Poster Presentations
Poster Presentations
Poster Presentations are scheduled:
5:30pm-7:00pm
Oyate Hall
Presenters: Makenna Gerold, Kim Peters, & Ayla Wicklow
Project Adviser: Rachel Johnson (Biology)
Title: The Influence of Monarda fistulosa Extract on Macrophage Functions
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) has a history of being used in Native American cultures for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. M. fistulosa contains rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid as some of its major components, which have both been shown to be effective anti-inflammatory agents (Rocha et al., 2015; Spagnol et al., 2019). This is an important area of study due to the concerning side effects of modern synthetic anti-inflammatory drugs, which can lead to stomach ulcers. The goal of this study was to determine if M. fistulosa has significant anti-inflammatory properties. RAW 246 mouse macrophage cells were cultured and used as model cells. Macrophage cells were chosen for this study because they are known to produce cytokines which can contribute to inflammation. A co-culture was performed to assess cell viability using an MTT assay to determine the proliferation of mouse macrophage cells under different concentrations of plant extract. The results of this assay demonstrated that the cells survived after exposure to the M. fistulosa extract. Multiple ELISAs were performed to determine how M. fistulosa affects production of IL-6 and TNFɑ cytokines in mouse macrophage cells. These findings help support the overall hypothesis that M. fistulosa has anti-inflammatory properties and verifies the validity of the usage of wild bergamot in native medicines.
Presenters: Sierra Pickett
Project Adviser: Danielle Bolland (Biology)
Title: Investigating the Role of DEK Palmitoylation in Ovarian Cancer
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease that affects women. Although ovarian cancer responds to initial chemotherapy, the majority of patients develop recurrent disease that becomes resistant to treatment. Thus, new treatment strategies are necessary to improve outcomes for ovarian cancer patients. In addition, this disease is often associated with mutated DNA repair proteins, including the protein DEK. DEK is a DNA repair protein that is important for repairing double stranded breaks in DNA. It has been shown to be overexpressed in ovarian cancer resulting in increased survival and cell growth. DEK is predicted to be modified by the addition of a lipid. This is known as palmitoylation. It is unknown how palmitoylation regulates DNA repair proteins. Therefore, our lab is investigating the role of palmitoylation of DEK in ovarian cancer. To study the role of palmitoylation we used the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR8. Cells were treated with 2-bromopalmitate (2BP), a chemical inhibitor of palmitoylation and assessed for cell viability, protein expression of DEK and colony formation of cancer cells.Treatment with 2BP significantly decreased cell viability and colony formation. Inhibition of palmitoylation also decreased DEK expression, suggesting palmitoylation plays a role in DEK protein stability. In addition, increased DNA damage was only observed with the co-treatment of 2BP and the chemotherapy cisplatin, suggesting inhibition of palmitoylation tricks cancer cells into dying more effectively. Together these results suggest palmitoylation plays a role in ovarian cancer cell viability and growth and may be an effective protein to target for cancer treatment.
Presenters: Liam Poitra
Project Adviser: Miriam Gieske (Biology)
Title: Spring burns and its effect on Vernal Forbs
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Historically, The prairie region was a fire-adapted ecosystem, shaped both by natural factors like lightning and human intervention, particularly by Native Americans. Current fire management strategies primarily use spring burns to promote warm-season native grasses and stop cool-season invasive grasses like reed canary grass and smooth brome. This burn timing is very different from indigenous and lightning-triggered fires which would be most common in the mid-summer. My research investigates the impact of spring burns on early spring plants, especially their flowering periods, focusing on flowering patterns and community composition which remain understudied. I will test 3 hypotheses: 1 Regular spring burning would coincide with early-season native plants’ flowering period, reducing their population numbers; 2 Regular spring burning would favor spring flowering species that tolerate a disrupted bloom season better; 3 Regular spring burning would select for later blooming individuals of a population, adjusting the flowering schedule of the population. The research plan is to collect transects of data throughout several managed prairies near Hoffman, MN with differing burn histories before the burn season. Data will be taken on both the number of individuals of several spring flowering species as well as flowering stage in order to test the hypotheses. The broader impact of this study will be to provide better data to conservation groups concerned with preserving America's least protected ecosystem, the prairie, and all of its biodiversity.
Presenters: Madelyn Schoenberger
Project Adviser: Miriam Gieske (Biology)
Title: Commercial mycorrhizal inoculation of non-sterile field soil does not enhance root colonization or reduce nitrate leaching
Type of Presentation: Poster or Visual Display, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Crops require nitrogen to grow. However, nitrate, a form of plant-available nitrogen, can easily be washed out of soil by rainwater and can pollute freshwater. This nitrate leaching also necessitates additional nitrogen fertilization of agricultural fields to support crop growth, which wastes money and resources. Mycorrhizal fungi form a mutually beneficial symbiosis with most terrestrial plants in which the fungus helps plants take up nutrients from the soil and receives plant sugars in return. This symbiosis may also help prevent nitrogen pollution.
To test whether commercial mycorrhizal inoculation of field soil reduces nitrate leaching, corn plants were grown in pots of non-sterilized field soil mixed with sand. Half of the pots were inoculated with a commercial mycorrhizal inoculant while the other half received no inoculation. After seven weeks’ growth, each pot was fertilized with urea, a commonly-used nitrogen fertilizer which is converted to nitrate by soil microbes. Two weeks after fertilization, corn plants were harvested, dried, and weighed. Nitrate remaining in the soil was leached out by flooding with water, and leachate from the soil was collected. Leachate samples were sent to Agvise Laboratories in Benson, MN for water nitrate analysis. Roots were collected and analyzed for mycorrhizal colonization.
Mycorrhizal inoculation did not affect nitrate leaching, biomass, or root colonization. These results suggest that commercial inoculation likely is not necessary in well-managed field soils which are already colonized by mycorrhizal fungi, though it may be useful where soil has been historically mismanaged.
Presenters: Madelyn Schoenberger and Kira McCallum
Project Adviser: Miriam Gieske (Biology)
Title: Short-term nitrogen fertilizer application and pH modification do not affect Streptomyces antibiotic production in oat rhizosphere
Type of Presentation: Poster or Visual Display, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Soil bacteria in the genus Streptomyces live symbiotically with plant roots and can produce antibiotics that protect plants from disease-causing soil bacteria and fungi. Investigating the conditions for optimal Streptomyces antibiotic production in plant root zone soil supports development of organic pest control methods for sustainable agriculture. Long-term nitrogen fertilizer application acidifies soil and reduces Streptomyces antibiotic production. To investigate whether Streptomyces are affected by short-term nitrogen fertilization and soil acidification, we applied eight different nitrogen fertilizer and pH treatments to oat seedlings grown in the lab. After six weeks’ growth, we collected soil from all eight treatments. Besides fertilizer and pH effects, previous studies suggest antibiotic production in other bacteria is greater in root zone (rhizosphere) soil than non-root zone (bulk) soil. To investigate whether a similar effect exists for Streptomyces, we collected rhizosphere and bulk soil from the oat pots and from a corn field. We isolated Streptomyces from all soil samples and measured Streptomyces abundance and antibiotic production. In pots, we found no difference in Streptomyces abundance or antibiotic production between fertilizer and pH treatments or between rhizosphere and bulk soil. Field samples showed no difference in Streptomyces antibiotic production between rhizosphere and bulk soil, though Streptomyces abundance was higher in rhizosphere soil. Our findings suggest that while long-term nitrogen fertilizer application and soil acidification impact Streptomyces activity, short-term effects are negligible. While we found no rhizosphere effect on Streptomyces antibiotic production, more samples are needed to confirm this finding.
Presenters: Hayley Brunette, Abby Doyle and Ilsa Hoaglund
Project Adviser: Danielle Bolland (Biology)
Title: Isolation and Analysis of R130D MDH
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Malate Dehydrogenase (MDH) is the enzyme that catalyzes the ninth step of the citric acid cycle, a regenerative step in the metabolism of glucose in which malate is converted to oxaloacetate. Conformational changes in the active loop region of MDH along with the coenzyme NAD+ drive catalysis. Previous studies suggested that mutating positively charged amino acids to negatively charged amino acids at residue 130 decreased the enzymatic activity of MDH. We hypothesized that if we change arginine 130 (positively charged amino acid) to aspartate (negatively charged amino acid), then the enzymatic activity of MDH would significantly decrease. In e. Coli cells, site-directed mutagenesis was performed to create the mutation (R130D). The mutated protein was purified using nickel affinity chromatography and confirmed by Bradford assay and SDS-PAGE gel of the protein purity. The kinetics of the mutated protein were measured and compared to the wild-type to examine the effects of the mutation. We found R130D has a lower Vmax and higher Km than wild-type MDH, suggesting that the mutant MDH protein catalyzes the reaction at a much slower rate, and the substrate oxaloacetate had a reduced binding affinity to the enzyme. Learning more about which amino acid sequences of MDH are important in its metabolic function has important implications regarding the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism, specifically the citric acid cycle.
Presenters: Gillian Deirdre
Project Adviser: Miriam Gieske (Biology)
Title: Effects of charcoal on Streptomyces antibiotic production in the rhizosphere of corn plants
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Biochar has recently gained popularity in commercial horticulture to improve soil drainage and structure. Research suggests biochar-amended soil may have greater soil microbial diversity and abundance. Microbes in the soil clinging to plant roots (the rhizosphere) often form a mutually-beneficial relationship with the plant. Some common soil bacteria like the genus Streptomyces can produce antibiotics that inhibit growth of disease-causing bacteria. I investigated whether adding biochar to the soil of corn plants would affect the number of Streptomyces in the rhizosphere or the proportion of them that are inhibitory to other bacteria. I expected biochar to increase the number of Streptomyces. However, biochar can bind and inactivate chemicals such as antibiotics, so I also expected it to decrease the proportion of inhibitory Streptomyces. These results may question the use of biochar in horticulture, as this antibiotic production is key for plant health. I grew corn seeds in either biochar-amended soil or unamended soil. I collected rhizosphere soil and cultured Streptomyces on media plates. After counting the number of Streptomyces, I overlaid the plates with media and two target bacterial isolates. I identified inhibitory Streptomyces by the presence of inhibition zones where they had prevented target growth. I found that biochar had no significant effect on the number or proportion of inhibitory Streptomyces in the rhizosphere.
Presenters: Trevor Swan
Project Adviser: Miriam Gieske (Biology)
Title: Effect of assay medium pH on inhibitory ability of Streptomyces
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Streptomyces bacteria from soil often produce antibiotics which inhibit growth of other microbes. When comparing Streptomyces’ inhibitory ability between different soils, it may be important to match the pH of the medium used in assays to the pH of the soil they came from. We assayed Streptomyces isolates collected from a long-term agricultural experiment with nitrogen-fertilized and non-fertilized treatments to determine their ability to inhibit the growth of other bacteria by producing antibiotics. The average soil pH was 6.8 in fertilized soil and 7.2 in non-fertilized soil. We dotted isolates on a glucose-asparagine agar medium adjusted to different pH values and overlaid them with a non-pathogenic Streptomyces standard to measure their inhibitory ability. Some isolates produced different inhibition zone sizes depending on medium pH. However, the response to assay medium pH did not differ significantly among isolates from soils of different pH. More tests are needed to determine whether it is necessary to match the medium pH to the pH of the soil the isolates came from when comparing the prevalence of antibiotic production among Streptomyces from different soils.
Presenters: Daniel Dahmen
Project Adviser: Ted Pappenfus (Chemistry)
Title: Engineered molecules for teaching electrochemistry in the organic chemistry curriculum
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Although electrochemistry is important in many chemical, biochemical, and engineering-related fields, the topic is generally not taught well at the undergraduate level. As part of a project funded by the Department of Engineering (DOE), this investigation seeks to address this issue by creating an experiment that can be replicated in organic chemistry curriculum in the future. Specifically, experiments are being designed to determine the electrochemical properties of a particular type of organic materials called indophenines, which consist of two thiophene molecules fused between two isatins. Recent studies have shown indophenines can be used in devices such as organic semiconductors and organic solar cells. With our procedure, which consists of an n-hexyl-6-bromoisatin molecule being reacted at ambient conditions with dimethoxythiophene, using sulfuric acid as a catalyst and toluene as the solvent, the reaction yields are comparable to those that are seen in the literature. The indophenines in this project are prepared using the principles of molecular engineering where molecules are designed to adopt specific orientations and/or functions. This presentation will highlight synthetic and analytical methods with an emphasis on electrochemical methods.
Presenters: Benjamin Giese
Project Adviser: Stuart Winikoff (Chemistry)
Title: Mechanistic Study of the Magnesium Catalyzed Evans anti-Aldol Reaction
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Aldol reactions are commonly used in pharmaceutical practices as they allow the stereoselective generation of new carbon-carbon bonds. This project is interested in Evans aldol reactions, which make use of oxazolidinone ketones and can generate two different products (syn- and anti-). The mechanisms of catalysis that produce the syn-aldols have been extensively studied and the reactions widely used in pharmaceutical practices. In contrast, the Evans anti-aldol reaction has been shown to work in the presence of magnesium based Lewis Acid catalysts, but has been poorly studied and little used due to its temperamental nature. This project focuses on the determination of the reaction mechanism of the anti-Evans aldol reaction with magnesium chloride catalysts of varying coordination around the magnesium cation and the impact of the presence of chloride counterions in THF solvent. The mechanism and product distribution was analyzed through DFT calculations. The pathway involving dimerization around a bare magnesium ion was used as a benchmark comparison. Our research shows that the effectiveness of this catalyst is dictated by maintaining a single chloride ion in the coordination sphere, explaining the experimental difficulty in utilizing this catalyst on the industrial scale.
Presenters: Adrienne Kanihan
Project Adviser: Jennifer Goodnough (Chemistry)
Title: NMR Analysis of the Effects of Salts on Hydrogen Bonding in Small Molecules
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
This research aims to study the effects of sodium and calcium salts on hydrogen bonding in water, methanol, and acetic acid by characterizing the solutions with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR). The structures of liquids are difficult to obtain compared to solids and gases, so using NMR for this research is relatively novel. NMR data can be useful in clarifying theoretical calculations of properties like molecular relaxation times and bond strength. Hydrogen bonding is a crucial part of larger molecules that interact with salts, like DNA, and substances like water and DNA rarely exist in their pure form. A better understanding of the behavior and mobility of hydrogen-bonds is useful to understand biological systems. Findings from this study show that different types and concentrations of salts, as well as different temperatures of the solutions, have an effect on the structure of the hydrogen bonds observed via changes in shielding of the proton or sodium ion. In all cases, the proton NMR showed changes in the OH peak chemical shift relative to a sodium trimethylsilylpropanesulfonate (DSS) standard indicating changes in the hydrogen bonding with changes in salt identity and salt concentration. Increases in salt concentration and temperature led to a decrease in hydrogen bond strength overall. To continue this research, low temperatures should be tested, as well as different types of salts, like strontium or beryllium based ones, to investigate how different ion properties affect hydrogen bond strength. This research is relevant because it allows for advancements in the fields of biochemistry and physical chemistry, where a nuanced understanding of movement and structure is needed.
Presenters: John Walbran
Project Adviser: Elena Machkasova (Computer Science)
Title: Providing Beginners with Interactive Exploration of Error Messages in Clojure
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Programmers are imperfect, and will often make mistakes when programming and create a program error, for example, attempting to divide by zero. When a computer tries to run a program with an error, the program will halt and present the details of the error to the user in the form of an error message. These error messages are often very jargon-heavy, and are not designed to be palatable to a novice programmer. This creates significant friction for new programmers trying to learn programming languages. My work is a part of an ongoing project (called Babel) led by Elena Machkasova in an attempt to ease this friction in the Clojure programming language. Currently, Babel software is able to replace standard error messages with ones that are more helpful for a beginner audience. My contribution to this project is an exploration of potential tools to effectively display information about errors in an interactive and intuitive manner. The most promising of these tools up to this point has been Morse, created by the company Datomic. As I am continuing to explore the possibilities of Morse and how it can integrate with the existing Babel system, I am putting together potential setups that novice programmers can use to effectively understand and explore the causes of the errors they come across. I will present the setups that I have developed and discuss their benefits and tradeoffs in helping novice programmers understand error messages.
Presenters: Noah Bastin and Olivia Diver
Project Adviser: Steve Burks, Jon Anderson and Bibhu Panda (Economics)
Title: Commercial Driver Medical Examinations and Sleep Apnea Tests: A Descriptive Exploration
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Context and Objective. Most commercial vehicle operators must be certified medically fit to drive on public highways at least every 2 years. A 2020 Truckers & Turnover Project paper by Morris faculty and students compared commercial drivers’ medical examination (CDME) records and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) diagnostic test results for the same drivers during the period 2005-2010 to analyze the effectiveness of the CDME in screening for OSA. Sensitivity of the CDME was 21% for drivers with moderate or worse OSA. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) required training and registration for medical examiners to improve CDME effectiveness starting in 2015. Our goal is creation of a similar dataset for the years 2018-2020 to measure the degree of improvement in screening effectiveness of the CDME for OSA that resulted.
Methods: CDME data is matched with OSA diagnostic test results data from 2018 to 2021 on 1,452 drivers. A descriptive analysis of the subjects in the data will be created, similar to Table 1 of the paper cited.
Potential Results: Descriptions of the patterns of demographics and statistics of diagnoses in the subject pool. If different from 2020 data, comparisons will be made.
Significance: The FMCSA sought to improve the accuracy of the commercial driver’s medical examination with changes in 2015. Our data is derived from the period following this change, and our analysis is a step in the process of measuring the extent of improvements in the effectiveness of the CDME in screening for OSA.
Presenters: Yuechu Hu
Project Adviser: Engin Sungur (Mathematics)
Title: The relationship between fatalities in police violence and their identifying characteristics: age, gender, race, and region
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Police violence has always been a topic of concern. The George Floyd encounter in 2020 led to a renewed level of concern about police violence across the United States, with more and more people focusing on police violence and perceived racism in police law enforcement (AP News, 2022). According to the Police Brutality Center (2023), the United States has more deaths during police law enforcement than other high-income democracies, and they also found that Black Americans were more likely to be killed by police than whites. Therefore, we intend to analyze Fatal Encounters data, which documents non-police deaths that occur in the presence of the police in the United States. By exploring these data, we hope to examine whether U.S. police were killing people with specific identifying characteristics (e.g., gender, age, race, and region) during violent law enforcement, as well as to test for associations that exist between the identifying characteristics of fatalities and their cause of death. First, we will utilize descriptive statistics to determine the distribution pattern by showing the distribution of variables through bar graphs, box plots, and tables. Then, we will apply various statistical methods, such as Classification and Regression Trees and ARIMA, and construct the multinomial logistic regression model. We found that victims in police violence cases have a higher risk of being killed by Gunshot/Other/Vehicle than asphyxiated/restrained. The older the victims, the more likely they are to die during police violence enforcement. We need further analysis to explore the relationship between the cause of death and race.
Presenters: Kianna Big Crow
Project Adviser: Bibhudutta Panda (Native American and Indigenous Studies)
Title: Indigenous Educational Attainment in the US
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Despite many initiatives and educational reforms, there exists a significant gap in the educational attainment of the Indigenous population in the US. More importantly, the research examining educational attainment in the Indigenous tribal and homeland areas have been scarce due to the lack of data. This research examines the magnitude of schooling disparity for the indigenous population (25 years+) in the tribal and homeland areas using the 5-year American Community Survey Data (2017-2021). The research finds that only 17% of the indigenous population have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher in the US in contrast to 37% for White Americans. This number is even lower at 13% when we focus on 621 tribal/homeland areas. The median income in tribal/homeland areas for college educated population is $51,008 which is significantly lower when we compare it with median income in the US for the same educational group ($61,073). This project aims to empirically illuminate the educational and earning disparity that I witnessed first hand, while also providing policy implications from an Indigenous perspective. The research argues that educational reform in the form of teacher training programs on Indigenous history and cultural appropriation, incorporations of indigenous cultures, languages and traditions in schools with higher indigenous population, and creation of greater and accessible funding opportunities are essential to begin bridging this gap.
Presenters: Nova Austin
Project Adviser: Sylke Boyd (Physics)
Title: Data Categorization: How to train an AI
Type of Presentation: Poster or Visual Display, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00pm
Abstract:
This summer I worked with Sylke Boyd in the creation of a program that can recognize ice halos in pictures of the sky from several weather monitoring stations. This would be useful because a large portion of our meteorological models today care about the amount of energy that is caught by clouds and ice halos are a deviation from those models. To be better able to recognize them and integrate that data into our models would increase our understanding of how sunlight filters through the atmosphere. However, to train a Neural Network requires a labeled dataset and for that someone needs to label a whole lot of images. I was supposed to make the whole AI but found myself caught at the first step requiring an immense amount of labeled images. I decided to double down on the image labeling and put together a fairly sophisticated python script that would allow for rapid image categorization. The program formats the data in such a way that it’s easy to build an AI off of it.
The program works by walking down a directory tree until eventually it finds an image. It then opens a popup with the image in question and several check-boxes to allow for the image to have multiple categories. Then you’d click a box to either catalog the image, discard the image, or simply close out the program. Depending on what you’d do the categorizations of the images could be saved into a csv file and a copy of the image would be saved in a folder that had all the other categorized images in it.
Presenters: Emily Kolstoe and Maddie Schneider
Project Adviser: Kerry Michael (Psychology)
Title: Exploring Fandom: Examining the Psychological Impact of Listening to Music
Type of Presentation: Poster or Visual Display, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00pm
Abstract:
Our study investigates the psychological impacts of music on moods. Specifically, focusing on how mood changes when listening to songs by the same artist with differing emotional tones. Music has been studied as a tool for mood regulation. This phenomenon has been studied in multiple areas, including psychological and physiological impacts, neuroscience, and musicology. Additionally, the role of fandom membership (the act of being a fan of something or someone) is explored, analyzing how mood variations contrast between individuals within and outside the artist’s fandom. This project focuses on Taylor Swift and her fans. Participants listened to two songs back to back, one up-tempo and the other slow-tempo, focusing on the lyrics. Their mood was measured through self-report surveys using the Oxford Happiness Scale before and after each song. Heart rate was measured at the same time during the listening session. Following the listening session, participants
completed a survey with 6 questions pertaining to their involvement with Swift measuring if they are a fan. We hypothesized that members of the Taylor Swift fandom would experience larger shifts on the happiness scale reports and heart rate changes compared to those who are not. The results of our experiment indicate that the larger shifts did occur. Our research contributes to the understanding that fandom can be essential in addition to music for regulating mood. Therefore, highlighting the significance of music, fandom, and emotional encounters demonstrates the potential for music to serve as a potent tool for regulating mood.
Presenters: Nevaeh Bridge
Project Adviser: Zamzam Dini (Psychology)
Title: The loss of traditional gender roles in Native American communities: A colonial trauma
Type of Presentation: Poster or Visual Display DIGITAL 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
The literature review provided investigates gender roles in traditional Native American societies, the disruption by colonization, and the lasting trauma effects that have come from it. A scoping review was conducted from multiple scholarly journals to provide an understanding of Native American societies and colonization. A major finding within these journal articles was that during colonization men were put into positions of power and women were devalued (Barker, 2008). Because men were made to be seen as more powerful they started to believe it themselves and strayed away from their traditional beliefs that women were sacred, which led them to be more violent toward them and allow domestic or sexual abuse. It was also discovered that colonizers believed that the Native American belief of balance between genders portrayed their savagery so they implemented policies to enforce their own beliefs onto these societies (Jacobs, 2022). Their primary goal was to strip Native Americans of their traditions and disrupt their culture. Native Americans have since suffered from the long-lasting effects of colonization. Health disparities are common among Native American individuals and the impact of colonization plays a large role in this (Simoni & Walters, 2002). Evidence was provided to prove that ultimately colonization forced harshly gendered roles that disrupted Native American societies and negatively impacted them. Reconnecting with one's traditional culture helps restore Native American societies and serves as a protective factor against harm to their health. This is a broad understanding and further research should be conducted to determine specific impacts on specific communities.
Presenters: Kayelynn Younkin and Joeli Carlson
Project Adviser: Kerry Michael (Psychology)
Title: Exploring Native Peoples’ Attitudes Toward Native Food Sovereignty Within Their Home Communities.
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
A community’s food sovereignty, or their ability to sustain themselves with healthy and culturally appropriate food, is an important factor to consider when looking at the high levels of food insecurity and negative diet-related health outcomes in Native communities. Most research that has been done previously on this subject comes from numerical data and statistics. With our research, we are exploring Native peoples’ perspectives and attitudes on food sovereignty in their home communities and bringing their voices forward. Our research consists of two parts: a survey and a focus group. Participants will fill out a self-reported survey on their basic demographics and the three scales of personal and family diet-related health outcomes, food sovereignty in their home community, and their attitudes towards their home community’s food sovereignty. We expect to find a positive correlation between positive attitudes toward Native food sovereignty and less negative diet-related health outcomes. To give context to the numbers, survey respondents may also choose to participate in focus groups held through Zoom, where they will be guided in their conversations on their personal perspectives of food sovereignty in their home communities. For the focus group, we will conduct a thematic analysis to explore the participants’ attitudes toward food sovereignty. We will compare and contrast their thoughts on food sovereignty with the reported diet-related health outcomes and food accessibility.
Presenters: Brooke Christensen and Evelyn Thell
Project Adviser: Kerry Michael (Psychology)
Title: Investigating the Effect of Glucose on Selective Attention in Young Adults with ADHD
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder affecting millions of individuals in the United States. ADHD consists of a range of symptoms including cognitive deficits that can significantly impact daily life, leading many individuals to seek treatment. Recently, glucose has been used to increase cognitive performance in children and adults; however, there is little information available on the cognitive effects of glucose in individuals diagnosed with ADHD. This research examines the impact of glucose on cognitive performance, specifically selective attention, in young adults with and without ADHD. Three key aims guide this study: assessing differences in selective attention between ADHD and non-ADHD groups, examining whether glucose consumption influences selective attention in individuals with ADHD, and investigating differences in selective attention between glucose and non-glucose groups. To achieve these aims, participants underwent a single-blind experiment testing their ability to complete the Stroop test.
Presenters: Raven Sevilleja and Kennedy Hill
Project Adviser: Kerry Michael (Psychology)
Title: Effect of varying types of background music on memory recall
Type of Presentation: Poster Presentation, Oyate Hall 5:30-7:00p.m.
Abstract:
Music is used as background noise while completing many tasks, such as studying. It is important to know whether or not having music in the background has an effect on the quality of memory recall. Bell et al. (2023) found that instrumental music inhibited participants' ability to perform a working memory task. This idea was supported by research findings that stated vocal and instrumental music disrupted short-term memory, with vocal music being more disruptive (Salamé & Baddeley, 1989). These conclusions found regarding the effects of vocal and instrumental music provide the basis for our own hypothesis and study design. Our study is a between-subjects design with the independent variable being three levels of music and the dependent variable as the number of words accurately recalled from a list of 15 words. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the three levels of music: vocal music, instrumental music, and silence (control). We expect that the vocal music group will recall significantly fewer words than the instrumental music group. The control group will recall the greatest number of words in comparison to both the vocal and instrumental music groups. Understanding the effect of vocal and instrumental music, as well as silence, on recall may provide insight on how to make study sessions more effective, possibly leading to an improved learning mindset and academic performance.