the causal molecule for quorum sensing. This work seeks to determine the extent to which hsdM1 expression is altered by LuxS and its byproduct AI-2. Additionally, genes of interest with hsdM1-mediated methylation increases under acidic conditions have been identified, and the downstream effects on transcription characterized, with special focus on genes involved in pathogenicity and production of toxins. Overall, the thesis seeks to further elucidate the role that DNA methylation and the activated methyl cycle might play in regulating pathogenicity and survival in Helicobacter pylori.

Erin Ramsey is a senior Honors Fellow in the Interdisciplinary Studies department at William & Mary. She is working towards her B.S. in Genetic Engineering and Bioethics as well as a Biology minor. Her research interests include epigenetics and bacterial gene regulation, and her thesis explores the role of bacterial methyltransferase HsdM1 in human pathogen Helicobacter pylori's environmental response network. 

Sarah Richman, "Felling the “Princely Trunk:” Deforestation for Colonial Control in Shakespeare’s The Tempest"

Advisor: Dr. Alicia Andrzejewski

English 

Panel: Honors 4, Thursday, 3:30 PM 

Caliban spends Shakespeare’s Tempest “fetch[ing] in [Prospero’s] wood” (Shakespeare, 1.2.311-312) from a place where there’s “neither bush nor scrub” (2.2.18) to a place surrounded by a “grove” (5.1.10) while Ferdinand suffers under “wooden slavery” (3.1.63) as a “patient log-man” (3.1.67) who enters “bearing” (3.1.1sd) one of “thousands of…logs” (3.1.10) to be burned green (3.1.19) in order to heat but a “poor cell” (1.2.20). Prospero’s exertions of power may appear almost absurd and are associated with ambiguous magic. But what are the implications of this deforestation? How does The Tempest reflect on the power dynamics involved in deforestation? If Shakespeare’s plays “reflect early modern awareness” (Martin 166) of ‘ecology’ which “suggest[s] productive analogies with our own ecological challenges” (166-167), then such questions may prove “useful…as interrogations of our ideas about our relations…to the [natural] world around us” (Egan, 4). This thesis applies contemporary concerns about the early modern English “wood shortage” (Pluymers, 3), which partially motivated early modern colonial enterprise, to deforestation in The Tempest. Within this context, Shakespeare employs arboreal image patterns to situate colonial power in The Tempest. That Prospero exerts his ambiguous magic and colonial power by deforesting the island to an absurd, almost inscrutable extent may provide a critique of said power.

Sarah Richman is a senior undergraduate honors student in the English department at William and Mary. She will graduate in Spring 2023 with degrees in English and Medieval and Renaissance studies. She is most interested in ecocritical, feminist, and performative approaches to early modern drama which often involve monstrous births and the physical conditions of theatrical production, specifically the playing space and cue scripts.

Hannah Smith, "Employing Non-Canonical Amino Acids Towards the Immobilization of a Hyperthermophilic Enzyme to Increase Protein Stability"

Advisor: Dr. Douglas Young 

Co-Authors: C. Howard, J. Halonski, E. Peairs, N. Smith

Chemistry

Panel: Honors 3, Thursday, 3:30 PM 

A carboxylesterase derived from Sulfolobus solfataricus P1 was immobilized onto epoxy-activated sepharose resin via incorporation of unnatural amino acids. The immobilized enzyme exhibited heightened performance in THF and shelf stability of over two years. Our results present resin immobilization as a tool to increase protein stability, recyclability, and longevity.

Hannah Smith is a fourth year undergraduate in the Chemistry Department at William & Mary. She has been conducting research in Dr. Douglas Young's bioorganic laboratory since her freshman year of college. Her honors thesis is a culmination of her research, including the incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins for use in bioconjugation reactions.

Isabella Stark, "Pop Culture, Politics, and the Papacy: The Alignment of Anglo-American Popular Music and the Catholicism of JP II, 1979-1989"

Advisor: Dr. Charles McGovern 

History 

Panel: Honors 5, Friday, 1:30 PM  

This thesis traces the complex dynamics between religious and secular culture during the latter half of the Cold War period, uncovering how institutional Catholicism adjusted and responded to the cultural shift from the World War II generation to the Cold War generation in Western modernity. Specifically, I argue that John Paul’s teachings and Anglo-American popular music unite on the following three issues: 1) the promotion of nonviolence; 2) political activism based on collective rather than individual wellbeing; and; 3) new understandings of masculinity and femininity in rejection of traditional definitions. These surprising parallels between John Paul II’s teachings and the work of musicians are especially pronounced in bands with working-class backgrounds. The thesis is geographically limited to the United States and United Kingdom because the cultural capital of British and American popular musicians gained transatlantic influence and exchange. Especially in Britain, where many refused to acknowledge Catholicism as part of national life, I argue that John Paul II’s papal visit in fact generated a dramatic impact on national culture and speaks to the greater question of celebrity as it equally pertains to cultural icons and religious leaders. My thesis concludes with a theoretical discussion on religion and popular culture. Although religion and culture are often treated as two separate social forces in scholarly literature, I illustrate how the two should be treated as interconnected by focusing on historical contextualization and mass technologies of power.  

Isabella Stark is a senior at William and Mary, double-majoring in History and Government. Her research areas include twentieth-century political, cultural, and religious history. Her honors thesis addresses the role of the papacy in 1980s Anglo-American politics and the evolution of popular political rock throughout the decade. 

Tara Vasanth, "Nurturing Nature: An Exploration of  Biomimetic Architecture"

Advisor: Dr. Sibel Zandi-Sayek

Art History & Environmental Policy 

Panel: Honors 2, Thursday, 9:30 AM 

What is Biomimicry? It can be defined simply as imitating elements and processes in nature and applying them to complex human problems. This paper will unpack this special term’s loaded meaning and rich past in much more detail, but by latching on to this fundamental concept of integrating organic forms in our engineering, we can glean strong parallels between human infrastructure and natural ecosystems. I adopt the view that biomimetic architecture, much like a habitat, operates on three different levels – organism, behavior, and ecosystem. I want to study how these scales of gel together, forming the main thrust of this ‘biotic’ design. 

Upon closer inspection of this special subset of “living” architecture there are several more questions and considerations that I look forward to researching: How have past and present architects sought inspiration from nature to inform their craft and to what extent? Beyond replicating organic forms aesthetically, is it also possible to mimic organic systems to further improve and innovate the function of buildings? In other words, can biomimetics allow architects to fully realize the potential of “earthly” engineering? 

Tara Vasanth is a senior at William & Mary double majoring in Art History and Environmental Policy. She is interested in studying the interdisciplinary intersections of art and conservation. She is currently exploring the viability of biomimicry in the field of architecture, looking at how human design can effectively emulate nature. 

Sarah Villadelgado, "The Impact of Post-translational Modifications on Response Regulator ArsR on Gene Expression in Helicobacter pylori"

Advisor: Dr. Mark Forsyth

Interdisciplinary Studies 

Panel: Honors 3, Thursday, 3:30 PM 

Helicobacter pylori is one of the few bacterial species that can infect and persist in the human stomach because of its ability to sense and adapt to acidic conditions. This is due to the ArsRS two-component system consisting of an acid-sensing protein, ArsS and a response protein that alters gene expression, ArsR. My research focuses on identifying modifications that may occur in ArsR and what effect they may have on gene expression. To date, I have isolated a version of the ArsR protein from H. pylori that can be used in tandem mass spectrometry to identify these modifications, especially the acetylation of lysines. Such modifications are known to alter protein function in related systems, including response regulators related to ArsR. By identifying these modifications, we can create ArsR variants that mimic the modified and unmodified lysines and compare the expression of genes regulated by ArsR in response to acid stress.

Sarah Villadelgado is a fourth year undergraduate student and honors scholar seeking a B.S. in Biochemistry in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department at William & Mary. She has a broad interest in biochemistry, especially in cell signaling and post-translational modifications. Her honors thesis investigates an acid-sensing transcription factor and how it influences gene expression in the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

Ryan Vincent, "No Paeon, No Gain: The Adoption of Egyptian Deities Into the Early Greek Pantheon"

 Advisor: Dr. Jessica Stephens 

Classical Studies

Panel: Honors 4, Thursday, 3:30 PM 

Paeon is one of the most important gods in early Greek society as he appears multiple times throughout pre-classical period literature and plays the essential role of the physician-god for centuries. Although the first reference to him by name appears in the Bronze Age in Linear B texts, evidence suggests that his earliest origins are in Old Kingdom Egypt as the real world physician-priests Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu. The legacies of these men portrayed them as physicians, magicians, healers, heroes and eventually gods. Their incredible stories traveled on trade routes throughout the Mediterranean world and survived the Bronze Age collapse. Eventually they were incorporated into the Greek pantheon as the god Paeon.

Based on the remains of the physicians' lives in Ancient Egypt and Proto Greek scripts indicating a region of origin for Paeon, this Greek god of medicine, later known as Asklepios, not only originated in Egypt but was once real and a part of human history. 

Ryan Vincent is a senior at William & Mary majoring in Classical Studies and History. His primary research interests lie in the role of religion in ancient medicine and the cross cultural exchange between the Bronze Age Hellenic world and Egypt. His current research combines his interests, exploring how an Egyptian medical deity was brought into the Hellenic pantheon.

Claire Wyszynski, "Body Politics: Doctors, Medicalized Nativism, and Chinese Immigration in Nineteenth-Century California"

Advisor: Dr. Brianna Nofil

History & International Relations

Panel: Honors 8, Friday, 2:45 PM  

The purpose of my project is to investigate how the arguments of Californian medical doctors utilized the language of disease to construct the tawdry stereotype of the Chinese prostitute and advocate for the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from the United States in the late nineteenth century. I will argue that physicians organized the issue of Chinese prostitutes as medical threats during the Chinese Exclusion Era for two reasons. First, they sought to express a genuine belief in the inferiority of Chinese immigrants vis-à-vis the native-born, white population. However, I will also seek to demonstrate that physicians’ use of discriminatory tropes and rhetoric strengthened their own legitimacy as medical authorities during a time when medicine was transitioning from a dubious vocation into a professionalized and socially respected industry. These findings are significant because they suggest that physicians, often viewed as objective onlookers, were politically active actors with a stake in the exclusion of Chinese women. Doctors who built and buttressed their medical authority by denigrating Chinese prostitutes justified violence against Chinese women and made possible the first federal immigration legislation that restricted migration on the basis of race.

Claire Wyszynski is a senior at the College of William & Mary studying history and international relations. Her undergraduate honors thesis explores the medicalized nativism perpetuated by doctors against Chinese immigrants in late nineteenth-century America. She is interested in studying immigration law and its intersections with gender, public health, and the Asian American diaspora. She has previously conducted research on health, gender, and peace studies for the CDC, the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, and the US Indo-Pacific Command.

Ruoqing Yao, "Are resumptive pronouns “ambiguous” in islands? Referential resolution for resumptive pronouns in island-violating sentences" 

Advisor: Dr. Anya Hogoboom

Computer Science & Linguistics  

Panel: Honors 2, Thursday, 9:30 AM  

Language production and comprehension are often assumed to share the same linguistic resource. However, human performance on resumptive pronouns (RP) brings a new challenge to this view. Although generally considered ungrammatical, we do find speakers producing RPs in island constructions both in natural and elicited speech (Ferreira & Swets 2005), usually with resumption. Some find that RPs are read faster in self-paced reading (SPR) experiments and argue that resumption is used to facilitate processing (Hofmeister & Norcliffe 2013, Hammerly 2021), while others show that it hinders comprehension (Morgan et al. 2020). It has remained unclear how RP helps with processing if any. Recently, Cokal et al.(2022) reported the first piece of data that showed a slower reading time in SPR tests and speculated that the processing facilitation of RP is comparable to the ambiguity advantage effect. The current study first explores the similarities and differences between RP processing and ambiguity resolution. It then shows a novel SPR experiment that tests the reading times of RPs manipulated with different numbers of feature-matching antecedents. The study concludes with a new explanation of how and why  RP results in faster reading time and lower comprehension.

Ruoqing Yao is a senior undergraduate student in Linguistics and Computer Science at William & Mary. Her research interest is psycholinguistics with a focus on adult sentence processing. Her honors thesis addresses human production-comprehension asymmetry with experiments on reading patterns of resumptive pronouns.

Michelle Yue, "Effects of Mechanical Perturbations on Calcium Activity in Developing Embryos"

Advisor: Dr. Margaret Saha 

Co-Authors: B. Bao, W. Vroom, V. Figgins, U. Ozed-Williams 

Biology & Philosophy 

Panel: Honors 1, Thursday, 9:30 AM  

Calcium is a ubiquitous, highly conserved universal messenger that mediates an array of functions in mature and developing organisms. Although calcium activity has been extensively studied in mature organisms, its role in embryonic development is not well-characterized. This study aims to systematically determine the role of calcium activity in early vertebrate embryonic development using Xenopus laevis as a model organism. In order to do this, physical perturbations are exerted onto developing Xenopus laevis embryos at a controlled frequency, intensity, and duration of pressure through a custom-designed device. In vivo calcium imaging of the developing embryos is performed as the physical perturbations occur. Following perturbation tests, in situ hybridization for calcium-responsive genes are conducted, and RNAseq gene assay data and morphological observations are collected for the embryos. Physical perturbations on early developing embryos increase calcium activity in a localized, time-restricted manner suggesting that pressure-dependent changes in calcium activity begin early in embryonic development. By elucidating the effects of physical perturbations on calcium activity and embryonic development, this study aims to further our understanding of the role calcium signaling has on embryonic development. 

Michelle Yue is a senior 1693 Scholar double- majoring in biology and philosophy at William & Mary. Her research interests include developmental biology, neurobiology, synthetic biology, and bioengineering. Michelle studies the role of calcium activity on embryonic development in Dr. Margaret Saha’s developmental biology laboratory, and her Honors Thesis explores how mechanical perturbation affects calcium activity and development in early embryos.

Heidi Zmick, "“Levers a Dansh” [Get Up and Dance]: Dance in Sixteenth-Century England as Revealed by The Gresley Dance Manuscript"

Advisor: Dr. Nicholas Popper 

History, Medieval & Renaissance Studies  

Panel: Honors 3, Thursday, 9:30 AM 

My thesis investigates dance in Early-Modern Europe, with specific focus on a document retrospectively entitled the Gresley Dance Manuscript. This handwritten twenty-six page document was probably created between 1480-1520, antedating previously discovered written records of English dance. Little is known about the Gresley Dance Manuscript and the text has gone largely unexamined by historians. My study of the manuscript begins by considering the dances themselves through reconstruction of both the dances and music recorded in the manuscript. Reconstruction of the movements of dance within space contributes to the understanding of Early-Modern English dance choreographies and is essential to the analysis of the dances themselves. In order to situate the Gresley dances within the limited record of dance in Early-Modern England, and the broader (more primary source dense) context of dance in Early-Modern Europe, I examine sources on dance in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England as well as considering dance in sixteenth-century Italy and France. I also situate the Gresley Dance Manuscript within the local history of Derbyshire, the area of England in which the document was found and probably written. With my thesis, I demonstrate that the Gresley manuscript may have been written in a monastic setting and that dance, as well as the milieu in which dance took place and the contemporary writing surrounding dance, served as a conduit through which social values were received by those inhabiting dance spaces, consuming writing on dance, and actively participating in dance.

Heidi Zmick is a senior undergraduate honors student at the College of William and Mary majoring in History, minoring in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and receiving a NIAHD certificate in Museum Studies and Material Culture. Her research focuses on Late Medieval Europe, with particular attention to social history, gender and sexuality studies, dance history, and material and visual culture - specifically textiles and clothing. 

Caroline Donovan, "Gendered Publishing Patterns and Occupational Trends, Oceania Archaeology 2005-2020"

Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Kahn 

Anthropology

My research examines ongoing issues of gender disparity in male-dominated academic professions like archaeology. Here, I investigate the link between gender and publishing of archaeological research in Oceania amongst a broad cross-section of archaeologists: those working in academia, museums, the private sector, in federal agencies, tribes, and research institutes, and those working independently. Similar research conducted on North American archaeologists has found significant gender imbalances between female and male publishing rates. To determine if similar trends exist amongst archaeologists working in Oceania, I created a database to log the number of female-first authored and male-first authored research articles in regional and international journals and edited volumes. I also recorded the occupational affiliation of the first authors. To launch my study, I collected sixteen years of data (2005-2020) for nine peer-reviewed regional journals and eight peer-reviewed international journals. My regional data results demonstrate that male archaeologists in Oceania publish at higher rates than female archaeologists (70% to 30%). I will investigate possible causes of these gender disparities including gender of journal editors, female preference for non-academic jobs, instances sexual harassment at field sites, or limited undergraduate mentorship opportunities.

Caroline Donovan is a senior undergraduate honors student in the Anthropology department. She has a broad interest in Pacific Island archaeology and is currently exploring gendered publishing patterns and occupational trends. Caroline will continue her honors thesis research next year as she pursues a one-year M.A. in anthropology and archaeology here at William & Mary.

Kenzi Fergus, "Role of Emojis in Emotional Attention for Individuals with Autistic Traits and Social Anxiety"

Advisor: Dr. Cheryl Dickter

Neuroscience

In an increasingly virtual world, non-verbal social cues are limited, making it difficult to interpret and attend to the emotions of others over a screen. This effect is likely exacerbated for individuals with social impairments such as those with autism or social anxiety. Emojis present a way to convey emotional content in a virtual setting and can serve to reduce emotional ambiguity in computer-mediated communication. This study seeks to examine the role of emojis on cognitive processing in a social situation. Specifically, the study will investigate differences for individuals with high levels of autistic traits and those with high levels of social anxiety in a task involving social attention. The study utilizes an emotional attention task in which participants must identify the emotion of a target human face while controlling their attraction away from distractor human faces and emojis. Eye-tracking data, reaction time and accuracy are recorded during the task. Levels of autistic traits and social anxiety are collected through surveys following the task. It is hypothesized that the use of emojis rather than human faces will be less cognitively taxing for individuals with high autistic traits and social anxiety. This effect will be shown by decreased reaction time and pupil dilation when emojis serve as distractors. This study will provide insight into the role emojis can play in aiding virtual communication for individuals with high levels of autistic traits and social anxiety. 

Kenzi Fergus is a senior undergraduate honors student in Neuroscience at William & Mary. She has an interest in autism and social anxiety, specifically, the emotional and attentional mechanisms of each. She is currently examining the role of emojis on social attention and emotion recognition on these two groups. 

Lillian Pope, "The Chicken or the Egg?: Staffing and Quality under a Pay-for-Performance Model" 

Advisor: Jennifer Mellor 

Public Policy

To evaluate the implementation of the Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program, Dr. Peter Cunningham at VCU and Dr. Jennifer Mellor at William & Mary will conduct interviews with nurse administrators working in Virginia nursing facilities participating in DMAS’ Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Methodology. Facilities will be selected with consideration of baseline quality level. In conjunction, I will conduct quantitative data analysis on staffing levels and their effect on quality of care in nursing homes. To quantify local labor market conditions, I will use unemployment data, wage data, and baseline staffing metrics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and DMAS, respectively. Unemployment rates are a measure of staffing issues, indicating how many available workers there are and how competitive the job market is. Areas with fewer unemployed residents than job opportunities are likely experiencing staffing shortages. Additionally, wage data can indicate difficulties in hiring. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a breakdown of wage data by profession and metropolitan area, allowing me to compare hourly wages by area and occupation. The purpose of this is to investigate local labor conditions on nursing facilities’ quality of care.

Lilly Pope is a graduating senior at the College of William & Mary. A double major in kinesiology and health sciences with a concentration in public health and public policy, she intends to peruse a master’s in public health upon graduation. Her honors thesis addresses the role of health policy in the quality of healthcare being delivered in the state of Virginia, specifically in nursing homes.

Carter Prillaman, "The Genetics of Pattern Formation in Plants" 

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Puzey 

Biology

Pattern formation underlies nearly all developmental processes in plants. One such process of economic and ecological importance is the patterning of floral pigments across a flower petal. The genetic regulatory network associated with the spatial orientation of pigmentation in a petal lobe can act as a model for understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for diverse and complex patterns within plants. Previous work has revealed the central role of MYB5a/NEGAN in the reaction diffusion system regulating anthocyanin production within Mimulus flowers, but the vast array of phenotypes present following hybridization events cannot at present be fully explained by the action of this protein. In this study, we used a bulk segregant analysis approach to uncover some of the possible proteins responsible for the diversity of pigmentation patterns found within a population of 400 hybrid Mimulus flowers. While this project is still ongoing, preliminary analysis suggests that multiple independent or interacting proteins may be interacting in a series of complex relationships to produce unique patterning for each flower. Further genetic analysis of targeted F2 hybrids will need to be conducted to confirm any of these hypotheses, and this will be completed once these flowers have matured. 

Carter Prillaman is a senior honors student in Biology at William & Mary. His research is on plant genetics and development, specifically focusing on the patterning of colors across a flower petal. His undergraduate honors thesis seeks to understand the genetic basis of varying floral patterns using plant breeding techniques.