Video Presentations 

In a world buzzing with new technological developments every day, the fundamental nature of warfare and interstate conflict is shifting; conventional warfare is giving way to cyberattacks - a rapidly evolving set of tools designed to weaken states without ever crossing a border. Authoritarian regimes are particularly inclined to utilize cyberattacks, as there are less messy legal obstacles or bureaucratic concerns needed to address. Recently, the first research pointing to authoritarian regimes being more prone to initiating cyberattacks was published. This project expands on that research by working to answer the question of how political institutions in authoritarian regimes affect the severity and type of cyberattacks employed. Through conducting a literature review, multiple case studies, and mapping the relationship between political institutions and cyberattacks, the international security field can be better informed on the factors constituting some of the most elusive and dangerous acts of conflict.

Student Major(s)/Minor: International Relations

Advisor: Clay Clemens, Government

A questionnaire was created to ask for respondents' opinions on the role of the Gaelic language in their community and in their personal lives. This questionnaire was adapted from a Scottish survey, but it was administered in Nova Scotia, Canada to residents of at least one year aged 18+. The differences in response patterns between age groups from the Nova Scotia questionnaire were compared to differences in response patterns between age groups in the original Scottish survey. It was found that Nova Scotians are more homogenous in their language attitudes than are Scots, and that age was less of a predictor of language attitudes towards Gaelic in Nova Scotia than in Scotland. Further research should be conducted to determine if Scottish nationalism is a factor in this disparity between Gaelic language attitudes in Scotland versus in Nova Scotia. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Film & Media Studies, Linguistics

Advisor: Jack Martin, Linguistics

This summer's research investigates whether tax cuts enhance new small business applications and economic growth. It focuses on the 1986 tax cuts that decreased capital gains taxes, as well as the 2017 tax cuts that reduced income tax rates. To discover trends, the research examines population data and economic information from before and after each tax decrease. It investigates whether the tax cuts promoted growth as expected by the Laffer Curve hypothesis by using new company applications and capital gains data. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Economics

Advisor: Shi Qi, Economics

Saudi Arabia announced the Vision 2030 project to much fanfare in 2016.  The project promised an ambitious overhaul of the Kingdom’s economy, society, and political system in order to move away from its status as a rentier state.  Currently, the Kingdom supports many of its citizens as public employees, paid for by its massive government budget.  As oil constitutes a large part of its revenue, the Saudi Arabian economy is highly dependent on oil rents.  To help solve this problem, Vision 2030 promised to diversify the economy away from oil, revitalize the private sector, and slash the government budget.  Although it was heralded as a much-needed economic transformation, many detractors believe that the project’s goals are unattainable.  This paper will assess Saudi Arabia’s progress toward its Vision 2030 goals halfway through the program.  In addition, this paper will also examine how Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation has impacted the economic outlook of the country’s industries.

Student Major(s)/Minor: Economics, International Relations

Advisor: John Lopresti, Economics

Milkweed is interesting in that it distributes its pollen as discrete packs, or pollinia, that contain many individual pollen grains. These pollinia are carried by pollinators, primarily Bombus species, which insert them into stigmatic openings on donor plants into pools of nectar where they germinate. Initial research suggests that the concentration and composition of nectar sugars, particularly the ratio of fructose:sucrose:glucose, exhibit variation among plants, potentially influencing pollen germination ability. In addition, other recent studies have demonstrated that common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) can hybridize with two other milkweed varieties: poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata) in the eastern United States, and showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) at a contact zone in the plains states. Intriguingly, the genetic evidence points to a directional bias in introgression during these instances of hybridization. Motivated by the relationship between nectar sugar composition and pollen germination, as well as the observed patterns of biased introgression among milkweed species, this study seeks to begin to understand whether nectar concentration differs between distinct milkweed species. Moreover, we aim to test whether pollinia from different species exhibit preferences for germination in nectar with varying sugar compositions. Towards this end, we conducted a study on pollinia germination within the contact zones of common milkweed and poke milkweed within the Appalachian Mountains, as well as the contact zone of common milkweed and showy milkweed in South Dakota. This approach enabled us to not only compare germination rates between parental species but also among hybrid individuals. These results have implications for our understanding of the impact of sugar nectar on pollinia germination and hybridization in plants.

Student Major(s)/Minor: Biology, ENSP

Advisor: Josh Puzey, Biology

Diet sustainability analyses rely on food composition databases to deconstruct mixed dishes into their constituent ingredients, so that these ingredients can then be linked to other databases that provide information on their sustainability impacts. The Food Commodity Intake Database (FCID) is one of the most important food composition databases because it links national dietary data with multiple sustainability databases. However, FCID has not been updated since 2010, which limits advancements in sustainability research. The present research documents how FCID has been used to evaluate each of the four domains of sustainability: nutrition/health, social, environment, and economic. We have analyzed 90  studies, categorizing these studies by the four sustainability domains previously mentioned. Of these 90 studies, 15 total studies evaluated the environment domain using FCID, 7 evaluated the economic domain, 39 evaluated the social domain, and 45 evaluated the nutrition/health domain. Given the diversity of studies that use FCID, federal action is needed to update this database so that fully informed analyses of diet sustainability can continue.   

Student Major(s)/Minor: Integrative Conservation and Environmental Science & Sustainability (Science Track)

Advisor: Zach Conrad, Kinesiology

The later years of the American Revolution transformed British politics and culture. While many of the these effects have been investigated by historians, the intellectual changes that happened in Great Britain as a result of the war have not been thoroughly analyzed. Radical and moderate politicians during the 1780s used American arguments about the failure of virtual representation to demand Parliamentary reform. A close analysis of two British pamphlets reveals that the political ideology begun in America was adopted by people in Britain. Unlike claims by previous scholarship, the supporters of the Parliamentary reform movement in 1780 were inspired by more than the physical effects of the American Revolution. The application of American political ideals to political movements in Britain adds a new significance to the American Revolution and the ongoing connection between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Student Major(s)/Minor: History, Economics

Advisor: Kathrin Levitan, History

KN1DPy is the translation of KN1D (Kinetic Neutral 1-Dimensional Transport Code) from the programming language IDL (Interactive Data Language) to Python. The code functions the same, which is to calculate neutral profiles, a necessary component for understanding the fueling requirements of fusion reactors. A data set will then be generated using KN1DPy to train a machine learning algorithm, which can cut computational costs, among other things. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Physics, Conc. Engineering Physics & Applied Design. and Computer Science

Advisor: Saskia Mordijck, Physics

This project is expanding Professor Prado’s existing “Global Americas Shipping Database,” which documents naval shipping activity in the Americas during the the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, from approximately 1776 to 1830. My research is focused on collecting information from the New England Palladium — including ship names, captain names, place of origin or destination, specific cargo, etc. — associated with the port of Boston for the year 1805 and entering it into a spreadsheet. The goal of this project is to shed light on the importance of inter-American and trans-Atlantic linkages in a time when the United States was rebuilding its global trade network. Moreover, it highlights the trade relationships between Boston and the Caribbean despite foreign trade regulations at the time.

Student Major(s)/Minor: History

Advisor: Fabricio Prado, History

Turbulence is one of the most persistent problems in classical physics. One developing area of interest is the role of turbulence in confined plasmas, which are relevant to developing fusion generators. As a result, identifying when turbulence self-organizes is an important transition to identify. Topological Data Analysis (TDA) can be used to extract topological features from point cloud data. It has shown promise in identifying transitions within simulations. However, TDA is susceptible to noise, which can crowd out legitimate topology. This project’s goal is to create and use methodology which can mitigate the effects of noise in TDA of plasma data. First, TDA will be applied to simulation data with additive noise, and a methodology will be developed to identify characteristic topology of turbulent and zonal regimes despite noisy data. This will then be applied on experimental image data, which will improve the ability to study plasmas in fusion generators. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Physics, Mathematics

Advisor: Saskia Mordijck, Physics

This project will examine the rise in the cost of living in Barcelona in terms of rent, food prices, and transportation in the past ten years due to tourism. Tourism has proved to be beneficial to Barcelona's economy by circulating over 20 million euros in their economy and generating nearly 100,000 jobs. However, it has also suffered from overtourism which has led to an increase in rental prices, residents having their apartments turned into hotels, lower wages in the tourist sector, and the privatization of public spaces. Furthermore, this project will examine if a dependency on tourism exists and if the growth of the tourism sector has negatively impacted the cost of living for residents.   

Student Major(s)/Minor: Economics, Public Health

Advisor: Carl Moody, Economics

The purpose of this research is to develop a prediction method for hospital queueing measures, in order to do that we need to look at the hospital arrival rate.

The challenge is that it is nearly mathematically impossible to compute the queueing measures, so our alternative approach is to generate a step function to capture the trend of the data and fit a time series model to explore the data we want.

The main focus of this research is to generate a best of fit piecewise function for our transient data and stationary data.

Student Major(s)/Minor: Mathematics

Advisor: Mathematics

This project will explore the concept of Appalachians as a cultural other in America, particularly with regard to how they see themselves as a defined group. Through an examination of the Hatfield and McCoy feud of the late 19th Century, this research will dive into how the legacy of yellow journalism and media fetishization has shaped the understanding of Appalachia for those inside its own borders. Additionally, an analysis of important pop culture works such as the Hatfield and McCoy miniseries from the History Channel and the Hatfield McCoy Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge Tennessee will reveal deep set prejudices against Appalachians and provide a greater understanding of how the outside world places labels on Appalachians that they themselves internalize. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: History

Advisor: Jay Watkins, History

Immigration scholarship seeks to understand the way that culture and the state construct borders and the immigrant experience. "An Ethno-Nationalist Japan?" surveys the current literature on the experience of immigrants in Japan and their encounters with the Japanese state. It pays special attention to the opinions scholars have formulated about Japanese nationalism, including to what extent Japan is ethno-nationalist. We focus in particular on how scholars understand state immigration policy. Our findings suggest that most scholars on Japanese immigration presume that Japan is an ethno-nationalist state, but disagree over how new internationalizing trends impact labor policy.

Student Major(s)/Minor: Mathematics, History

Advisor: Eric Han, History

In an evolving landscape in the federal U.S. judiciary, Biden's nominations signal a conscious professional diversification of the bench. A case in point is the appointment of public defenders, Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to the Seventh Appellate Circuit and Veronica S. Rossman to the Tenth Appellate Circuit. This study provides an in-depth examination of their adjudication patterns, placing a spotlight on the influence of their public defender backgrounds. For example, in the case "Andrew Dunlevy v. James Langfelder", Jackson-Akiwumi's majority opinion judgment navigated the complexities of workplace racial discrimination with a depth extending beyond narrow interpretations that can be attributed to her defense experience. Such cases underline how Biden's nominations are molding jurisprudential frameworks with an infusion of lived experiences. Though an analysis concentrated on these two judges, trends suggest an emerging judiciary ethos, prioritizing deeper societal context and liberalness, which will engender a transformative shift in U.S. federal courts.   

Student Major(s)/Minor: Public Policy, History

Advisor: Christine Nemacheck, Government

We ran co-culturing assays with Yeast and Dictostellium to determine if there exists a link between yeast virulence and the rate of strain phagocytosis. The goal of this experiment is to test the much broader hypothesis of accidental virulence in fungi - all of which is explained in my presentation! 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Biology

Advisor: Helen Murphy, Biology

In 2023, the Census allows one to pick their own race or categorize themselves as some other race, yet the classifications of the different races have changed over time, blurring the lines between what was once simply black and white. The blurring and changing of what was previously viewed as inherent biological classifications have sparked the formation of the questions: what is race and ethnicity and what are the flaws within these categories? Through extensive research using academic journal articles, books, and online resources it was discovered that specifically, those of Jewish, Latino, and Middle Eastern descent have found themselves in the crossfire of changing racial classifications. These groups, which were previously viewed as distinctly different from whites, have now been defined by the white category. These groups also have distinctly different experiences than those whose whiteness was never questioned, reflecting how if races and ethnicities can encompass different people at different times, how can these categories have any distinct meaning or purpose? Due to racial categories being imposed on American citizens, institutions have been able to take advantage of racial categorization to meet their agenda or severely harm underprivileged groups. Racial categorization being a place of institutional agenda rather than a science or form of self-identification, one must ask if these categories should continue. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: International Relations & Arabic Language

Advisor: Clay Clemens, Government

Ultimate Frisbee is a relatively new sport established in the late 20th century. While the sport as a profession is in its infancy, viewership for ultimate frisbee has exploded in recent years. Through anecdotal evidence from players on AUDL teams, pay is poor for most professional players. Consequently, it is interesting to research the value of a small private professional sports company and track its trajectory in comparison to other professional sports organizations. Lastly, the research will use the traditional methods of private equity research to create a research report on a company with little coverage. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Finance

Advisor: Vladimir Atanasov, Finance

My project seeks to answer the question to what extent does sustainable agriculture practices influence the timing and magnitude of soil moisture dynamics? The project consists of measuring soil moisture and organic matter content across three different land types; a sustainably farmed field, a conventionally farmed field, and a forest. To answer this question I have set up soil moisture sensors on the three land types, set up a weather station, and conducted a soil moisture transect, which is soil moisture testing along an arbitrary line. In August,I plan to conduct another soil moisture transect and perform soil sampling for a physical analysis of the soil. I hypothesize that the sustainable field will function as an intermediate land type between the human optimized conventional field and the untouched forest. These findings could suggest a transition to more sustainable farming methods in Virginia for a lower impact on our soil.

Student Major(s)/Minor: Geology, ENSP

Advisor: Dom Ciruzzi, Geology

Firn is a transitional material created by the compacting of snow layers that forms the boundary between snow and glacial ice. Firn plays an important role in many glaciological processes and knowledge of firn structure is used applications such as determining the age of air pockets trapped within ice cores. Collecting firn structure data is a difficult and slow process and as such being able to extend the limited amounts of data using mathematical models would be a useful resource for glaciologists. In order to test the ability of mathematical models to generate so called "synthetic firn", measurements were taken from three firn datasets collected at different depths and trends in this data were used to score the accuracy of synthetic firns generated by various mathematical models. The models tested represent a wide variety of image generation techniques and mathematical simulations of physical processes. Some initial conclusions can be drawn but additional work is needed to refine the models and more accurately determine the level of agreement between the synthetic and real data. 

Student Major(s)/Minor: Computer Science

Advisor: Sarah Day, Mathematics