Fall 2026: Poster Session III

I worked with Professor Laura Shelton as a Hackman Scholar, examining the changing societal position of midwives in 19th-20th century Mexico. I conducted a Spanish paleographic data entry using Jalisco maternity ward records from Guadalajara's civil hospital, 1898–1903. Transcribing 19th century cursive required navigating unfamiliar medical terminology, regional vocabulary, and individualized shorthand. Beyond transcription, I learned to identify patterns and omissions within historical sources. This was notable in a significant discrepancy in the reporting of maternal/infant deaths recorded by one medical student, Adolfo Lomerdo, whose notes on events tend to be long and strenuous about common details such as full-term births, more than once very succinctly described births where the mother/child did not survive or had complications. This experience demonstrated how archival research can uncover broader questions about gender, medicine, and class. It strengthened my interest in history while encouraging me to pursue graduate study and research-oriented careers. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Laura Shelton, Department of History

An underdiscussed characteristic of the chromosomal abnormality Down syndrome (DS) is increased prevalence of thyroid disorders, which have been understudied in mouse models. This study aims to determine whether the Dp(16)1Yey DS mouse model (Dp+) is appropriate for studying thyroid abnormalities among the DS population. We hypothesize that Dp+ mice will express higher levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and lower levels of thyroxine (T4) than euploid mice. This study measures thyroid gland volumes (mm3) at 6 months and thyroid hormones at 3 and 6 months using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to determine whether Dp+ mice display hypothyroidism. At 3 months, Dp+ TSH levels were only 0.67% lower than Eup mice, and Dp+ T4 levels were 11.94% lower, neither of which was statistically significant. If a difference at 6 months is identified, it would indicate thyroid disorders develop later in adulthood in Dp(16)1Yey model mice. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Clara Moore, Department of Biology.

Post-synthetic anion exchange in copper chalcogenide nanoparticles converts Cu2-xS to Cu2-x(Se,S), creating new materials for energy and catalysis applications. Uncovering the mechanism of this process, such as its dependence on surface interactions with reactive H2Se, requires reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The ReaxFF method allows rapid simulations but relies on the development of optimal force field parameters. To optimize ReaxFF parameters, we compared ReaxFF to DFT calculations. Ensembles with Cu, S, Se, C, and H underwent ReaxFF MD simulations at 2500-5000 K. Structurally diverse clusters were isolated and optimized to determine formation enthalpies using both methods. Our current force field systematically overestimates formation enthalpies. Energetic disparities and atomic displacements between ReaxFF and DFT geometries grow with larger cluster size and Cu/Se content, whereas C, H, and S incorporation improve energetic agreement. These results provide reference data for optimizing ReaxFF to enable efficient anion exchange simulations. This project was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation.

Project Mentor: Professor Kate Plass, Department of Chemistry.

White Clay Creek Preserve, Pennsylvania is located near the Pennsylvania-Delaware state boundary. The goal of this project was to utilize petrographic microscopy to determine sample lithologies in order to establish a potential provenance of valley-bottom sediments. Samples were collected from creek deposits and presumed quartzite boulders from a hillslope.  The hillslope boulders were produced through frost action weathering from periglacial freeze-thaw cycles during the Pleistocene epoch. The presently studied landscape was previously characterized by tundra, consistent with conditions of frost action. The boulders were involved in intense mass movement due to the annual thawing of the upper ~0.5 m of permafrost, eroding sediment downslope and into the valley-bottom, most likely introduced to inherently irregular fluvial transport conditions. Boulder samples were made into thin-sections for petrographic analysis and sediment comparison, to determine if the boulders could be the provenance of the sandy deposits in WCCP’s valley-bottom. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor James Jolles, Department of Earth and Environment.

Oil and gas drilling is prevalent throughout Pennsylvania. While research shows there is a link between the effects of drilling and childhood asthma rates, there is a lack of data on the effectiveness of setback regulations for drilling operations. Pennsylvania establishes statewide minimum setback requirements, but municipalities may adopt stricter regulations. Because Pennsylvania does not maintain a centralized database of municipal setback requirements, these regulations have not been comprehensively compiled. Our goal was to compile an extensive list of setback regulations for each municipality across Pennsylvania. Municipal setback requirements will then be categorized and compared with childhood asthma rates to investigate whether a relationship exists between the stringency of setback regulations and asthma prevalence. The resulting database will provide a foundation for evaluating the potential relationship between local drilling regulations and childhood respiratory health. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Jennifer Meyer, Department of Government.

Using human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), in conjunction with specialized media and small molecule cocktails (SMCs) adapted from a previous study (Bhaskar et al. 2024), we were able to generate cells from HDFs that exhibited significant phenotypic similarities to astrocytes.

HDFs have previously demonstrated cellular plasticity and viability in differentiation protocols (Du et al. 2023). The function of this study was to ascertain the feasibility of using a modified protocol, to achieve the transdifferentiation of HDFs into astrocytes. This methodology holds promise for efficiently and expeditiously generating astrocytes to be used in future research.

Astrocytes are neuroglial cells, necessary for the proper function of the neurons they surround. They also participate in the blood brain barrier and play a role in guiding the development of neuronal tissues, especially in the cerebellum. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program, the Eyler Fund and Committee on Grants Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Robert Jinks, Department of Biology.

Deep learning models are increasingly used in hydrology for prediction and scientific discovery through Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). However, different XAI methods and implementation choices may produce different scientific interpretations. This study reviews XAI applications in LSTM-based hydrologic prediction and evaluates two gradient-based methods, Integrated Gradients (IG) and Expected Gradients (EG), using an Arctic river temperature LSTM model. We test how IG baseline selection and perturbation strategies affect attribution results and whether these choices change the identification of dominant environmental drivers and their lagged effects. We also examine when explanations remain consistent or diverge across seasons and watershed conditions. Finally, we identify computationally efficient IG settings that provide robust explanations comparable to EG and offer practical guidelines for improving the robustness, reproducibility, and scientific interpretability of XAI in hydrology. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Dorothy Merritts, Department of Earth and Environment.

Knitted fabrics have remarkable elasticity despite being constructed with non-elastic yarn. Prior research [Singal et al, Nat. Comm. 15, 2622, (2024)] has identified two significant physical mechanisms for the elasticity. One is the bending of yarn in the interlocking loop structure of knits, and the second is compression of yarn as the yarn strands interact with each other. However, characterization of bending and compression responses of yarn in this context has so far been done with yarn under no tension. Since tests of the fabric elasticity place the yarn under considerable tension, these characterizations may be missing significant physics. This summer, we designed and constructed new apparatus to perform measurements of bending and compression responses as a function of extensive tension. We present preliminary results indicating tension-dependent effects, as well as ideas for how to refine and improve precision in our apparatus. This project was supported by funding from the Hackman Summer Scholars Program and the Shilling Family Endowment . 

Project Mentor: Professor Amy Lytle, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

When children are bombarded with conflicting information, how do they decide what to believe? In this study, we’re interested in looking at whether kids tend to form beliefs based on social group identities or evidence. Previous research has found that children are more likely to believe and pursue more information from a source they observe as accurate (Tang et al., 2023). However, others have discovered that children are more likely to selectively learn new information from an in-group member, especially after ostracization, as they strive for affiliation after rejection (Li & Koenig, 2022). We designed a study to prompt children to simultaneously confront the social value of conforming in the face of potential ostracization and the internal drive to pursue accuracy. Our preliminary results suggest children consistently seek accuracy after age 8, despite seeming hesitant to reveal this to peers until age 9. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Joshua Rottman, Department of Psychology.

Food allergens are proteins that can trigger adverse immune responses, sometimes leading to life-threatening reactions. Accurate identification of allergenic proteins is therefore important for food safety, motivating computational methods that can complement experimental testing. This study investigates how protein representation and machine-learning architecture affect allergen prediction. Protein sequences were represented using one-hot encoding, amino acid composition, pseudo-amino acid composition (PseAAC), and physicochemical properties derived from AAindex. Multiple classifiers, including 1D CNNs, SVMs, multilayer perceptrons, random forests, and LSTMs, were compared using 5-fold stratified cross-validation and an independent validation set. A curated 9-property extended PseAAC representation combined with an SVM achieved the best independent-test performance, with 83.18% accuracy, 74.24% sensitivity, and an MCC of 0.6744. Expanding to hundreds of physicochemical properties reduced generalization, suggesting that carefully selected, biologically meaningful features can outperform increased feature or model complexity. This project was supported by funding from the F&M’s Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Jing Hu, Department of Computer Science.

RotationSlicing is an Astropy-affiliated Python package that enables interactive exploration of galaxy clusters using custom coordinate systems and arbitrarily oriented sky slices. In this talk, we will demonstrate how RotationSlicing can be used to visualize and investigate the structure of galaxy clusters from different perspectives. We will introduce the new RotationSlicing documentation website, demonstrating how users can access tutorials, API references, and executable examples to learn the package and make the most of its visualization capabilities. We will also showcase the SkystripExplorer interface, which combines multiple visualization tools into a single interactive figure, allowing users to explore sky slices and coordinate transformations dynamically in Jupyter Notebook and Google Colab. Through these demonstrations, we will highlight how RotationSlicing can make the exploration of complex astronomical structures more intuitive while providing users with the resources needed to effectively incorporate the package into their own research. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Elizabeth Praton, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Traditional evaluations of youth reentry programs focus on compliance metrics like reoffending, completion, and attendance, missing whether youth achieve lasting behavioral change. The CHIME framework (Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning, and Empowerment) provides a recovery-oriented approach to personal transformation, yet remains rarely applied in US juvenile justice settings. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with adult alumni (18+) of Bench Mark Lancaster, a youth development and reentry organization in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and will be coded in collaboration with the Franklin & Marshall College Center for Opinion Research. Analyses will highlight program elements driving behavioral change, establish theory-grounded evaluation metrics beyond output measures, and identify gaps between Bench Mark's services and necessary conditions for sustained recovery. This study will optimize Bench Mark’s evaluation practices and inform a future longitudinal survey. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Hollie Tripp, Department of Government.

Understanding how changes in measurable water quality conditions translate into ecological outcomes is important for evaluating the benefits of watershed restoration. Our study uses expert elicitation to examine the relationship between seven water quality indicators, including nitrates, specific conductance, temperature, dissolved oxygen, water levels, E. coli, and turbidity, and three ecological endpoints: human health, aquatic life health, and aesthetics in urban, wadeable streams in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Our approach adapts the expert elicitation component of von Haefen et al. (2023) to the local context. Five experts from Franklin & Marshall College’s Chesapeake Watershed Initiative evaluated hypothetical water quality scenarios representing 100 streams, estimating the distribution of streams across low, medium, and high endpoint categories. An AI-based respondent, Fable, was also included for comparison and evaluated 100 scenarios, while each human expert evaluated 20. Ordered probit and ordinary least squares models were used to identify relationships between water quality indicators and ecological endpoint classifications and to examine differences between human experts and Fable. Results indicate that E. coli was significantly associated with human health classifications, with a one-standard-deviation increase associated with a decrease in the probability of good human health and an increase in the probability of poor human health. Dissolved oxygen was significantly associated with aquatic life health, while water levels and turbidity were significantly associated with aesthetics. Differences between individual human experts and Fable varied across endpoints. The findings demonstrate that expert elicitation can provide a useful framework for linking measurable water quality indicators to broader ecological outcomes and can support the evaluation of the potential benefits of watershed restoration in Lancaster County. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Patrick Fleming, Department of Economics.

Various studies are being conducted on the effects of problematic media use on mental health; however, there is a need for more detailed research by examining the underlying mechanism of relationship between problematic media use, sleep, and psychological well-being. In this longitudinal study, the relationship between problematic media use (indicating social media, online videos, and video gaming) and mental health, and sleep quality was analyzed among first-year college students. Problematic media use assessed by Social Media Disorder Scale and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale, mental health outcomes assessed by DASS-21 for depression and anxiety and The Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale, and sleep quality assessed by Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index.  The results of six-month longitudinal study showed,  contrary to the consensus, problematic media use at baseline did not predict greater anxiety or depression later on. Specifically, problematic online video use predicted worse sleep quality later. This project was supported by funding from the C. Richard Puff Endowment.

Project Mentor: Professor El-Lim Kim, Department of Psychology

The Sam’s Creek restoration project in Maryland involves removing legacy sediment and restoring floodplain wetland habitat. Our summer research focused on evidence preserved beneath the legacy sediment to better understand the wetland environment that existed there in the past. We processed sediment samples from trenches by cleaning and sieving them, then examining the remaining material under a microscope for preserved seeds and other organic remains. One notable finding was the identification of Ranunculus (white water crowfoot) seeds in samples dated to approximately 11,500 and 16,500 calibrated years before present. White water crowfoot grows in shallow, slow-moving water, providing evidence of wetland conditions preserved in these buried deposits. Together with other wetland-plant seeds and the site’s radiocarbon chronology, these findings help reconstruct past wetland conditions at Sam’s Creek and provide ecological context for the restoration. This project was supported by funding from the Geoscience Founders Society Endowment.

Project Mentor: Professor Dorothy Merritts, Department of Earth & Environment.

Ion exchange is an essential postsynthetic modification for the creation of complex nanoheterostructures. Specific ions are removed from a material’s crystal lattice and a different ion is incorporated to fill the spaces left by the removal of the first ion. This is crucial to the preservation of the morphology of the material as well as the crystal packing structure. Our goal is to study the regioselectivity of multiple cations by conducting a sequential anion cation exchange. We perform a tellurium anion exchange on Cu2-xS nanorods and then a sequential combinatorial cation exchange on various levels of tellurium. TEM imaging showed severe clumping of the nanorods after the cation exchange was performed. We believe this to be due to the presence of Cd and by increasing surface legends aggregation decreased. We found inconsistencies among experiments and differences in incorporation depending on the level of tellurium incorporation during the anion exchange. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program and the National Science Foundation. 

Project Mentor: Professor Kate Plass, Department of Chemistry.

Scholars in consumer behavior, developmental psychology, and sociology continually recognize the significance of personal possessions, yet these fields often examine the material world in isolation. This summer, we synthesized these perspectives by introducing a unified framework for Socially Symbolic Objects (SSOs), personal possessions that function as cognitive and emotional anchors linking individuals to their social worlds. Through multiple deep dives into the literature, we developed a paper on how this novel term is related yet meaningfully different from the relevant concepts, such as anxious attachment, “social snacking”, and extension of self theory. Relevant literature illuminated that we hold an inherent ability to attach to objects in the same way that we attach to humans, and that objects can serve as “social substitutes” when connection is lacking. Through this work, we provide a cross-disciplinary synthesis of how objects can serve human’s fundamental need to belong. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Megan Knowles, Department of Psychology.

The Agricultural Futures Archive project documents the lived experience and expertise of food growers in the US mid-Atlantic region. This summer, we collected over 60 interviews with farmers and urban gardeners throughout Lancaster and into central Pennsylvania. We developed new methods of contacting interviewees including flyering and cold calling, which resulted in collecting accounts from a wide range of growers including Plain community members, niche cropping farmers, beekeepers, mushroom growers, lavender farmers, and alpaca farmers. Each researcher developed a public-facing digital installation focusing on utopian visions, farmer identity construction, skyrocketing land prices, and perspectives on migrant farmworkers. We also contributed to an in-progress article on periurban agricultural economic change and presented our findings to project collaborators at Temple and Salisbury Universities, who are conducting parallel research in their own regions. Overall, we found that the affordability crisis has long-term impacts on agriculture and should inform how scholars understand its future. This project was supported by funding from the Mellon Agriculture Future Grant.

Project Mentor: Professor Eric Hirsch, Department of Earth & Environment.

Blocking is a finishing technique employed by knitters to knitted fabrics. In blocking, the fabric is soaked, often manually shaped, and allowed to dry flat under tension. This process allows fibers to relax into the nested loop shape of the knitted stitch. In research studies on the elasticity of knitted fabrics, previous research has not used blocking as part of their sample production. Our group has developed a systematic blocking procedure which has led to more reproducible behavior in the elasticity measurements of knitted swatches than reported in the past. To characterize its effects on the stitch deformation as well as fabric behavior, we have investigated the stitch-level behavior through image analysis of the shapes of the stitches as a function of time under and amount of tension during the blocking process. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program and the Shilling Family Endowment.

Project Mentor: Professor Amy Lytle, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

As part of the Hackman Scholars program, we worked on the continuation of data processing from the PALFA survey. The project, named Project GUMBO (Galactic, Ultra-fast, Millisecond Binary Observations), used Stager Hall’s computer cluster to produce pulsar candidate plots from Arecibo Telescope data. Our primary duties were to run raw data through processing programs, look through these produced graphs for potential candidates, and innovate new ways to quicken the processing. The goal was to find highly-accelerated pulsars, which might exist in compact binary systems with a black hole companion. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program and Penn State NASA Space Grant.

Project Mentor: Professor Fronefield Crawford, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Our goal with this project is to understand how international policies and norms spread across countries and why some states adopt them sooner than others. We reviewed the existing scholarship on norm diffusion in each policy area, noting the mechanisms prior studies identify, and will test the effect of diplomatic ties on norm diffusion.We collected data on humanitarian arms control (landmine and cluster munition bans) and women's rights legislation (electoral gender quotas, abortion law, and marital rape law). To control for the influence of international organizations in the spread of weapons norms, we also collected data on the International Committee of the Red Cross's global presence.  We intend to use the data to test the role of diplomatic network ties influences national norm adoption, and to compare diffusion patterns across policy areas. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Dana Stuster, Department of Government.

This poster represents a portion of research into an underexplored aspect of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School: the lives of individual students before, during, and after their institutionalization at Carlisle. Focusing on Etta Robertson, an adolescent student at Carlisle, this project reconstructs portions of her life through archival research, including census documents, newspapers, and records produced by the Carlisle School itself. Although much of the research on display relies on the interpretation of documents that Etta did not produce herself, this poster also incorporates portions of a speech written by Etta, centering her own voice within the narrative. The poster explores Etta’s kinship ties, her experiences at Carlisle, her time on outing in Lancaster in the home of Richard Scheidt (Professor of Biology at F&M College), and her eventual marriage. Etta Robertson’s story, while uniquely her own, also sheds light on the experiences of the thousands of Indigenous children sent to Carlisle. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Summer Scholars Grant Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Mary Ann Levine, Department of Anthropology.

The CECILIA Survey is a JWST/NIRSpec program aimed at studying spectra of distant galaxies at redshifts 2-3. In the survey, there are two spectrum gratings for each galaxy: G395M is a well calibrated but noisy spectrum, and G235M is a poorly calibrated but low-noise spectrum. We found that a portion of the G235M spectra outside of their calibration range were shifted upwards, causing misalignment with the G395M spectra. This was consistent across most galaxies in the survey. Through analyzing the spectra of each galaxy, we worked to create a universal correction function to apply to the spectra of each galaxy. This was achieved through finding the continua and emission line fluxes of each spectrum. By taking the ratios of the continua and the emission line fluxes, we observed the discrepancies between the two spectra and found a function that can be applied to correct this calibration error. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program and Research Corporation Grant.

Project Mentor: Professor Ryan Trainor, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

This project examines the history of California’s prison boxing program during the peak period of the rehabilitative ideal, from the late 1930s to the late 1990s. In particular, it explores the evolution of prison boxing programs in multiple state correctional facilities, public opinion toward these programs, and how they impacted the lives of inmates and prison officials. The case study of former professional boxer Jesse Burnett shows that boxing acted as an important rehabilitative program that provided incarcerated individuals with hope, discipline, and opportunities for life transformation. However, some critics condemned prison boxing for failing to address the underlying issues that lead individuals to crime, like poverty and social inequality, while also increasing the risk of brain injuries. Others criticized all prison recreational programs, including boxing, as being too lenient. Research materials, including newspaper articles, archival records, and published interviews, show these contradictory responses. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Gregory Kaliss, Department of History.

This study explores how effective legacy sediment removal is at restoring a stream by using Nitrate as a parameter. Filtered water samples were collected along the stretch of the stream on two separate occasions. Both times, the samples were then tested for Nitrate and the results were mapped using GPS coordinates from each sampling location. Water temperatures were collected at each sample sight as well to corroborate the data. Results show a decrease in overall stream Nitrate compared to pre-restoration samplings. Additionally, the study helped to identify potential denitrification zones throughout the restoration where nitrate levels drop suddenly. Further sampling and study will be conducted to continue the monitoring of nitrate levels.This project was supported by funding from the Moss Geology Field Work Fund.

Project Mentor: Professor Robert Walter, Department of Earth & Environment.

Recognition of cytosolic nucleic acids is critical for type-I interferon (IFN-β) production, which inhibits pathogen replication. One apical sensor, cGAS, binds to cytosolic DNA and generates cGAMP as secondary messengers that bind directly to STING at the ER. Active STING recruits TBK-1 or IKKε, which phosphorylates interferon regulatory factors to drive the antiviral transcriptome, driven by IFN-β. NLRC3, an NLR family member, negatively regulates this pathway by blocking STING trafficking and TBK-1 activity. TMCC1, SLC12A6, and FMNL1 were identified to interact with NLRC3 via a yeast-two hybrid screen. In this poster, we demonstrate these interactions at/near the ER, preventing NLRC3 interactions with STING. Recombinant THP-1 cells deficient in TMCC1 secrete significantly less IFN-β in response to cytosolic DNA. These findings suggest that TMCC1 is a positive regulator of IFN-β production, possibly via derepressing NLRC3 function, and further support NLRC3’s interaction with SLC12A6 and FMNL1. This project was supported by funding from the National Institute of Health Grant.

Project Mentor: Professor Beckley Davis, Department of Biology.

A planetary nebula (PN) is the remnant of a low-mass star. The ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 is significantly elevated in PNe (~1-13), compared to the solar ratio of about 89. The enrichment of carbon-13 suggests that the stars which formed these PNe may have undergone an explosive event in which excess amounts of this rare isotope were generated. This process is also expected to produce large quantities of the rare isotopes nitrogen-15 and oxygen-17. Thus, a search for oxygen-17 in the form of C17O was conducted in a set of PNe with observed enrichments of 13C. Observations were made using telescopes at the Arizona Radio Observatory. Data were processed using CLASS, and abundances were calculated using the rotational diagram method, and the radiative transfer code RADEX. Preliminary results suggest that PNe with 13C enhancement also demonstrate 17O enrichment, supporting the predicted explosive origins of these rare isotopes. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor: Professor Deborah Schmidt, Department of Physics & Astronomy.

In this summer research project, I reconstructed the role of Roman Catholic parishes in Lancaster as spaces of welcome for refugees and immigrants from the 18th century to the present. Using bibliographical and archival materials along with interviews with local historians and clergy, I discovered the ways in which ethnic parish communities created welcoming. The offering of free English-language classes, services conducted in language other than English are some contributing factors to the welcoming ethos of the City of Lancaster. Religious communities are thus fundamental to the recognition of the Welcoming City status of Lancaster. This project was supported by funding from the Mellon Humanities for All Times: Reckoning with Lancaster Grant.

Project Mentors: Professors Giovanna Faleschini Lerner, Department of Italian Studies & Hebrew and Anne Stachura, Department of Spanish and Linguistics

Two-body bound states such as positronium and muonium are unique systems for testing quantum electrodynamics and the Standard Model with high precision since they are composed of point-like constituents bound almost exclusively by the electromagnetic force. The goal of our project is to calculate O(⍺^7) energy corrections to two-body bound systems to improve theoretical predictions for ongoing experiments. This summer, we calculated Feynman diagrams with a radiative recoil on each fermion line and two-photon exchange between the fermions. Feynman integrals corresponding to these energy corrections were reduced to a set of master integrals using integration by parts techniques provided by a computer package on the F&M cluster. These master integrals were evaluated numerically to achieve an energy contribution as a function of the fermion mass ratio. Our results are consistent with previously known less-precise results in the literature and extend them to all values of the masses. This project was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation.

Project Mentor: Gregory Adkins, Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Vibrational reporters have been proven as an effective way to study dynamic processes such as protein and RNA folding, drug binding, and other conformational changes of biomolecules. Multiple vibrational reporters can be incorporated into a molecule to achieve vibrational coupling between two reporters as a way to measure distances and dynamic changes within molecules. Our projects sought to synthesize 2,6-dicarbamate pyridine derivatives 2’-deoxyuridine derivatives (both with and without DMT protecting groups), and amino acids containing azides, cyanamides, and nitriles to act as vibrational reporters as well as 2,6-dicarbamate pyridine derivatives without vibrational reporters to serve as control compounds. Di-n-butyl (phenylethynyl) pyridine-2,6-diyl dicarbamate, DMT-2’-azido-2’-deoxyuridine, and 5-azido-2’-deoxyuridine were each synthesized with 57%, 71%, and 35% yields, respectively. 4-13C cyanobenzyl bromide was synthesized with 29% yield and shown to react with a cysteine residue in sfGFP. IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy confirmed the structures of these compounds. This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentors: Professors Scott Brewer and Edward Fenlon, Department of Chemistry.

Return point memory (RPM) is the ability of a material to “remember” the largest stretch it has experienced. This behavior has been observed in knitted fabrics, but it is not clear whether the memory comes only from the knitted structure or also from the yarn itself. In this project, we tested a single cotton yarn using cyclic stretching. First, we found a reproducible zero-position where the yarn was taut and began to carry force immediately. Then we stretched the yarn to a small strain, then a larger strain, and finally back to the small strain while measuring force. The later small-strain cycles were different from the first ones, suggesting memory-like behavior in a single yarn. This may come from internal fibers tightening and rearranging during stretching. This project was supported by funding from the Daniel Scholl Observatory Endowment.

Project Mentor: Professor Etienne Gagnon, Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Post-synthetic transformations offer a versatile strategy to modify the composition and crystal phase of synthesized nanoparticles. Among these methods, we investigated selenium based anion exchange on copper chalcogenide nanorods. Precise control over this reaction is highly sensitive to its reaction environment, and recent research indicates that dialkyl diselenides might facilitate exchange by decomposing to hydrogen selenide species, making hydrogen selenide a possible essential intermediate driving the reaction. To further test the significance of this intermediate, we conducted selenium exchange under different gaseous conditions, specifically with “flowing” argon and “static” argon. We characterized the respective products and concluded that a “static” reaction environment is crucial for maintaining structural stability of the nanoparticles and replicability of the exchange.  This project was supported by funding from the F&M Hackman Summer Scholars Program, and The National Science Foundation.

Project Mentor: Professor Kate Plass, Department of Chemistry.