Valerie Acosta & Luis Ramirez
Synthesis of Chalcone Ligand-Metal Complexes Containing Sulfur, Nitrogen, and Oxygen
Willis Weigand, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Ligand-metal complexes have been proven to enhance anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer properties, and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. The research focused on the synthesis of chalcone ligand-metal anti-bacterial agents. The ligands were recrystallized in dichloromethane. The 1H NMR, IR and crystallographic data were collected for HL 7 (benzo[b]thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde + acetophenone oxime) and HL 9 (3-thiophenecarboxaldehyde + acetophenone oxime). A series of nine ligands based on a variety of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen containing compounds were synthesized.

A 2:1 ligand metal ratio was used for the following metal salts: CuCl2, ZnNO3, and AgNO3. Ligand-metal complexes with ZnNO3, CuCl2 , and AgNO3 were synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR and IR spectral data. Future research will test the anti-bacterial properties of the synthesized chalcone ligand derivatives and their respective ligand-metal complexes. The crystallographic data supports that HL 7 is recrystallized starting product, but the starting product’s structure has not been reported. The predicted structure for HL 9 did not match the crystallographic data and requires further analysis.

Brielle Adolph
CrossFit
Catherine Ross, Paideia

The different modalities of exercise that make up the sport of CrossFit, and how these different modes of exercise are advertised to promote the benefits of CrossFit will be discussed. Does advertising the different modes of exercise (gymnastics, aerobic-endurance exercise, power and olympic lifting) that make up the sport of CrossFit motivate individuals to want to join the community? CrossFit advertises the elite athletes of the sport as “The Fittest in the World ''. Elite CrossFit athletes compete annually at the CrossFit games for the title of “The Fittest in the World”. Elite CrossFit athletes have a very specific body built that others strive to want to look like. Athletes are composed of a low percent of body fat with muscular stature. Elite CrossFit athletes are often shown in advertisements performing difficult workouts whether it be lifting heavy weights or performing a walking handstand. Specifically, a well-known brand that associates with the sport of CrossFit is NoBull. NoBull uses elite CrossFit athletes who are known as some of the fittest in the world to promote and model their brand. In the CrossFit community athletes from amateurs to the elite train in NoBull gear.

Macie Baker
Beyond the Picture: A Self-Study on the Impact of Visual Learning on Student Engagement
Alice Sullivan, Education

Student engagement is one of the main factors when considering a successful classroom environment. Student engagement translates to students taking ownership of their learning and creating meaningful learning experiences that impact the rest of their academic careers. In this study, the author used a semester-long action research project in order to understand how her instruction impacts student engagement. The author specifically focused on the integration of images, such as pictures and portraits, with instruction on nonfiction texts in a way that supports student engagement and learning. The author used a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a sixth grade English classroom. Data included informal interviews, student artifacts, a reflective journal, and classroom observations. Preliminary results suggest that visual learning strategies, such as the integration of images with nonfiction texts, increases student engagement. These findings have implications for secondary teachers as well as for secondary student learning.

Chelsea Banawis
Metabolic Cost of Stair-Stepping Methods
Edward Merritt, Kinesiology

Walking up stairs is physically demanding, causing high levels of perceived exertion and increased oxygen consumption. While stair-climbing exercise can be used to improve one’s cardiorespiratory fitness, individuals choose the elevator for convenience. Determining if a single step or double step method of stair-climbing requires different levels of oxygen consumption, and thereby exertion, could provide useful information potentially encouraging people to use the stairs. This study was performed to determine whether stair-climbing using the single step method or double step method on a staircase creates greater oxygen consumption. Twelve participants walked up a staircase at a set pace and returned to perform the single step method on a machine. Data was analyzed using a one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Oxygen consumption for the double step method was significantly greater than the single step method and the single step method on the stepmill. The total work completed was theoretically the same between the experimental conditions yet, there was still a significant difference in the economical cost of stair usage. Even when matched for total work rate, the double step method requires higher oxygen consumption. This study supports previous literature that determines double step as a method that requires more energy expenditure.

Chelsea Banawis
Migration's Influence on Tofu
Catherine Ross and Francis Mathieu, Paideia

In order to study migration and interdisciplinarity, I want to use knowledge from my health and fitness concepts and critical/cultural communications studies courses to look at the influence tofu has had on the world. Tofu most likely originated in China (Shurtleff and Aoyagi, 2004) and has traveled around the world to be a popular plant-based source of protein that is used in many cultures. The rise of plant-based diets has been a trend for many years. Along with the relatively recent health push to more sustainable and healthy living, tofu has also moved into many different culture’s food dishes -- each with their own unique touch. The purpose of my project is to demonstrate how the migration of tofu has evolved from simply a nutritional source of food to an essential product in many cultural practices such as religious practices that prohibit meat and in more recent cultural practices like fad diets and the mainstream move toward veganism. Integrating these two disciplines, nutrition and cultural studies, requires understanding new and old cultural practices and requires learning about what types of artifacts any particular culture uses. In this case, tofu explains the importance of food’s connection to culture and cultural identity.

Kendall Barton
Meditation Education for Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients
Vanessa Mikan, Kinesiology

Cardiac rehabilitation provides patients with guided, prescribed exercise programs that encourage the development of healthful behaviors to improve quality of life. Stress has been highly implicated as a contributing factor of cardiovascular disease. Chronic stress causes cardiovascular reactivity, elevations in stress-related hormones and depressed immune function increasing risk of additional cardiac episodes. One of the most effective stress management techniques proposed is the practice of mindfulness and meditation. PURPOSE: To improve quality of life for cardiac rehab patients by implementing a meditation station to educate patients on the benefits associated with meditation and its various forms in order to reduce stress. METHODS: A meditation station was created in the clinic as part of the patient daily routine. The cardiac rehabilitation exercise physiologists and on-staff nurses were provided an educational presentation on the importance of stress reduction, benefits of meditation, and how to use the Headspace app. Each cardiac rehab patient was provided with an informational handout and a one on one education session on how to use the station. Patients were encouraged to complete a 1-5 min meditation session. RESULTS: After four weeks, 15 sessions for a total of 59 minutes of activity were logged on the Headspace app at the meditation station. In that time, eight patients voluntarily used this station after the education session and two of the patients were repeat users. CONCLUSION: Minutes of usage will continue to be monitored over the next few months along with blood pressure and stress levels pre and post workouts. Behavior change is a long and difficult process. Continued education over the benefits of mediation will hopefully encourage more patients to include this station in their daily cardiac rehab routine.

Nicholai Benko, Sarah Friday, Cameron Henkel, Anna Krolikowski, Bennet Leff, & Jaden Williams
Picbreeder: Reimagined
Barbara Anthony, Mathematics and Computer Science

Picbreeder is an evolutionary art application originally developed in 2006. It was one of the earliest research projects exploring the applications of Artificial Intelligence to art, a field that is receiving an increasing amount of attention. Due to outdated code, the online implementation of the original application has not been entirely usable for several years. The goal of our Computer Science capstone was to create a website based on the original Picbreeder that allows users to select from a field of images and evolve a new set by combining features of the previous field. We aimed to redevelop Picbreeder for modern browsers, taking into consideration a more robust methodology for running Compositional Pattern Producing Networks online. Although the original Picbreeder creators had moved on to other projects, we remained in contact with them. Our work was primarily concerned with revamping the user interface while simultaneously converting the Artificial Intelligence and database systems to function on modern devices. We achieved our goals using the Javascript framework Vue.js, a derivative of the Neurogram library, and the Swagger API generator. A fully operational online version will make the program more accessible to a larger audience and encourage further development within the field.

Clayton Brooks
All the World's A Stage: An Exploration into "Meta-Theatre"
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

“Meta-Theatre” is a concept and stylistic genre that presents a piece of theatre that either incorporates the audience and the performance space into its narrative, or the play is entirely self-aware of its theatrical nature and uses established techniques and elements of theatre as a metaphor to discuss a theme or idea. “Meta-Theatre” is the prominent style utilized in our Theatre project: Stupid Fucking Bird, to illustrate the theme of how life is defined by theatrical concepts. This genre, while considered avant-garde, is not a novel one. This poster presentation illustrates my research as director of this play and how I explored famous works of theatre analyzing the way these pieces explore the style, the themes they present, and the social or cultural implications that follow as a result. I will delve into such famous works as: As You Like It by William Shakespeare, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, The Balcony by Jean Genet, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner. Each play carries a cultural context that ranges across nations and across time, from the middle ages in England, to early 20th century Europe, to modern day United States. One will see that, while not obvious in these works, the incorporation of “theatre-as-life” gives us a better understanding of the way we live and interact with the world around us.

Danielle Brown
Looking Beyond Labels: A Self-Study About Teacher Biases Concerning Students in a PPCD Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

Many early elementary school students struggle with emotional regulation on a daily basis. Some of the behaviors can be attributed to age, but most are connected to outside factors that often go unconsidered. The purpose of this study is to identify the author’s knowledge of her own biases to examine her disposition towards students that struggle with emotional regulation. The author used a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) classroom. Data included reflective journals and observational notes. In this study, the author seeks to uncover how her past experiences inform her disposition towards students exhibiting problems with emotional regulation. These findings have implications for elementary teachers either in their pre-service programs or within their career who may wish to be better attuned to their own biases and how their actions are influenced by past experiences.

Sam Buehler & Karonech Chreng
#BeeSouthwestern: Bee Campus USA Certification & Pollinator Protection at Southwestern University
Joshua Long, Environmental Studies

This poster details our experience as senior undergraduate students at Southwestern University, a small liberal arts institution, who committed to certify Southwestern as a Bee Campus USA institution. The Bee Campus USA certification program provides recognition for universities in the U.S. that are committed to preserving local biodiversity through protecting native pollinator habitats, limiting the use of synthetic pesticides, and engaging in public awareness initiatives. Campuses that maintain a commitment to pollinator protection and promotion gain a marketable accreditation, benefit from the unique aesthetic value of native plants and animals, and protect local wild and agricultural ecosystems. Throughout this project, we researched the importance of biodiversity and pollinators and the ways in which universities are key to their conservation; documented the history of sustainability at the university, the ways in which it already meets many Bee Campus USA requirements, and further actions needed to ensure certification renewal; collaborated closely with Marketing, Facilities Management, and the Sustainability Committee; and gained approval from then-President Edward Burger. Our capstone was a success - Southwestern University became certified as a Bee Campus USA affiliate on December 3rd, 2019 - the first of our peer institutions and the seventh in Texas to do so.

Isabel Candelario
I'm a Really Big Deal Online: The Relationship Between Narcissism and Slacktivism
Traci Giuliano, Psychology

The present study investigated the relationship between narcissism and “slacktivism”, a term comprised of the combination of slacker and activism, and often used pejoratively to describe a type of superficial online political activity (Morozov, 2011). Specifically, slacktivists exhibit surface-level online political action (e.g., liking, sharing or retweeting political posts) as an alternative to genuine, in-person political activism (Halupka, 2014; Morozov, 2011). Seventy-six undergraduate students (46 women, 39 men, 1 unreported) at a small liberal arts university completed a questionnaire that assessed narcissism and slacktivism behaviors, in addition to other traits. We predicted that as narcissism levels increased so would slacktivism behaviors. Consistent with this hypothesis, the results confirmed that individuals who scored higher on narcissism measures reported engaging in more slacktivist activities. Other positive predictors of slacktivism included a higher perceived value of social media and greater personal satisfaction gained from heated online political debate. These additional findings introduce the possibility for a potential new subcategory of political slacktivist, the “keyboard warrior”. That is, we offer a plausible explanation for the contradictory results found in the literature (i.e., which has been equivocal as to whether slacktivism encourages or discourages further action) about the effect of slacktivism on offline political participation, namely by further subdividing political slacktivism so that the conflicting results can be reconciled.

Alyssa Case, Mason Daniel, Daniel Merritt, Ryan Wheeler, & Luke Yates
Study Abroad Program Finder
Barbara Anthony, Mathematics and Computer Science

Studying abroad is a high-impact experience undertaken by many Southwestern University students. Currently, choosing among the thousands of available programs requires students to sift through listings manually. In collaboration with the Office of Intercultural Learning, our Computer Science capstone group is creating an interactive website that allows students to filter programs based on location, area of study, language, and other factors prioritized by the Office of Intercultural Learning. This application takes the vast study abroad program data and presents it in a useful way for students searching for the right program for them. We have developed a relational database to store information about the programs using the Flask and SQLAlchemy libraries. We plan on using the React library to develop the front end of this website. We anticipate that this website will fit seamlessly into the existing Southwestern webpage providing an effective tool for exploring study abroad options for Southwestern students.

Keyshaan Castle & Christina Gibson
Seagulls Can’t Act: A Study on the Acting Styles in the play Stupid Fucking Bird by Aaron Posner
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

From Stanislavski to Spolin, theatrical arts have been impacted by several styles of playwriting and acting. Playwrights choose to write their plays in a specific style, and when performed in a different style, not only does the purpose of the play change, but the performance may no longer be honoring what the playwright intended. The play Stupid Fucking Bird, is a deconstruction of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, which was written in the style of realism. The purpose of this study is to examine the different styles of acting that are present in Stupid Fucking Bird, including realism, meta-theatrics, and improvisation. Because the style of Stupid Fucking Bird is different from that of The Seagull, the performance may be more difficult to perform, and also tells a different story than what Chekhov originally intended. By using a mixed methodology of secondary data analysis that includes coursework, published texts, and interviews with specialists in the field the authors expect to discover more information on the histories, inner workings, and the meaning behind what each of these styles implies.

Noah Clarkson
The Power of Choice in the Classroom: A Self Study of Giving Students Choices to See if it Benefits the Engagement of the Students
Alice Sullivan, Education

Providing students with choice in a classroom can be an effective way to increase motivation and engagement, while also contributing to a positive classroom environment. The purpose of this study is to examine how a preservice teacher in a high school physical education classroom can provide students with instructional choices. The purpose of this study is to find out if giving students choices helps get them more engaged in the classroom. The author used a self study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a high school physical education classroom. Data includes classroom observations, interviews with the teacher, and online resources. Preliminary results suggest that I will be able to find the best way to run a classroom either by giving choices to the students or not. These findings have implications for secondary teachers and secondary student learning.

Kennedy Cobb
Attention to Detail: A Self-Study on Evaluating Biases in First-Year High School World Geography Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

Teachers enter into classrooms with their own personal perceptions of students. These perceptions can foster biases which can be harmful for a students overall learning environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess personal biases and evaluate them to make equal and equitable lessons for students.The author used a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a freshmen World Geography classroom. Data includes keeping an observational journal, analyzing and finding biases inside observational notes, interacting with students, and further teaching a lesson. Preliminary results suggest there will be a discovery of biases which need to be addressed before and or when teaching. In this study, the author will further discover their own misconceptions when observing high school level students. These findings have implications for all teachers, regardless of the age or subject they specialize in.

Logan Davis
The Poetic Impacts of Human Development on the Texas Hill Country
Romi Burks, Biology

My creative works project will involve me photographing various aspects of the Hill Country, both natural and developed. I will take four photos that showcase the impacts of human development on the Hill Country. I chose the Texas Hill Country as the subject for this project because it is relevant to life here in Georgetown. One photo will showcase cedar brakes, a pair of photos will showcase human development covering the hills and removing the sightlines of the Hill Country, and the final photograph will showcase how human development preserving some aspects of the Hill Country through the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. For each photograph, I will write a poem that describes the impacts of human development and write additional poems that connect each photograph to the others to show connections within the Hill Country. I will describe how cedar brakes act as a way to remove the diversity in the Hill Country, how human development aids the growth of cedar brakes, and how the hillsides and wildflowers define perceptions of the Hill Country. Through four photographs and seven poems, I will display, on a poster presentation, how humans have deeply affected the Texas Hill Country, both positively and negatively.

Lourdes Davis & Hannah Hanson
Limited Bedding and Nesting is a Model of Early-Life Stress that Affects Reproductive Physiology and Behavior in Female and Male Long-Evans Rats
Fay Guarraci, Psychology

We used a variation of the limited bedding and nesting (LBN) model to evaluate the effects of early-life stress (ELS) on female and male reproductive physiology and behavior in Long-Evans rats. On postnatal day (PD) 2, dams and pups were transferred to cages containing 100 mL of bedding (LBN-condition) or to cages containing 500 mL of bedding (Control-condition); bedding conditions remained until PD 10. After all pups were weaned (PD 23), we measured puberty onset, estrous cyclicity, female sexual behavior and motivation, development of male copulatory behavior and sexual motivation, and anxiety. We found that relative to control subjects, female subjects reared with LBN experienced precocious puberty, enhanced sexual motivation, but normal estrous cyclicity. Relative to control subjects, male subjects reared with LBN experienced delayed puberty, enhanced sexual motivation, but normal development of copulatory behavior. In summary, the ELS of being reared with LBN affected puberty in the opposite direction in females and males, but enhanced sexual motivation in both. The current study is the first to examine the effects of ELS on sexual motivation using the LBN model. These findings further suggest that maternal care affects the development of sexual maturation and sexual motivation.

Victoria Díaz-Cuervo Pueblita
Air Pollution in Mexico City
Catherine Ross, Modern Languages and Literature (Spanish)

For the final paideia project, I will present the research on how companies in Mexico City can start being environmentally conscious by avoiding air pollution that forces migration. This research question will be integrated into the business and the environmental disciplines as well as to the course theme of migration. The industrial growth of industries in Mexico has increased air pollution contamination causing forced migration of citizens. However, businesses hold the power in society by helping people gain the skills and knowledge to advance sustainable development, develop future corporate objectives, and create a more environmentally conscious society.

In 1992, the United Nations described Mexico City’s air as the most polluted on the planet (UN, 2013). Air pollution is a real problem in Mexico, causing about one in 17 (5.9%) of all deaths in the country and it is the eighth main cause of death. Due to these issues, the skills for sustainable development are fundamental for business leadership. Environmental migrants are people who, for specific reasons of changes in the environment that negatively affect their lives or living conditions, are forced to leave their homes, or choose to do so (IOM, 2019).

Relating this environmental issue to migration, Business, and Environmental studies, I want to make a poster of how these relate to each other. As well, I want to make a plan responding to my research question on how companies in Mexico City can start being more environmentally conscious by avoiding forced migration due to air pollution.

Lois Durant & Dominique Rosario
Green Building at Small Liberal Arts Universities: A Case Study of Southwestern University
Joshua Long, Environmental Studies

This poster presentation will discuss the steps Southwestern University has taken to create a unique green building standard that integrates LEED standards with context-specific university goals for all future construction and renovation projects. Currently, Southwestern University has two LEED certified buildings—the Wilhelmina Cullen Admissions Center and Charles & Elizabeth Prothro Center For Lifelong Learning. It will outline specific standards targeting principal areas that are often glazed over in more general guidelines. This standard allows Southwestern to remain competitive with other schools that have adopted similar guidelines while also adhering to our goals for sustainability. It ensures that all new construction and renovation on campus is built in the most sustainable way—for both human and environmental health. Finally, it will also address and correct greenwashing that has historically taken place at Southwestern and guides the school towards committing to reduce the university’s environmental impact.

We have identified six categories for evaluating the impacts of a building project: 1) indoor air quality, 2) tenant health and well-being, 3) energy use, 4) water consumption, 5) outdoor environment, and 6) materials, resources, and waste.

Each of these action items was carefully considered when creating the green building commitment—they cover a broad scope of environmental and human health needs, while also maintaining an ethos of fiscal responsibility.

Hannah Egbert
Misbehave No More: A Self-Study of Influences on Student Behavior in Elementary Classrooms
Alice Sullivan, Education

Teachers' influence on student behavior is a major determinant in the trajectory for individual student achievement. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways that teachers can positively impact student behavior and engage them in pedagogical learning. The author of this research participated in a semester-long action research based class which uses a self-study methodology. The data for this study includes interviews, student surveys, student artifacts, and whole class and small group observations in a first grade classroom. Through this study, the author hopes to discover different strategies to implement into classrooms that positively support student behavior and engagement. These findings have implications for teacher and preservice teacher education and practice.

Katie Eisenhower, Alesha Lewis, Ayala Porat, Camila Ramirez, & Sarah Wareing
Problematic Eating and Prescription Stimulant Misuse: Testing Moderators
Bryan Neighbors, Psychology

Disordered eating behaviors have been found to negatively affect college students, both physically and emotionally, and several studies have documented correlations between problem eating, dieting behaviors, and substance use and abuse. Additionally, research on this population has demonstrated that tendencies for prescription stimulant misuse are common on college campuses. The misuse of stimulants may exacerbate problematic eating behaviors through appetite suppression, furthering weight loss. Although studies have identified the correlation between problematic eating and prescription stimulant misuse, few have investigated moderators that may exist within this relationship. The current study hypothesizes that the relationship between stimulant misuse and levels of eating disorder risk will become stronger with the presence of greater body dissatisfaction, more maladaptive coping, and greater frequency of weight loss and academic motivations for stimulant misuse. Data collection is ongoing through an online survey that has been completed by 188 undergraduate students thus far. Regression analysis will be used to test the proposed moderators, and results will be detailed in the poster presentation.

Katelyn Francis
Equitability in the Classroom is Success in the Classroom: A Self-Study of How to Use Knowledge to Change Equitability in the Classroom
Alice Sullivan , Education

Equitable classroom environments are critical for student success. However, some teachers struggle to identify what that environment looks like. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between a preservice teacher’s knowledge of the students in her field placement, and the way they are grouped, in order to promote an effective and equitable classroom environment. The data will include surveys given to the students, regrouping the students into groups of multiculturalism differences based on survey results, then comparing how the students were in the first groups that they chose compared to how they interacted within the groups they were put in based on their surveys and by analysis of articles and the analyzed through the lens of how the author portrays the knowledge to improve the classroom equitability of the students through a semester long self-study. Based on the data and the lens of the author to hopefully help the equitability in the classroom to be improved.

Sarah Funderburk
Dramaturgy: Performing Beyond the Words in the Script
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

Watching a play one should be transported to a different space and time. It is the duty of the company to make this happen through several elements, yet the thing that makes this all believable is the dramaturgical research. This simply means the research of elements in the play, such as what time of day, as well as what calendar day the play is set or what mannerisms would be used by these characters. For Aaron Posner’s Stupid Fucking Bird the company has done just that. This work was started over a year ago through character analysis of Posner’s play as well as the play in which it was adapted from, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. Our project will show not only our play analysis, but compare the classic play to our modern adaptation in which we will perform this April. Because we are performing an adaptation of a well known play, we have had to make sure our research included both plays as well as figure out why it is important for this story to be told today. Our hope through our dramaturgical display is to not only be able to invite potential audience members to our performance, but to show that theatre go beyond getting on a stage and being someone else for an two hours.

Christina Gibson
Sit Still Wiggle Worm!: A Self-Study on the Integration of Movement in Pre-School Classrooms
Alice Sullivan, Education

Children in public schools sit for six to eight hours a day, resulting in lower academic success, motivation, and negative behavior choices. Movement integration is a method of teaching that allows students to physically learn with their bodies, achieving success in both academic and physical education. Based on her own experiences as a former “wiggle-worm” in school, the author seeks to prove that with the integration of movement, poor behavior choices in the classroom will decrease. In this study, the author is spending a semester in a public elementary school, pre-school classroom to discover if the author’s integration of movement into everyday lessons had a positive effect on the behavior of the students. The author is using a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement observations. Data includes reflective journals, observations of behavior changes over time, and discipline referrals. Preliminary results suggest that behavior will change with the integration of more movement into the classroom environment. These findings have implications for pre-school teachers, curriculum design, and the overall environment of pre-school classrooms.

Morgan Gilpin
EMG Analysis of Neural Activation Patterns of the Gluteal Muscle Complex
Edward Merritt, Kinesiology

Gluteal amnesia is described as a condition in which the neural recruitment patterns of the gluteal muscle complex are insufficient to activate muscle fibers, causing the hamstring and lower back muscles to take up the physical demand. Symptoms due to insufficient gluteal muscle activation include tight hamstrings post-exercise, anterior pelvic tilt, and knee valgus during squat or lunge performance. This could lead to compensation injuries of the lumbar, knee, and ankle joints. Many physical therapy rehabilitation programs of the lower back and lower extremity incorporate gluteal exercises which could potentially treat this condition and prevent compensation injuries. PURPOSE: To identify and test a person experiencing symptoms of gluteal amnesia to determine gluteal muscle activation before and after a therapy program designed to enhance muscle recruitment and function. METHODS: A 74-year-old male experiencing symptoms of unilateral gluteal amnesia was recruited for this case-study. Electromyographic (EMG) analysis of the gluteal muscle complex was recorded while the subject performed movements typically associated with gluteal muscle complex activation. Both the affected and unaffected side were analyzed while the subject performed movements, as well as submaximal and maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC). After baseline testing, a daily, 3-week progressive resistance rehabilitation program consisting of exercises utilizing the gluteal muscle complex was completed. After completion of the rehabilitation program, EMG analysis of the affected and unaffected sides was performed as during the baseline measures. Integrated EMG signals of gluteal activation were compared between pre- and post-tests. Baseline EMG was considered to be 100% of muscle activation. The post-rehabilitation EMG during MVIC was a percentage of the maximal effort output. MVIC of the submaximal tests were obtained by comparing the quadruped hip extension and single leg glute bridge exercises to the standing gluteal squeeze, and the quadruped hip abduction and clam shell exercises to the side lying hip abduction. RESULTS: Increased gluteal complex activation post-rehabilitation was evident in both the affected and unaffected limbs. Specifically, the largest increases of the left and ride side were seen through the quadruped hip extension (18.7%, 52.4%) and quadruped hip abduction (54.1%, 98.8%) exercises, respectively. The left limb presenting with gluteal amnesia symptoms consistently gave lower output values. CONCLUSION: In this case-study, increased EMG activity in the affected muscles, progressive increases in resistance during daily rehabilitation and anecdotal improvements in movement patterns were observed. Based on the results of this case-study, treatment for conditions such as gluteal amnesia and other disorders of ineffective motor unit recruitment should include targeted rehabilitation exercises designed to isolate the affected musculature.

Lauren Gonzales
The Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Project
Gabriela Flores, Economics and Business

With increasing rates of peanut allergies and lactose intolerance among American children, options are very limited when picking out a chocolate candy bar. The goal of this project is to create a dairy-free, peanut-free, preservative-free milk chocolate bar that would be appealing to children as well as adults, and especially to those with food allergies. Using powdered coconut milk, ethically-sourced cocoa beans, sugar, and vanilla, a new kind of milk chocolate can be created that’s sweet and creamy like most candy bars, but without the use of any animal products or the fear of allergic reactions. While there are certain dairy-free chocolate bars on the market, there are not any that label themselves “milk” and they are typically a darker chocolate. In the end, this chocolate bar will contain around 30 to 45 percent cocoa solids for a full, chocolatey flavor without the bitterness of dark chocolate. Candy is not something anyone should miss out on, and this bar would not just be an alternative, it would be preferred.

Felicia Gonzalez
An Immigration Story: A Multi-Generational Conversation About a Grandpa's Migration to the United States From Mexico
Catherine Ross, Paideia

For my Paideia final project I will conduct an interview with my grandfather discussing his immigration story. In this interview I will focus on his personal experience of crossing the border and what it has been like adjusting to a new place with a different culture and language. I will explore what obstacles he has had to face since he has been in America and what it was like making this unfamiliar place his home. Using Cultural Anthropology, Religion, and Race and Ethnicity Studies, I would like to dive deep into his personal migration story touching on his diasporic identity in connection with religion, race, class, language, and culture. Due to his limited ability to speak English and my inability to speak Spanish, my mother will translate during the interview. I have decided to conduct this interview through video instead of strictly audio because I want his story to have a face to it and to make it as human as possible. Being able to see his facial expressions and his reactions will help convey how emotionally charged the issue of migration is. If possible, I would love to be able to show this video interview at the Creative Works Symposium, but if this is not an option, I would like to create a poster displaying important quotes from the interview that I feel most represent his experience. I would also like to include pictures of him and his family to show what his story of migration has produced such as, me!

Ali Grona
Where Content and Engagement Meet: A Look at How Teacher Lesson Planning Impacts Student Engagement
Alice Sullivan, Education

Many preservice teachers may find it challenging to design lesson plans that are engaging and constructive for students. Student engagement is important in the classroom to create a collaborative environment where students feel safe to integrate and express their ideas and feelings. The purpose of this study is to uncover and understand those challenges while also creating a meaningful learning experience for elementary students. The author uses a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and a field placement in a kindergarten classroom. Data included student artifacts, classroom observations, interviews, surveys with cooperating teachers and students and a reflective journal. Preliminary results suggest that there are multiple pedagogical methods for engagement that preservice teachers can use when designing lesson plans. These findings have implications for elementary teachers, preservice teachers and elementary students.

Aransas Haley
Morality-Making and the Intersection of Identity: How Tony Kushner's Angels in America Modernizes Constitutive Rhetoric
Valerie Renegar, Communication Studies

Using Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, this essay aims to explore how individuals who are constituted by multiple publics with coinciding or conflicting standards of moral behavior experience a sense of justification or compounded guilt due to the limitations/ affordances of their identities. I will begin by analyzing three characters: Roy Cohn, Louis Ironson, and Joe Pitt and explore how their core identities—sexuality, political affiliation, and religion— intersect to inform their morality. I will conclude by questioning the effectiveness of constitutive rhetoric in the face of intersectionality using third wave feminist theory and urge future scholars to assess the impact of constitutive rhetoric not on groups, but on individuals who cannot be fully constituted or mobilized by a single public or identity.

Emma Harting
International Adoption: From China to the West
Catherine Ross, Paideia2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar

I am analyzing the psychological implications of international adoption from China to the West by looking at my personal narrative as an adoptee from China and my mother’s adoption experience. I am interested in this topic because I want to examine how race and culture influence the way Chinese adoptees in the West identify themselves, view their situation in the West, and their outlook on their home country. I will execute this project by analyzing academic articles to gain insight on the psychological effects of Chinese adoptees, self-reflect on my own experience as an adoptee from China, and interview my mother on her experience with international adoption. I will use ethnographic interview techniques from anthropology, with the information gathered from the academic journals, to intertwine my story and report findings on the psychological effects migration can have on Chinese adoptees. Due to misconceptions and cultural myths about the meaning and effects of international adoption, it is important to note that each adoptee has their own experience, and adoptees adjust well for the most part.

Hazel Hedrick, Darwin Johnson, Victoria Negus, Alice Quintanilla, & Matthew Sanford
High Impact Experiences: A Metric for Success
Barbara Anthony, Mathematics and Computer Science

Southwestern University students participate in a variety of High Impact Experiences (HIEs), including first-year seminars, study abroad programs, academic internships, community engaged-learning, SCOPE, and senior seminar projects. Since HIEs are strong indicators of student success, data about student participation is tracked and utilized by numerous departments on campus. The goal of this Computer Science Capstone project is to move away from manual processing by individuals knowledgeable about the data, to an internal web tool that provides an easy way for staff to interact with the data about thousands of students. Currently, the data about these experiences is stored in several decentralized databases. While our project will not have direct access to these databases, it will be used to gather the information from these disparate sources. The tool will allow for quick manipulation of the data for querying using MySQL in conjunction with Google Cloud Platform, readily visualizing information about existing data using Bokeh, and Python Flask for the backend. GitHub will be used as documentation and version control. Ultimately, this tool will increase the readability of the information, facilitate updating and adding information, and shorten the time needed to perform data analysis.

Hunter Henry-Brown
Questioning Techniques in Social Studies: A Self Study
Alice Sullivan, Education

Asking questions in a Social Studies Classroom is one of the main manners in which teachers access student understanding and elicit elaboration of their goals. This study seeks to examine questioning methods within social studies classrooms at the High School level. The author’s goal is to improve questioning methods to elicit deeper connections with the content. The author has utilized a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and a field placement within a 12th Grade Economics and Leadership classroom. Data collected will include student artifacts, field reports, individual interviews, and classroom observation notes. Preliminary findings suggest that open ended questions framed within a relevant context provide the greatest response. Preliminary results do not yet show how cognitive difficulty affects response rate. These findings have implications for Secondary School teaching and Social Studies education as a whole due to the need for understanding of how the anatomy of a question and questioning techniques inform student response.

Jazmin Howard
The Migration of Wellness Practices
Catherine Ross, Paideia

The theme of my presentation is the physiological effects of religious practices on the body. I will be incorporating the disciplines of kinesiology and religious studies. The specific practice I will be looking at is yoga. Through a religious studies lens I will explore the traditional use of yoga as a form of sacred religious expression and worship. From the kinesiology viewpoint I will look at the physiological benefits of these stretches and poses and how they are now being incorporated into exercise philosophies and wellness practices. I will integrate these two disciplines through a poster presentation collage. I am going to look at poses that have been traditionally used as religious worship poses and examine how they are also being used as exercises or stretches because of their physiological benefits. Pictures of people performing these poses and stances in both settings will be depicted in order to convey the interdisciplinary of the disciplines.

Ashley Howell
Just a Stupid Bird: How Storytelling Influences Interpretation
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

Stupid F**king Bird by Aaron Posner is a play that, in his own words, is “sort of adapted from The Seagull by Anton Chechov.” This year’s Theatre Department Capstone production, takes a look at one of the most famous pieces of theatre written almost 130 years ago through a parody written in 2016. By comparing the original to the adaptation, we are able to highlight how stories themselves do not change, but the ways in which we interpret and tell them does. It invites those who produce these pieces to question basic aspects of the show such as, “who is the protagonist?” to, “what is the meaning of the seagull?” to larger questions such as, “why do we tell stories?” and “what makes a long lasting story?” By examining how The Seagull can be interpreted, and how Posner has chosen to interpret The Seagull for his modern take, the production process is better able to understand the plays at a deeper level, and share their own interpretation of that with the audience through the director’s concept, to the design, to stage readings and the final production. As a result this process uncovers the methods in which stories are manipulated and crafted, and how the takeaway from any storytelling medium is dependent on interpretation of the creator and teller.

Gracie Huber
“It’s A Divided World: A Self-Study on Teaching Social Justice/Multiculturalism in an Economically Diverse Classroom”
Alice Sullivan, Education

The education of social justice within the classroom can provide knowledge and awareness to children coming from different economic backgrounds and experiences. In this study, the author uses a semester-long action research project in order to explore different teaching methods that will influence and impact children coming from different economic backgrounds. The author uses a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a 4th grade English/Language Arts and Social Studies classroom. To find these results the author focuses on qualitative data: observations, interviews, surveys, and quantitative data from the statistics of the attending elementary school. In this study, the author will discover the effects of outside resources and content in relation to students and social justice within the classroom. These findings have implications for elementary educators, preservice teachers, and school administrators.

Brooke Hughes
The Effects of Gender on Migration, Job Prospects, and Identity Development
Catherine Ross, Paideia

The purpose of this work is to review literature analyzing the effect of gender on job prospects across transnational spaces using Social Network Theory and Pessar and Mahler’s Gendered Geographies of Power. In this piece, I further analyze how ascriptive traits, such as gender, influence job prospects and identity development upon migration to a new country. While both undocumented men and women seem to enter labor intensive jobs, it is often hard for women to find opportunities for employment since they tend to have fewer social networks, more strong ties, and less weak ties to other Latina immigrants in the area to find other work. Previous literature suggests that labor flows stifled Latina migrants’ ability to form larger social networks of not only stronger ties, but also weaker ties, that are equally important in the attainment of employment. Considering the private nature, lengthy hours, and lower wages associated with domestic work, I analyze the limited alternative options of employment for women that migrate, potential barriers they may face along the process, and the potential effects this has on identity development.

Colton Hunter
Effect of Rural-Urban Migration on Flood Policy
Catherine Ross, Paideia

Migration by rural citizens to urban places has been sustained since the late 19th century with individuals in rural areas choosing to migrate to bolster the economic prospects of the household. This rapid urban transition has increased the frequency of environmental disasters. Human transformations of the environment of cities substantially add to global climate change, heightening the occurrence of climate-caused disasters, such as floods. Urbanization has created conditions of impervious cover that do not follow the flow of the natural watershed boundaries resulting in an exacerbation of flood damages. Populations moving to cities in the near future will not only increase the magnitude and frequency of floods, but will also add to the cost because of the increased infrastructure at risk associated with the population growth.

The poster I present will exhibit how migration to evolving urban cities and changing human activity could decrease severe climate change, and ultimately flooding. I will use a combination of economics and sociology to create a new understanding of how rural-urban migration impacts urban flooding. In the end, I will create a recommendation on how to adjust U.S. climate change policy (specifically flood policy) in order to decrease the severity of flooding and its economic damages.

Logan Jenkins
Migration and the Oil Industry
Catherine Ross, Paideia

How has the human need for energy driven exploration and production throughout the world? Similarly, how does an interdisciplinary perspective of Communication Studies, Business, and business help us better understand why our current energy practices are in place?

Before new technologies started to come about in the past decade the Permian Basin was thought to be a tapped region for oil. It wasn’t until new technologies, like horizontal drilling, that the Permian was able to bounce back and become one of the largest oil producing basins in the nation. Once the Permian was thought to be an oil rich basin again, Oil E&P companies started to flood into the region as well as the people needed to work the oil rigs.

My poster presentation will show first hand accounts of what it is like to move to a destination and work on an oil rig, focusing on the different disciplines in order to show the motivation and history behind exploration and production as well as individuals’ incentives to work in the industry.

Andrew Jezisek
Foundation for the future: An Action Research Self-Study on How to Motivate Students to Learn about History
Alice Sullivan, Education

The content area of history revolves around the reconstruction, analysis, and interpretation of events that have occurred in the past. A general philosophy shared by many historians is “learn about the past to prevent its repetition in the future.” However, the motivation among secondary students to learn about topics in history is a potential stonewall to trying to teach students the implications of learning about history. As an aspiring history teacher, the author seeks to determine how to best spark student interest in order to become a better educator when they rise to the position. This self-study will analyze how the interest of secondary students are triggered to increase student motivation and achievement. Through the use of observations in a secondary classroom, student surveys, and exit tickets, the author will track the level of interest of students at a placement in a secondary setting. Preliminary results suggest that secondary students are more motivated when given an opportunity to become more active in their learning. The results of this study will have pedagogical implications for current and future social studies educators.

Nalyah Johnson
Language and Generational Identity in Migrants
Catherine Ross, Paideia

Migration is a very layered topic, and because of all of those layers it is often a very controversial topic. The United States has always had its own identity crisis. Consequently, immigrants struggle with their conflicting identities--the identity of their home country and that of their new one. The concept of identity is not as simple as ethnic or cultural identity but it is also a feeling of belonging since it affects self-esteem and how one sees oneself. This idea of the immigrant identity particularly interests me in relation to language and how the different generations see and prioritize it. For younger generation immigrants, their lives are a constant struggle between the identity and culture of their parents, who grew up in another place, and their identity and culture of the society they grew up in. The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the relationship between psychology and language by exploring the role of language in the identity of the immigrant through an extensive literature review to analyze the data for older generations and through social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok in order to getting an understanding of the newer generations.

Allison Kisel
Behind The Curtain: Stage Management
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

Stage Manager: Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. Synonyms: wizard, magician. The intricacies of fulfilling the role of Production Stage Manager goes so much deeper than any textbook or theatre blog can summarize. We are the spokes in the wheel to keep the production rolling and without us, total chaos. This presentation will unearth the behind-the-scenes work of a stage manager including the various forms, spreadsheets, reports, scripts, schedules, etc. that are constantly being created, emailed, referred back to, and built upon. Through this information, a new appreciation for the prodigious work of stage management may be formed and may incite a discovery and appreciation for the back-stage proceedings beyond the intricate happenings onstage.

Mary Ruth Knackstedt
Racially Conscious Casting Practices
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

The theatre community has seen a rise in new works that specifically demand race conscious casting as opposed to “colorblind” casting, but depending on the context of the theatre (academic, community, SPT, LORT) this demand is not always met. In the last decade, many theaters have had to re-examine how they choose shows in their season based on whether or not they have actors in their community who can accurately portray the characters- specifically as it pertains to race. This research explores casting practices for the purpose of proper racial representation. Through interviews with playwrights, artistic directors, and anthropologists, as well as the examination of case studies, I will analyze what representation in theatre truly means in 2020 and what is being done to achieve it. This research will explain the importance of representative casting and the implications of “colorblind” casting.

Kyle Leon
Migrations of Material Culture
Francis Mathieu, Paideia

My research proposal for the Creative Works Symposium is to analyze the physical migration of cultural and artistic objects and to understand the effect of this migration on the objects’ meaning and function within the new space. Employing theories and methods from the disciplines of art history and history, material culture studies, and museology, I will seek to explain the different ways in which objects from differing cultural, spatial, and temporal origins are transformed when these boundaries are crossed. I will analyze four objects in particular: a Lakota Ghost Shirt from the 1890’s that was formerly held in the Kelvingrove Museum collection in Glasgow, Scotland; casino mogul Steve Wynn’s purchase and donation of a 14th century Chinese vase; the Luxor Obelisk sent to Paris; and the greenstone Olmec Mask found at the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan. In each of these examples, I will trace the paths of meaning and function from their respective origin cultures to the culture, time, and place in which they would be “discovered” (for example, while the Olmec mask is still held in a museum today, I will limit the discussion to its discovery by archaeologists at the Templo Mayor). My research will be presented on a poster board in order to provide clear images of the objects being analyzed, accompanied by major claims and theses in text.

Jeff Marcum
Historical Stages of the Influenza Virus
Jethro Hernandez Berrones , History

In my disease and world history class, we were prompted to compose a history of an epidemic disease using primary sources and then represent this narrative graphically. I chose to examine the Infleunza pandemic of 1918. Relying on primary sources such as a Census from India, an American veterinary manual on Influenza, and oral interviews from survivors of the epidemic in Alabama, this work describes how Influenza influenced scientific theories on the origins of this disease, altered the structure and solidity of communities around the world, and revealed that societal circumstances set the stage for this epidemic. Today, societies link Influenza to a biological issue, but the analysis of historical sources reveal that variation in culture is responsible for how this epidemic was received, and therefore global responses to it varied. My sketches are intended to represent the cultural variety associated to the influenza epidemic of 1918.

Grace Maynard
Central Texans’ Precarious Walk on the Wild Side
Romi Burks, Biology

Novel infectious diseases have recently emerged, specifically zoonotic diseases. Most times, these pathogens, either bacteria, fungi, parasites, or viruses, jump from wild animals to humans. These pathogens often utilize wild or domesticated animals as reservoirs making pathogens very resilient in most environments. As cities continue to expand, urban sprawl provides humans more frequently interaction with wild animals, only further encouraging cross-species transmission. Urbanization has essentially provided new avenues for zoonotic pathogens to emerge and rapidly spread. Purposeful urban planning allows for better management and coexistence of the wildlife and human health.

The Austin population has grown nearly 20% in 20 years. Because of this, Austinites are accustomed to seeing Texas Hill Country animals, such as armadillos, white-tailed deer, and feral hogs. Unfortunately, many of these animals are known to carry infectious diseases. Therefore, it is important for everyone to understand how to prevent transmission. My goal is to educate my peers about the importance of this issue, how to protect themselves and their family, and how these pathogens affect our economy. My interactive poster presentation will outline different zoonotic disease scenarios for viewers to test their knowledge on Central Texas wildlife.

Alec McClure
Kia ora! Experiencing Whānau While in Aotearoa
Melissa Johnson, Sociology and Anthropology

In the Spring of 2019, I was fortunate enough to be immersed and learn about Māori culture and experience the beauties of New Zealand (Aotearoa) while studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand and attending the university of Auckland. While there, I was able to complete numerous multiple day hikes, camp in some of the most beautiful parks I had ever seen, white water kayak and receive an education on Māori culture and learn about whānau, the understanding of the importance of an extended family. Outside of New Zealand I also had the unique opportunity to travel to Australia, The Cook Islands, Thailand and Cambodia where I engaged in cultural experiences through music, dance, food, recreation and building relationships. Upon returning to Southwestern, I was able to combine my experiences and lessons I learned abroad with the curriculum in my classes which gave me a new and refreshed perspective on my education here, how I interact with friends and my understandings of whanau.

Wil Mekelburg
Teaching with a Sense of Humor: A self-study on the impact of humor on a student’s motivation for writing
Alice Sullivan, Education

Writing is an often overlooked and underutilized method of self-expression for students, so looking into methods that can positively impact a student’s motivation for writing will help students find and enjoy a meaningful and positive form of self-expression. In this study, the author is seeking to answer the question of how can humor be introduced into instruction in order to strengthen student enjoyment and motivation for writing. The author is using a self-study methodology that includes coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and a field placement in an 11th grade English/Language Arts classroom. The data collected will come in the form of student feedback through interviews and the collection of student writing artifacts. Through this experience, the author is seeking to discover the impact of using humor during instruction on student motivation for writing. The implications of this study has the potential to affect not only English teachers, but teachers of all content areas. Breaking down the doors and getting student to fully buy into a skill is something that all teachers work tirelessly to find ways to do.

Jose Melendez
Zara & The Business of Fashion
Catherine Ross and Francis Mathieu, Paideia

Fashion is constantly changing, and companies have to keep up with trends and consumer demand in order to remain profitable. Styles migrate from fashion designers to companies that mass produce clothing items that are then disseminated to consumers. Fashion companies take advantage of social media influencers by offering free clothing in exchange for promotion of their products. Globalization has had a large impact on the fashion industry as technology and travel continue to improve. As people are exposed to different cultures and styles through globalization, companies and consumers try to replicate trending styles from various countries. However, companies have taken advantage of globalization by commodifying cultures and turning them into fashion trends. I will examine the migration of fashion across cultures and businesses through a business and communication studies perspective. Zara produces the same items and ships them to stores worldwide where they are kept for a few months until the next shipments arrive. I will analyze how Zara and other companies design their clothing and move them into production to gain an understanding of how fashion is viewed through the business lens. I will also study how cultures influence the art of fashion, how styles can migrate through time and countries, and the impact of some of Zara’s choices. Through a poster presentation, I will examine Zara’s partnership with a social media influencer, fashion designs, and focus on Zara’s business model which relies on fast fashion.

Bailey Meyer
Comparative Study of the Phenolic Contents and Antioxidant Capacities of Green Tea, Culinary Matcha, and Ceremonial Matcha
Emily Niemeyer, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Camellia sinensis, a plant originally cultivated in China, is used to brew teas such as white, black, and green tea. Green tea is recognized for high antioxidant and polyphenolic content that stabilize free radicals in reactive oxygen species, which may reduce the risk of cancer. Matcha, a powdered green tea, has been advertised to contain greater antioxidant levels than all other types of tea, despite minimal research. Therefore, in this study, the total phenolic contents (TPC) and total antioxidant capacities (TAC) of fifteen methanolic extracts of commercially available tea samples - including green tea and culinary and ceremonial-grade matcha - were analyzed. TPC and TAC were measured using Folin-Ciocalteu and CUPRAC (cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity) assay, while individual catechin levels were quantified by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography). Green tea TPC values ranged from 124 to 253 GAE (gallic acid equivalents in mg/g of tea) and TAC ranged from 326 to 658 TEAC (trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity in mg/g of tea). Matcha TPC samples varied from 104 to 150 GAE, while TAC ranged from 281 to 432 TEAC. This study exhibited unexpected results with green tea having higher TPC and TAC compared to ceremonial and culinary matcha.

Emma Meyer
A Reflection on Crossing Borders
Francis Mathieu, Paideia

My project for the Creative Works Symposium will be an ethnographic account of my experience walking across the border from Morocco to Ceuta, Spain as an American study abroad student in the fall of 2019. This project will be a written narrative that paints the picture of the border between Spain and Morocco and my experience crossing, and I will present parts of that narrative through a poster at the symposium. I will combine the academic disciplines of race and ethnicity studies and feminist studies to critically examine my positionality and privilege as a white American woman being able to walk across a border that many people die trying to cross in the hopes of creating a better life. The use of an interdisciplinary approach that combines both race and ethnicity studies and feminist studies to analyze this unique study abroad experience will enrich and deepen my understanding of migration.

Julianna Mouat
Gold (I) Catalyzed Synthesis of 1-H isochromenes
Michael Gesinski, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Belonging to a greater class of biologically active molecules known as benzopyrans, 1H-isochromenes and thier isomers have been known to exhibit antitutmor and antileishmanial activity. An atom economical synthesis of these valuable organic moieties has been developed utilizing a gold (I) catalyzed cyclization of o-alkynylbenzyl alcohols. The desired isochromene has been isolated in good yields exclusively yielding the 6-endo-dig product for most substrates. Morevoer, selectivity for the 5-exo benzofuran product cann be controlled by careful choice of gold catalyst. Current work is underway to investigate the mechanism of this reaction and expand its scope toward secondary and tertiry alcohols.

Summer Newton
Hey Look At Me!: A Self Study on Student Involvement in the Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

Student engagement is an essential component in the classroom in order to create a more collaborative, inclusive environment. In this study, the author uses a semester-long action research project in order to determine the efficacy of different pedagogical strategies for increasing student engagement that promote and increase student involvement within their school. The author uses a self-study methodology that included classwork, meetings with peer-inquiry groups, and a field placement in a third grade classroom. Data includes student surveys, classroom observations, reflective journals, interviews with students and the cooperating teacher, and various student artifacts. In this study, preliminary data suggests that students engage more in the classroom when they feel safe and secure in their space that the place they call their class. These findings have implications for elementary practitioners and elementary student learning.

Sister Teresa Marie Plunkett
Rocking Out or Zoning Out: A Self-Study on Music Choice in the Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

Playing background music in the classroom is useful in creating a relaxing environment for the students to work in, but do all genres of music actually encourage student focus? The purpose of this study was to explore different avenues of music in order to create a more constructive classroom climate that encouraged student attentiveness and limited distraction. The author used a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in an eighth grade English classroom. Data included observations, reflective journal entries, teacher interviews, and student interviews. Preliminary results suggest that the use of non-lyrical classical music played at a low volume is helpful for the students to listen to while working. Students also responded well to silence that followed the music that was played during their work time. These findings have implications for all teachers who wish to incorporate background music into everyday class time.

Sarah Pulatie
The Culture of Commodification
Catherine Ross, Paideia

For my paper I will be using both of my majors, communication studies and business, as disciplines for this paper. Additionally, I will be integrating perspectives from my time abroad. While abroad I took the courses “International Business” and “Consumer Behavior”, along with an internship at Forbes Media Europe on the sales and marketing team.

My topic idea for this assignment is actually an extension of my initial “paideia moment” in which I took a small look at the migration of consumer trends through different forms of communication. The migration process will be analyzed in 4 separate parts, first the creation of a trend, then the spread of a trend through communication (even across International borders), then the following change in consumer behavior based on the communication patterns, ending in the market/industry response to this change in behavior. By change in market and industry, I am referring to businesses quickly adapting and producing/commodifying products in order to capitalize on the spreading trends. I will be specifically analyzing trends that have migrated to the United states from either Japan or Korea since I’ve noticed a particular influx of Americans interest in K-pop, Anime, Manga, and funko-pops.

Antonio Renfroe
A Monolingual Preservice Teacher’s Self-study on Reading Strategies in an Dual Language Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

In the United States, native languages other than English are becoming increasingly more prolific. Most teachers in the United States are monolingual English speakers. Therefore, English Language Learners and their teachers have to overcome specific challenges in the classroom. In this study, an undergraduate education major used a semester-long action research project in order to examine how a monolingual preservice teacher could assist in the motivation of English Language Learning students in reading. The author used a self-study methodology that included coursework, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in a third-grade bilingual classroom. Data included reflections, feedback, student work, and observations. In this study, the author will discover how specific strategies, such as anchor charts, positively affect the engagement and motivation of English Language Learners in Reading. These findings have implications for ELAR curriculum, pre service teacher programs, and elementary teachers.

Tyler Riordan
Theatre and the Perception of the First World War
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

Theatre plays a role in how historical moments are remembered. When dealing with the narrative of World War One the story of those in the trenches is the one that is prevalently remembered. This project examines the line between history and memory through the lense of theatre. Following the first world war there was an increasing awareness of the horrors that veterans had faced on the front lines. Therefore, there was an idea that the men who fought in the trenches returned home brutalized and unable to assimilate back into normal society. This trope of the brutalized veteran lead to a mostly singular narrative of what it meant to be in the war. Several plays exemplify this trope such as The Black ‘Ell and Journey’s End. Through examining their portrayals of veterans this project considers how these works are connected to the collective memory of the war. It is important to understand how theatrical works have informed our perception of the war.

Savannah Ritz
Gender, Violence, and Bacchic Spaces in the Bacchae and it’s Contemporary Recontextualization, Girls
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

In 407 BC, the Greek playwright Euripides wrote the classic tragedy, the Bacchae. The themes of this play included gender roles and representation, violence, and bacchic space, among others. Several thousand years later, in 2019, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins viewed the ancient story of Dionysus and his journey to prove his divine legitimacy as relevant to our modern society. This brought him to write the new play, Girls. This essay will analyze the major themes of the original text, the Bacchae, and it’s contemporary recontextualization, Girls. It will discuss how the original themes of gender and violence that were relevant in ancient Greece are also relevant in our current social and political society in the form of gender norms vs. gender abstraction onstage and off, and ever-growing prevalence of gun violence. Additionally, it will analyze the theme of bacchic spaces in each of these pieces, and therefore its prevalence in our society particularly as it pertains to the contemporary female experience.

Chris Sanders
The Migration of Soccer's Popularity Across the Globe
Francis Mathieu, Paideia

For my Paideia Seminar presentation, I wanted to analyze how the theme of migration ties into the selection process of where the FIFA World Cup is hosted every four years. I think looking at this process will help analyze how the popularity of soccer has shifted in the last century, seeing as fan interest and general reception are important determining factors for FIFA when determining the location of the World Cup. In diving deeper into the selection process, I am planning on analyzing why in the past, and currently, the World Cup has been hosted in countries which, at the time of the World Cup or in the years leading up to it have had more than questionable civil, political, and/or social situations, that theoretically should have ruled them out of contention for hosting it. In doing so, I’ll analyze whether the popularity of soccer as a sport, and its migration around the world across this last century is the main determining factor in FIFA’s selection process, as it should be.

Sydney Scott
"Wining" About Texas Hill Country Ecology
Romi Burks, Biology

Texas Hill Country is home to several different resources, activities and species. These include hunting, tourism and sightseeing. Texas Hill Country provides a home to 42 different grape vines species with 15 native species among them. Texas recently ranked as the 5th highest wine producing state in the US. Consequently, the tourists come to see the new “Napa Valley”, directly creating an increase in urbanization and indirectly destroying ecosystems. have become. The amount of people and their needs equals too much for the area to handle.

The “wine country” continues to expand and the animals in the Texas Hill Country are quickly losing area have grown accustomed to and thrive in. I will look at the impact that the Texas “Wine Country” has had on the animals and ecosystems in the Texas Hill Country. My research will look into before and after photos of the vineyards and interviewing the owners of the vineyards on what it took to build the vineyards and the amount of tourists that are frequenting the vineyards. I want to determine if the level of tourism the vineyards are bringing in is destroying or helping the Texas Hill Country.

Alexis Shafer
Teachers Content Knowledge Prepares an Effective Classroom: A Self-Study on How Preparation Increase Confidence and Engagement with Students
Alice Sullivan, Education

History teachers are often challenged by the amount of content knowledge they are required to have in order to design effective and engaging lesson plans. The purpose of this study is to examine how a preservice teacher can develop the content knowledge necessary to prepare and design an effective lesson in an eighth grade United States history classroom. The author is using a self-study methodology that includes coursework in a college Action Research course, meetings with peer inquiry groups, and field placement in an eighth grade social studies classroom. Data includes student surveys, classroom observations, reflective journaling. Preliminary results suggest that increased and deliberate preparation supports effective questioning strategies and increased confidence in the author's instruction. Data analysis revealed that the teachers preparation for their class allowed them to teach with enthusiasm and more confidence whether that was using non-verbal or instructional behavior enthusiasm.These findings have implications for teacher education, especially for preservice social studies teachers.

Hayden Smith
Thermoacoustic Energy Generation
Steve Alexander, Physics

2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar

Environmentally benign power generation, waste energy recovery, biomedical prosthetics, and sensors; the applications, humanitarian and commercial potential is enormous for the patented Fellows Thermoacoustic Cycle (TAC) engine; a closed-circuit, traveling-wave, acoustic oscillator. It is a universal thermal-electric power generator that will work in any environment and utilize any source of thermal energy (solar, liquid, gas, geothermal, exhaust, field waste, open flame, body heat). It converts the incoming thermal energy into directional acoustic waves, and modifies the impedance in the gas column so that the acoustic waves couple efficiently and synchronously with the reciprocating mass of the armature of a linear generator with no bearings or lubrication. This system will operate for thousands of hours with no maintenance or sound. Our goal is to decrease the operation frequency from 5000 Hz to military standard (400 Hz) so that it will have greater consistency and higher commercial viability. With the fact that any heat source can be used, we predict applicability in any environment (industrial, commercial, and third-world).

Sister Basil Marie Smith
“Beauty Will Save the World”: A Self Study on Integrating Art into the Social Studies Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

Integrating art in the social studies classroom is important because it is an effective way to engage students. Exposing students to art in social studies enables them to connect to people and events in the past in a visual way, namely beauty. In this study, the author used a semester-long action research project in order to discern effective methods of integrating art into social studies lessons to increase student engagement and enthusiasm for the content. Coursework, a field placement in a 6th grade social studies classroom, and collaboration in a peer inquiry group were utilized to perform this study. Data included in this study are student artifacts, classroom observations, and student surveys. Preliminary results suggest that students respond positively towards art and through it feel more connected and impacted by the material. These findings have implications for social studies curriculum planning, pre-service teacher programs, social studies teachers as well as students of all grade levels.

Marisol Solis
A Preservice Teacher's Self-Study on the Impact of Positive Communication in an Elementary Classroom
Alice Sullivan, Education

The way teachers choose to communicate with their students is a critical factor in students’ academic achievement and engagement. The purpose of this self-study is to examine how an elementary preservice teacher's communication and engagement with students, specifically when addressing student behavior, can help foster positive student engagement and motivation. The data for this study evolves from field placement in a first grade classroom, working with a peer inquiry group, and university coursework, as well as classroom observations, student artifacts, interviews, student focus groups. Through this self-study, the author hopes to learn how her own communication with students can motivate and support a positive classroom environment. This study has implications for elementary practitioners and preservice teachers.

Sebastian Somolinos
Faces & Places
Catherine Ross, Modern Languages and Literature (Spanish)

2019-2020 King Creativity Scholar

To highlight some of the positive aspects of migration, I intend to combine the disciplines of history, art and political science through an art piece titled “Faces & Places”. Given my family’s long history of migration, my project would consist in collecting pictures of members of my family who moved around the world, relating the historical political context with their reason to move and the resulting outcomes, analyzing how our views on immigration have evolved. To make this project engaging, I will superimpose these pictures over a world map, next to a description of who is in the picture and their respective story. The aim of this project will be to accomplish the following;

• Highlight some of the positive stories in migration history.

• Study how the view on the issue of migration has evolved over time.

• Create a visually appealing art piece that tells a story.

The nature of my presentation would consist of a poster presentation depicting the image of a world map with pictures on it. I would stand next to my poster and engage in conversations with people, sharing some of the interesting stories regarding the history of migration within my work. The success of my project will be determined by my ability to integrate the different disciplines used in the process giving a solid historical background on the countries visited in my story. Effective storytelling will be the most important determinant of my ability to emphasize the positive aspects of migration.

Trevor Pierce Stoneburner
Stupid F##king Bird Scenography
Kerry Bechtal, Theatre

Design is complex when done alone. Theatre as a discipline is complex. For the theatre capstone project of Stupid F##king Bird, the visual design will be carried out alone by the scenographer. Scenography is the visual design of a piece of theatre, this includes the scenery, costumes, and lighting. Traditionally, American theatre companies have separate designers for each area who must collaborate and work together. For this show, the visual design will be carried out by one student that will create a cohesive design. Collaboration is a fundamental part of theatre even without multiple designers with the capstone class working together to define and create this show. The designer works with the capstone class to create the world of the show. Through this process, the theatre capstone class will learn the process of designing for theatre and the practicality of managing multiple designs. The goal is to create a beautifully designed piece with each area of design framing the show. Design is complex, theatre is complex, this will be an exciting challenge for all involved that teaches the management and skill required for the professional world.

Haley Stuckey
Climate Change and Its Effects on Sea Turtle Migration
Catherine Ross, Paideia

Paideia is about making connections. As an Environmental Studies major, I have learned that all living things are connected to one another, and therefore am able to identify certain connections between living systems that I may have otherwise missed. Climate change is an issue that is extremely prominent today because of the significant ways in which it is affecting our planet. Our course theme, migration, is directly impacted by this global phenomenon. Environmentally displaced peoples, increases in wildfires and hurricanes, glacier melt, and ecosystem carrying capacity are all the result of climate change; all life ranging from humans to plants is experiencing a distinct shift. Governments are working to understand how they can best mitigate the effects of climate change. I would argue that a large part of those initiatives should involve educating children at an early age about how the natural world works and the ways in which globalization affects environmental systems. My goal for the Creative Works Symposium is to introduce information in an easily understood manner on the ways one species, in particular, has been affected by climate change, and assess the efforts made (or not made) by the areas of the globe it is associated with to minimize negative impacts.

I intend to research the migration patterns of sea turtles. I plan on presenting a poster at the symposium and, in addition, writing a children’s book from the perspective of a sea turtle on its migration route. In doing so, I will be able to write about how turtles have been affected by climate change and compare environmental laws surrounding endangered species and climate change policies across a variety of countries. This project will express interdisciplinarity by integrating both environmental education and political science concepts.

Erin Toro
Water We Waiting For? The Importance of Riparian Areas on Soil Erosion in the Texas Hill Country
Romi Burks, Biology

The Texas Hill Country, like many other areas, has fallen under the influence of human action. Because of this influence, a surplus of white-tailed deer, livestock, and cedar fill up the Hill Country. However, misconceptions about riparian areas reflect another huge anthropogenic influence on the Hill Country. Riparian areas include the areas surrounding a body of water, such as a creek or stream, from the water level up to the flood zone. Misconceptions include the idea that humans must fix or clean up a “damaged” riparian area. At their healthiest, riparian areas should be filled with vegetation that anchors and prevents soil erosion and slows the flow of water. Soil erosion often damages an ecosystem, leading to dry, unstable soil. Therefore, in this poster presentation, I will explain the importance of riparian areas as well as misconceptions about them through the use of a concept map, photographs, and figure captions. Human influence can be seen all across the world in the form of climate change, and while we may not be able to fix everything, we can at least start in our backyard of the Hill Country.

Taylor Torres
Society and Sex Work
Francis Mathieu, Paideia

In recent years, sex work has become more visible to the public and less hidden. As sex work starts to become more prevalent and visible to the public eye, there has been an attitude change regarding sex work and sex workers. Arguably, women who migrate end up in sex work for a myriad of reasons. Due to the changes in attitudes and beleifs around sex work and the women who are involved in this industry, this project will examine how the attitudes that surround sex work affects sex workers. Specifically, this project will study how those attitudes surrouding sex work affects those who work in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. In this project, sociological methods will be used to examine the beliefs and attitudes within society surrounding sex work and how those attitudes affect sex workers on a psychological level.

Diana Treviño
They’ve Figured it Out! Gender Differences in Executive Language Styles through Shareholders’ Letters
Hazel Nguyen, Economics and Business

This paper provides evidence that women and men have distinct leadership styles and that female CEOs combine both feminine and masculine leader behaviors and utilize an androgynous leadership style that is predominantly transformational. Specifically, through DICTION’s five thematic indicators, Activity, Optimism, Certainty, Realism, and Commonality, we find that shareholders’ letters written by female CEOs are more comprehensible, and emphasize transformational changes, optimism, mutual understanding and rapport more than those by male CEOs, which is consistent with the transformational leadership style. However, the language in female CEO letters are also more resolute and authoritative, which is typically associated with the transactional leadership style of men. Taken together, our evidence suggests that female CEOs today embrace their feminine selves while also adapting their leadership style to maintain authority and legitimacy required of their roles.

Diana Treviño
What Makes a Foreign Film Flop?
Francis Mathieu, Paideia

Watching foreign films allows us to learn about other countries, become more accepting of others’ customs, and feel more in touch with the rest of the world. In the past few decades, the foreign film market in the U.S. has greatly increased, grossing more money in the box office than ever before. This past year, a foreign language film won the Academy Award for Best Picture for the first time in history. However, foreign films still rarely get wide releases in the U.S. and often earn much less than their American counterparts. In this project, I will use economics and film studies to analyze the growth of the foreign film market in America and attempt to pinpoint which characteristics increase a foreign film’s likelihood of success in America. The characteristics will include genre, the critical acclaim of the director’s previous films, proximity of the country of origin to the country of distribution, and language. Understanding what makes a foreign film successful in the U.S. could allow foreign films to understand which elements of their films emphasize when marketing to the U.S.

Abigail Vasut
Birds, Humans, and Migratory Impacts
Catherine Ross, Paideia

How have humans and their efforts in urbanization and gentrification impacted the lives and experiences of migratory birds? While not all birds are migratory birds, the majority of the birds are and usually fly across the land to live in warmer climates during the winter, or they move to find better sources of food. Humans have been involved in deforestation, the construction of towns, cities, and other large sections of land that have been urbanized and turned into versions of what may be known as ‘concrete jungles.’ The two disciplines that will be used to investigate this question will be ecology and sociology. Ecology is a critical discipline because it is important to have an understanding of how and why birds migrate in order to understand the potential impacts that humans have had on their migration practices, as well as ways that humans have been working to reduce their impact or be more beneficial to the birds’ migration. Sociology will also be important as it involves understanding groups of people, their practices, and can be applied to how they are recognizing the impact they have on the birds and their motivations to changing their previously harmful actions towards the migration of birds. The disciplines will naturally be integrated together to provide a comprehensive observation of how migratory practices have been impacted by humans, and how humans are acknowledging and working to change their impact to be an impact that is positive and beneficial for the birds.

Sarah Wareing
Coping with Body Image and Eating Concerns
Bryan Neighbors, Psychology

Disordered eating behaviors have been found to negatively affect college students, both physically and emotionally. Additionally, research on this population has demonstrated that tendencies for prescription stimulant misuse are common on college campuses. There have been several studies documenting correlations between problematic eating and dieting behaviors and substance use and abuse. These studies have suggested that the misuse of stimulants can be utilized as a way to exacerbate problematic eating behaviors through appetite suppression, furthering weight loss.

While some studies have illustrated the correlation between problematic eating behaviors and prescription stimulant misuse, few have investigated the various moderators that may exist within this relationship. The current study hypothesizes that the relationship between stimulant misuse and levels of eating disorder risk will become stronger with the presence of greater body dissatisfaction, more maladaptive coping, and greater frequency of weight loss and academic motivations for stimulant misuse. Data is being collected from an online survey that has been completed by 188 undergraduate students thus far. The process of data analysis and our findings will be discussed during the poster presentation.

Kaitlan Warmbrod
The Texas Hill Country: What You See and What You Get
Romi Burks, Biology

As the human population grows, so does human expansion. Within the past 200 years, the human presence within the Texas Hill Country has been clear with the loss of rangeland via housing development, the introduction of invasive species, misuse of the water supply and overgrazing by livestock. To educate the public on the effects of the human presence within the Hill Country (HC), I will create an overall printed image of an area (i.e. a mosaic) within the HC using image snippets of said area spanning roughly 200 years to depict the native flora and fauna before and after the human presence. A key to list native and invasive species as well as the effects of the invasive species will accompany the imagery. The project seeks to educate the public on the anthropogenic effects of our presence as well as to challenge the viewer to reflect on the future of this area.