Poster Session II

We report success in fixing a plate-solving issue in an image stacking pipeline built by past members of our group (Ficarra et al. 2023) for an on-going program monitoring a region in the constellation Orion east of Orion's Belt, that has collected roughly 10,000 images so far, using the Slooh remote telescope service. This region contains a small double-lobed radio source that may have transient emission (Camuccio & Praton 2016). The plate solutions are done using astrometry.net, which is an “astrometry engine” that attaches a world coordinate system to the images. However, we noticed that the stacks produced inaccurate results, and we discovered our study area falls on the border of two index files. Index files contain ‘skymarks’ (landmarks for the sky) that allow the solver to identify the images. We made custom index files using data from GAIA, which produced significantly better results. This project was supported by funding from the NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Beth Praton, Department of Physics and Astronomy

My research delved into the curious world of Iris van Herpen, a Dutch designer whose work has skyrocketed since the emergence of her brand in 2007. Using articles and interviews, I investigated her rise to fame and the origin of her interest in creating works through motion. Before Van Herpen, 3D printing and laser cutting were not a part of Haute Couture design. Due to these methods, her brand has become the equivalent of a think tank within high fashion. My findings expanded on the technologies she combines with traditional Haute Couture techniques. As I examined her interests and creative process, I was able to focus on the underlying theme: What is the purpose of clothing? In comparing the future of Haute Couture to its late 19th century beginnings, my findings revealed that clothing has always been a form of expression, function, and innovation. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Cindy Yetter-Vassot, Department of French and Francophone Studies

Molybdenum is an important trace element found in marine sediments and plays a significant role in understanding the past ocean environment. Previous research has already synthesized the molybdenum absorbed iron sulfide experimentally under simulating marine environments. For this project, it reveals the solid-state transformation of the iron sulfide using monowave. The iron sulfide is heated at different temperatures for 9 minutes. The solid phase and aqueous phase is then analyzed for characterization. To sum up, for aqueous phase higher monowaving temperature facilities more Fe and Molybdenum ion released. For solid phase, higher monowaving temperatures increase the solid crystallinity. At 200 degrees for 2 hours aging time, the FeS control group is pyrite-dominated and the ADS group is greigite-dominated, which is consistent with previous study. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Jennifer Morford, Department of Chemistry

Within the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, finding a safer and more reliable approach to demining post-war zones that decreases the human-to-mine contact time and provides discrimination of mines from clutter is essential because existing methods promise to complete demining after 750 years. The “Demining Robots” project aims to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of a safe landmine detection system using a team of cooperative robotic vehicles, each carrying specialized sensors. Our results show progress towards these new demining technologies using a metal detector, impulse ground penetrating radar (GPR), and holographic subsurface radar system (HSR) as three different detection methods for buried objects. We also successfully developed tripwire detection using a camera and surface object detection using AI real time detection.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholar Program. 

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

Down Syndrome (DS), also known as Trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder that occurs most commonly when abnormal meiotic cell division increases the genetic material of chromosome 21. This triplication causes well-defined phenotypes, including abnormal hematopoiesis, high rates of transient myeloproliferative disease and leukemia, and immune system abnormalities (Lui et al. 2017). The Dp(16)1Yey mouse colony was utilized to investigate gene expression patterns between samples of euploid and Dp+ Theiler stage-24 embryonic livers, embryonic GI tracts and embryonic spleens using a new experimental procedure. We analyzed gene expression patterns using HCRTM RNA FISH with RNA-based fluorescently-tagged probes RUNX and CD34+ which are a part of hematopoietic differentiation of megakaryocytes and hematopoietic stem cells respectively. Our findings will give us a better understanding of gene expressions in developing tissues and sexual dimorphic gene patterns. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program and the Benedict-Miller Foundation. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Clara Moore, Department of Biology

My Marshall Fellow Project, titled “The War in Ukraine: Why it Matters,” is an academic enrichment opportunity to benefit the F&M community and my personal academic knowledge of Europe, development, and Ukraine. Being Ukrainian-American, I find it my obligation to be an ambassador of Ukrainian importance. Ukraine’s role in European development is something that I will be actively trying to be a participant in, and attending conferences, networking with individuals, and being active in Ukrainian politics, will jumpstart my future goals of becoming a stakeholder for a better life in Ukraine. My goals with this project are to acquire more information on the role Ukraine plays in European development and what leading experts in public policy have to say about Ukrainian development, to educate the greater F&M community, attain and present an understanding of Ukraine as a stakeholder to sovereignty and Europe, and successfully cultivate interest among the F&M community. This project was supported by funding from F&M's John Marshall Fellows Program. 

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

We designed a power-efficient fixed-wing aircraft with a short-take off distance. The design prioritizes optimal wing shape and size, paired with an airfoil that complements the design objectives; balancing lift, drag, and structural requirements, with flight stability. Beyond standard drag calculations, we performed three-dimensional drag simulations to inform our design decisions prior to construction. The aircraft's power plant was chosen and tested for both static and dynamic thrust. Through an application of the engineering design process, combining computational methods and physical tests, we ensured the aircraft maintains structural integrity, and critical margins are identified and addressed prior to the costly construction process. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Ken Krebs, Department of Physics and Astronomy

During the summer of 2023, I was involved in two different research projects. One was with Professor Marco Di Giulio, with whom I was working on the rehabilitation of disabled Palestinian Jewish veterans who fought for the British Military during WWII. The second project was my own: I researched the City of David, an archaeological and touristic site located in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem and run by the settler organization ELAD. A connecting thread between these two projects is a concern with indigeneity. One recurring complaint among Jewish disabled veterans was that the British treated them like “natives,” unworthy of proper care. In the modern-day City of David, however, the site’s priority is to promote Jewish indigeneity and claim over the land. These two cases illustrate competing Jewish attitudes surrounding indigeneity in Israel-Palestine and raise questions regarding the status of indigeneity as a political category.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholar Program and the Bank Summer Study Program. 

Project Mentors:  Professor Marco Di Giulio, Department of Italian Studies and Hebrew and Professor Adeem Suhail, Department of Anthropology

The Wg/Wnt signaling pathway is a transduction pathway whose signal is involved in development and homeostasis. Misregulation of the Wg/Wnt pathway can lead to diseases, including cancer. β-Catenin plays a role in the Wg/Wnt pathway as a transcriptional coactivator of Wnt target genes. β-Catenin is regulated by a destruction complex that contains APC and Axin. APC has a role in regulating β-catenin within the destruction complex, but its role in the complex is unknown. Previous studies on APC function in the complex suggest that APC β-catenin binding sites might be redundant and interchangeable. We are currently testing these hypotheses in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster by generating several APC transgenes and crossing them into various APC mutant backgrounds. Our preliminary findings suggest that APCs β-catenin binding sites are redundant with those on Axin, and interchangeable with a subset of β-catenin binding sites from other β-catenin binding proteins. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor David Roberts, Department of Biology

Robots are increasingly used in educational settings in order to enrich children’s minds, specifically their intellectual capacity. However, it is unknown how childrens’ individual variability might influence how they react to a robot. In the current study, we examined how children differentially think about robots through “draw a robot task”, ratings of robots on a number of scales, and a game where children learned from a robot. We will discuss the interaction between the measures in order to explore how individual perceptions of robots relate to success in a learning environment. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholar Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Lauren Howard, Department of Psychology

The earth’s crust consists of many compounds that are held together primarily by electrostatic interactions. Most of these ionic compounds can be classified as double salts containing two or more distinct types of cations or anions. In the early 1900s, British crystallographer A. E. H. Tutton studied a series of double salts with the general formula A2M (SO4)2(H2O)6, where A is the monovalent cation and M is the divalent cation. These Tutton salts, particularly cyanochroite (K2Cu(SO4)2(H2O)6) are exemplars of the Jahn-Teller effect, the geometric distortion of the axial and equatorial bonds. Another important feature is the hexacoordination of the divalent cation by water. In the present study we have explored the limitations of Tutton salt formation: a large alkali metal (potassium, rubidium, cesium) or the ammonium ion and a divalent cation that is a first-row transition metal or magnesium. We have also developed simple gravimetric techniques used for the analyses of these salts. This project was supported by funding from the Moore-Schaeffer Scholarship and Yoder Research Fund. 

Project Mentor:  Emeritus Professor Claude Yoder, Department of Chemistry

The work of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy is both marked by its fusions of American history with myth and by the setting of Albany, New York. This setting is the subject of Kennedy's nonfiction book on the city’s history, titled O Albany. O Albany takes on a unique historic register that tells history through anecdotal narrative and editorial journalism, bringing Kennedy’s own life and creative imagination into the chronicle. Exploring this combination of journalism and imagination, this paper aims to illuminate the relationship between historical fact and American myth in Kennedy’s fiction. Each text has a unique historical basis, so the paper will explore how historical figures and events are mythologized. Research also incorporates elements of Kennedy’s process discovered through work with archival materials from the University at Albany’s collection of Kennedy’s papers, as well as an interview that I conducted with Kennedy himself.  This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Peter Jaros, Department of English

Recent analyses of certain galaxy clusters have suggested that a net shear exists within certain infall regions (Abdullah et. al. 2013). These rotating infall regions can be modeled with spherical infall models in redshift space. While these regions have been observed in the Virgo, A1459, and A1066 clusters, it would be beneficial to develop a means to observe more of these redshift-tilted infall regions in Python easily. This summer, we have made progress in developing an Astropy package where the user can select a region of the sky and observe a rectangular slice of their choosing. The package will return the redshifts of the galaxies in the user-selected region and hopefully determine whether or not a net shear exists within the selected region. This project was supported by funding from the NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Beth Praton, Department of Physics and Astronomy

This study delves into the feminization of garment labor in Bangladesh, exploring structural and worker vulnerabilities unveiled by the COVID-19 pandemic’s global disruption. Through literature review and in-depth interviews conducted in March 2024 with women garment workers in Dhaka employed during the pandemic, I examine challenges such as working conditions, livelihood, wages, healthcare access, and gender dynamics, and how these challenges have transitioned during and after the peak of the pandemic. The research underscores the urgent need for enhanced social protection measures and worker rights. With a mixed-method approach, this study sheds light on the intricate interplay between gender, labor, and globalization, informing policy interventions for a more equitable garment industry. Informed consent is obtained from all study participants, and confidentiality of all potential identifiers is maintained. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Danish Khan, Department of Economics

In 2023 The Human Rights Foundation declared a national emergency due to the prevalence of transphobia motivated violence and legislation. Research has shown both identity and attitudes about gender to impact the expression of transphobia. This study aims to expand the current understanding of transphobia by assessing men’s conceptualizations of their own gender identity. In study one, participants' level of prior reflection upon their gender identity will be measured to determine the relationship between reflection on gender identity and attitudes toward transgender people. In study two some participants will be prompted to reflect on their gender identity before sharing their views on transgender people, while some will not be, giving insight into the direct impact of gender identity based reflection on attitudes toward transgender people. Should this study gather significant data, it will show that gaining a more intimate understanding of ourselves is a step toward accepting others. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Committee on Grants Program. 

Project Mentor:  Professor Megan Knowles, Department of Psychology

The 2-aceto-N-methylpropenamide series, most which are unknown to the literature, provide an interesting substrate for reduction, specifically transfer hydrogenation via the Hantzsch amido dihydropyridine. The Hantzsch amide, developed by the Van Arman lab as a transfer hydrogenation agent, rivals all previous metal free agents due to its ability to reduce compounds in high yield without the use of chromatography. Several 2-aceto-N-methylpropenamides were successfully synthesized through various methods with all but one adduct yielding enough product to use in transfer hydrogenation. While this series was ultimately chosen due to novelty, the successful reduction of these complex molecules via the Hantzsch amide will further demonstrate the scope of its ability to work as a competitive metal-free reducing agent. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Scott Van Arman, Department of Chemistry

By attending the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival on the playwriting track, I was able to attend various craft-focused workshops in order to hone both my own creative practices as well as function within the professional post-graduate theatre realm. Through this experience I have compiled a resource guide that covers both practical and creative concerns in how best to continue my own playwriting career as well as inspire others to pursue similar growth-oriented opportunities. This project was supported by funding from F&M’s John Marshall Fellows Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Brian Silberman, Department of Theatre and Dance

The NANOGrav collaboration, of which F&M is a member, is an international consortium of institutions searching for gravitational waves in radio pulsar timing data. The NANOStars program engages undergraduates at NANOGrav institutions by training them in key NANOGrav science, including the search for new pulsars in survey data from radio telescopes around the world. Each semester, F&M students participate in research activities under the guidance of experienced student team leaders and present talks at monthly multi-institutional telecons. Beyond research contributions, these program activities further train students in organizing, presenting, and working in small teams. Team leaders develop leadership skills, and all students can network with other members of the NANOGrav consortium. To date, six new pulsars have been discovered by NANOStars students. These discoveries are essential for gravitational wave detection, since the signal-to-noise ratio of the gravitational wave background amplitude scales linearly with the number of pulsars. This project was supported by funding from the NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center. 

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

The corundum crystal structure is a naturally occurring arrangement of aluminum and oxygen ions. With minimal impurities present, the structural properties manifest in a variety of wavelengths determined by factors such as porosity during formation, impurity type, and concentration. The aluminum ions, possessing a plus three charge, are surrounded by oxygen ions which stabilize the structure according to Molecular Orbital theory. This inherent stability renders the corundum structure highly suitable for investigating a majority of trivalent ions, particularly lanthanides. Consequently, this research aims to integrate existing studies on lanthanide ion relaxation models, measured through reflection wavelengths, with analyses of porosity variations resulting from aging time during synthesis. Additionally, a novel approach in inorganic chemistry simulation will be employed to conduct more intricate calculations of distributed electron charge. This endeavor seeks to predict and comprehend the nuanced relaxation models governing lanthanide ions. This project was supported by funding from F&M's Hackman Summer Scholars Program.

Project Mentor:  Professor Ken Krebs, Department of Physics and Astronomy