Anna Reynolds

"The Greatest of These is Love: Queer and Deconstructionist Counterpublics as Represented Through Country Music"

Advisor: Dr. Simon Stow

Country music has long been characterized by its ever-evolving sound and porous boundaries. In recent years, the genre has experienced a burgeoning queer movement. While there is a great deal of scholarship that interrogates the significance of this queer representation, little attention has been paid to the way that this intersects with the genre's sanctification of Judeo-Christian values. Though Country music is a secular genre, its history is inextricable from its southern and rural roots found in churches, gospel groups, and the steadfast faith of everyday folks. Queerness and Christian theology frequently find themselves at odds, creating societal tensions which are expressed in three Country songs: “The Way I Do,” by Madeleine Kelson, “Hating on Love” by Dustin Bird, and “Outlaw Love,” by Brooke Eden. Though these three songs are not religious in nature their use of Christian ontology, specifically, their use of affirming Christian theology to undermine conservative, anti-LGBTQ Christian rhetoric, serve as a resource for thinking about queer politics within country music. While these songs might not be defined as “political,” the way that they navigate the social tensions between conservative Christianity and queerness demonstrates a clear political motivation. In this paper, I argue that these three songs articulate a particular and collective ethos, that it is acceptable to be queer. Focusing even further on the biblical book of Psalms, this paper will identify the three aforementioned songs as queer, country Psalms based on their narrative, audience, and message.

Anna Reynolds is a second year PhD student in the department of American Studies. Her research areas include American Country Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First centuries, genders and sexualities, and Twentieth Century Popular Culture. She holds a dual B.A. from Lindenwood University, and an M.A. in History from The University of New Mexico.

Reid Pierce

"Learner on the Dancefloor: Political Education in New York's Electronic Music Scenes"

Advisor: Dr. Leisa Meyer

Although not an entirely new phenomena, calls for solidarity with Palestinians have grown increasingly loud over the past year in New York’s electronic dance music scenes. Many involved in the creation and maintenance of scenes have called for boycotts, encouraged protest participation, and have organized parties and other fundraisers for Palestinian individuals and families as well as aid organizations. The music has also become involved with DJs including sounds from protests and social media which leads to the question that this paper seeks to answer; how does the dancefloor function as a site for political education? Some recent work on electronic dance music scenes has emphasized the apolitical nature of such spaces, while work on queer nightlife has explored the world-building that occurs in such spaces. This paper attempts to bring these threads together while focusing on the learning that happens both on and off of the dancefloor. Based on content analysis and several months of exploratory ethnographic fieldwork in New York City from July 2023-April 2024, this paper will argue that dancefloors serve as important sites for political education. 

Reid Pierce is a first year Ph. D. student in American Studies at William & Mary. They are interested in queer, transnational electronic dance music scenes, political movement making, and the pedagogic potentials of dance floors. 

Jay Jolles

"'Shut Up and Sing': Women's Voices and Political Dissent in Country Music"

Advisor: Dr. Liz Losh and Dr. Charlie McGovern

The aftermath of September 11, 2001, positioned country music as America's preeminent cultural medium for processing national trauma and defining patriotism—yet the genre manifested strikingly different consequences across gender lines. This talk examines how female country artists navigated the complex intersection of patriotic expression, gender expectations, and artistic authenticity in post-9/11 America. While scholarship has extensively documented male country artists' responses to 9/11 and the Global War on Terror, the multifaceted experiences of women during this period remain understudied. Through analysis of performances, lyrics, and public statements, I demonstrate how female artists faced unique constraints compared to their counterparts in other popular genres. Some artists, like Reba McEntire and Faith Hill, successfully mediated the demands of patriotic expression, while others—most notably The Chicks—encountered severe professional repercussions for perceived dissent. By contextualizing these experiences within the historical precedents established by pioneers like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, I trace how the space for women's political voice in country music has fluctuated in response to national crises. Though depictions of explicit nationalism in the genre have waned since 9/11, the era's impact continues to shape how female country artists approach contentious contemporary issues, from immigration to LGBTQ+ rights. Their experiences illuminate broader patterns in the contraction of acceptable female expression during times of national crisis, and the enduring consequences for those who challenge these boundaries. 

Jay Jolles is a fifth year PhD candidate in American Studies. His dissertation project, Man, Music, and Machine: Towards a Theory of 21st Century Listening investigates the changing aesthetic and technological practices that animate sounding and listening cultures in contemporary America.

Mohsin Jamil

"Efforts to Induce Insulator-To-Metal Transition and Superconductivity in Lead Apatite With Copper and Sulfur Dopants"

Advisor: Dr. Mumtaz Qazilbash

Co-Authors: Zezhong Zhang, Hyun-Tak Kim, Robert D. Pike

Superconductors carry electric current without any heat loss. However, all known superconductors exhibit this remarkable phenomenon at low temperatures and this fact severely limits their applications. Therefore, a room-temperature superconductor, if discovered, can provide immense technological benefits to humanity. In mid-2023, a South Korean research group from the company Quantum Energy Research Center (QERC) claimed the discovery of superconductivity at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in polycrystalline samples of copper (II)-substituted lead apatite material called LK-99. However, superconductivity is not observed in most of the LK-99 samples synthesized by independent research groups. Later, independent researchers found that single crystals of this material are electrical insulators. Subsequently, it was hypothesized that QERC researchers had misidentified the superconductive composition in their inhomogeneous samples, and the proposed new superconductive composition requires both copper and sulfur dopants in lead apatite. QERC did not provide their LK-99 samples to William & Mary for investigative studies. Therefore, we decided to synthesize the samples at William & Mary. Pure lead apatite is an electrical insulator. To induce an insulator-to-metal transition (IMT) to obtain electrical conductivity, we are systematically doping the pure lead apatite with copper and sulfur. The IMT is a prerequisite to the occurrence of superconductivity. 

Mohsin Jamil is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics at William & Mary. He is pursuing experimental research in quantum materials that exhibit insulator-to-metal transitions and high-temperature superconductivity. He received an M.Phil. in Physics from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, and an MS in Physics at William & Mary.

Sam Dutilly &

"Vascular Flora of Fones Cliffs, and Understanding Metapopulation Dynamics and Habitat Enhancement for Aeschynomene virginica"

Advisor: Dr. Doug DeBerry

&- Recipient of the Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Natural and Computational Sciences

This project focuses on Fones Cliffs, Virginia. The Rappahannock Tribe recently reacquired this piece of ancestral land for conservation and recreational use. We will survey ecosystem communities on the site and provide the Tribe with a prioritized list of restoration areas. We will document vascular plants and send collections to the William & Mary herbarium. These findings will assist the Tribe in their conservation efforts and planning for ethical use. Notably, the freshwater tidal marshes at Fones Cliffs are home to the federally threatened legume Aeschynomene virginica. This species has disappeared from Pennsylvania and Delaware, leaving most of the populations along Virginia’s rivers. There are ten subpopulations along this section of the Rappahannock River, including a large one with over 27,000 plants. Research indicates that A. virginica thrives at specific marsh elevations, where removing competing vegetation can boost its seedling establishment and seed production. We will set up experimental plots near known populations to test how vegetation removal affects seedling establishment. Additionally, we will use genetic analysis to reveal the relatedness of these ten subpopulations. The findings from this project can inform conservation and restoration strategies for this rare plant along the East Coast. 

Sam Dutilly is a first-year master's student in Biology at William & Mary. His research focuses on native vegetation ecology and practical strategies for plant conservation. He is currently studying plant species diversity at Fones Cliffs, Virginia, and testing novel methods to enhance habitat quality and support populations of the federally threatened species, sensitive joint vetch.

Aidan Lucas

"Deeply Hierarchical Bioceramics from Harvested Diatom Frustules"

Advisor: Dr. Hannes Schniepp

Co-authors: A. Lucas, J. Oxman, B. Janicki, K. McEvoy

Climate change is expected to cause trillions of dollars of economic damage and upend over a century of progress in food, housing, health, and other factors essential to humane living standards. Unfortunately, unlike with polymers, we know of no pre-existing carbon-negative, biologically produced ceramic alternatives. The unique combination of stiffness, hardness, high-temperature resistance and chemical stability makes ceramics difficult to abandon, however. To meet this challenge, we have devised a brand-new class of "farmable" materials — carbon negative bioceramics devised from monocultured planktonic diatoms; a group of silica-forming algae with mechanically robust, lightweight shells (aka "frustules"). More specifically, we mass-purified frustules from in-house, semi-continuous cultures and bound them with low-temperature silicate polymerization techniques that preserved up to seven levels of structural hierarchy while retaining thermal stability up to at least 800C. Our bioceramics were then structurally and thermally characterized with 3-point bending, thermogravimetric analysis, and electron microscopy; the results demonstrate that our material is potentially able to match or beat Portland cement and other commercial ceramics. 

Aidan is a fourth year PhD candidate in Professor Schniepp's lab in Applied Science.  His research is focused on how to make eco-friendly ceramic materials from silica-producing algae. He has a BS from UC San Diego in Nanoengineering and a minor in Marine Science. Hobbies include reading, martial arts, gaming, and learning an ungodly amount of random information.

Lindsey Pegram &

"Designing Smart Technology for the Digital Age: Transforming Turbidity Measurement for Safer Water Access"

Advisor: Dr. Michael Fisher

&- Recipient of the Visiting Student Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Sciences, Honorable Mention

Safe drinking water is essential to human health. In the US, 43 million people rely on private wells that can be vulnerable to microbial contamination, particularly during extreme weather events. Turbidity is a measure of the opacity of water due to the presence of particles that are invisible to the naked eye, and severe precipitation can increase turbidity in drinking and surface waters. These changes in turbidity are important indicators of potential microbial hazards from surface runoff. Turbidity is typically measured using turbidimeters or secchi disks; however, these can be costly, cumbersome, and/or complex to use.  A low-cost, user-friendly turbidity sensor could provide a useful option for individuals interested in timely and cost-effective data about potential microbial contamination in drinking and surface waters, particularly following storm events. We developed and piloted a low-cost (<$10) turbidimeter comprised of a graduated cylinder and water-proof high-contrast sticker, used in conjunction with a mobile phone camera and ImageJ, an open-source, image-processing software tool, to approximate turbidity in Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). This project seeks to develop a low-cost solution for non-technical audiences interested in measuring turbidity in both surface and drinking water. Citizen scientists can utilize this technology to monitor surface water, while well-water users can use it as a potential early warning sign of well damage or surface-water intrusion. Integration into a free, open-source mobile app could enhance availability and usability.

Lindsey Pegram is a second-year Masters student in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is deeply committed to advancing environmental health and justice through innovative research initiatives that aim to improve drinking and surface water quality in North Carolina and beyond. Her current thesis research focuses on adapting technical, water-testing technology to improve accessibility to both well-water and surface-water testing in low-resource settings.

Molly Robinson &

"A Closer Look: Finding Kinship in a State-Assembled Photographic Archive"

Advisor: Dr. Hannah Rosen

&- Recipient of the Award for Excellence in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences, Honorable Mention

Reflecting on the boundless political potential of photography, Ariella Azoulay argues that photographic images initiate a chain reaction of civic activities that rearrange relations of power. “The photo acts, thus making others act,” Azoulay writes (Azoulay 2008: 137). For Azoulay, the spark that ignites successive generations of civic action is the practice of looking. For example, to look at a picture in which two Israeli soldiers brandish their weapons and pose over the body of a dead Palestinian draws us as viewers into a “space of plurality” where a question takes shape: what must I do now that I’ve seen this? Keeping with Azoulay’s framing of photography as a practice that inaugurates civic obligation among viewers–whom she and theorist Roland Barthes call “spectators”—I argue that novel, community-based interpretations of a state-assembled photographic archive reorganize the political power of the images. The archive I examine is a photo album containing images of homesteads formerly owned and occupied by Black families on the Virginia Peninsula. Captured by a military photographer, likely in the early months of 1919, these photographs documented the condition of Black-owned properties seized during Woodrow Wilson’s bid to create one of the largest ordnance storage facilities in the country–the Yorktown Navy Mine Depot. However, in the hands of the descendants of displaced residents, these images articulate forms of belonging that invert their intended purpose as tools of dispossession, and pose new answers to the question: what must we do now that we’ve seen this?

Molly Robinson is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at William & Mary. Her research areas include environmental history, oral history, community-engaged scholarship, and legal studies. Molly's dissertation investigates the mechanics of dispossession and displacement of rural Black communities on the Virginia Peninsula in the early twentieth century. This work asks how Black land ownership served as a wellspring for practices that supported collective thriving, and thus challenged normative notions about wealth, agricultural productivity, and property ownership.

Tim Case

"Remembering Back: Commemorating Allotment and Contesting Citizenship at the Hampton Institute"

Advisor: Dr. Hannah Rosen

This paper analyzes the Hampton Institute’s creation and employment of an emancipationist commemorative tradition as a window onto late nineteenth and early twentieth century debates about the meaning of race and the terms of citizenship. As an industrial school for Black Southerners that also pioneered the first federally subsidized Indian boarding school program, Hampton is a unique site for exploring the significance of memory as a tool for what scholars have termed “racial reconstruction.” From 1887 to 1923, Hampton observed “Indian Emancipation Day,” a celebration of the Dawes Act authorizing the dispossession of Native land, dissolution of tribal sovereignty, and potential citizenship to those who adopted white culture. While Indian Emancipation Day was born of settler colonialism, this paper explores how Hampton’s Black and Native students, Native reformers, and Hampton’s Black community leveraged this tradition to “remember back”: presenting alternative histories of white, settler-colonial violence and dispossession. A comparison of this commemorative tradition at its inception in 1887 with the twenty-fifth anniversary observances in 1912 reveals how these groups negotiated imposed prescriptions of citizenship as they continued to imagine Black and Native futures. While white reformers intended these celebrations as tools of assimilation, by 1912 Native intellectuals, Black and Native students, and the local Black community used this tradition to ensure that their histories were a lasting part of American national memory and to claim citizenship on their own terms.

Tim Case is a 5th year PhD candidate at the College of William and Mary. His research interests include the memory of the Civil War and emancipation with a specific focus on the intersection of race and space in the post-war South. He is particularly interested in late nineteenth and early twentieth century commemorative traditions and the role of schools and cemeteries as landscapes of memory and sites of contestation and politics. He holds M.A.s in History and Educational Leadership.

William Bennett White

"One Country, One Flag, One Destiny: Civil War Unionists in Southeastern Virginia, 1801–1871"

Advisor: Dr. Carol Sheriff

Despite vast research on the American Civil War, the significance of Southern Unionists—people who lived in Confederate territory but were loyal to the United States—remains an understudied topic of Civil War history. Scholarly consensus asserts the majority of Southern Unionists inhabited Appalachia, where the mountainous geography curtailed the practice of slavery and thus diminished yeoman farmers’ belief in the Southern cause. Though few in number, Southern Unionists secretly undermined the Confederate war effort by sabotaging equipment and disseminating pro-Union reading materials. Yet this depiction obscures the impact of Unionists in Virginia’s coastal port towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth, cities controlled by a Union military government from 1862 to 1865. An examination of the Portsmouth Union League’s meeting logs reveals that wartime Unionists in southeastern Virginia were not a ragtag guerrilla force like their Appalachian counterparts; rather, Tidewater Unionists were organized and politically influential. But their reasons for mobilizing support for the Union stemmed from antebellum rivalry with Richmond and the economic importance of U.S. Navy shipyards prior to secession, not necessarily from an ideological aversion to slavery. By drawing a contrast between Appalachian and Tidewater Unionism, this paper adds to our understanding of transgressive political movements in the antebellum and Civil War-era South and complicates definitions of loyalty during America’s costliest conflict. 

William Bennett White is a first year Ph.D. student in History at William & Mary. His research areas include nineteenth-century American cultural and intellectual history, the history of slavery, and the American Civil War. He holds a B.A. in Art History, Criticism, and Conservation from Randolph-Macon College and an M.A. in History from Old Dominion University.

Prianka Mandal

"'We can’t change it overnight': Understanding Industry Perspectives on IoT Product Security Compliance and Certification"

Advisor: Dr. Adwait Nadkarni

Regulators and standards bodies have recently proposed several security compliance initiatives for IoT products. These emerging standards and regulations seek to bring security assurance to IoT products by way of compliance certification. However, even certified IoT products exhibit common vulnerabilities, which suggests the presence of latent challenges in the certification ecosystem. This work performs the first qualitative, interview-based study (n=17) with IoT practitioners to understand industry perspectives and experiences of IoT product security certification, in order to uncover the latent factors and challenges obstructing the effective implementation as well as the adoption of IoT product certification standards. Our reflexive thematic analysis of the interview transcripts leads to 16 key findings that uncover critical factors affecting compliance enforcement in practice. We distill these findings and our observations into 4 major themes which represent critical gaps that must be addressed for product certification to be viable for IoT.

Prianka Mandal is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science Department at William & Mary. Her research investigates compliance in IoT security by analyzing artifacts and understanding how stakeholders perceive IoT compliance enforcement. Prianka is also a 2024 COVES Policy Fellow and worked with the Office of Recovery Services at the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. 

Sam Ma

"A Distributed Matrix-Block-Vector Multiplication in Presence of System Performance Variability"

Advisor: Dr. Bin Ren, Dr. Andreas Stathopoulos

We propose new optimizations for the massively parallel multiplication of a matrix times a block of vectors (matvec), where the matrix is dense with the dimension of O(10^6) and generated on the fly, and the block has O(10–100) vectors. This problem appears in many scientific computing and machine learning applications. As an example, this work focuses on KPCR, a high-performance computing library for kernel Ridge regression. To parallelize the matvec operation, this library uses pipelining to circumvent memory constraints and completely overlap communication on clusters up to a few hundred machines. However, a major challenge arises from performance variations among threads and/or machines, leading to “amplified” pipeline bubble propagation, which undermines scalability. To solve this, we present SMatVec, a systematic parallel optimization framework with four key components: First, it leverages data preloading for MPI communication to flatten out random variations across machines. Second, within each MPI process, a new parallelization that is tolerant to system performance variability eliminates data exchange between computation threads. Third, the tasks assigned to each thread are based on special tiling to optimize cache and SIMD performance. Fourth, it employs a multi-version code generation method to automatically select optimized vectorized code based on memory layout to support flexible numbers of features efficiently. Experiments show SMatVec with 1M–4M matrix sizes and vector blocks of 64 achieves linear scalability at least up to 128 MPI processes.

Sam Ma is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science Department at William and Mary. Sam has research experience in parallel systems for scientific computing, including GPUs, SIMD, and HPC clusters. Sam is also currently seeking research opportunities in programming languages, networking, operating systems, as well as other low-level topics of computer science.

Aljawharah Almuhana

"Optimal Entanglement Routing in Satellite Quantum Networks Using Relay Node Strategies"

Advisor: Dr. Qun Li

Co-authors: A. Almuhana, T. Hu, Q. Li

In satellite-based quantum communication networks, achieving high-fidelity entanglement between distant ground stations is crucial for applications such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and distributed quantum computing. However, due to the curvature of the Earth and limited satellite coverage, direct entanglement distribution between distant ground stations is often infeasible. To overcome this limitation, we propose utilizing intermediate ground stations as relay nodes that perform entanglement swapping, effectively extending the entanglement distribution range. The specific question our research addresses is how to optimize entanglement distribution between distant ground stations through intermediate nodes, ensuring high fidelity and efficient resource utilization. We formulate this problem as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model, focusing on maximizing total utility, which depends on both the entanglement distribution rate and end-to-end fidelity across multiple communication requests. We employ a hybrid approach that combines linear relaxation with a Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based heuristic, allowing effective exploration of the solution space while balancing entanglement rate, fidelity, and resource constraints. The anticipated results include identifying an optimized routing structure that maximizes entanglement distribution and fidelity under realistic satellite and ground node limitations. Our findings could improve long-distance quantum communication protocols.This has major implications for secure global communication and distributed quantum computing.

Aljawharah Almuhana is a second year Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at William & Mary. Her research areas include Quantum Network and Communications. She holds a Computer Science B.A. from University of Hail in Saudi Arabia, and MS. in Computer Science from CU at Denver, U.S.A.  

Johnny Clapham

"IMUVIE: Pickup Timeline Action Localization via Motion Movies"

Advisor: Dr. Gang Zhou

Co-authors: Y. Zhang, Y. Sun, E. Burnet, K. Koltermann

Falls among seniors due to difficulties with tasks such as picking up objects pose significant health and safety risks, impacting quality of life and independence. Reliable, accessible assessment tools are critical for early intervention but often require costly clinic-based equipment and trained personnel, limiting their use in daily life. Existing wearable-based pickup measurement solutions address some needs but face limitations in generalizability. We present IMUVIE, a wearable system that uses motion movies and a machine-learning model to automatically detect and measure pickup events, providing a practical solution for frequent monitoring. IMUVIE’s design principles—data normalization, occlusion handling, and streamlined visuals—enhance model performance and are adaptable to tasks beyond pickup classification. In our evaluations, IMUVIE achieves high localization accuracy for pickup actions performed by seniors, with performance metrics indicating strong generalization across subjects. In an interview survey, IMUVIE demonstrated strong user interest and trust, with ease of use identified as the most critical factor for adoption. IMUVIE offers a practical, at-home solution for fall risk assessment, with the potential to enable early detection of movement deterioration, supporting safer, independent living for seniors.

Johnny Clapham is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at William & Mary. He develops mobile technology systems to detect, study, and treat Parkinson’s disease symptoms and mobility deterioration in seniors. He also created a sensor to measure electrolytes for wellness applications. Johnny is commercializing his group’s research through a startup focused on wearable health technology.

Dustin Hyder

"Neoliberalism and Christianity in America: Examining the Intersection and Influence of Market Ideologies and Religious Values"

Advisor: Dr. Francesca Sawaya

The relationship between neoliberal economic policies and Christianity in America has fostered a unique intersection where market values and religious beliefs intertwine. This paper explores how neoliberal ideologies – emphasizing individualism, free markets, and minimal government intervention – have influenced contemporary American Christians and their roles in the economy and politics. Using a multidisciplinary approach, I analyze theological and religious rhetoric and socio-political behaviors within American Christian communities. Through an analysis of the development of the prosperity gospel, Christian free enterprise, and the influence of Christian billionaire businessmen, I identify a trend of aligning moral worth with economic success, framing financial prosperity as a manifestation of divine favor, and using such perceived favor to wield powerful political influence. My findings reveal how neoliberal values have permeated Christian thought, impacting views on social welfare, poverty, and personal responsibility. This paper argues that the blending of neoliberalism and Christianity leads to a reshaping of Christian faith – one that often escapes the notice of its adherents and anyone influenced by it. This intersection raises important ethical and social questions about the role of faith within a market-driven society. Ultimately, this study contributes to the understanding of how economic ideologies shape Christian belief systems and their implications for social policy in contemporary America.

Dustin Hyder is a first year M.A./Ph.D. student in American Studies at William & Mary. His research focuses on intersections between American Christianity and American culture and how the two shape and impact each other. He is currently exploring connections between American political, economic, and religious life, and how neoliberalism and capitalism shapes Christian thought.

Joseph Lawless

"Queerness in the Digicidal Interval: Returning to  Repetition Compulsion in Digital Sexuality"

Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth Losh

The presentation takes as its object of analysis the cellphone application Grindr, the first dating “app” designed exclusively for queer men’s use and one that, due to its widespread adoption and cultural recognition, has had a consequential effect on queer men’s capacity to fashion their sexual selfhood. Posing the question of Grindr’s relationship with the formation of queer men’s digital-sexual subjectivity, I introduce the notion of the digicidal interval, which marks the matrix of circumscription of queer men’s capacity to imagine politically transformational configurations of desire and pleasure in digital space. Drawing on a theoretical edifice that brings together insights from Afropessimism, psychoanalysis, and feminist science and technology studies, I demonstrates how Grindr, in its exposure of the queer male subject to the digicidal interval, captures queer men at the most fundamental level of their subjectivity and forecloses the impulse to envision alternative sexual futures and modes of sexual self-fashioning. I argue that the felicity of this capture, that is, the magnetic field of force relations constitutive of the digicidal interval, is structured by the particular logics of repetition compulsion in a neoliberal, homonormative contemporary. Grindr’s capacity to capture its users within the field of the digicidal interval is premised on its provision of sexual experience that promises to recuperate the non-normativity of queerness. The impossibility of this project, however, ensures that its users remain caught in a bind of subjective impossibility. 

Joseph F. Lawless is a seventh-year Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at William & Mary. His research areas include gender and sexuality studies, contemporary critical thought and psychoanalysis, and digital media cultures. His dissertation, "Desire, Pleasure, Ethics: Queerness in the Digicidal Interval," explores how queer men's digital-sexual subjectivity has been rearticulated by cellphone dating applications and their excessive saturation of the digital-sexual spaces queer men frequent.

Alexandria Mead

"Llwch Glo: Coal Dust and the Unseen Labor of Miner’s Wives"

Dr. Danielle Moretti-Langholtz

This research examines the labor of coal miners' wives in early 20th-century South Wales, focusing on how coal dust in the domestic space symbolizes capitalist power and reflects the gendered division of labor in mining communities. Specifically, the study addresses the question: How did the presence of coal dust in the home shape the lived experiences of women and illuminate the power dynamics between miners, their families, and mine owners? Coal dust, omnipresent in mining communities, captures and traces every moment of community and domestic life. As men walk home, their footsteps leave traces of coal dust on the newly cleaned floor, marking their return to the domestic sphere. For women, this continual presence of coal dust signifies an ongoing negotiation with labor and health. Though not allowed in the mines, women face the same health risks as their husbands, as their domestic labor—cleaning, managing, and living with the dust—becomes an extension of the miners' work. This research highlights the intersection of gender, labor, and health in mining families, exploring how women’s roles in managing coal dust intersect with domestic ideologies of cleanliness, morality, and aesthetics. By employing archival sources, oral histories, and material culture analysis, the study reveals the ways coal dust serves as a material and symbolic marker of capitalist exploitation. It also sheds light on the often-overlooked labor of women in these communities, challenging traditional narratives that focus primarily on male labor and expanding our understanding of power dynamics in industrial labor systems.

Alexandria Mead is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at William & Mary. Her research focuses on South Welsh Valley coalfields with an emphasis on the 20th century to bring into focus women in the domestic space and how they navigated womanhood, motherhood, “miner masculinity,” and changing gender ideals in relation to poverty, capitalism, political activism, and their emerging relationship to the global economy and international competition in extractive industries. 

Kate Evans

"Electron Tracking at Jefferson Lab for the SBS Collaboration"

Advisor: Dr. David Armstrong

SBS is an experimental nuclear physics collaboration operating in Hall A at Jefferson Lab that seeks to measure various properties of protons and neutrons, specifically the spatial distribution of charge within these particles. One of the main detectors used by SBS to achieve its goal is the BigBite Calorimeter (BBCal), which is a lead glass electron calorimeter consisting of a preshower and shower component. This talk will discuss the basics of electromagnetic calorimeters and the design of BBCal. Emphasis will be placed on how BBCal is used to measure the energy of electrons scattered through it and why certain design choices were made.

Kate Evans is a 6th year Ph.D. candidate in Physics here at W&M in the experimental nuclear group. She does work on experiments at nearby Jefferson Lab with a focus on nucleon structure and parity-violating electron scattering. She holds a B.S. in Comprehensive Physics and a B.A. in Latin from the University of Washington as well as an M.S. in Physics from W&M.

Rob Behary

"Tilling the Invisible Fields (Using Atoms to Profile an Electron Beam)"

Advisor: Dr. Irina Novikova

Co-authors: E. Mikhailov, S. Aubin, T. Averett, S. Zhang

To understand the inside of the atom, physics experiments use a stream of fundamental particles called electrons to collide with a material and study the resulting shower of particles that is produced from this collision. This stream of electrons is called an electron beam and is used at accelerator facilities like Jefferson Lab in Newport News. Experiments need to know the size and strength of the electron beam, but current monitors of these parameters require an invasive blocking the beam. While this is a known diagnostic, we are developing a method to do real time monitoring and nearly non-invasive measurements of the beam’s position and strength. The electron beam produces an electric field which is a characteristic field produced by any moving charged particle. We are utilizing this electric field’s interaction with very sensitive atoms to map the field produced by the electron beam. Our atoms are around the electron beam at a very low density in an atomic vapor and the response of the atoms is monitored by shining a laser through the vapor and measuring the absorption of the light through the vapor. We can calculate and see what the absorption should look like both with and without the electron beam perturbing the atoms, but experimentally this is a more difficult process. Our atoms are sensors of all electric fields, so it is difficult to cut away what is a filed we sense produced by charging in the cell or the electron beam itself. When done properly, this technique will not only be useful for particle beam detection but also be used to characterize plasmas.

Rob Behary is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Physics Department at William & Mary. He is doing research with Rydberg atoms for applications in imaging an electron beam. 

Sabila Al Jannat

"Building a Cloud-based Simulation-as-a-Service Environment to Reduce the Barriers to Computer Architecture Research"

Advisor: Dr. Yifan Sun

Co-author: S. Jannat

Simulators are essential tools in computer architecture that help researchers design powerful new computing chips. However, current simulators are often difficult to configure, use, and modify, limiting their accessibility and effectiveness. Our project introduces an innovative simulation infrastructure that enables researchers to connect various simulators, making designing, testing, and analyzing new chip architectures easier. This platform provides a unified, web-based ecosystem that simplifies complex tasks in computer architecture research and education, reducing the need for high-cost computing resources and enabling new users to enter the field. It features a compatibility layer for seamless simulator interoperability and cloud-based simulation and monitoring capabilities. Additionally, our platform includes built-in visualization tools that offer intuitive insights into hardware behavior, making the analysis process more accessible and effective for researchers and students. This infrastructure, designed with community input, aims to expand access to computer architecture research, providing innovation through shared reproducible and explainable simulation models.

Sabila Al Jannat is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science department in William & Mary. Her research areas include computer architecture simulation and GPU architecture. 

Jake Silliman

"The Cribellate Nanofibrils of the Southern House Spider: Extremely Thin Natural Silks with Outstanding Extensibility"

Advisor: Dr. Hannes Schniepp

Co-author: S.R. Koebley

Cribellate silks, produced by ancient spiders, are fascinating because they feature a highly sophisticated, 3D hierarchical structure consisting of filaments with different diameters and shapes. Here, the smallest and thinnest constituents of the cribellate silk are investigated: nanofibrils that form a dense mesh that is supported by larger fibers. Analysis of their structure via atomic force and transmission electron microscopies shows that they are flattened fibrils, only ≈5 nm thick — thinner than any other natural spider silk fibrils previously reported. In this work, the first mechanical tensile testing experiments on these fibrils are carried out, which reveals that the fibrils show an outstanding extensibility of at least 1100%, almost twice as much as the most stretchable spider silk previously reported. Based on these extraordinary findings, this work significantly expands the parameter space of materials properties attainable by spider silks and provides further insights into their nanomechanics.

Jake Silliman is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Applied Science Department at The College of William & Mary. His research focuses on visual and mechanical characterization of bio-sourced nanofibrillar material, specifically spider silk and coconut shells. His talk explains how he achieved the first ever mechanical test of a single spider silk nanofibril. 

Sophia Holincheck

"Experimental and Computational Methods for the Study of Brown Carbon Chromophores at Atmospheric Aerosol Interfaces"

Advisor: Dr. Nathan Kidwell

Climate change is a major area of scientific concern and consequently scientific research. Over the past two decades, brown carbon has emerged as an impactful component to the destruction of Earth's ability to reflect solar radiation. Brown carbon results from biomass burning and can be found in the atmosphere in the form of aerosols. Improving our understanding of brown carbon containing aerosols, particularly at phase interfaces within aerosols, can help build better atmospheric and climate models. We have selected the brown carbon chromophores phenol, catechol, ortho-nitrophenol and para-nitrophenol to investigate. We have used a combination of molecular spectroscopy, as well as computational chemistry software, including custom machine learning programs to study these molecules. Through these experimental and theoretical methods, we reveal the relative orientations of interfacial brown carbon chromophores and predict the molecule-molecule interactions. These findings will guide our understanding of the behavior of brown carbon chromophores at interfaces within aerosols. 

Sophia Holincheck is a first year M.S. student in Chemistry at William & Mary. Her research focuses on the chemistry of brown carbon pollutants in atmospheric aerosols. She holds a B.S. from William & Mary.

Paul Garrett Burroughs

"Investigating Nitric Oxide Collision Complexes using Experimental and Computational Techniques"

Advisor: Dr. Nathan Kidwell

Nitric oxide (NO) is a versatile atmospheric compound resulting from human activities. NO plays a role in the depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere and contributes to greenhouse gas concentrations in the troposphere. Unraveling the interplay of NO in atmospheric processes is essential for comprehending the broader mechanisms driving climate change and developing strategies to mitigate its far-reaching consequences. To this end, we have been exploring the bimolecular collisions between NO and atmospherically relevant molecules to explore the collision outcomes. This work focuses on characterizing the spectroscopy and energy-exchange mechanisms of collision intermediates to reveal a molecular-level understanding of atmospheric bimolecular chemistry. These findings highlight the similarities and key differences of these intermediates and help lay the groundwork to predicting collision outcomes.

Garrett Burroughs is a first year master's student in chemistry at William & Mary. His research areas include spectroscopy and molecular dynamics of atmospherically relevant molecules. He is currently exploring nitric oxide Collison complexes with alkanes. 

Daoxuan Xu

"A Comprehensive Study on Address Translation for Wafer-Scale GPUs"

Advisor: Dr. Yifan Su

Co-author: J. Ren

As GPUs expand into wafer-scale architectures to handle data-intensive applications, efficient page address translation (PAT) has become critical for sustaining high-performance computing. Wafer-scale GPUs challenge traditional PAT mechanisms due to increased memory capacity and the need to minimize latency across vast physical address spaces. Our research shows that address translation is of paramount importance to improve wafer-scale GPU performance. This work explores advanced PAT strategies tailored to wafer-scale GPUs, focusing on reducing translation overhead and optimizing memory access patterns. By leveraging multi-level GMMU access policies and efficient page address access methods, we demonstrate improvements in data locality and reduced page faults, enabling a substantial increase in processing efficiency for large-scale AI and scientific workloads. Our findings suggest that tailored PAT innovations for wafer-scale GPUs could significantly enhance their applicability in high-throughput computing environments, making them a pivotal component in the evolution of large-scale GPU architectures.

Daoxuan Xu is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department at William & Mary. He has a broad interest in computer architecture, with a particular focus on wafer-scale GPU architecture. His current research explores the design and optimization of large-scale GPU systems to enhance computational efficiency and scalability.

Charris Gabaldon

"Imaging the Invisible: Mode Reconstruction of Vacuum Fluctuations"

Co-authors: P. J. Barge, H. Lee, L. Cohen

Quantum optical fields of low intensity with reduced noise (squeezed light) are of great interest as they are capable of transporting information with increased bandwidth or performing a measurement with a smaller uncertainty. We identify the spatial mode(s), or patterns, which are a fundamental characteristic of such fields providing details of the intensity distribution in relation to the probing source. Spatial modes of high intensity, or classical, optical fields have been studied but as the intensity is lowered so does the signal resolving the spatial modes. We reconstruct the spatial modes of low intensity fields by measuring the variance, or profile, of the noise compared to a reference signal. Decomposing the resulting distribution via weighted sums of basis masks under certain conditions allows us to recover individual modes of the low intensity field. This reconstruction process is then generalized to apply to an arbitrary combination of single modes in the pixel basis by decomposing a set of all pixel combination measurements. This analysis of spatial modes and generalization of the mode reconstruction has applications in precision measurements as a useful tool in experiments requiring low intensity light. 

Charris Gabaldon is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in physics at William & Mary. She conducts research in the field of experimental quantum optics, specifically characterizing properties of squeezed light. She holds a B.S. from California State University and an M.S. from William and Mary.

Chloe Fowler

"Budgets and Buds: How Cannabis Cash is Cultivating Colorado Education"

Advisor: Dr. Elaine McBeth

This study examines the relationship between recreational marijuana taxation and public education funding in Colorado following the legalization in 2014. This paper investigates how marijuana tax revenue influences funding for public schools across the state, utilizing county-level data from 2014 to 2021. The research employs a comprehensive econometric approach, including time series analysis, cross-sectional studies, and panel data regressions, to assess the fiscal policy’s impact and answer the question of: How does revenue from marijuana taxes affect funding for public schools across Colorado? Findings indicate a notable increase in state revenue post-legalization, with a portion allocated to education. However, the impact on educational funding varies significantly across counties due to factors such as urban-rural differences, existing education budgets, and interstate commerce dynamics. The study highlights potential policy implications, such as the necessity for tailored allocation models to address disparities between rural and urban areas, increased transparency in financial reporting, and adopting a more integrated approach to community development that indirectly supports educational outcomes. This research enhances understanding of the interaction between drug policy reform, fiscal policy, and public education funding, providing valuable insights for policymakers and educators on leveraging controversial revenue sources for public benefit.  

Chloe Fowler is a second year Masters in Public Policy candidate at W&M. Her research interests encompass public school finance and coalition building at the state level. She is currently working on a research project for the Millennium Challenge Corporation regarding international aid development. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Nebraska - Omaha with a focus on nonprofit management, leadership and public policy. 

Joyce Forster

"To Tip or Not to Tip: Political Ideology and Moral Choices"

Advisor: Dr. Xiaowen Xu

Much research in the area of moral psychology has been dedicated to further understanding the psychological processes underlying moral decision making, such as the role of emotions and personality (Körner et al., 2020; Suessenbach & Moore, 2015; Takamatsu, 2018). Two additional variables that play an important role in moral decision making are group identity and political ideology. When presented with moral dilemmas, people are significantly more likely to choose the outcome that benefits those viewed as in-group (Bilancini et al., 2023; Cadsby et al., 2016; Dugar & Shahriar, 2012). In recent years, political affiliation has become a strong source of group identity, as political polarization and moralization of politics contribute to increasing resentment of the other group (D’Amore et al., 2024; Goldner & Bloom, 2023). Little research has been conducted to investigate the role of political identity in moral decision-making. This project aims to investigate how awareness of political affiliation may influence choices in morally ambiguous situations by presenting a series of moral dilemmas that occur in everyday life to William & Mary students through SONA. This study will allow researchers to better understand the role of politics in moral decision-making, and may further future interventions to reduce the effects of political polarization on our moral choices. 

Joy Forster is a second year M.S. student in Psychological Sciences at William & Mary. Her research areas include moral decision-making, moral judgment, and social influence. Her thesis investigates the intersection of political identity and moral choices, particularly in morally ambiguous contexts. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA.

Neda Ghassemi

"The Impacts of Social Emotional Learning for Children with Incarcerated Parents"

Advisor: Dr. Danielle Dallaire

Children with incarcerated parents face a higher risk of intergenerational crime, substance use, and depressive symptoms. School-based social-emotional programs are most effective for mitigating risks when the mechanism of change is focused on the student and targets specific goals. Further research is needed to examine the ideal program length to maximize lasting effects. The current research examines children’s gains in emotional competencies and when these gains plateau. We expect emotional coping skills to increase and maladaptive emotional responses to decrease, with attendance linked to better emotional coping. We also aim to explore when gains plateau.  Participants included 110 children (46.9% female) aged 5 to 11 from public schools in Richmond, Virginia, with at least one incarcerated parent. They attended a 22-session, weekly social-emotional learning program and completed measures of rugged resilience, sadness, and anger regulation in the early fall (T1) and spring (T2). Preliminary results indicate a significant increase in sadness coping from T1 to T2, with second graders showing notable gains across grades. A marginally significant correlation between session attendance and rugged resilience suggests that more sessions led to higher scores, but it is unclear when and if this effect plateaus. Future analyses will include 2024-2025 data to examine longitudinal impacts, particularly whether returning participants have higher baseline social-emotional knowledge than new members. This research can help develop the most optimal interventions for this population.

Neda Ghassemi is a first-year master’s student in Psychological Sciences at William & Mary, where she is passionate about researching stress and resilience. Her particular interest lies in understanding why some individuals are more resilient than others and how resilience can be optimized across different contexts. Neda aspires to pursue a Ph.D. and ultimately become a researcher and professor. Outside of her academic pursuits, she enjoys exercising her creative muscles through crocheting, journaling, and baking.

Kathryn Ticknor | Longwood University

"Aligning Perspectives: Enhancing Caregiver and Speech-Language Pathologist Collaboration in Pediatric Speech Therapy Services"

Advisor: Dr. Alison King

This study explores how caregivers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) perceive caregiver involvement in pediatric speech therapy services, focusing on inclusive practices and family-centered care. The research addresses how and when caregiver input is solicited, and to what extent the services their children receive reflects their expressed priorities. Using a two-phase survey design, caregivers (n=17) and SLPs (n=19) from private-practice clinics in Virginia provided quantitative responses on the importance, frequency, and effectiveness of collaboration. Overall, caregivers reported moderate levels of involvement. Contrary to conventional wisdom, caregivers’ level of involvement was not directly correlated with their level of satisfaction, suggesting other factors, such as communication quality or therapy outcomes, may play a larger role. While caregivers and speech-language pathologists were generally aligned on the importance and frequency of parental involvement, there were differences that emerged. While 94.7% of SLPs reported report soliciting caregiver input regarding augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), only 25.0% of caregivers recalled such discussions. Similarly, engagement around respecting families of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds was reported by 68.4% of SLPs but only 12.5% of caregivers. These results have implications for improving collaboration between caregivers and SLPs through enhanced training, clearer communication, and standardized processes for caregiver input.

Kathryn Ticknor is a second year Master's candidate in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Longwood University. She previously held research positions for several healthcare communication organizations, most recently Director of Research for inVibe Labs. Her thesis explores the role of person- and family-centered care in speech therapy services. She holds a B.A. in Linguistics and French from William & Mary and an M.A. in Language and Communication from Georgetown University.

Maiya Callender | University of Georgia

"Mechanisms of maternally conferred protection in a neonatal mouse model"

Advisor: Dr. Eric T. Harvill

Co-authors: J. Masters, C. Sedney, K. Dewan

Bordetella pertussis (Bp), the etiological agent of whooping cough, is known to cause respiratory illness in infants. Although vaccines are available, newborns aren’t recommended to receive them until at least 2 months of age, leaving them vulnerable to severe infections. To combat this, expecting mothers are recommended to get the booster pertussis vaccine between 27-36 weeks’ gestation. While maternal vaccinations results in decreased pertussis-related hospitalization in newborns, the mechanisms behind this protection has yet to be defined. Using a neonatal murine model, we show that maternal vaccination confers rapid protection in the lungs of neonates through the transfer of maternal immune components. By studying the immunocompetent offspring of immunodeficient dams vaccinated against Bp, we show that maternal B and T cells are required for maternal vaccines to protect neonates. By blocking the transfer of Bp-specific antibodies to offspring, we demonstrate that maternal antibodies are not the only mechanism of protection conferred to offspring. Instead, we demonstrate that Bp-specific CD4+ T cells are required in combination with efficient antibody transfer to result in protection. Better understanding of the mechanisms by which maternal vaccination protects vulnerable neonates will inform the development of this relatively new vaccination strategy.

Maiya Callender is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Infectious Diseases Department in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Her research areas include pathogen-host interactions, immunology across the lifespan, the maternal-fetal interface, and infant vaccine responses. Her dissertation addresses the impacts and mechanisms of maternal vaccination against pertussis in a neonatal mouse model. She holds a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary.

Nathaniel Sutherland

"Malcolm X, MLK, and the Mutant Metaphor: The Meaning and Misreading of Magneto"

Advisor: Dr. Charles McGovern

This essay examines the public's persistent misreading of the iconic Marvel comics characters Magneto and Professor Xavier as analogues for Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Challenging this widely accepted interpretation, it argues that readers oversimplify both characters and misunderstand writer Chris Claremont's intentions. Drawing from Claremont's own statements and a close reading of the text, the essay contends that Magneto and Xavier are more accurately understood as "blended metaphors," combining elements from both Israeli and American struggles, with specific inspiration drawn from Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. The essay traces the evolution of Magneto's character from a vengeful antagonist to a remorseful antihero showing how his character arc mirrors that of Begin much more closely than it does Malcolm X. It then explores why readers have consistently drawn parallels between Magneto and Malcolm X despite the differences in their philosophies and actions. The essay attributes this misinterpretation to two primary factors: a lack of familiarity with Israeli political history and a tendency to romanticize and oversimplify the ideologies of Black civil rights leaders. The essay argues that Malcolm X is often mischaracterized as a violent radical, a portrayal that fails to capture the complexity of his beliefs and that unfairly equates him with Magneto's earlier, more extreme actions. Finally, it urges readers to move beyond reductive comparisons and consider the rich historical and political contexts that shaped these characters.

Nathaniel Sutherland is a second-year PhD Student in the American Studies department here at William and Mary. His work concerns the intersections and divisions between Black- and Jewish-American communities as filtered through their multivalent understandings of literature, art, and culture during the second half of the twentieth century.

Matthew Ryan | University of North Carolina

"The Mitchell Principles and Peace in Northern Ireland: A Strategy for Israel-Palestine Conflict?"

Advisor: Dr. Reymonde Kleinberg

For most of Northern Ireland's history from late 1600s-the 1990s conflicts between Catholics and Protestants have erupted into terrorism, riots, and other political violence.  These struggles, aka 'the Troubles,' came to a peak in the later part of the 20th century to the point where the Northern Ireland governance accepted an offer by Bill Clinton to send an international mediation team sponsored by the USA. From 1995-1997 this team, headed by retired Senator George Mitchell served as fact-finders, negotiators, advisors, observers and most importantly mediators to the conflict.  Out of committee's report came the Mitchell Principles, six tenets for establishing relative and lasting peace in Northern Ireland.  In addition, Mitchell and associates formulated a mediation strategy to apply the principles, mitigate violence, and ensure peaceful progress. My belief is that these principles and strategies are theoretically sound, reflect current mediation perspectives and, most importantly, can be applied to the current Israel-Palestine conflict. 

Matthew Ryan is a Master's degree candidate preparing for a PhD program.  He is a 24 year Army veteran in Civil Affairs. His academic specialties lie in Political Violence, Terrorism and Conflict Management. He holds a B.S. in English Literature from Stonehill College, an M.S. in Higher Education from Syracuse University, and graduate study at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Rebekah Toussaint

"The Meaning of Peace: Race, Gender, and Euro-American Peace Activism in the WWI Era"

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Petty

In the aftermath of World War I in the early 20th century, a transnational war that left a then unprecedented death toll and mass infrastructural and economic devastation in its wake, European and American social activism leagues and individual activists conferenced in Europe to advocate for world peace and global expansion of human rights. Often barred from male dominated conferences, women created their own leagues and conferences, advocating for universal suffrage, elevation of the status of women and children, and prioritizing calls for global peace. While many women's conferences were well attended by women from across Europe and the United States, overwhelmingly white women were represented. This paper examines the differing perspectives on the meaning of peace and investigates differences in the calls for social change in various transnational peace conferences at the the end of World War I. This study utilizes primary source materials from the International Congress of Women, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and individual activists, to investigate the impact of race, gender, and nationality on articulations of peace. I argue that race, gender, and nationality significantly impacted the goals, focus, and meaning of peace activism and calls for change in this era. This study aims to contribute new knowledge to fields of 20th century history, peace studies, women's and gender studies, African American, and race studies through an interdisciplinary approach.

Rebekah Toussaint is a third year PhD candidate in the Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History at William and Mary. Her research interests include the history of intersections of race and gender in the 19th and 20th century United States, with particular focus on education and knowledge production and exchange. She holds a B.S. and M.A. from Old Dominion University, and an M.A. in History from William and Mary.

Ezekiel Wertz

"Exploring the Building Blocks of Matter"

Advisor: Dr. David Armstrong

Every day we are surrounded by ordinary matter, from the smallest particles to the brightest stars in the sky. From a nuclear physics perspective, most ordinary matter in the universe is constructed of atoms which are composed of interacting subatomic particles. Two subatomic particles of great interest are the proton and neutron, which serve as the building blocks for atomic nuclei. The structure of protons and neutrons and their general properties – electric and magnetic moments, size, mass, spin, and electromagnetic form factors – are of fundamental scientific interest. A full description of the electromagnetic form factors is essential to understanding the electric charge and magnetization distributions of the quarks in protons and neutrons. The neutron Two-Photon Exchange (nTPE) experiment in Hall A, which uses the 12 GeV electron accelerator at Jefferson Lab and is the part of the Super BigBite Spectrometer (SBS) program, will provide a measurement of the neutron electromagnetic form factor ratio. The nTPE experiment was performed by quasi-elastically scattering electrons from a deuterium target and simultaneously detecting the scattered electrons and protons or neutrons. This talk will include a description of how experiments are performed at Jefferson Lab, an overview of the physics goals for the nTPE experiment, and a status report for the ongoing data analysis.

Ezekiel Wertz is a seventh year Ph.D. candidate in the Physics Department at William & Mary. His research interests include the structure of the nucleon, the nucleon elastic electromagnetic form factors, and searches for beyond the Standard Model physics. He holds a B.S. from Lebanon Valley College, and an M.S from W&M.

Kevin Scheuer

"How Partial Waves Uncover the Building Blocks of the Universe"

Advisor: Dr. Justin Stevens

Imagine you have several Lego sets that, when deconstructed, you find are all comprised of three brick types: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Naturally, you conclude these are the most fundamental pieces for all Lego sets, but you are shocked when your friends bring over hundreds of brand new bricks they call pions, kaons, baryons, and more. Are these fundamental pieces, too, or do all these stem from simpler bricks, just like the sets? This is the problem physicists faced as more and more particles (Lego bricks) were being discovered, prompting them to construct the Standard Model, a combination of theories attempting to explain the most basic components of all the particles we have discovered. These theories continue to be tested at labs such as the Gluonic Excitation experiment (GlueX) in Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia. Here, high energy beams of light, or photons, are smashed into a liquid hydrogen target to produce "hybrid'' particles. New data is needed from experiments like GlueX to compare the observed spectrum of particles to current theory predictions. Finding hybrids and other particles of interest often requires a complex method known as partial wave analysis to extract the signals buried beneath many overlapping particles, akin to searching for a single brick buried in a bucket of Legos. The results of a partial wave analysis of GlueX particle data will be presented. This information is crucial for improving theory models and furthering our current understanding of what fundamentally comprises our universe.

Kevin Scheuer is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Physics Department at William & Mary. Their research focuses on the study of particles known as mesons, using complex models to understand particle data collected at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

Shelby Arrigo

"Exploring the Subatomic Sea at GlueX"

Advisor: Dr. Justin Stevens

While the world around us feels solid, everything we see, touch, and breathe is composed of atoms, which have their own subatomic constituents.  The simplest atom, Hydrogen, is composed of one proton (a positively charged particle) and one electron (a negatively charged particle).  But, what is a proton composed of?  The structure of the proton was first assumed to be described by three particles known as quarks, just as atoms were first described by their total charge being composed of particles known as a continuous sphere of electrons and protons.  However, just as Rutherford found that this simple explanation of an atom did not completely describe its structure, we also now know that there is a sea of quarks and force carrying particles known as gluons within protons and neutrons.  At Jefferson Lab, here in Virginia, there are many groups working to understand the structure of the proton, and our promising investigation at the GlueX experiment in a specific reaction γ p → γ π0 p via a new process called SDHEP (Single Diffractive Hard Exclusive Process) offers exciting ways forward in the search to quantify the structure of the proton and understand the world around us.  We have been approaching this problem using observable quantities in the GlueX detector with the aim of comparing to theoretical predictions on this reaction to provide new constraints on the proton's internal structure.  

Shelby Arrigo is a third year Ph.D. candidate in Physics at William & Mary. Her research area is experimental hadronic physics.  Her current research project involves data analysis from an experiment at Jefferson Lab probing the structure of the proton. She holds a B.S. from FSU and a M.S. from William & Mary.

Derek Holmberg

"A New Spin on Physics: Understanding Proton Spin Structure with the CLAS12 Detector"

Advisor: Dr. Todd Averett

The proton, despite being one of the most common and well-studied particles in the universe, continues to puzzle physicists with the exact details of its inner workings. Even though the proton is composed of a swirling mess of quarks and gluons darting around at nearly the speed of light, the proton has a constant value of ½ for a fundamental property of all particles: spin. All particles have an intrinsic angular momentum called spin, making them act like miniature spinning tops. What fraction of the proton’s spin comes from the orbital motion of the quarks and gluons? What fraction comes from the spins of the quarks and gluons themselves? The goal of my research is to narrow down the contribution of the quark spins to the total proton spin using the elastic scattering of polarized electrons off polarized protons in the CLAS12 detector at Hall B in Jefferson Lab. I present a summary of my research thus far, focusing on removing non-polarized target background through the calculation of dilution factors. I will also discuss the future corrections that need to be implemented to fully extract the quark spin contribution. This research will hopefully put a new spin on how we understand the structure of nucleons like the proton!

Derek Holmberg is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics at William & Mary. His research focus is experimental nuclear physics at Hall B in Jefferson Lab, exploring the longitudinal spin structure of the quarks inside the proton. He has a B.S. from Longwood University and a M.S. from William & Mary.

Sareena Chadha | University of Virginia

"Social Networks are Shaped by Culturally Contingent Assessments of Social Competence"

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Wood

Co-author: A. Kleinbaum

Cultural outsiders, like immigrants or international students, often struggle to make friends. We propose that one barrier to social connection is not knowing what it means to be socially competent in the host culture. First-year students at a U.S. business school (N = 1328) completed a social network survey and rated their own social competence and that of several peers. International students were rated by peers as less socially competent than U.S. students, especially if they were from nations more culturally dissimilar to the U.S. International students’ self-reported competence ratings were uncorrelated with peers’ judgments. Social network analysis revealed international students were less central to their peer networks than U.S. students, although this gap was reduced if peers evaluated them as socially competent. Peer-reported competence mediated the effects of international student status on social network centrality. Since learning local norms takes time, we suggest inclusivity will require host communities to define social competence more broadly.

Sareena Chadha is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at the University of Virginia. Her research explores the role similarity plays in social connection - these similarities might be perceptions of similarity, true trait similarity (e.g., race or cultural background), or behavioral similarities. Sareena examines these processes using individuals' perceptions, pairs of friends, and social networks.

Alyssa Mountain

"The Three Schools of American Higher Education: Moving About in the Layered University"

Advisor: Michelle Lelièvre

This paper provides a closer investigation into higher education institutions in the United States through both a historical examination of major moments of transition in American higher education and a discussion of how anthropology may be used to better understand the specific conditions of these institutions. On the one hand, I explore the layered nature of the university as it stands today as a result of three major ideological transitions. That being the introduction and integration of three different schools of thought: the English-inspired collegiate system, the German research university, and the American democratic public school. These transitions and their historical contexts represent fundamental shifts in the purpose and function of higher education. On the other hand, I examine the way in which certain anthropological theories can be applied to further research being done on American higher education. In this, I put into conversation anthropological theories of learning with theories of movement. In combining these two subsects of anthropology I hope to illustrate the diverse ways of knowing that occur on university campuses. As, I believe this layering of educational ideologies has created a unique ecosystem that is both a reflection of and a response to the broader social, economic, and political forces shaping American society.

Alyssa Mountain is a first-year Ph.D. student in American Studies at William & Mary. Her research focuses on American universities, institutional relationships, and social theories of learning. Recently, she has been particularly interested in how movement through established social systems shapes individuals' learning experiences and outcomes.

Temitayo Kehinde Oni &  | University of Georgia Athens

"'Like an Iron deficiency could cause it' Investigating Undergraduates' prior Knowledge and Misconceptions About Sickle Cell."

Advisor: Dr. Emily Adah-Miller

&- Recipient of the Visiting Student Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Sickle cell anemia (SCA), a life-threatening disease, is a global health issue. 8% Black Americans carry the SCA trait. As only 0.2% of White Americans carry the trait, it has been sidelined in media and science classrooms, which makes awareness and sensitivity a social justice issue with significant medical and societal ramifications. This study investigates future science teachers' levels of SCA understanding and the themes across their knowledge and experiences. Building on the socio-scientific issues (SSI) framework, which fosters dialogue, interest, and scientific literacy (Zeidler et al., 2005), students learn to privilege evidence over intuition and bias (Gutierez, 2015). 77 undergraduates at [blinded] (64%Wh/26% Bl/6% His/4%Asian). An anonymous survey with 2 open-questions probed (1) knowledge, (2) experience with SCA. 22 of those surveyed participated in semi-structured interview follow-up. Through thematic coding, responses were first grouped by knowledge level (High N=8, Moderate N=16, Low N=36, No knowledge N=17), then regrouped according to patterns (i.e., lived experience with a relative with SCA, iron deficiency, blood disorder, altered red blood cells, immune compromise, genetic disease, population impact). Findings indicate undergraduates view SCA as either an inherited or acquired condition. Some link SCA with race and social justice due to its prevalence among Black people; a minority speculated about the limited conversation around SCA being race-related. Implications include leveraging SSI to increase knowledge and sensitivity to SCA in science class

Kenny Oni is a second-year Ph.D student in the science education department at the University of Georgia Athens (UGA). Kenny is a dedicated sickle cell researcher and advocate focused on raising awareness and educating students about sickle cell anemia using socio-scientific issues (SSI) as a conceptual framework. Her research aims to use SSI as a tool to bring forward the social justice aspect of sickle cell anemia. In the long run, she seeks to improve the accessibility of sickle cell health interventions in marginalized communities.

Javiera Hernandez Puelma

"Body Dissatisfaction, Ruminative Thinking, Food and Alcohol Disturbance, and Problematic Alcohol Use Among College Students"

Advisor: Dr. Adrian J. Bravo

Co-authors: K. Berry, L. Herchenroeder, A. Looby

Past research shows that body dissatisfaction may contribute to the risk of problematic alcohol use among college students, although further research on the mechanisms involved is needed. This study examined the relationship between body dissatisfaction, rumination, food and alcohol disturbance (FAD), problematic alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems among college students. We hypothesized that higher body dissatisfaction relates to greater alcohol use and alcohol-related problems via increased ruminative thinking (i.e., problem-focused thoughts) and engagement in FAD behaviors (i.e., caloric restriction and alcohol enhancement). The sample included 3,362 U.S. college students (70.2% female; 61.5% White) who reported drinking in the past month and completed measures of body dissatisfaction and alcohol-related problems. Our estimated path model showed three significant double-mediated associations. Higher body dissatisfaction was linked to increased alcohol use quantity and problems through problem-focused thoughts and both alcohol enhancement and caloric restriction motives. Additionally, body dissatisfaction was related to alcohol use quantity and problems via anticipatory thoughts and the alcohol enhancement motive. Those with body dissatisfaction may engage in more ruminative thinking about their appearance, particularly problem-focused thoughts, leading to FAD behaviors due to fears of gaining weight and contributing to problematic alcohol use and problems. Interventions aimed at reducing FAD behaviors should integrate elements from body image-focused interventions.

Javi Hernandez is a first-year Master's student in the Psychological Sciences Department at William & Mary. Her research focuses on alcohol use and related problems. Her first-year project explores the role of restricted eating, body dissatisfaction, and rumination. She holds a B.S. from the University of Iowa.

Alec Heilman | College of Charleston

"Benthic Community Composition of Reeftop Features in the Lower Mesophotic Zone of the Mississippi-Alabama Continental Shelf"

Advisor: Dr. Peter Etnoyer

Co-authors: G. DiTullio, H. Cabaniss, G. Mitchener

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill caused extensive damage to mesophotic communities (MBDC) on the Mississippi-Alabama continental shelf. While considerable restoration efforts have been undertaken in the 15 years since the spill, the ecology of MDBCs remains poorly understood. Existing studies offer limited insights into broader ecological dynamics of these ecosystems. This study advances understanding of the geology, connectivity, and ecology of the mesophotic zone in the region, and specifically beneath the DWH oil slick. The analysis uses high-resolution (2m) multibeam echosounder data projected in a Geographic Information System (GIS) with co-located visual observations and water chemistry, to evaluate community composition at an ecosystem scale. The study examines the richness and diversity of corals, sponges, and reef associated species and assess the influence of environmental parameters —including slope (%), relief (m), rugosity, orientation (°) and currents (vector magnitude and direction)—on their distributions. The study focuses on the Roughtongue Reef habitat area of particular concern (HAPC) - a managed area with documented injuries from the DWH spill.

Alec Heilman is a second year masters student in the marine biology department at the College of Charleston. His thesis examines benthic community composition on mesophotic reeftop structures to support substrate placement initiatives following the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. He holds a B.A. in biology and environmental studies from Denison University and has a broad interest in data analytics, GIS and environmental conservation.

Dolly Lebow

"Chesapeake Invaders: The Different Hats of Blue Catfish in State Governance"

Advisor: Dr. Andrea Wright

York River State Park is a place of immense biodiversity and marine life that has also experienced detrimental loss at the hands of the invasive blue catfish. Blue catfish, introduced by the Virginia state government in the 1970s and 1980s as a recreational fish, are partially responsible for the depletion of many native marine species, including herring, shad, blue crab, red drum, and croaker. My project seeks to further understand the tension between the state and conservationist agenda to curb the further expansion of blue catfish, through establishing a seafood market and electrofishing permits, and the millions of dollars in revenue brought in by the big-game fishing industry. Through ethnographic research at York River State Park as a Volunteer Ranger, I explore a case site that has experienced devastating native species loss because of blue catfish, asking specifically how the state, as a political structure, can have a stake in the benefits and losses that blue catfish have caused.

Dolly Lebow is a 5th-year Accelerated Master's Student of Historical Anthropology at William & Mary. Her research focuses on the intersection between conservation and livelihoods, particularly with fish and fishermen. Following her graduation from W&M this past spring, she has been conducting fieldwork for her master's thesis addressing the unique stakeholder situation concerning the invasive blue catfish.

Stephanie Burnette

"Fish Community Response after Dam Removal: Diversity Recovery and Short- and Long-Term Impacts"

Advisor: Dr. James Skelton

Dams are a major contributing factor in the decline of freshwater fish populations. Many dams are now obsolete or dilapidated, and there is a growing push to remove them and restore connection between aquatic habitats. My research will study the effects of dam removal on fish. I have two aims. First, to investigate if dam removal is effective at restoring fish communities to their “pre-dam” conditions. Second, to determine the timeline of group-specific responses. For this project, I will use environmental DNA (eDNA) to study fish diversity at different sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I will compare fish communities where dams have been removed to comparable sites where dams still exist, and to sites where dams have never existed. To study the timeline of restoration, dam removal dates range from 1997 – 2024. I predict that alpha diversity (diversity of species within a particular locality) will increase at the dam removal sites compared to the dammed sites, and that the dam removal sites will show more heterogeneity and a recovery of beta diversity (differences in species composition among localities). I also predict that response time varies by group, with migratory and generalist species being the quickest to colonize newly available habitat, while habitat specialist species take longer. This information will help conservationists, policymakers, and local property owners to more fully understand the impacts of dam removals on their local waterways.

Stephanie Burnette is a first-year master's candidate in the Biology Department at William & Mary. Her research interest is in conservation and management of freshwater aquatic ecosystems. She is currently studying the impact of dams as anthropogenic disturbances on fish communities and investigating how these communities change after mitigation strategies have been applied.