POSTER SESSION ONE

950–1050 Melly Lobby, Gearan Center

Illuminating the Practices of Internet Service Providers  

Jaanhvi Agarwal Colgate 2025

Amanda Anowi Colgate 2024

Prof. Aaron Gember-Jacobson Colgate

Networks utilize routers to facilitate the transfer of data packets to and from the network. Due to the growing concern about energy usage in large-scale networks, our goal is to determine if it's feasible to estimate the power consumption of any given internet service provider (ISP). To do this, we narrow our focus on three questions: how many routers are deployed in any given network, how can we extract hardware information from these routers, and how can we compute power consumption given hardware information? The difficulty in this is ISPs do not release topology details and network vendors do not release power consumption information due to privacy reasons. Thus, we explore other means of obtaining this information without relying on ground truth data from ISPs or vendors.

The CAIDA Dataset—It is important to know how many routers are deployed in a network, and their connectivity, as that factors into total power consumption and carbon emissions of a network. In comparison to ground truth data from a large research and education network (Internet2), we find the 

CAIDA dataset has extra routers and missing links.

SNMPv3—One way to extract hardware information is through leveraging the network monitoring system SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). When sent an unauthenticated SNMPv3 request, a router may respond with valuable information including an engine ID which contains a MAC address that uniquely identifies the device. However, not all routers will respond to SNMPv3 requests or utilize SNMPv3.

Power Consumption—We thoroughly examined the publicly available information on each component involved in the network device and attempted to replicate the energy calculations by creating a power calculator that breaks down the power consumption of individual hardware components. The power consumption varies based on load, power supply type, components used, and choice of optics deployed. 

Biochemical and Structural Characterization of Starch Excess 4 from Zea Mays  

Murphy Alcantara Skidmore 2024

Sarah Sinnott Skidmore 2024

Prof. Madushi Raththagala Skidmore

Glucan phosphatases are members of a functionally diverse dual-specificity phosphatase family of enzymes. Plant glucan phosphatase Starch Excess4 (SEX4) reversibly binds and dephosphorylates glucans, contributing to processive starch degradation in the chloroplast at night. Despite the wealth of biochemical and structural information on SEX4, little is known about the agriculturally relevant glucan phosphatase activity. To close this gap, we explored the kinetics of Zea mays SEX4 using structure-guided mutagenesis. Previous research shows that cereal crops Zea mays and Oryza sativa have a higher SEX4 activity than the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and tubers Manihot esculenta and Solanum tuberosum exhibit the lowest activity. We generated several point mutations based on the sequence alignment of SEX4 from agronomically relevant crops to determine if single-residue mutations at key binding interfaces are responsible for the observed differential activity. The dual-specificity phosphatase domain (DSP), where the active site resides, is highly conserved across all species, so mutations with the potential for kinetic effects were chosen in the carbohydrate binding module (CBM). We took special interest into lysine residues in the CBM of AtSEX4 that were not conserved in ZmSEX4 because of the potential changes in activity due to a nonconserved electrostatic interaction. To test our hypothesis, we mutated the aligned residues in ZmSEX4 to lysine to attempt to mimic the lower activity of AtSEX4. Additionally, we performed hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectroscopy of the substrate-bound and unbound ZmSEX4 to determine how binding affects the conformation of the protein. Our results suggest ways to improve catalysis for potential biotechnological applications. 

“Oh! Phew!” We Might Know for Whom You’re Voting  

Amirtha Bharathan Hamilton 2025

David Levine Hamilton 2025

Hannah Walpole Hamilton 2026

Yuxuan Xu Hamilton 2026

Yeyang Zhang Hamilton 2025

Prof. Alexandra List Hamilton 

Not only do U.S. liberals and conservatives differ in their political positions, but they may also differ in how they respond to making mistakes. Specifically, research has shown that self-reported liberals exhibit stronger neural sensitivity to their mistakes than self-reported conservatives do. Furthermore, self-reported liberals’ exhibited more neural sensitivity than self-reported conservatives when they successfully inhibited mistakes. Arguably, these enhanced sensitivities are consistent with liberals’ openness to change. The research reporting these political-neural associations has been cited over 800 times (Google Scholar), although the results have not been consistently replicated around the world. Here, we test these associations in 10 Hamilton College students. In addition to reporting their political orientation, participants completed other measures, including socio-economic conservatism and intolerance of uncertainty, to broadly characterize participants’ socio-political beliefs and attitudes. We recorded electroencephalography while participants completed a Go/No-Go task. The Go/No-Go task promotes different behaviors: hits (i.e., correctly responding on a Go trial), correct rejections (i.e., correctly not responding on a No-Go trial), and false alarms (i.e., incorrectly responding on a No-Go trial). Using these behaviors, we focused on two event-related potentials (ERPs): the ERN (error-related negativity) and N2. The ERN is a neural measure of mistake sensitivity, which is computed by comparing hit and false alarm ERPs. The N2 effect is indicative of response inhibition, derived by comparing hit and correct rejection ERPs. Although the ERN and N2 were statistically-robust, neither ERP correlated with political orientation. We also found reliable associations between the socio-political measures, providing additional confidence in our measures, despite not replicating the neural-political associations. Potential concerns about low statistical power and limited age range will be addressed when our study is added to others in the #EEGMANYLABS collaborative project, a methodical, widespread, multinational effort to replicate highly-cited electroencephalography studies. 

Reconstructing Zea Mays Ab10 Meiotic Drive System  

Will Burns Hamilton 2024

Brianna Padilla Hamilton 2025

Kayli Franco Hamilton 2025

Marissa Duffy Hamilton 2025

Meiotic drive is a genetic system that disrupts Mendelian inheritance by increasing the likelihood of certain traits being passed down. In Zea mays, the Abnormal 10 chromosome (Ab10) exhibits this system through heterochromatic knobs, which are repetitive DNA elements made up of knob180 and TR1, and a family of genes that encode kinesin proteins Kindr and Trkin. Knobs act as neocentromeres with kinesin binding and preferentially segregating the Ab10 chromosome. We hypothesize that both Kindr and Trkin kinesins are key components of the Ab10 meiotic system. To test this, genetically engineered yeast cells containing the Ab10 kinesins were used in two different experiments: a plasmid loss assay and a microscopy assay. The plasmid loss assay was conducted using restrictive media, which allowed us to assess the segregation rate of an acentric plasmid in each yeast strain based on the number of cultures that grew. This plasmid contains a gene called LEU2, which produces leucine.

Therefore, if the Lac-O array on the plasmid was tethered to Lac-I in the kinesins and moved to the daughter bud, the bud could survive in an environment that was deficient in leucine. The microscopy assay visualized the intensity of GFP expression in cells located in YPD, -Leu and -Leu-His liquid media. The plasmid loss assay had a total of five duplicate trials, each conducted with 6 strains respectively, each strain contained CEN/ARS (+CT), ARS (-CT), Kar3-LacI (Yeast +CT), Kindr-LacI, Trkin-LacI, and both Kindr-LacI and Trkin-LacI. The positive control showed an average expression percentage of 90.44 percent, and the average expression percentage of the negative control was 21.60percent. Kar3LacI, showed average percentage across the five distinct trials of 33.27 percent. Kindr-LacI and Trkin-LacI had average expression percentages of 30.92 percent and 17.99 percent , respectively. We did not run enough trials of our GFP assay to get statistically significant results. Some of our trials, such as the yNJN1056 prepared in YPD, captured poor images that our software could not analyze, meaning we could not calculate a signal/noise ratio. As for the rest, even where we could calculate signal/noise, we sometimes saw as many as 21 cells with GFP dots, as few as one or two, or most often, we saw no dots at all, so no quantification was possible.

Effect of Salt on a Peptide SH3 Domain Interaction  

Jorge Cardoso Skidmore 2026

Ally Mujica Skidmore 2025

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which lack stable structures under physiological conditions, play important roles in cellular processes such as signaling, regulation, and assembly. Given the difficulty of observing the mechanisms of IDP binding experimentally, we use computational methods to characterize their protein-protein interactions. IDPs often bind to SH3 domains, common protein interaction domains found throughout all eukaryotes. ArkA is an IDP commonly interacting with the AbpSH3 domain, a yeast protein found in most eukaryotic cells. Favorable electrostatic interactions between charged residues play an integral role in the binding of the positively-charged ArkA IDP and the negatively-charged AbpSH3 domain. The strength of electrostatic interactions can be influenced by salt concentrations, among other factors. Experiments in the Stollar lab have shown that high salt concentrations destabilize the AbpSH3-ArkA bound state. We used molecular dynamics simulations to model the bound state of ArkA peptide and the SH3 domain with and without the presence of high salt concentration (800 mM). We then compared the effects of a high salt concentration on the flexibility and electrostatic interaction of the ArkA-AbpSH3 bound state. We conclude that the interaction between the ArkA-AbpSH3 complex is disrupted in the presence of high salt concentration.  

Risk Factors to Caregiver Burden in Parent-Child Dyads for Care Recipients with Serious Mental Illness  

Pariya Chanthasensack Colgate 2024

Prof. Rachel Dinero Colgate

Aim: The main purpose of this investigation is to explore and identify the factors that contribute the most to the exacerbation of caregiver burden for informal caregivers of individuals with SMIs.

Procedure: Articles were found based on searches of electronic databases including PsychInfo, PubMed, PsychArticles, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Gale Onefile: Psychology, GoogleScholar, and ProQuest. The initial search yielded 817 articles, with ten studies meeting the inclusion criteria, and four studies with correlational data that could be used for statistical analysis. Based on the included articles, factors to caregiver burden were identified and data was extracted. Pearson correlation coefficients and corresponding sample sizes were recorded from each respective study. Fisher's Z test and variance was calculated using Wilson (CITE) Practical Meta-Analysis Effect Size 

Calculator. A three-level meta-analytic model was calculated using R.

Results: A total of six factors were identified across the included articles: care recipient factors, negative perceptions, parent age, parent education, parent health, and social support. The three-level meta-analytic model identified the factors negative perceptions z = .457 CI [.387, .527], se = .031, (t(9) = 14.831, p <.001), parent health z = .314, CI [.138, .490], se = .074, (t(7) = 4.222, p = .004), and social support z = -.155 CI [-.282, -.027], se = .056, (t(9) = -2.750, p = .022), to have significant overall effect sizes. The remaining factors did not yield significant overall effect sizes.

Conclusions: This review reveals that there is still limited research on caregiver burden for caregivers providing support to individuals with SMIs; to the level of specificity that accounts for the different relationships in caregiver-care recipient dyads. However, from the data available, variables that had the largest impact on caregiver burden measures were negative perceptions, parental health, and social support. These aspects may be possible targets for informal caregiver support. 

Electrochemical Degradation of Azo Dyes and Sequestration within Metal Organic Frameworks  

Kanonkela Chibwe St. Lawrence 2025

Prof. Amanda Oldacre St. Lawrence  

Azo dyes are one of the most popular synthetic dyes used in the textile industry. An estimated 900,000 metric tons of dyes are produced annually and more than 70 percent belong to the azo group. Despite the textile industry playing a significant role in the economies of many countries, they are a source of hazardous environmental pollutants. The World Health Organization has reported that about 17~20 percent of the industrial water pollution is due to the dying treatment in textile industries. About 80 percent of the azo dyes are used for dying purposes and have a great affinity to water. Therefore, about 10–15 percent of the dyes are lost through the discharged waste materials into the environment without binding to fiber. The effluent contains hazardous chemicals such as reactive dyes, synthetic azo dyes, and other harmful chemicals that pollute the water and cause the loss of environmental balance by altering the pH and changing the organic and inorganic content of the water body. Herein, we will discuss the degradation of methyl orange using electrochemical methods and the sequestration via Metal-Organic Framework (MOF), PCN-222 (H2). From the experiments, it was determined that at pH 3, Methyl orange has an average molar absorptivity of 1.8×104 cm−1M−1. The degradation of Methyl orange using Bulk electrolysis and UV-vis spectrometer has first-order kinetics with an average kinetic constant (K) of 8.67×10 −3 s −1 and a Standard deviation of 0.001301. Additionally, Methyl Orange sequestration using PCCN-222(H2) MOF in distilled water has first-order kinetics with an average kinetic constant (K) of 1.58×10 −2 s−1 and a Standard deviation of 0.002031. 

A New Lightcurve of (2729) Urumqi  

Eva Mae Crowley Union 2024

Olivia Logan Union 2024

Prof. Francis P. Wilkin Union

(2729) Urumqi is a member of the Koronis Family of asteroids located in the outer asteroid belt. A lightcurve of (2729) Urumqi was produced using observations from the Union College Observatory in Schenectady, NY. Based upon the lightcurve, the amplitude was found to be 0.240.05 mag. Our goal is to produce a composite lightcurve using multiple nights of observation. 

Can Training Neural Language Models on a Curriculum with Developmentally Plausible Data Improve Alignment with Human Reading Behavior?  

Aryaman Datta Chobey Colgate 2025

Anzi Wang Colgate 2025

Oliver Smith Colgate 2024

Prof. Grusha Prasad Colgate 

People constantly generate predictions about upcoming words. For example, given the sentence “It was raining and I took out my __”, most people expect to encounter “umbrella.” AI models such as ChatGPT trained to similarly predict upcoming words have met with a lot of success; yet, prior work shows that these models sometimes fail when being used to generate predictions about human behavior. Our hypothesis is that the models fail because they are trained on the wrong kind of data. So we assume that matching the training data with the data humans are exposed to might result in better alignment between models’ prediction and human behavior. Aiming to verify the hypothesis, we trained models on developmentally plausible data and evaluated them on two kinds of datasets: datasets measuring models’ linguistic abilities and datasets measuring alignment with human behavior.

For developmental plausibility we used the “strict-small” dataset from the BabyLM challenge, a challenge where models are trained exclusively on a 10M token dataset. The datasets are sampled from open-source data representative of linguistic input a child may see between infancy and adolescence, including children stories, daily conversations, and Wikipedia articles etc. In our experiments we trained models by either presenting all of the sentences in the dataset in a random order (RandOPT) or by first training the model on an ordered sequence of the data (“curriculum”) and then training it on the sentences in random order (CurrOPT_ft). Our curriculum organized the training data in a sequence and ratio inspired by human cognitive development. Crucially both the models were trained on the same number of sentences.

In our results we observed that CurrOPT_ft typically achieved higher scores on challenge sets targeted at measuring linguistic abilities (such as tasks like sentiment analysis and causal reasoning), suggesting that presenting sentences in a developmentally plausible order can result in better linguistic competence in many cases. However, models trained on the BabyLM dataset, with or without a curriculum, generated predictions that were as misaligned with human behavior as models trained on larger less curated datasets (such as Wikipedia or millions of web pages). This suggests that merely altering the training data to be more developmentally plausible is unlikely to generate language models capable of accurately predicting human language processing. Future research could focus on developing more nuanced training methods, incorporating cognitive and psychological theories of human learning, to further align the model’s predictions with human behavior. 

Large Scale Preparation of 2-Chloro-N-(1-Ethoxyvinyl) Pyridinium Triflate and Use as an Electrophile in Transition Metal-Free Snar Reactions with Indoles  

John Frank Hamilton 2024

William Strutton Hamilton 2025 

Prof. Max M. Majireck Hamilton 

2-Chloro-N-(1-ethoxyvinyl) pyridinium triflate (1) is a versatile new reagent developed by our lab that has shown potential as a “trapped” ketenium ion source, a Mukaiyama-like coupling reagent, as well as an electrophile in mild SNAr processes with amine, alcohol, thiol, and indole nucleophiles. The use of 1 as an electrophile with indole nucleophiles to produce 3-(2-pyridyl)-indoles is particularly significant, as it proceeds without expensive transition metal catalysis and does not require protection of the indole N-atom. Last summer, we conducted substantial optimization of reaction conditions and purification methods for the SNAr reaction of indoles with 1, arriving at a procedure using a trifluoroethanol solvent and MgSO4 additive that regularly delivers yields in excess of 60 percent for the model reaction with unsubstituted indole. Having developed a robust indole SNAr procedure, we began exploring the generality of the reaction. Our indole SNAr protocol appears to have relatively wide scope, though failure was observed with certain particularly electron-deficient indoles. We also made preliminary investigations of the nucleophilic addition of anilines and silyl enol ethers to 1, with promising initial results. Additionally, we developed the first preparative scale synthesis of reagent 1, which was instrumental for accelerating the progress of these discoveries. 

Rebranding Japan: Navigating Tourism in Tokyo's Past and Future  

Jonathan Garcia Hobart and William Smith 2023

Tenzin Yoten Hobart and William Smith 2023

Roxana Peña Hobart and William Smith 2023

“Japan is the land of color, charm, and courtesy where the East blends with the West and the old with the new,” begins Japan Tourist Bureau’s (JTB) 1955 English language Pocket Guide to Japan. This introduction was part of Japanese governmental effort to revamp foreign tourism, a decade after the US fire-bombings devastated its capital and Japan’s international reputation plummeted decisively with its defeat in the Asia Pacific Wars. With the COVID-19 pandemic halting much of international travel, Japan, like other tourism-dependent countries, faces a similar time of rupture. How to welcome back foreign tourists remains a dilemma, especially for Japan, whose national branding had been faltering in pre-pandemic years. As the above quote shows, Japan historically had attracted tourists by balancing its self- manufactured image of Oriental charm and (post)modern advancements. This project examines these past strategies to shed light on future possibilities for tourism in Tokyo. We re-traced Tokyo tourist itineraries in old JTB travel brochures to explore how this government-affiliated agency branded Tokyo over the past century, and analyze changes over time. To better approximate past tourist experiences, we mined archives for photos and maps to imagine various sites. In the process, we interacted with locals to navigate the sites, and observed tourists about their impressions of them. For the most recent branding perspectives, we interviewed Japanese students studying to enter the tourism field. Through the project, we wrestled with immediate challenges of global economic recovery and long- standing issues of Japan and Asia and their places in the world.

Resurrection of Ancestral Aspartyl-tRNA Synthetases  

Lindsey Han Skidmore 2025

Protein synthesis is essential for life and requires the correct pairing of amino acids to their cognate transfer tRNA by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Many prokaryotes lack an AsnRS to directly attach Asn to tRNAAsn. Instead these organisms use a non-discriminating AspRS to attach Asp to tRNAAsn and GatCAB to amidate the Asp to Asn. Organisms with an AsnRS often have a discriminating AspRS (D-AspRS) that only attach Asp to tRNAAsp. How that specificity evolved from a bacterial ND-AspRS is unknown. To address, we phylogenetically modeled the last common ancestor of D-AspRS and an ND-AspRS. We report on the overproduction, and purification of the ancestral enzymes to study how specificity evolved. The work will provide insight into the evolution of life and tools for synthetic biology.   

Synthesis of Alternative CRBN Binders for PROTAC Design  

Jason Jiang Hamilton 2024

Alex Smith Florida 

Dr. Guangrong Zheng Florida

Proteolysis targeting chimeras (PRTOACs) are molecules renowned for their remarkable ability to facilitate protein degradation, which regulates the levels of specific proteins within cells. As a result, PROTACs hold great promise for the treatment of various diseases, specifically those caused by dysfunctional proteins. PROTACs are composed of two active domains and a linker. One of these domains binds to an E3 ubiquitin ligase, while the other domain binds to the desired target protein. Once the PROTAC binds simultaneously to the target protein and the E3 ligase, it brings them into close proximity, triggering the transfer of ubiquitin to the target protein, and marking it for degradation by the proteasome. PROTACs have the advantage of sub-stoichiometric activity where a single PROTAC molecule can degrade numerous target proteins within a cell, which amplifies the biological response. PROTACs can also form a ternary complex that can give more selectivity across similar protein isoforms. By degrading oncogenic proteins, PROTACs offer a more direct and efficient way to target cancer cells. They also have the potential to address resistance that can develop against traditional inhibitors; this selectivity is crucial for minimizing off-target effects.

A common E3 ligase is CRBN. Historically, thalidomide and its analogs were frequently used as CRBN binders in the development of PROTACs. However, these compounds are known to be somewhat unstable, so developing alternative binders was a goal among researchers. A study done by Jarusiewicz J. et al. discovered a phenyl glutarimide-based PROTAC which, after optimization efforts, led to the development of phenyl dihydrouracil (PD)-based PROTACs. These PROTACs have improved chemical stability, degradation, and cell potency. In this project, we synthesized a derivative of the (PD)-based CRBN binder which can be further used to synthesize novel PROTACs. We were able to successfully synthesize the crude product, confirmed via NMR spectroscopy. With further purification, a pure product can be obtained. By utilizing this CRBN-binding derivative, we aim to contribute to the ongoing evolution of PROTACs, ultimately diversifying therapeutic protein degradation strategies.  

Neural Message Passing in Schizophrenia  

Hannah Lax Hobart and William Smith 2024

Tate Towers Hobart and William Smith 2025

Prof. Daniel Graham Hobart and William Smith

Prof. Yan Hao Hobart and William Smith 

Past research has identified alterations in neural network structure in individuals with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls, one such alteration that often characterizes the disorder is a decrease in both quantity and connectivity of white matter neural tracts. Neural tracts are thought to act as the roads across which neural messages can travel across the cortex; the current study attempts to build upon previous lines of work to better understand how these structural abnormalities may impact the pathology of neural message spreading in individuals with schizophrenia as opposed to healthy controls.

Neuroimaging scans were completed using diffusion tensor imaging by Zorlu et al., allowing the construction of connectomes for a sample of participants with schizophrenia as well as a control group, which provided information about the assortativity of individual nodes, as well as a global structure of the cortex. These connectomes enabled researchers to create and run simulations of neural message spreading, using both a random walk and information spreading model. Previous lines of work have largely overlooked the implications of structural facets on neural message spreading, and the current study opted to create simulations that accounted for the possibility of collisions between messages, ultimately terminating the path of messages involved.

The present study was able to investigate the relationship between structural composition of the cortex and the subsequent impact on how messages may pass in individuals with schizophrenia, and how this differs from the processes seen in healthy controls. It is hypothesized that people with schizophrenia may be particularly susceptible to pathologies in the flow of messages across their brains due to idiosyncrasies in their own connectivity, whereas in healthy controls, brain structure may provide compensatory mechanisms that allow more flexible message flow.​ 

Observations of Koronis Family Asteroid of (452) Hamiltonia  

Jake Maier Union 2024

Prof. Francis P. Wilkin Union

Asteroids are located in our solar system primarily in the asteroid belt between the orbits Mars and Jupiter. The trajectory and spin of asteroids are affected by the light emitted by the sun. To determine the spin of asteroids, images are taken over a time span greater than its rotational period. We have observed asteroid (452) Hamiltonia on six occasions from three distinct observatories. Our composite light curve folded to the known rotation period is presented.

Artificial Intelligence and Biology Education  

Michael Ngaw Hamilton 2025

Megan Rai Hamilton 2025

Prof. Natalie Nannas Hamilton

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has disrupted the world of higher education. As an increased number of chatbots enter the public domain and as the algorithms behind the technology become more efficient, academic institutions' are faced with challenges surrounding integrating AI into curriculums. Despite this, AI is a revolutionary technology that is continuously being optimized, and is here to stay. Because of this, educators must adapt and learn to use AI in ways that enhance student learning. Within biology education, there has been little to no research done on AI and its capabilities to understand biological concepts. In this study, we set out to do just that. We evaluated ChatGPT+, ChatGPT free, Bard, and Bing’s ability to understand and answer biology concepts. We tested these chatbots with every question given to students in Bio100F: Genetic Engineering and Bio248: Genes and Genomes. After feeding the exams and homework questions through the various chatbots, we graded the AI’s ability to answer the questions using the rubrics created by graders in the 2022-2023 academic year. From there, we sorted the types of questions asked using Bloom’s taxonomy and analyzed how AI scored on each of the different types of questions. The goal of our study was to understand the capabilities of AI within the scope of biology, and from there determine how to integrate it into the biology curriculum.

Effects of a Key Acidic Residue Mutation on an AbpSH3 Domain Binding Pathway  

Oluebube Onwuzulu Skidmore 2024

Alex Arata Skidmore 2025

SH3 domains are common protein interaction domains found across all forms of life and serve important functions in cell signaling and cytoskeletal regulation. SH3 domains often bind to intrinsically disordered peptides (IDPs) which are peptides that lack a well-defined secondary structure. However, little is known about the binding mechanism in these complexes. Previous experimental results have shown that complex cellular processes are mediated by interactions between proteins. Prior to this experiment, our lab has simulated a wild-type ArkA bound to the SH3 domain, and it was observed that the binding of the disordered ArkA peptide to the yeast Abp SH3 domain proceeds through a flexible disordered encounter complex before reaching a fully bound state. While the encounter complex forms quickly, the slow step of binding is the transition from the disordered encounter ensemble to fully engaged state. We mutated glutamic acid to glutamine due to its binding affinity with lysine, a residue that is located at the center or segments 1 and 2 or ArkA peptide. In this experiment, we used molecular dynamics simulations to simulate the contact interaction between SH3 domain, which has a net negative charge, and a disordered peptide ArkA, which has a net positive charge, while analyzing the effect a residue mutation has on the transitioning of the bound ArkA peptide and Abp1p SH3 domain from the unbound stage to the disordered encounter complex and finally to the fully bound complex. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we ran an analysis which failed to reject our hypothesis that mutation results in fewer contacts formed. Other analysis involves comparing the wild-type and the mutation when the proteins began in the bound state, and the support for our hypothesis was further strengthened.

Elucidation of Binding Properties of HMGB1 Toward Single Strand DNA  

Leonard Parra Skidmore 2024

Kimberly Cruz San Diego 2025

Michael Fagan San Diego 2024 

Fiona O’Murphy San Diego 2022

Emma Bose San Diego 2022

Shamilla Tumusiime San Diego 2021

Prof. Anthony Bell San Diego

The protein, High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1), is a DNA-binding cytokine. It has been shown to be overproduced in diseases that have increased inflammation like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Previous research indicated that HMGB1 has a high affinity for B-form DNA with having low affinity for other forms of DNA. The objective of current work is to characterize HMGB1’s affinity to various DNA sequences and its specificity to single strand DNA and duplexes. Future work will be focused on computing theoretical models of ssDNA and, using a docking program, compare the likelihood for association to HMGB1. Data was collected using circular dichroism (CD), gel electrophoresis, and fluorescence thermal shift (FTS). Models were created using ChimeraX.    

Study of Cationic Rhenium-Bipyridine Complexes as CO2 Reduction Electrocatalysts  

Jorge Perez-Vazquez Hamilton 2024

Dr. Brian Sanders Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Thomas Sheridan Sandia National Laboratory 

Prof. Wes Kramer Hamilton 

A promising method to store solar energy consists of transferring the potentials it generates into carbon-neutral fuels. This can be better achieved by employing catalysts to lower the energetic barriers of fuel-forming reactions that utilize carbon dioxide as the “raw material” for carbon-neutral processes. For instance, transition metal-bipyridine complexes are economic, well-established electrocatalytic candidates for CO2 reduction. Adding to this family of molecular electrocatalysts, in this study, new rhenium complexes bearing a dicationic methylene trimethylamine bipyridine (tmam) ligand were synthesized and characterized as Re(tmam)(CO)3X (X=halide), in order to study the ability of the cationic pendant groups to stabilize anionic intermediates in the CO2-reducing catalytic cycle of a well-known catalytic metal center. The pendant group was used in the 4,4’ position, expecting the methylene linker to keep the bipyridine electronically isolated from the cationic trimethylamines, and the charged group to contribute electrostatic stabilization, predicted to promote catalytic activity and reduce overpotentials, as other species have been proven to do. Initial electrochemical characterization suggested the axial chloride ligand was more labile than expected. This led to further investigation of the cationic pendant group’s effect on the lability of the halide ligand, which was found to also have implications on the catalytic cycle after performing chloride titrations. The catalytic activity and ion exchange were studied to a greater extent through cyclic voltammetry, bulk electrolysis, and differential pulse voltammetry, among other techniques. In short, even though the instability of the tmam ligand itself led to minimal change in the catalytic activity of the rhenium complex compared to unfunctionalized ligand, valuable insights were gained regarding the interaction between the cationic group and the axial halide for the future development of catalytic cycles involving axial ligand dissociation.

Who Supports Teaching U.S. Children About Race and Racism in Schools? The Role of Race Development Beliefs

Heba Salman Skidmore 2025  

Prof. Leigh Wilton Skidmore

Children benefit from learning about race and racism. Yet, many U.S. adults (especially conservatives) oppose teaching U.S. schoolchildren about contemporary racism. We tested whether a novel factor--adults’ lay beliefs about child race development--also predicts support of race-education policies. Adults (N=427) estimated when U.S. children develop certain race-related capacities, which we compared to scientific estimates for age of onset. Political orientation (β=.47) and racial bias (β=.45) were the greatest predictors of race-education support. However, race lay belief also predicted support (β=.15; all ps> .001); people who more accurately estimated when children develop race biases more strongly supported race-education policies. These data suggest an intervention (race development education) to encourage support for developmentally-appropriate education about race in U.S. schools. 

Confronting Contemporary Forms of Animal Agriculture in the United States  

Grace Stearns Union 2024

As technology has grown more sophisticated in the last century, the production of animal products has undergone a profound transformation. Tools for slaughter, milk production, breeding, and confinement have become increasingly mechanized and automated. Simultaneously, farmed animals are increasingly manipulated biologically, spatially, and socially, so as to maximize the efficiency with which they can carry out the productive aims of the meat and dairy industries. They are subject to management so stringent that they are nearly held to the same standards of non-living resources in the productive process (i.e., being restricted from any amount of self-determination and kept alive only to yield commodifiable substances). In this paper, I argue that theoretical approaches which have been employed to describe these conditions thus far— namely, Foucault’s biopower and Marx’s alienated labor—are insufficient, insofar as they constitute a re-appropriation of lenses developed to describe human circumstances and inhibit a complete understanding of the magnitude of violence at play in the commodification of nonhuman animals. While certain aspects of these theories can be helpful, the situation at hand calls for a more distinct conceptual framework to account for the nature of domination at stake and the form of exploitation through which milk, eggs, and meat are extracted for commercial purposes. Furthermore, this situation calls for a more precise vocabulary and understanding of value production as it occurs via the entrapment and appropriation of farmed animals’ bodies.
 

To elaborate these points, I refer to data from the United States Department of Agriculture to describe the ways in which techniques for the industrial production of meat, dairy, and eggs have developed since the mid 20th century, heeding political economy and the implications new technologies and practices have for those most directly subjected to the effects of these developments. 

Phylogeographic Relationships of Two Eastern North American Milkweeds (Asclepias Syriaca & Asclepias Tuberosa)  

Nataly Vargas Hobart and William Smith 2024

Lindsey Balman Hobart and William Smith 2025

Prof. Mark Fishbein Oklahoma State 

Prof. Shannon Straub Hobart and William Smith

The aim of this project was to understand the relationship between geographical location and their evolutionary history since the last ice age. To obtain the data, the chloroplast genomes were assembled to observe mutations that could help us understand the relationship between

populations within species and geographic distribution. We expect to see individuals from the same area have a closer relationship than species from different geographical locations if there is a geographical pattern. The common milkweed has a random pattern compared to the

butterfly weed which we can see has two different clades. Due to this pattern, we believe that there was one refugium versus two refugia in recent times. Despite the two species being closely related and having a similar geographic distribution right now, there is still a difference in

biogeological history.

Assessing Cremophor as a Solvent Alternative for Hydrophobic Substances through the Utilization of Tetrahymena Thermophila 

 Michelle Zheng Hamilton 2024

Prof. Wei-Jen Chang Hamilton

The hydrophobic and low soluble nature of numerous anti-cancer drugs cause difficulties in effective administration to patients, resulting in limited utilization within a clinical setting. One mechanism to increase the solubility of the drugs through Cremophor which can dissolve hydrophobic substances. Cremophor is an solubilizer and emulsifier created from a combination of ethylene oxide and castor oil, and has been used in intravenous formulations of teniposide and paclitaxel, two different anti-cancer drugs. However, there are concerns regarding safety and suitability of Cremophor as a solvent due to uncertain biological side effects of Cremophor on the organism the drugs are injected into. For example, anaphylactoid hypersensitivity reactions and aggregation of erythrocytes were among the associated symptoms found within some subjects after usage of Cremophor EL, a type of Cremophor trademarked by BASF Corporation. This study seeks to assess whether Cremophor presents a suitable alternative to the classic organic solvents such as dimethyl-formamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and ethanol (EtOH) utilizing Tetrahymena thermophila. We used three well characterized anticancer analogs with different formats of Cremophor and we found no statistically significant differences when comparing the growth of T. thermophila across different experimental groups. Cremophor appears to be a suitable substitute of organic solvents when assessing the toxicity of hydrophobic chemicals in Tetrahymena.

PANEL SESSION ONE

1100–1200 Stern Hall

Panel One—The Self, Sexuality, and Society

Stern Hall 201

[chair TBD]

Correlating Medical Schools and Higher Medical Education to Primary Care Shortages  

Viraj Brahmbhatt Union 2025

Predictions of a primary care shortages across the United States began in the early 2000s and current estimates believe the shortages will continue to grow until 2034. The current literature has offered a variety of proposals to tackle this shortage including but not limited to decreasing number of years of training required, decreasing cost of education, increasing number of medical schools, and increasing medical training (Higher Medical Education) institutions. Among these, increasing medical schools and increasing Higher Medical Education—either through increasing the number of institutions or through the number of positions at each institution—require high levels of investment into infrastructure and require cooperation among many parties. Based on this, this study investigated the correlation between presence of medical schools and higher medical institutions and the reported primary care shortages in each state using data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). From an original sample of 50 states and the District of Columbia, states were removed for lacking a medical school or for lacking residency programs. After this sorting, the final sample contained 44 states and the District of Columbia. Sorting based on average metropolitan rating (calculated through taking the percent of “metropolitan areas” of all areas). Through regression-based analysis, the findings of the study suggest a weak and insignificant correlation among all factors tested. Further analysis was conducted to determine whether there were two distinct groups of high and low metropolitan area states. This secondary study suggested that shortages and matriculation percentages were not significantly different across all states tested. As such, there appears no significant correlation among the factors tested and future studies should consider analyzing the contributors to the primary care shortage from a different lens.

Sex Education Methodologies and Pornography: Accountability of Adult Entertainment Companies as Sources for Sex Education  

Ethan Freedman Colgate 2024

Sex education has historically been its own site of tension with a focus on its deficits situating the vast majority of the problem. Abstinence only and prevention methodologies in sex education highlight the shortcomings of established curriculums and center calls for a more comprehensive understanding of sex, sexuality, and intimacy. With the acknowledgement that a comprehensive sex education (CSE) curriculum is the best approach for educating on sex ed. topics, porn as a sex educator is discussed. The following research positions whether or not adult film and porn companies utilize a comprehensive sex education curriculum while simultaneously pushing pornographic content. Through discursive media analysis of a sex education platform to understand how porn companies might discuss sex education topics— I then address five porn companies on the extent they educate on comprehensive topics like pleasure, consent, and general sex ed topics. In general, the following piece assists in helping hold adult entertainment companies accountable for the notion that they are our dominant sex educators in society.

Queering Menstruation: Menstruation and the Trans* and/or Nonbinary Adolescent Population

R Hunsicker Colgate 2024

Prof. Lindsay Toman Colgate

Menstruation can be exceptionally difficult for nonbinary and trans-masculine individuals because it is a biological process that is associated with womanhood. Menstruation acts as a reminder of the areas of the body that trigger gender dysphoria making menstruation a key factor in gender affirmation. This paper uses data created by semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with the following three groups; transgender and nonbinary adolescents, healthcare professionals, and parents of transgender and nonbinary adolescents. The findings emerge as the following three themes; (1) menstruation solidifies decisions to transition, (2) menstruation triggers gender dysphoria, (3) healthcare professionals neglect the needs of nonbinary people. It is our recommendation that conversations centered on menstruation be made more inclusive so that the focus is on people who menstruate and not just women. Queering menstruation can hopefully aid the building of more positive relationships between periods and trans and nonbinary people.

Life After Roe: Policy, Grief, and Coalition Building  

Parna Shakouri Colgate 2023 

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The following weeks were filled with outrage expressed through nationwide protests and media campaigns. Generation Z played a critical role at this time by virtue of using their unique relationship with social media to influence and mobilize masses. Despite the early powerful displays of community organizing, the passion and focus dedicated to the issue on social media seemingly dissipated in the coming months. What does this mean for the future of abortion in America? Has Gen Z abandoned Roe in the past? This qualitative study of the relationship between college-aged Gen Z women and life after Roe illustrates their continuous engagement and processing of the impacts of public policy on their lives. It also challenges us to consider the burden of grief in a capitalist society and the potential for Gen Z to use coalition building as a form of resistance in the future. 

Toxic Male Narcissism from the Female Perspective: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein  

Mariel Silpe Union 2025

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus has been rendered a canonical masterpiece in the two centuries since its original publication. It is the pinnacle of Romantic literature and one of the most read and discussed books among high school and college students for its value as an introduction to Romanticism, and nothing more. However, many do not read it as a feminist rebuttal to male narcissism, even though it undoubtedly is. Through this project, we will explore the prevalent feminist themes of Frankenstein as well as critics’ understanding of female desire for power as an overarching theme from a cultural and historical context. In the novel, Shelley examines the narcissistic tendencies of humankind, portraying egotism as a systemic trait of men and a deeply damaging flaw of a patriarchal society. As a woman who often felt marginalized and overshadowed by her male colleagues, Shelley’s observations of male arrogance are quite astute. Shelley’s few named female characters in this novel are portrayed to exist merely as props to the men in the story. These women are intentionally shown as passive, malleable characters that cannot have any intrinsic flaws in the eyes of the men interacting with them. The monster, by contrast, is supposed to act as a subservient to Victor, but, to his downfall, develops a consciousness. By creating a novel in which monsters and men are interchangeable, and women are undoubtedly subsidiary to either, Shelley creates a tale of longing and betrayal that mirrors how women are perpetually censored by men.

Panel Two—Traces in the Land

Stern Hall 203

Prof.  Heather Watson, chair

Landscapes and Layouts: Topographical Influences on Noh K’uh Settlement Design in the Late Preclassic Era (400 BC–AD 200)  

Yiduo He Colgate 2024

Human interactions with the environment have long been a subject of scholarly inquiry, illuminating how natural landscapes influence social structures and cultural practices. Leveraging the spatial analysis capability of Geographic Information System (GIS), my research focuses on human-environmental interaction at the archaeological site of Noh K’uh, a Preclassic (400 BC–AD 200) Maya city in Chiapas, Mexico. I investigate the spatial configuration of Noh K’uh settlements through the research question: How did the topographical features of the local environment shape the arrangement and design of household and ceremonial complexes in Noh K’uh during the Late Preclassic Period (400 BC–AD 200)? I employ Least Cost Path Analysis (LCPA)—a spatial analysis tool in GIS—to measure the efficiency of movements in the local landscape. While LCPA would provide valuable insights into the ways Preclassic Maya people navigated the complexities of the rainforest environment when designing their settlements, it would also elucidate the extent to which the spatial layout of Noh K’uh settlements facilitated transportation and connectivity. In addition to addressing the ongoing academic debate about cultural meanings behind Maya settlement designs, my research also sheds light on the role of environmental factors in shaping ancient civilizations and their spatial practices. 

The Long & the Short of It: Can We Distinguish Proximal Microplastic Sources in Seneca Lake Using Fiber Length  

Heather Kerns Hobart and William Smith 2024

Prof. Nan Crystal Arens Hobart and William Smith

Microplastics—synthetic polymer fragments, pellets, films and fibers smaller than 5 mm in diameter—circulate in the environment. Humans consume microplastic that contaminates surface drinking water sources. Fibers are the dominant microplastic shape in freshwater systems. We explore whether fiber length can be used to distinguish the relative contribution of sources feeding into Seneca Lake, a major drinking water resource by using an environmental source and sink based approach. We sampled various routes fibers could take into the lake: precipitation, direct atmospheric fallout, surface flow (Castle Creek), and wastewater effluent as well as the destination of fibers, Seneca Lake. Samples were passed through a benchtop vacuum filtration system with a .45 µm Millipore filter. Filters were illuminated using a NightSea UV/royal blue light and photographed; fibers were measured in ImageJ. There is considerable variability in the data, with fiber length varying from 0.0234 mm to 14.699 mm. Most fibers are small (< 1mm) resulting in distributions with a strong right skew. Results show small but statistically significant differences in length between fibers deposited from the atmosphere and those carried in water. Ultimately, it seems the abundance of small fibers and the unimodal distribution of fiber lengths in Seneca Lake prevent differential length from being used exclusively to track fiber source. Instead, differential length could be a product of particle time in the environment or be related to how the fibers shed off of synthetic fabrics.

Skidmore Archaeological Collection NAGPRA Research  

Maggie McCurdy Skidmore 2024

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a law that requires institutions that receive federal funds to report and potentially repatriate Indigenous human remains and certain items. I conducted research on archeological collections from four sites in Saratoga County to update Skidmore’s NAGPRA summaries and inventories. These records make the items in the collection known to Indigenous groups so they may request repatriation if they wish to have the items returned. Using archival sources including collector records, archeological field notes, and maps, I created a history for over 900 objects and established provenience information to be shared with tribes in future NAGPRA consultation. This contributes to NAGPRA compliance work, but also to our ethical obligation to attempt to return belongings and ancestors taken from Indigenous sites without permission from cultural descendants. 

Shaking up the System: Post-Earthquake Evolution of the Waiau Toa/Clarence River Valley  

Maddi Meyer Hobart and William Smith 2024

Lucy Smith Scripps 2024 

Emily Wagg Brown 2024 

Marcella Winget Hamilton 2024

Erin McEwan Canterbury 

Prof. Tim Stahl Canterbury

Earthquakes can significantly alter the geomorphology of a river system if the fault surface rupture occurs in the river channel. Fault rupture through rivers can result in the formation of pools and lakes, the abandonment of channels, and the reactivation of pre-existing channels in the area. River systems can continue to change for months to years after the initial earthquake. Research concerning faults that intersect rivers is sparse. Here we show how the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand altered the Waiau Toa/Clarence River valley through the creation of a new, preferred channel and a fault-dammed pool. The diversity of landforms increased immediately post-earthquake and sporadically decreased in response to large rainfall events. However, landform diversity remained higher than pre-earthquake conditions over the course of the study. The most significant areas of lateral migration occurred closer in time to the earthquake events and were more prominent in areas with lower topographic relief. Our results demonstrate that fault rupture within a system can drastically shape the geomorphology of the river and can create long lasting changes that resist typical phenomena such as fluctuations in rainfall and discharge. We anticipate that these results can inform models relating to fault-river intersections and serve as an example of how to study future impacts so landowners can be better informed and prepared. 

Exploring the Water World Hypothesis: A Detailed Study of the Interior Structure of TOI-270d  

Biruk Nardos Hobart and William Smith 2025

Sub-Neptunes are a class of planets with radii between that of Earth and Neptune, and are intriguing since they lack any Solar System analogues. They are often characterized through comparing their observed masses and radii with internal structure models of different compositions, ranging from rocky cores with hydrogen envelopes to water-rich bodies. We have studied the interior of one particular sub-Neptune, which is set to be observed with JWST in the near future. Past work suggested that TOI-270d may consist of a rocky core with a hydrogen envelope. We have explored TOI-270d’s potential as a “water world,” employing detailed internal structure models to find compositions that align with its observed mass and radius. We find that a range of water mass fractions from 33 percent-52 percent align with TOI-270d’s characteristics, and that the results are dependent on the surface pressure of the planet. Our models have so far assumed an adiabatic temperature structure, an assumption we intend to revisit in future work, along with more detailed atmospheric modeling to establish a more accurate temperature profile. Upcoming atmospheric observations by JWST could provide crucial data which could determine whether TOI-270d hosts a water-rich or hydrogen-rich envelope.

Panel Three—Patterns, Networks, Models, and Order

Stern Hall 204

Prof. Francis Wilkin, chair

Reconstruction of Monomial Orders

Nayda Farnsworth Colgate 2026

Aranya Pal Colgate 2024

PJ Horoszewski Colgate 2025 

Marisa Zarcone Colgate 2025 

Prof. Gabriel Sosa Castillo Colgate

Ordering systems are invaluable in our day-to-day lives. From our ability to construct alphabetical systems, to understanding the premise of a morning routine, we as humans would be very lost without the ability to categorize and order everything around us. Unsurprisingly, ordering systems play a central role in our comprehension of mathematics. From basic counting systems to our topic of discussion, monomial orders (the ranking systems for monomials, algebraic expressions consisting of one term), ordering systems are prevalent in every area of math. Monomial orders themselves also play a pivotal role in mathematics, especially in the computation of Gröbner Basis—a central idea in the fields of Algebraic Geometry and Combinatorial Algebra.

Throughout this past summer, we explored the question of reconstructibility of monomial orders. Every monomial order (in two or more variables) has a set of smaller, or ‘induced’, associated orders, each ranking the monomials missing exactly one of the variables for which the actual order is defined. We ask, which monomial orders can be reconstructed from their induced orders? In other words, given a collection of orders in n-1 variables, is there a unique monomial order τ in n variables such that the induced orders of τ correspond to the collection? Furthermore, we explore the question: given a collection of induced orders, is it possible to find a monomial order for which they are induced orders? If so, how? What are the necessary and/or sufficient conditions that would allow us to do so? Throughout our presentation, we will discuss our approach to these challenges and the results of our research findings.

Neutral Inclusions and Cloaking  

Justin Li Colgate 2025

Dennis Belotserkovskiy Colgate 2026

In this project, the problem of determining nonlinear neutral inclusions in (electrical or thermal) conductivity is considered. Neutral inclusions, inserted in a matrix containing a uniform applied electric field, do not disturb the field outside the inclusions. The well known Hashin coated sphere construction is an example of a neutral inclusion. The project deals with constructing neutral inclusions from nonlinear materials . In particular, assemblages of circular inclusions with spiraling laminate structure inside them with a nonlinear core are studied and their effective (electrical or thermal) conductivity is found.

Exploring Degree, Diameter, and Connectedness for Graph Products  

Omshi Samal Colgate 2024

Sophia Child Colgate 2025 

Prof. Kelly Isham Colgate 

Large scale computer networks are necessary for simulations, data visualization, and other scientific computations both in industry and in academia. These networks can have tens to hundreds of thousands of processing units—at that scale, it is pertinent that the networks are designed in a way that is efficient and cost-effective. The network can be interpreted as a graph whose vertices represent the compute nodes and edges represent the links between them. Thus it is important to study this problem mathematically—in our work this summer, we studied this problem using graph products.

A graph product is an operation on two graphs that creates a new graph. Graph products have been created for and used across many different areas - in particular, products like the star product on graphs have been used to design large supercomputing networks with useful properties. We explore different graph products to examine their viability for network design, analyzing their degree, diameter, and connectedness. We give a sharp diameter bound as well as a necessary and sufficient connectedness condition for the weak modular product. Further, we introduce a graph product called the modified strong product and provide exact degree and diameter bounds. Lastly, we examine the zig-zag product, providing counterexamples to previously published diameter bounds, and proving stronger connectedness results than previously known.

Data Science Collaboratory Project

Chunjiang Li Colgate 2024

James Njoroge Colgate 2025

Prof. Will Cipolli Colgate 

Addressing the complexities inherent in traditional statistical platforms, our team engaged in the development of user-friendly web applications for statistical analysis, leveraging the R Shiny framework. This initiative equips individuals, irrespective of their programming background, with intuitive and robust tools for constructing, visualizing, and interpreting advanced statistical models.

Our focus was on enhancing existing functionalities and optimizing the user experience through the addition of pivotal features. We ensured that each application delivered accurate and comprehensive data output. Rigorous code maintenance, unit testing, and uniformity checks across all applications were also conducted to adhere to contemporary coding standards.

Expanding beyond our primary objectives, we developed comprehensive applications to perform One-Sample, Two-Sample, and K-Sample Population Variance tests. These applications seamlessly manage the entire analytical workflow, from data summarization and preprocessing to the deployment of sophisticated techniques such as bootstrapping and permutation tests. A conscious emphasis on user-friendliness ensures these applications are accessible to a broad audience, ranging from experts to novices in the field.

This multifaceted experience has enriched our capabilities in programming, statistical analysis, and user experience design.  

Using Neural Networks to Detect Dark Star Candidates in the Early Universe  

Sayed Shafaat Mahmud Colgate 2026

Dark Stars, hypothesized to have formed during the cosmic dawn era, are unique stellar objects that utilize dark matter annihilation as their primary source of energy against gravitational collapse. These stars can reach immense sizes, growing to millions of times the mass of our Sun, and possess luminosities on the order of trillion times that of the Sun. Dark Stars, powered by dark matter, have limited lifespans and may ultimately evolve into supermassive black holes. As such, Supermassive Dark Stars can be the precursors to the many observed supermassive black holes at high redshift, 

which remains an open question, many years after their discovery.

With the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we are now observing photometric data of too many, too massive, galaxy candidates too early in the universe. Motivated by recent findings by Ilie, Paulin, and Freese 2023 (PNAS submitted), who identified the first three Supermassive Dark Star candidates, our study aims to identify many more such candidates in the JWST data. To accomplish this we will use a ‘two-step’ Neural network approach, that trains using ~100,000 TLUSTY simulated spectra and identifies dark star candidates based on publicly available photometric data of high redshift objects found with JWST. As a validation of our method we independently re-identified JADES-GS-z13-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, JADES-GS-z11-0 as Dark Star candidates, with similar parameters as those found via a different approach in Ilie, Paulin, and Freese 2023.

Our study presents a novel application of neural networks in the detection of Dark Star candidates. The results from our analysis demonstrate the potential of neural networks in accurately predicting the crucial parameters associated with Dark Stars. This study contributes to our understanding of early universe astrophysics and aids in the identification of elusive Dark Star objects, shedding light on the complex interplay between dark matter and stellar evolution.

PANEL SESSION TWO

130–230 Stern Hall

Panel Four—Human Behavior

Stern Hall 201

Prof. Alexandra List, chair

Investigation on the Current Practices and Understanding of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education  

Ilena Berro Pizzarossa Skidmore 2024  

Kayla Melendez Skidmore 2026

The research team worked alongside the Skidmore Working Group on Accessible and Inclusive Teaching and Learning. Their work was divided between three subgroups and the presentation will focus on themes that emerged between these three data sets. The Reading Group developed an annotated bibliography on existing scholarship concerning inclusive and accessible teaching, the Data Group processed and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data from students, faculty, staff, and administrative and governance committees, and the Institutional Comparison group compiled language and policies from peer, aspirant, and disruptor institutions. The goal of this work is to better support and incentivize inclusive teaching practices and improve the learning environment for the Skidmore community. 

Novel Circadian Genes’ Connections with Depressive Disorders  

Ahmed Ayub Khan Colgate 2025

Mete Minbay Colgate 2024

Ali Ghasemi Colgate 2025 

Prof. Ahmet Ay Colgate

Prof. Krista Ingram Colgate

Depressive disorders make up some of the most common mental disorders, increasing self-harm risk and health costs. Strong genetic links have been established showing circadian clock genes affect depression via direct influences on mood-related pathways in the brain, or indirect modulation of the phase of circadian rhythms. We explore these genetic connections by using machine learning and statistical techniques to study genotypic variations from 51 genes and PHQ-9 depression scores in a UK sample of 99,939 individuals. Our results show multiple novel variants from genes including FBXL3 and DRD4 in males, and USP-46 in females as risk factors for depression. We also found epistatically interacting two variant combinations from RORA, NFIL3 and ZBTB20 among others as both risk or protective factors for depression, showing the importance of transcription factor genes (ZBTB20, NFIL3) and hormone receptors (RORA) working in tandem to affect depression. Depression scores were mediated by diurnal preferences in some genes, including FBXL3 and USP-46, supporting the indirect effect of circadian genes on mood. A number of pathways linking genes to mood were highlighted in our study including circadian, immune, neurogenesis, and stress. Some unelucidated pathways (DELEC1, USP-46) showed sex-specific patterns, affecting only females. Illuminating such complex pathways connecting circadian genes to mood disorders would facilitate future studies to find underlying mechanisms, and better treatments for depressive disorders.

Circadian Chronotype Does Not Predict Alcohol Consumption  

Braedon Quinlan Skidmore 2024

Yutian Feng Skidmore 2025

Ryan Thompson Skidmore

Prof. Bernard Possidente Skidmore

Circadian rhythms are synchronized externally to the photoperiod and are generated endogenously in the suprachiasmatic nuclei by a circadian clock composed of two interlocking transcription-translation feedback loops. Circadian clock oscillations impose a daily rhythm on a variety of biological functions including: sleep, metabolism, and temperature. Differences in endogenous circadian clock period contribute to a range of “chronotypes” from “early birds” to “night owls.” Alcohol use disorders (AUD), characterized by severe alcohol dependence, are more common in people with late “night owl” chronotypes. It’s difficult, in human subjects, to determine whether late chronotype is a causal biological risk factor for AUDs. This study used mice to determine whether differences in chronotype, defined as the time of peak running-wheel activity, predict differences in alcohol consumption and preference. We entrained 43 female genetically diverse (J:DO) mice to a 12:12 light-dark (LD) photoperiod to measure differences in chronotype, followed by 14 days in constant darkness (DD) to measure variation in the endogenous “free-running” circadian clock period. Mice were re-entrained to the 12:12 LD photoperiod and alcohol consumption and preference were measured for five days using a two-bottle choice test between 10 percent ethanol and water. There was no correlation between chronotype and alcohol consumption (p = 0.964, F = 0.002, R2 = 4.914 *10-5) or chronotype and preference for alcohol over water (p = 0.515, F = 0.431, R2 = 0.0104). These results indicate that chronotype variation itself does not constitute an intrinsic circadian basis for alcohol consumption preference. More likely, social factors unique to humans such as stress and circadian dysregulation caused by a mismatch between late chronotypes and, for example, school or work schedules, cause “social jet lag” which may, in turn, contribute to risk for AUDs. Repeating this experiment with male subjects would be useful since AUDs are more prevalent in males.

Exploring the Bob Ross Effect: A Psychophysiological Investigation  

Elena Shostak Skidmore 2024

Oliver Blum Skidmore 2023

Anna Churchill Skidmore 2023

Maleeha Farzansyed Skidmore 2023

Lauren Greaves Skidmore 2023

Brian Lora Skidmore 2021

Seraya Makle Skidmore 2022

Noa Schabes Skidmore 2021

Megan White Skidmore 2022

Farouq Yusuf Skidmore 2021

Prof. Justin A. DeBlauw Skidmore 

Prof. Stephen J. Ives Skidmore 

Watching news broadcasts is known to elicit psychological stress. Conversely, the iconic painter Bob Ross (BR) has risen to pop culture status and amassed a following, as many find the messages and sounds of BR to be soothing and relaxing. Though, it has yet to be directly tested if such exposure can confer psychological or physiological benefit. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of watching BR versus streaming news on markers of cardiovascular health and profile of mood states (POMS). Methods: In a randomized, controlled, crossover design, 18 young (21±1 yrs, 9 female, 9 male) healthy participants (2±0.09 m, 69±18 kg) were assessed for blood pressure (BP), vascular stiffness (VS), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and POMS before and after watching an episode of BR or streaming News matched for time (~27 mins). Results: POMS score decreased significantly after BR (26±21 vs. 18±25, p<0.05), but not after News, with anxiety, depression, fatigue, and confusion domains favoring BR. The LF/HF ratio, an HRV marker of sympathovagal balance, was significantly lower after watching BR (p=0.048). There were no significant differences in the pre and post systolic BP (123±17 vs. 119±11 mmHg; 121±13 vs. 117±15 mmHg, p=0.999), MAP (95±12 vs. 91±11 mmHg; 95±10 vs. 91±10 mmHg, p=0.971), and diastolic BP (72±10 vs. 70±12 mmHg; 74±9 vs. 71±9 mmHg, p=0.967) with BR and News, respectively. Conclusion: The “Bob Ross Effect” reduces overall mood disturbance, though appears to exert little influence on the cardiovascular system in this acute paradigm.

Panel Five—Violence, Repression, and the Power of Texts

Stern Hall 203

[Chair TBD]

Coverage of the Presidential Debates in a Changing Media Landscape

Peter Biss Colgate 2026

In a 96-page report leaked to Buzzfeed in 2014, the New York Times painted a bleak future for the world of professional journalism. “Not only is the audience on our website shrinking but our audience on our smartphone app has dipped, an extremely worrying sign on a growing platform,” the report reads, “Our core mission remains producing the world’s best journalism. But with the endless upheaval in technology, reader habits and the entire business model, the Times needs to pursue smart new strategies for growing our audience” (Tanzer 2014). If this statement had been offered by any other newspaper, it would not have come as a surprise since declining revenue is something that has plagued every newsroom around the country (Karter 2022). But coming from The Times, it means something different. If one of the most respected journalistic organs in the country, with more monthly visits to its online platform than any other news competitor (Statista 2023) and more Pulitzer Prizes than any other newspaper (New York Times 2023), faces uncertain waters in the 21st century, then what place does professional journalism have in the current media environment?

Offering a case study of New York Times coverage of the presidential debates, I try to provide an answer to that question. I hypothesize that declining viewership, a more polarized political environment, and increased competition from other sources of content consumption, both news-based and not, have led to less balanced and more theatrical journalism.

Muffle the Gunshots: Poetry on Finding Hope in a Violent America  

Ally Feisel Hamilton 2025

Prof. Naomi Guttman Hamilton 

America is polluted with gun violence. As of writing this, there have been 470 mass shootings in 2023 alone. When the next headline inevitably appears, we are not shocked. Instead, we ask, “Another? Already?” Such preventable violence has become cyclical at the hands of a government who refuses to protect its own people in the name of Constitutional rights. The question then arises: how can we ever find hope when we are always waiting for the next gunshot? Issues of national violence have never been far from the minds of poets. The World That the Shooter Left Us by Cyrus Cassells, for instance, explores the horrors of gun violence and the scars it has left on our country. However, hope is fleeting in this collection. In my work, I wanted to explore not only the anxieties that stem from gun violence, but also how we as individuals could find hope in such unstable times. To do so, I spent ten weeks crafting a poetry collection with the help of my supervisor Professor Naomi Guttman. I drafted five new poems a week, received feedback from Professor Guttman, and researched supplemental materials such as articles pertaining to gun violence and relevant poets/poetic forms. My poetry explores gun violence through varied perspectives and emotions—the fear of a mother, the naivety of a child, the lingering panic of a survivor—and, in the final section, concludes that hope is not only possible but vital if we are to persevere. This project, I hope, speaks to my generation—those who have never lived in a country free from gun violence. While I wrote with the intention of voicing our fear, indignation, and helplessness, I also wanted to shine a light on the hope that is always in reach if we are looking for it.

Activism without the ‘A’: Asexuality’s Exclusion from and Invalidation within College Anti-Sexual Violence Movements

R Hunsicker Colgate 2024

Although college activism has made historical headway in promoting sex positivity and preventing sexual violence in the United States, the most prominent and influential sex positive movements lack recognition and inclusion of asexuality. Through a critique on literature around the college movements Yes Means Yes, Take Back the Night, and Abolish Greek Life, college activism can be seen as taking an allonormative framework in an effort to empower or protect marginalized students from sexual discrimination on campus, perpetuating the sexualization of student bodies at the cost of asexual students’ experiences and needs. These three college activist movements are examined using previously published findings to see how messages of sex positivity, sexual violence prevention, and the need to dismantle toxic hookup culture exclude asexual people and non-sexual forms of intimacy in their affirmation of marginalized bodies. By presenting how sexualization is used in sexual violence activism to validate marginalized students, social issues that involve relationships and queerness become a setting solely for sexual bodies, excluding asexuality and asexual-specific discrimination from the social movement. College activism’s focus on the sexualization of student bodies in an effort to protect and empower marginalized students inhibits asexuality from being visible and validated within this space.

Indigenous Perspectives: Situating (De)Colonization and Identity among Indigenous Communities  

Jordan Smith Colgate 2024

This research project seeks to gain a greater understanding of the variations in Indigenous perspectives about their grievances with the United States and also what can be done to resolve some of these issues. In addition to that, ideas of identity and the intersections of being Indigenous and American can vary greatly which can influence feelings towards the United States. Through analyzing different Indigenous-centered media (such as podcasts, YouTube channels, books, social media, etc.) and the discourse that exists within those spaces, I hope to discover where those variations in perspective occur and if they hinder or uplift one another. Looking into the various opinions among Indigenous people concerning best decolonial practices offers a way for white Americans to help by looking at concrete ways to begin decolonizing their everyday lives. As white Americans attempt to recognize the ways in which colonialism still persists in the United States and their day to day lives, it is important to recognize what Indigenous peoples need or want from us.   

Bei Dao’s Poetry: A Distinct Voice from an Exiled Poet  

Zheng Xiu Colgate 2024

In my essay, I will examine “The Answer,” and five other poems selected from the translated anthologies Old Snow (1991) and Forms of Distance (1994). I will show the thematic and stylistic features of these six of Bei Dao’s poems. To give a clearer view, I hope to show how an authoritarian political system has impacted his poetic imagination by providing a biographical background of Bei Dao’s life: his participation in the Misty Poets Movement and the composition of Jintian Journal, and how his poetry rejects Maoist principles of socialist realism. I will form an argument with a detailed analysis of Bei Dao’s early poem “The Answer,” which was created out of his incisive reflection on the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. In this, I hope to show how an authoritarian political system has impacted the poetic imagination that makes Bei Dao develop his distinct hermetic and secretive poetic imagery to avoid the state’s censorship; and how his highly subjective, imaginative, and modernistic poetry rebels against the state’s suppression of art. In the second half of my essay, I will examine a selection of poems from his post-exile work in the collections Old Snow and Forms of Distance to show how his poem evolved to a new level that takes his readers deep into a psychological and emotional state. In short, I will explore how Bei Dao internalizes the poetic form he developed in his early life living under the political oppression of 1980s China. I will also show how his introspection about his experience in expatriation renders another layer of solitude, a sense of displacement, and an intense longing for China in his poetry. 

Panel Six—The Life Microscopic 

Stern Hall 204

Prof. Shannon Straub,  chair

Biodegradable Cellulose Microbeads as a Microplastic Alternative

Rajveer Singh Union 2027

Plastic microbeads are a sturdy, inexpensive product used in applications including cosmetics, toothpaste, and astroturf fields. However, microbeads for nonessential purposes have been banned in countries including the USA due to environmental concerns. Biodegradable cellulose microbeads are an effective alternative but traditionally need temperature-controlled environments with expensive materials like porous glass and difficult-to-reuse ionic compounds. Microplastics are dangerous because they are nearly impossible to dispose of correctly and they can leach chemicals into the environment and body according to Mayo Clinic. My experiment simplified methods and lowered the costs of creating cellulose microbeads. My experiment successfully created cellulose microbeads of comparable precision and size to industry standards. A cellulose and dimethyl-sulfoxide aqueous solution was created and then dropped into an oil solution from a 22-gauge needle. Both the size and solubility of the beads were tested. None of the beads dissolved in water, meaning that they can be used in aqueous solutions which make up a sizable portion of plastic microbead usage. These methods create a uniform size for the beads without an expensive glass-membrane and pressurized system. These are novel, scalable methods that have never been used in conjunction with each other in literature. I created a set of methods to create these microbeads that replace plastics that are critical for human use but also negatively impact the environment and public health. The next steps of this experiment would include testing the time the cellulose takes to break down in the environment and performing more tests on the durability.

DriveGroups  

Yifan Wu Hamilton 2025

Nazaret Cuadros Barnard 2023

James G. Frazier Hamilton 2024

Iris Izydorczak Hamilton 2025

Dipashreya A. Sur Stanford 

Prof. Sarah Morrison-Smith Hamilton 

Although sharing data with collaborators is fundamental to research, data sharing is a complicated task. We present the results of two studies investigating data sharing in this context, as well as a novel system called DriveGroups. First, we observed and interviewed 26 life scientists about their data sharing practices. We found that researchers struggle to manage access to data, especially biological data containing personal identifiable information, in projects that span multiple types of collaborators. Next, we built and investigated the usability of DriveGroups, a system designed to alleviate these challenges. DriveGroups allows users to manage file access from two separate perspectives: 1) the traditional file perspective and 2) our novel group perspective, which simplifies the data sharing process. DriveGroups matched or outperformed unmodified Google Drive in terms of usability, access control, and transparency, which will aid life scientists in advancing high-impact biological research.

The Endoribonuclease of SARS-CoV-2, Non-Structural Protein 15, Gets Ubiquitinated  

Jadon Layne Hobart and William Smith 2025

Jack Chun-Chieh Hsu Yale

Rodrigo G. Pereyra Yale

Peter Cresswell Yale

Maudry Laurent-Rolle Yale

There are various post-translational modifications, including ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and ISGylation, that are involved in almost every cellular function, including protein stability, immune signaling, and antiviral function. The most studied modification, ubiquitination, involves the conjugation of ubiquitin to a substrate. Ubiquitin is a 76-amino acid protein containing seven lysine residues, where ubiquitin itself can be ubiquitinated, and these ubiquitin linkages result in specific cellular functions. It has been shown that substrate binding via lysine 63 (K63) is linked to the activation of signaling pathways for cytokine production, whereas lysine 48 (K48) has been linked to protein degradation. Pathogenic viruses have been shown to usurp the host ubiquitin system to enhance their viral replication and dissemination. Some of the ways they achieve this are by ubiquitinating signaling factors to be targeted for proteasomal degradation and ubiquitinating viral proteins to increase their replication. We found that SARS-CoV-2 non-structural protein 15 (NSP15), the viral uridine-specific endoribonuclease, undergoes ubiquitination. We hypothesize that the ubiquitination of NSP15 may enhance the virus’s endoribonuclease activity, thereby evading the host immune response. Our results demonstrate thatNSP15 is stable in cells and that its ubiquitination does not lead to proteasomal degradation. Furthermore, NSP15 is primarily ubiquitinated via a ubiquitin lysine 33 (K33) linkage, and it is possible that RNF41 is the E3 ligase responsible for this ubiquitination event. Given the pivotal role that NSP15 plays, the avenue of ubiquitination emerges as a viable target for potential antiviral therapeutics.

Steroid Receptor Coactivators in Cardiac Fibroblasts: Sex-Specific Differences in Transcriptional Regulation  

Kathy Guerra Hamilton 2024

Prof. Lisa Kay McClendon Baylor 

Prof. David Lonard Baylor

Dr. Bert W. O’Malley Baylor

Steroid receptor coactivators (SRCs) are essential proteins for the proper functioning of the heart; they have the critical task of regulating gene expression by interacting with steroid hormone receptors and other non-steroid receptors. When the heart suffers from ischemic injuries, caused by arterial blockage, it experiences inflammation and oxidative stress. These processes are tightly regulated by SRCs and other transcription factors. However, the specific responses of cell types responsible for the effects of SRCs following ischemic injury are still unclear. Our laboratory aims to elucidate the involvement of SRCs and further explore potential sex-specific differences in gene expression upon activation of SRCs. To evaluate these aspects, we are assessing the effects of 10-1, a small molecule synthesized by our lab that may regulate the expression of specific genes and protect the heart during injury. To do this, I measured activation of SRCs in male and female mice's cardiac fibroblasts by analyzing changes in gene transcription through RT-PCR and I also detected the signaling of target proteins through Western blot and immunofluorescence. Our findings suggest that SRCs function as transcriptional coactivators and their activity can be modulated by 10-1. Additionally, prior research indicates that gene sets controlling resilience against injuries or diseases may vary based on sex, potentially influenced by the activation of SRCs. My analyses revealed that, overall, the genes of interest showed similar regulation between males and females, except for Wnt-1 inducible signaling protein 1 (WISP1). These findings suggest possible distinctions in extracellular matrix regulation between the sexes. By further characterizing sex-specific differences in gene expression in response to the activation of SRCs, we gain insight into their role in tissue health repair, enhance the understanding of transcriptional regulation, and develop effective therapeutic interventions for heart-related disorders.

Human-Driven Genetic Programming for Program Synthesis: A Prototype  

James Frazier Hamilton 2024

Yuhan Shi Hamilton 2024 

Ahmed Farghali Abdelrehim Hamilton 2025

Prof. Thomas Helmuth Hamilton

End users can benefit from automatic program synthesis in a variety of applications, many of which require the user to specify the program they would like to generate. Recent advances in genetic programming allow it to generate general purpose programs similar to those humans write, but require specifications in the form of extensive, labeled training data, a barrier to using it for user-driven synthesis. Here we describe the prototype of a human-driven genetic programming system that can be used to synthesize programs from scratch. In order to address the issue of extensive training data, we draw inspiration from counterexample-driven genetic programming, allowing the user to initially provide only a few training cases and asking the user to verify the correctness of potential solutions on automatically generated potential counterexample cases. We present anecdotal experiments showing that our prototype can solve a variety of easy program synthesis problems entirely based on user input. 

Poster Session Two

230–330 Gearan Center Melly Lobby

Cells Deficient for Krüppel-like Factor 4 Respond to DNA Damage Less Effectively  

Hadeel Al Qoronz  Colgate 2025

Aidan Conroy Colgate 2023

Prof. Engda Hagos Colgate

Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a zinc-finger transcription factor that regulates numerous cellular processes including autophagy, cellular invasion, proliferation, and genomic stability. In response to DNA damage, the expression of KLF4 is upregulated by the tumor suppressor p53. Furthermore, Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) null for KLF4 have been shown to exhibit increased genomic instability such as aneuploidy, centrosome amplification, and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). However, the role of KLF4 in the DNA repair mechanism as a method of maintaining genomic stability remains unknown. In this study, we sought to investigate the role of KLF4 in DNA damage using MEFs and Human Colorectal Cancer cells (RKOs). A chemotherapeutic drug, etoposide, was utilized to induce DNA damage in KLF4 wild-type (+/+) and null (-/-) MEFs with varying recovery times to investigate the role of KLF4 regulating DNA repair proteins. Western blotting with primary antibodies for DNA repair proteins and gamma-H2AX was used as an effective biomarker to monitor DNA damage. At the basal level, immunostaining revealed that KLF4 (-/-) MEFs in comparison to KLF4 (+/+) MEFs exhibit significantly more DNA damage. Additionally, our data has shown that cells that have functional KLF4 exhibited more overall DNA damage recovery in comparison to cells null for KLF4. Furthermore, human colorectal cancer lines treated with PON-A to induce KLF4 expression showed lower levels of DNA damage as compared with the cells treated with DMSO, a solvent control. Taken together our results suggest that KLF4 is involved in DNA repair and offer a possible mechanism for how KLF4 maintains genomic stability. 

Effects of Phosphorylation and Residue Conformation on the Compactness of the CTD Domain  

William Barr Skidmore 2024

Ray East Skidmore 2024

Prof. K. Aurelia Ball Skidmore

Dr. Wei Chen Penn State

Prof. Scott Showalter Penn State 

Intrinsically disordered peptides (IDPs), which are peptides that lack a fixed secondary structure, are critical participants in many important cellular processes. Conformational changes of residues within IDP domains can affect the structural dynamics of these domains and thus modulate their binding activity. Additionally, the activities of certain proteins, such as the disordered C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA Polymerase II, may also be modulated by reversible phosphorylation; the CTD consists of an evolutionarily conserved repeated heptad (Tyr1-Ser2-Pro3-Thr4-Ser5-Pro6-Ser7). We hypothesized that the proportion of cis residues in the CTD is correlated with its compactness, and that the degree of phosphorylation is inversely correlated with its compactness. 

Gaussian-accelerated molecular dynamics was used to analyze the effects of serine phosphorylation and changes in proline conformation on the CTD (consensus sequence and Asn variant). In the Asn variant, we determined that phosphorylation of serine in all heptads increased the turn character of proximal residues and induced cis conformations in Pro6. Additionally, phosphorylation resulted in an increase in the mean radius of gyration. We also concluded that cis conformations of both Pro10 and Pro13 are associated with turns. These interactions highlight the relationship between the phosphorylation of the CTD and the conformation of its proline residues. 

Synthesis of Acridine Derivatives to Target DNA in Cancer Cells  

Leah Biwot St. Lawrence 2024

Prof. Samuel Tartakoff St. Lawrence

Prof. Samantha Glazier St. Lawrence

Proflavine, a mutagenic acridine dye that is a common candidate for chemotherapeutic agents’ studies, has greatly interested many researchers due to its wide range of applications in the industrial, therapeutic, and chemical sectors. This research focused on synthesizing proflavine derivatives and other acridine derivatives with the aim of studying their intercalation properties as a basis for DNA-drug interaction of cancerous cells. Proflavine derivatives were successfully synthesized through an acylation reaction with proflavine as the starting material. The challenge from this reaction was that the synthesized compounds were barely soluble in water, which is a problem when testing them with DNA. Therefore, methylation of the synthesized compounds was done to render them more water-soluble. This research also ventured into synthesizing acridine derivatives from simple compounds such as o-iodobenzoic acid, aniline, etc. to widen the number of compounds for intercalation studies. The reaction mechanisms involved were Ullmann condensation reactions, cyclodehydration of carbonyl-containing compounds, and chlorination of the acridone. I used polyphosphoric acid for cyclodehydration and thionyl chloride for chlorination. For future reactions, I will use Phosphorous Oxychloride, which does cyclodehydration and chlorination in the same step. I successfully synthesized 9-chloroacridine and several acridones with different functional groups coming off the acridine core. All the synthesized compounds will be tested with Calf Thymus (CT) DNA for their intercalation properties. The techniques used for DNA testing will include; viscosity studies, melting point, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD). These studies will provide insight into how various functional groups attached to the acridine core affect acridine-DNA interactions. 

Effects of Early Life Stress Motor Coordination and Anxiety-Like Behavior in Adolescent and Adult Rats  

Kimberly Bravo St. Lawrence 2025

Prof. Adam E. Fox St. Lawrence

Early life stress (ELS) has been linked to altered cognitive and motor function in rodents. This study examined the impact of ELS using the limited bedding and nesting (LBN) paradigm on anxiety-like behavior and motor coordination in Sprague Dawley rats. To measure motor coordination and anxiety-like behavior, we used the rotarod task and the open field test (OFT), respectively. Although limited, studies evaluating the effect of environmental enrichment (EE) and motor function found general improvements in locomotor and fine motor function. The LBN paradigm disrupts maternal-infant interactions and induces stress in prenatal rats, leading to fragmented maternal behaviors like increased aggression and reduced nurturing, and changes in the amygdala. Moreover, delayed hippocampal development poses risks to cognitive function due to diminished adult stem cells, further endangering the critical region for learning and memory. For that reason, this study also investigated EE to recover the deficits observed as a result of ELS. EE interventions during adolescence can enhance brain plasticity, reduce anxiety-like behaviors, and improve cognitive flexibility in LBN-exposed rats. This study contributes to the investigation of the effects of EE after stress induced by the LBN model, which can lead to advances in ELS research. Given the limitations in assessing ELS experimentally in humans, animal research can potentially offer a great deal translationally. Understanding the long-term consequences and underlying mechanisms of ELS, may highlight potential avenues for promoting resilience in humans exposed to ELS. 

Investigation of Azo Dye Degradation Using Porphyrins as Electrocatalysts  

Corryn Canell St. Lawrence 2024

Prof. Amanda Oldacre St. Lawrence

Investigating and improving the negative effects of azo dyes is extremely important in refining the overall health of humans and the well-being of the environment. We can remove azo dyes by sequestration from water and degradation. In this investigation, we used electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical experiments to observe the degradation of azo dye, methyl orange. The average molar absorptivity of methyl orange in an acidic stock solution was found to be 3.2 x 104 M-1 cm-1. An acidic stock solution was used to probe the influence of protons on the electrochemical degradation of methyl orange. We observed electrochemical degradation by monitoring the UV-vis spectrum over time. Undergoing a Bulk Electrolysis experiment, we were able to see the degradation of methyl orange over a 3-hour time period, using an applied potential as well as a UV-vis spectrometer. Once the time was completed, the degradation of methyl orange in a pH 1 stock solution showed to be first-order kinetics with a rate constant of 1.74 x 10-2 + 0.00646 M/s. We observed sequestration of methyl orange out of water using a metal-organic framework (MOF) that acts as a sponge to adsorb dye thereby decreasing its concentration in water. Decreasing the amount of dye found in an isolated system and degrading the dye will allow pathways for similar experiments in larger bodies of water. 

The Dark Big Bang  

Richard Casey Colgate 2024

This project researched the viability of there being a second Big Bang which produced all dark matter. The nature of dark matter is still unknown even though there is an undeniable amount of observational evidence that it exists in large quantities in the cosmos. How dark matter came into existence is still an open question in physics. One possible mechanism for dark matter creation is a similar process to which visible matter was created and is called the Dark Big Bang. Imagine the universe without any visible matter and only dark matter, this universe is known as the dark sector. In reality, the dark and visible sectors are overlaid with each other and interact through gravity. By studying the gravitational interaction between these two sectors, we can test the parameters of a Dark Big Bang such as the strength of the big bang, the time of the big bang, and the properties of the dark matter particles produced. The ranges of these parameters are determined by making sure the universe ends up being the same as we observe it today. While most of this research is theoretical, future gravity wave surveys could detect evidence of the Dark Big Bang. In fact, the NANOGrav 15 Year Survey recently produced the first evidence in history of a stochastic gravity wave background permeating the universe. We now know that spacetime is more like the surface of a choppy lake than that of placid water. Future observations of the gravity wave background could determine the sources of the waves, one of which could be a Dark Big Bang. 

Categorizing Celestial Objects: Preliminary Light Curves for Koronis Family Asteroids  

Eduardo Castro Union 2027

Ryan Petraukas Union 2028

Gavin Wright Union 2026 

Prof. Francis P. Wilkin Union 

In order to discover more about Koronis family asteroids, and their periods of rotation, our team of students at Union College used data from the Union College Observatory (UCO) and other telescopes around the world to study the amount of light reflected by three asteroids: (1497) Tampere, (2833) Radishchev, and (3856) Lutskij. Our brightness (flux) measurements are plotted against time to obtain preliminary light curves for each asteroid. 

Valence and Speaker Identity in False Hearing  

Ummi Coats Union 2024

Hannah Soliman Duke 

Prof. Chad S. Rogers Union 

Humans utilize expectations and semantic context when understanding incoming speech. For example, Rogers (2017) found that when primed with a semantic associate (e.g., ROW) followed by a word in noise (e.g., GOAT), some listeners falsely heard words predicted by the semantic associate (e.g., BOAT). Another form of expectation may relate to whom the speaker is listening. For example, identity-related characteristics have been shown to bias listeners toward rating out-group speakers as less believable and less preferred in comparison to in-group speakers (Jiang et al., 2018). The goal of the current study was to examine how cultural identity influences the intelligibility of words spoken by an out-group. We explored whether the perception of spoken words is modulated by implicit bias against the speaker.

We have designed a paradigm similar to that of Rogers (2017) where listeners watched videos of speakers wearing two masks, the Niqab and KF94 mask. A Niqab is a veil worn by some Muslim women. The KF94 mask is worn to protect against diseases. The Niqab conveys someone who may be an out-group member by someone holding a bias against Muslims. To measure if listeners perceive the Niqabi speaker as an outgroup member, we administered the National Islamophobia Index (Mogahed, Chouhoud, & Buageila, 2018) as a covariate. Participants read a cue word, followed by a target word masked in noise. On trials where the cue word (e.g., ATOMIC) predicts a negatively valanced target (e.g., BOMB), we held that listeners holding an outgroup bias against Muslims would be more likely to hear a negatively valenced word (e.g., BOMB) even when a positively valenced phonological competitor was presented (e.g., MOM). Such a result would be essential in understanding the role of contextual expectations in speech perception and highlights the use of speech perception as an indirect measure of implicit attitudes. 

Analysis of Lead Contamination in Soil Samples from Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge  

Niha Das Union 2026

Pollution in all forms is hazardous to the environment and human health, especially so for lead pollution. The goal of the research is to use the ion beam analysis technique of Proton-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) spectroscopy to analyze the chemical composition of soil samples in key locations near Ed Koch Queensboro bridge. Our research focuses specifically on the concentration of lead in these soil samples due to the use of lead-based paint to paint bridges built in the early 1900s. Subsequent maintenance to these bridges included sandblasting and repainting with a non-lead based paint, however, it is believed that significant traces of lead will still be present in the soil around these bridges. 

The Synthesis and Characterization of Molecular Wire Candidates  

Marlayna DiFante Hobart and William Smith 2024

Prof. Christine de Denus Hobart and William Smith 

As technology becomes more advanced and necessary for our everyday lives, it continues to evolve, expand, and advance. Society continues to demand smaller, faster, cheaper technology and we are quickly approaching a production wall. This is due to silicon chip technology. Currently, the top-down approach using silicon chip technology is being used, but this will soon reach a miniaturization limitation. A new method for the development of processors is a bottom-up approach for creating a new molecular processor. Molecules would be synthesized in a particular sequence or pattern to act as transistors on a processing chip. This would allow for an astronomical increase in the number of transistors per chip and the molecular processor would be capable of achieving the nanotechnological vision society has for the future. I have been working with Prof. de Denus for the past three summers on developing synthetic methods to produce molecular wire candidates that will contribute to the fabrication of small molecule molecular devices using the bottom-up approach. There are several key characteristics engineers desire for a molecular wire candidate such as conduction of electrons on a linear path, the ability to attach to a metal uniformly, linear in shape, and thermodynamically stable at high temperatures. Our research group has been investigating the controlled molecular design of three types of bi- and tri-metallic molecular wire candidates. These molecules contain iron and ruthenium and are analyzed by a variety of methods including nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, UV-Vis, melting/decomposition point, and cyclic voltammetry. 

Whites Against Supremacy: Cross-Racial Alliance in the U.S. Movement for Black Lives  

Olwethu Ezell Colgate 2026

Prof. Chandra Russo Colgate 

Whites Against Supremacy actively grapples with the optimistic, yet convoluted, dynamics of contemporary white anti-racist collective action. It specifically assesses white people’s organizing in the fight against racism that has been characterized over the last 15 years by the resurgence of white nationalism and a continuation of the historical Black Liberation struggle, as evidenced through the prominence of The Movement 4 Black Lives. This research focuses explicitly on the anti-racist practice of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), notably as a white-led organization that works in partnership with Black and Brown organizers and organizations. The focus on SURJ works to provide a useful understanding of one racial justice organizing strategy against white supremacist institutions and policies in the United States today. Importantly, Whites Against Supremacy's focus on SURJ seeks to responsibly explore long-held and contested questions of how to ethically call more white people into sustainable and accessible anti-racist action and commitment. While research is ongoing, preliminary findings suggest promising opportunities, however imperfect, in SURJ’s efforts in organizing based on a “mutual interest” framework, rather than solely relying on a framework based on white privilege. 

Synthesis and Characterization of a New Superoxide Dismutase Mimetic with Robust Stability in Aqueous Solution  

Cormac Feeley Skidmore 2025

Prof. Steven T. Frey Skidmore

Superoxide ion (O2-), a byproduct of respiration, can cause inflammation, heart disease, and certain cancers at elevated levels in the body. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that detoxifies O2-. Manganese compounds can act as mimetics of SOD to reduce abnormal levels of O2- brought on by disease processes. To be useful, these compounds must be stable in aqueous solution. We have synthesized and purified a compound designed to bind Mn2+ (DPDEA) with 4 nitrogen and 2 oxygen atoms. Characterization of DPDEA was achieved via 1H and 13C NMR, and GC-MS. Potentiometric titrations demonstrated that the MnDPDEA complex is very stable in aqueous solution, and cyclic voltammetry indicates the redox potential of MnDPDEA is in the range of SOD and other effective SOD mimetics. 

Facial Cues’ Effect on Individuals’ Evaluation of Sickness in the Faces of Others  

Anais Geronimo Hamilton 2025

Kiet Lam Hamilton 2026

Prof. Kelly Faig Hamilton 

 
The Behavioral Immune System (BIS) is a motivational system that helps individuals avoid diseases in the environment. For example, if a person is coughing in a public setting, individuals might distance themselves to minimize the risk of infection. Interpersonal interactions represent a potential threat to the immune system because diseases are often spread through contact with others. Therefore, social behaviors may be influenced by the BIS, especially if one perceives a potential exposure to disease. To perceive diseases, humans, who are social species, heavily rely on visual cues to efficiently navigate their social world. Specifically, evidence suggests that individuals frequently use faces, a type of visual cue, to proactively identify sickness. Our study tested individuals' ability to detect changes in the faces of those who received an influenza vaccine compared to a placebo. Additionally, we measured the various facial characteristics used to determine others' level of illness. Findings demonstrate the extent that individuals are able to accurately detect changes in those undergoing an immune response due to an influenza vaccine, as well as the relationship to specific qualities used in their assessments. Future work should continue to examine the connections between the BIS and social behaviors to better understand human perception on health. 

The Marginalization of Smallholder Farmers in Indonesia  

Beck Hagopian Skidmore 2024

Prof. Feryaz Ocakli Skidmore

A significant portion of the global food supply is produced by smallholder farms operated by rural families in the global south, often trapped in vicious poverty cycles. This trend is reflected in Indonesia, where smallholder farmers’ interests have been consistently marginalized, contributing a layer of instability to an already vulnerable food system. Regimes across a large ideological range have repeatedly failed at reform, implementing unsustainable agricultural intensification and expansion, especially of rice paddies, rather than comprehensively addressing smallholder farmers’ concerns. Farmers have made predominantly unsuccessful attempts to preserve customary law in agriculture, clashing with influential powers, which have shifted across time. The essence of the farmers’ plight has remained constant, despite evolution in circumstances, demonstrating how Indonesia’s colonial legacy continues to define its agricultural sector. 

An Analytical Approach to Goethite-Hematite Transformations  

Lina Hassini Hobart and William Smith 2026

Karen Wu Hobart and William Smith 2024

Archaeological findings revealed that artists were using red hematite ochre to make paintings in European Upper Paleolithic caves. Prehistoric art serves as proof that artists either found hematite in nature or discovered and used fire technology to transform yellow goethite ( FeO(OH)) into synthetic hematite (Fe2O3). The heat alteration was performed as an attempt to better understand the technological leap that occurred in Prehistoric time and reproduce similar conditions. Samples were provided from Giovanni Cavallo. They were collected from the Lesson Mountains and heated at 100-1000C using oven, furnace and natural wood fires, leading to the conversion of goethite into synthetic hematite. Various goethite lumps and powders were ground, chipmunked, and sieved through 180 microns to obtain analytical data. Spectral reflectance was collected from over 120 samples, all that were heated at different temperatures. Goethite was heated in a controlled furnace and natural wood fires to produce hematite. The colors of the samples were documented using Munsell Soil Color. Spectra across various temperatures ranged from 5-20 percent.Munsell colors are somewhat consistent from 500-600ºC with 10R 3/6.Clear patterns emerged from the results, showing homogeneity of spectra and color of synthetic hematite when heating from 400-900C. This evidence proves that color does not depend on temperature and that the discovery of fire technology as a tool to convert goethite into hematite might have been unintentional. 

Fluorescent Dye Efficacy in Tetrahymena Thermophila  

Madison Hopkins Hamilton 2025

Felix Halloran Hamilton 2026

Richard Sherpa Hamilton 2024

Prof. Wei-Jen Chang Hamilton

In order to understand the effectiveness of different fluorescent and non-fluorescent dyes in visualizing vacuoles and other digestive structures in Tetrahymena thermophila, we tested eleven dyes to see if they localize in food vacuoles and if the dyes are fixable in 2 percent paraformaldehyde. Cells are observed under different dye concentrations and conditions to complete a reference table for selecting dyes for T. thermophila. Cells were incubated with an added dye mixture, and to terminate incubation, cells and dye mixture are centrifuged again and the supernatant (dye mixture) is suctioned off. Tris HCl resuspends the cells which are placed on a microscope slide at different time points in which the confocal microscope takes approximately 50 images. Observationally, the data collected regarding different dyes serves sufficiently to complete the dye table.

 The wild type CU428 and the conditional mutant, NP1, which does not form the oral apparatus under the restrictive temperature 37°C, were used to help determine whether the dyes enter via the cell’s oral structure or through endocytosis across the cell membrane. Results show that of the eleven dyes, only one dye remains localized in food vacuoles when the cells are fixed. In the NP1 cell line, three of the eleven dyes could enter the cells without an oral structure under the restrictive temperature. The optimal concentrations and ratios of dyes to cells are also provided in the table along with excitation and extinction for each dye. This table allows for a quick reference when selecting fluorescent dyes for T. thermophila for future research. 

Uniformly Accelerating Observers in Vaidya Spacetime  

Bakir Husremovic Hamilton 2026

Prof. Seth Major Hamilton

A previous derivation for quasi-local energy for uniformly accelerating observers was in the context of a Schwarzschild black hole. However, this derivation for a dynamic mass black hole was outside the scope of this solution of general relativity. So, the resulting quasi-local energy has not been rigorously derived. This work seeks to remedy this using Vaidya spacetime which accounts for dynamic mass. The derivation in question relies on finding the appropriate 4-velocity. Finding this 4-velocity started with determining the 4-velocity for Minkowski and Schwarzschild spacetimes. The 4-velocities were then applied to the separate regions of the Vaidya spacetime using the Heaviside-step function. The resulting 4-velocity has an extra term in the acceleration which is still under study. Further research also needs to rigorously prove that the Ribisi form satisfies Einstein’s field equations. All of this is foundational work that ultimately aims to rigorously compute the quasi-local energy in a dynamic spacetime. 

Promoting Pennycress Germination with Hormone Treatments  

Ann Kennedy Hamilton 2024

Prof. Alex Lindsey Ohio State

Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is expected to function as a cover crop in between corn and soy rotations and an oil crop for the aviation industry. This requires the transformation of pennycress from a weed to a commercial crop. One major challenge is the innate seed dormancy. Pennycress will reoccur as potential weed due to naturally uneven germination. Seed enhancement technologies, such as hormone-priming, can lead to improved seed germination. Gibberellic acid 4+7 and 6-benzyladenin were chosen as the hormones of interest due to their role in stimulating cell division and regulated adaptive responses respectively.The pennycress seeds were either soaked in one of the two hormone solutions or water for either 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 4 hours. The control group of seeds were not soaked in any of the solutions. Two different genotypes of seeds were tested.The MN106 were dark-seed types harvested in 2021. The tt8-t/ARV1 were the golden-seedtypes harvested in 2021 and 2022. After the seeds were treated, the rate of germination was recorded on day 4, day 7, and day 10 of the germination assay. Based on theANOVA, germination of golden seeds was not improved by any of the treatments. The30-minute soak in gibberellic acid did improve the germination of the dark-seed.This was not due to the hydropriming effect as distilled water did not cause this same increase in germination. Benzyladenin did not improve germination of any seed type. Based on these results, the hormone treatment is effective for the dark-seed but not the golden-seed. 

Exploring the Koronis Family Asteroids Agematsu and Dworetsky  

Micaela Magno Union 2027

Dimitris Vasileios Zora Union 2026

Prof. Francis P. Wilkin Union

Our team is currently working with the Union College Observatory (UCO) to observe and study the asteroids (2470) Agematsu and (2591) Dworetsky. They are both members of the Koronis family, a group of asteroids in the outer region of the asteroid belt. We use the UCO 0.5-m telescope to observe our targets, and then perform photometry on the data to create light curves. From these graphs, we can determine the rotation period of these asteroids. These observations, if carried out over several apparitions, can contribute to a solution for the shape and spin axis as well. 

Kissing and Telling: Tracing Kiss-Poem Conventions from Gaius Valerius Catullus to Johannes Secundus to Natalie Diaz  

Rorie Newman Hamilton 2024

Prof. Jesse Weiner Hamilton

Basia, or kiss-poems, are a lyric sub-genre that, while inspired by Roman poets, specifically Gaius Valerius Catullus, were developed into a poetry form in the mid-1500s by Janus Secundus. The form’s central motif is the premise that the greater the number of kisses, the greater the pleasure, with the other main facets being the kiss standing in for the sex act, the tension between hard masculinity and soft femininity, and the connection between kissing and the joining of souls (Wong 4, 16; Sperry 191). These ideas were present in Catullus’ poetry before Secundus adopted them into his collection titled Basia. Secundus’s popularity gave rise to many imitations as the form spread across Europe until the late 1700s where it dissolved into common poetry conventions rather than remaining as a strict form (Wong 3–5).

Mojave poet Natalie Diaz explores classical allusions, specifically to Greek myth, in her 2020 collection Postcolonial Love Poem. Some of the poems in this collection fall under the definition of Secundus’s basium. While Diaz never explicitly uses the word “kiss” in these poems, she describes in great detail the act of kissing her lover in a particularly sensual and graphic manner. It is through Diaz’s portrayal of her own sexuality and gender we see the tension between masculinity and femininity, particularly through her adoption of the minotaur persona and her use of female pronouns to reference this traditionally masculine monster.

I will compare poems by Catullus, poems from Secundus’ Basia collection, and poems from Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem to explore how the kiss-poem conventions have ebbed and flowed through time, while remaining consistently powerful motifs; and to explore the different ways these conventions are presented through three different distinct periods of poetry: classical, modern, and contemporary. 

Leveling the Playing Field: Examining the Perceptions of Social Justice and Activism Among DIII College Athletes

Raymond Ni Hamilton 2024

Prof. Chenyu Wang Hamilton  

Historically, college campuses have stood as hotbeds for activism and agents of social change. However, despite the extensive study of college activism, the intersection of activism and college athletics remains a relatively unexplored territory. Deficits currently exist in research for DIII athletics in comparison to DI and professional athletics, in particular. To address this gap, this study, by using qualitative interview data, attempts to tackle the research question: How do college athletes in a DIII college understand and perceive social justice and activism in relation to college athletics? This investigation revolves around four key themes: athletes’ social justice understanding and identity, athletic team perceptions of social justice, the role of college athletics in promoting social justice, and challenges to social justice in athletics. Within these themes, I find that while the DIII college athletes in my sample overwhelmingly view the concepts of social justice and activism favorably, they struggle with the practical implications and ramifications of actualizing these justice-oriented beliefs into practice in the athletic environment. Various factors such as the framing of social justice, controlling team dynamics, and competing social values influence the perception of social justice and activism among DIII student-athletes. 

The Mind’s Eye in Reading: The Relationship between the Imageability Effect and Visual Imagery in a Lexical Decision Study

Sophia Pajakowski Skidmore 2024

Hayley Yun Skidmore 2024

Prof. Rebecca Johnson Skidmore  

Previous research demonstrates that various properties of a word can influence how easy or difficult the word is to process. Some of these lexical characteristics include the word’s length, its written word frequency, its orthographic similarity to other words, its consistency with the symbol-to-sound rules of the language, and its semantic richness. Of particular interest for the current study is that of imageability, or the extent to which a word evokes mental imagery. Previous studies have shown that in visual word recognition tasks like naming and lexical decision, words with higher imageability ratings are easier to process than words with lower imageability ratings. The imageability effect in sentence reading tasks where eye-movements are measured to assess cognitive processing has not been as robust. The imageability effect has been shown in normal skilled readers, but also in children and in stroke patients.

Although the imageability effect in reading has been studied in a number of tasks and populations, it has not been explored within the context of how vivid one’s visual imagination is. Previous research has shown that those with low levels of visual imagery ability have weaker episodic memories, have less vivid autobiographical memories, have slower reaction times in visual search tasks, and are less likely to experience fear responses when reading scary stories. Yet to date, little is known about their ability to process text while reading.

The current study utilizes three different paradigms (i.e., lexical decision, naming, and sentence reading with eye tracking) to examine imageability and word frequency effects in reading, across levels of individual visual imagery capacity. The results from a lexical decision study, currently collecting participant data, will be reported here. 

Synthesis of Antitubulin Halogenated Indolylfuranones  

Nicole Pendleton Hobart and William Smith 2026

Cayden Smith Hobart and William Smith 2024

Elle Grillo Hobart and William Smith 2026

Keira Potvin Hobart and William Smith 2026

Prof. Erin Pelkey Hobart and William Smith

Antitubulin agents represent an important class of anticancer small molecules. We have previously identified an indolylfuranone, PY-379-B, with antitubulin activity consistent with colchicine. Molecular modeling has further shown positive correlations of binding of PY-379-B (and similar analogs) in the colchicine binding site. In order to identify new and possibly better antitubulin compounds, we have synthesized a series of halogenated indolylfuranone analogs of PY-379-B. The synthetic progress towards these compounds will be presented. 

The Madison Resilience Project  

Nicole Roitman Colgate 2024

Caitlin Mooney Colgate 2024

The Madison County Resilience Project is a community based research project aimed at investigating the impact of COVID-19 on low income families with school-age children in Madison County, NY. We chose to focus on families with younger children because they experienced a unique set of challenges in the face of the pandemic such as lack of childcare, resources and activities, lack of flexibility with employment, home-schooling demands, and lack of psychological support. These issues were further exacerbated by the lack of supportive infrastructure and funding for public assistance endeavors in rural areas.

While data collection for the project has not yet begun, our team has conducted a multitude of informal interviews with local service leaders to learn more about the state of Madison County as a whole. These interviews elucidated the impacts of the pandemic from a multitude of perspectives and provided much needed information regarding proper compensation for participants and questionnaire writing guidelines. The questionnaire designed for the study asks participants questions regarding parental burnout, their children's mental health, and the family's use of public support resources. Finally, our participant recruitment strategy is twofold: First, we have created buttons and posters that feature a link to our website which holds our questionnaire. Second, these buttons and posters will be given out at tables set up at local community events to spread the word about the project.

We hope this project will provide necessary information about what resources families in Madison County need, allowing for improved advocation on their behalf. We also aspire to assist other universities nested in rural communities by establishing a precedent for community-based psychology research. Our belief is that with this type of exchange of information and advocacy, universities in rural communities can create a deep, symbiotic relationship with the people around them. 

Synthesis of Triazolium Salts for a Novel Isotopic-Labeling Reaction  

Andrew Shen Skidmore 2025

Ethan J. Percival Emory 2026

Prof. Jessada Mahatthananchai Skidmore

Isotopic labeling is an important tool in chemistry and chemical biology, as it is often used in the synthesis of new medicinal agents, as well as in the structural elucidation of organic and biological compounds. Our research goal is to prepare, through a modular synthetic approach, a series of safe and easy-to-handle triazolium salts as N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) precursors, with different electronic properties that can catalyze various direct and mild isotope labeling reactions via a simple hydrogen-deuterium exchange of imines. Deuterated imines can be used to synthesize a variety of N-containing compounds.

Effects of Bismuth Nanoparticles on the Viability of HT22 Mouse Hippocampal Cells

Connor St. Peter St. Lawrence 2024

Prof. A. Estevez St. Lawrence

Chemotherapy has been effective at treating cancer but has many negative side effects like the degradation of neurons and their ability to store memories (Das et al. 2020). In recent years, researchers have been studying nanoparticles as potential delivery devices to target chemotherapy to cancerous cells and minimize neurological side effects. Nanoparticles (NP) are microscopic particles that range in size between 1 nanometer (nm) and 100 nm (TWI 2023). Recent literature has shown that bismuth nanoparticle (BiNP) compounds have shown great potential in entering cell nuclei as well as inducing apoptotic and necrotic effects in cancerous cells, which warrants experimentation to determine whether they can be useful or not in delivering an anti-cancer drug to a target site (Reus et al. 2018). To work towards this therapeutic application, we tested the effects of BiNPs on a mouse hippocampal cell line, HT22. By using a cell line local to a brain site involved in memory, we aimed to identify whether the concentration dependent BiNPs will be toxic enough to cause damage to neurons, similar to one of the side effects of chemotherapy. We hope to provide confirmation of a safe dose of BiNPs that efficiently permeate the HT22 line without toxic effects. We hypothesized that our BiNPs will be safe at low doses but will be toxic to HT22 cells at higher doses like that of previous studies. The trends observed preliminarily support this hypothesis. However, due to toxicity of the diluent in which the BiNPs are dissolved, our results are inconclusive. 

The Disparity in Scientific Investigation: Microplastics Are Ubiquitous but Only When Accessible  

Harshitha Talasila Colgate 2026

Shira M. Kim Colgate 2024

Tingkuan W. Hsieh Colgate 2024 

Prof. Linda Y. Tseng Colgate

Science is said to be subjective, nonetheless, there are inherent biases that may hinder research in certain regions. While microplastics (MPs) are thought to be pervasive worldwide, some geographic regions still lack literature concerning this subject. This study aims to explore gaps in scientific studies in terms of regions because certain regions may not be included. Through the analysis of existing literature, we compiled the location and data of the MPs which were found. For this study, MP is defined as plastic pieces less than 5 mm. We analyzed 100 research articles and found varying concentrations of MPs in soils, sand, mulch, sewage sludge, and waterways like rivers and lakes. Depending on the research methods, core sample sizes, and other factors, concentrations range based on density or dry weight. Additionally, some papers do not solely focus on recording the MPs found, but report MP in relation to other variables, meaning that MPs are detected but not reported in a quantifiable category. From the literature that does convey quantifiable information, we have currently recorded varying shapes of MP from pellets to microfibers, as well as types of MP.

The research is ongoing and this is our preliminary result. So far, Asia has the most literature with 46 percent concentrated there. There is a focus on China, as 27 out of the 46 papers sampled are produced in the country. Preliminary findings show that Antarctica has the lowest number of papers produced, with Australia and Africa not far behind with 3 papers each. The vast majority of the studies analyzed focused on soils and sediment, while a minority focused on bodies of water. We found an uneven distribution of studies on MP globally and research collaborations may be needed in these areas to address the global MP issue. 

Pest Management and Plant Defense: Myzus Cerasi and Extrafloral Nectaries in Cherries  

Marcella Venettozzi Hobart and William Smith 2025

Victoria Meakem USDA 

Dr. Ben Gutierrez USDA

The black cherry aphid (Myzus cerasi) is a pest that shows preference for sweet cherries over tart cherries. Tart cherry is a hybrid between sweet and wild dwarf cherry, with dwarf cultivars being the most resistant to aphid infestation. Severe aphid infestations result in reduced fruit production, fungal growth, and curling leaves. The inward curling leaves protect aphids against pesticides, reducing pesticide efficacy. The reason behind aphids’ preference for sweet over tart cherries remains unknown. This project explores the chemical differences between sweet and tart cherry leaves and identifies volatiles that may be responsible for the deterrent nature of tart cherries. Healthy and aphid-infested leaves were collected from sweet, tart, and wild species from the USDA Tart Cherry Collection and were analyzed using solid phase microextraction (SPME) on a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Results revealed that 2H-benzopyran-1 was present in some tart cultivars but absent in sweet and wild species. Studies have found this compound to be a highly effective aphicide, suggesting that its presence in tart cherry leaves makes them undesirable hosts. Tart cultivars had the highest concentration of α-terpineol, which studies found to repel aphids, potentially explaining tart cherry's repellent nature. Wild species showed a high concentration of benzaldehyde, a flavoring compound found in almond and cherry extracts. The abundance of benzaldehyde may be offensive to aphid olfactory receptors, explaining the lack of aphid infestation in wild species. This research has the potential to inform pest management strategies for sweet and tart cherry orchards. 

Biochemical Investigation of Enzymes That Build and Degrade Peptidoglycan in Bacterial Spores  

Zachary Yasinov Hamilton 2026

Madison Hopkins Hamilton 2025

Prof. Michael A. Welsh Hamilton 

Spores are dormant bacterial cells that are highly resistant to killing by physical and chemical means, including antibiotic treatment. The processes of spore formation (“sporulation”) and germination each involve dramatic remodeling of the essential peptidoglycan cell wall surrounding the cell. The enzymes involved in this remodeling are poorly characterized. We have begun investigating SwsB, an enzyme that has an unknown role in spore peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Based on homology to PdaA, an enzyme we have previously characterized, we predict that SwsB is a muramic-d-lactam cyclase. To begin investigation of this activity in vitro, we conducted expression and purification trials of B. subtilis SwsB. Full length, C-terminally His-tagged SwsB proved insoluble when overexpressed. We generated two new truncated constructs bearing N- or C-terminal His-tags. Expression and purification were successful for both variants. Preliminary reactions indicate that SwsB has cyclase activity. We also began expression trials for a second enzyme of interest, CwlJ, that degrades peptidoglycan during germination. These experiments showed that a MBP-tagged CwlJ construct expressed at low levels. Future optimization of the purification procedure may yield usable amounts of protein. 

The Role of Larrea Tridentata Fungi in Pollinator Preference  

Clara Zhou de Magalhaes Hamilton 2024

Shelby Showalter New Mexico 

Prof. Donald Natvig New Mexico

Flowers host a range of communities of bacteria and fungi that influence floral interactions with pollinators. These interactions lead to insects, including native bees, transmitting microorganisms between flowers and subsequent visitors. The extent to which the floral mycobiome affects pollinator fitness is still largely unclear, but there is growing interest in the effects of fungal volatiles on pollinators. This study investigates the mycobiome of creosote flowers in the Chihuahuan Desert to determine whether fungal-floral interactions are essential in attracting or repelling pollinators. Past research has indicated that multiple insect species are attracted to volatile emissions from fungal cultures in an agricultural context. Conducting a similar experiment in a desert provides information about whether this phenomenon occurs in a nonindustrial, arid biome. We tested this by setting insect traps baited with fungi naturally found in creosote flowers. By identifying the insect orders caught and what specific fungi attracted them, we could gain insight into whether yeasts play a role in pollinators’ orientation towards flowers and how these interactions benefit or hinder the fitness of each group. We found that insects from the orders Diptera and Hymenoptera were the most commonly represented in our samples. However, further research must be conducted, especially after monsoons occur, to narrow down the effects that specific floral fungi have on particular insect species. Doing so will help explain the ecological role of the creosote plant's fungal associates and address these organisms' implications for the ecology of both creosote and native pollinators.