it is my pleasure to welcome you to

Virginia Tech’s Office of Undergraduate Research Welcomes You! It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research, and our campus. This conference, funded in-part by revenue from athletic events, focuses on undergraduate research and creative scholarship at the 12 ACC member schools and represents the power and synergy that can exist between athletics and academics. With nearly 100 student presenters, representing ~40 disciplines at this year’s conference, we are in for an exciting weekend! We look forward to learning more about the contributions each of you make to research and creative scholarship. With all good wishes, Tomalei J. Vess Director, VT Office of Undergraduate Research http://www.research.undergraduate.vt.edu

About Virginia Tech Founded in 1872 as a land-grant institution, Virginia Tech is now a comprehensive, innovative research university with the largest number of degree offerings in Virginia. Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through a combination of its three missions of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement. Virginia Tech continually strives to accomplish the charge of its motto: Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and off-campus educational facilities in six regions, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 31,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 215 academic degree programs.

http://www.research.undergraduate.vt.edu/

TABLE OF CONTENTS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

Table of Contents

SPEAKERS

WELCOME and OPENING REMARKS:

Dr. Tomalei J. Vess, VT Director of Undergraduate Research

Dr. David G. Brown, Director of ACCIAC

OPENING PLENARY: Harold “Skip” Garner, Ph.D.……………………………………………………………………………………2

DINNER AND PLENARY SPEAKER: Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D.……………………………………………………………..3

CLOSING PLENARY SPEAKER: Dr. R. Benjamin Knapp.…………………………………………………………………………….4

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

Friday, March 30................................................................................................................................5

Saturday, March 31

Oral Presentations (Sessions 1-3): 9:45 am - 11:00 am…………...…………………………………………..……7

Oral Presentations (Sessions 4-6): 11:15 am – 12:15 pm.….………………………………………………………8

Oral Presentations (Sessions 7-9): 1:45 – 3:00 pm……..……………………………………………………………..9

Sunday, April 1

Oral Presentations (Sessions 10 &11): 9:15 –10:15 am…..……………………………………………………….10

Poster Presentations: 3:30 - 5:30 pm………………..……………………………………………………………....11-15

DETAILED SCHEDULE…………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..5-6

ABSTRACTS (listed alphabetically)………………………………………………………………………………………………….14-51

INDEX……………………………….………………………………………………………………….…………………………………….… 52-53

PRESENTERS LISTED BY UNIVERSITY

STUDENT INFORMATION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….54-55

Notes and Map………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………56-60

SPEAKERS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Plenary 1:

Text similarity searching and data mining: Applications to

reference finding, publication ethics, including an

interesting example

Talk description: Using a new type of text search engine we are able to measure the

amount of similarity among documents. Using this approach, we can

use whole paragraphs instead of 1 or 2 keywords to find relevant

literature. This allows us to find more relevant literature, and

occasionally find literature that is too similar, that is plagiarized. This

is all done with a free computer code, etblast.org, that we offer on-line

from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

Biographical Sketch Harold "Skip" Garner received his Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982. Dr. Garner has published

widely in leading peer-reviewed journals throughout his career in

plasma physics, bioengineering, genetics, genomics and

bioinformatics. He sits on several corporate advisory boards and

advises government and private agencies, including the HHS, NIH,

DoE, NASA, MacArthur Foundation, State Department and a variety of

foreign countries. Dr. Garner is the founder of several biotechnology

companies, including Heliotext , Xanapath, BioAutomation, and Light

Biology, which was acquired by Nimblegen (now Roche Nimblegen,

Inc.), in 2004. Dr. Garner is a Fellow of the American Institute for

Medical and Biological Engineering and a Charter member of the

Academy of the School of Mines and Metallurgy. Dr. Garner is also an

advisor to the National Research Council, a reviewer for Genomics,

Nature Biotechnology, BioTechniques, Genome Research,

Bioinformatics, the Royal Society and others. an advisor to NASA and

Mars Rover Board, an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on

Automation Science and Engineering and IEEE Engineering in Biology

and Medicine, Scientific Computing.

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute

http://www.vbi.vt.edu/

Dr. Harold “Skip” Garner. Ph.D.

http://www.vbi.vt.edu/


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Plenary 2:

Brains as adaptive learning machines throughout life Talk description: In his presentation “Brains as adaptive learning machines throughout life”, Dr. Friedlander will consider the dynamic flexibility of the functional architecture of the brain. He will present evidence for the dynamic assembly and re-assembly of cellular synaptic networks within the immature and mature brain, how these processes contribute to learning and the formation of memories, how they adapt in the face of life’s challenges and the effects of aging on these functions.

Biographical Sketch Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D. is the Founding Executive Director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke, VA, the Senior Dean for Research at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Professor of Biological Sciences and a core faculty member in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Science at Virginia Tech. Dr. Friedlander joined VT and the VTCRI in June, 2010 following 5 years as the Wilhelmina Robertson Professor of Neuroscience, Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of Neuroscience Initiatives at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, Texas. Prior to that, he served for 25 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine where he was Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Neurobiology, Founding Director of the Neurobiology Research Center, Director of the Mental Retardation Research Center, Director of the Civitan International Research Center for Intellectual Disabilities and the first Evelyn McKnight Professor of Learning and Memory in Aging. Dr. Friedlander received his B.S. from Florida State University in Biology and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Physiology and Biophysics. He did postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia and at SUNY Stony Brook. Dr. Friedlander is the founding president of the Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs Association (AMSNDC). He has served on the Administrative Board and as Chair of the Council of Academic Societies (CAS), on the AAMC Executive Board, on the HHMI-AAMC Scientific Foundations of Future Physicians Task Force and he currently serves on the AAMC National Research Advisory Panel and the MR5 Comprehensive Review Panel. He also serves or has served on the scientific advisory boards of the Civitan International Research Center, the Mission Connect Foundation for Research in Spinal Cord and Traumatic Brain Injury, the Children’s National Medical Center for Intellectual Disabilities, the Waisman Mental Retardation Research Center, on the Michael E. DeBakey Veteran’s Administration Medical Center Clinical Neurosciences Steering Committee as well as the Chair of the National Association of Mental Retardation Research Centers. Dr. Friedlander is a recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Neuroscience, an NIH Fogarty Center Senior International Research fellowship, a Lucille P. Markey Foundation Center Award, a W.M. Keck Foundation Center Award, the American College of Physicians’ William Menninger Award for Mental Health Research and the University of Illinois Distinguished Alumnus Award in Molecular and Integrative Physiology. He is the President of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM). He serves as the Associate Editor for the Neuroscience section of the Journal of Experimental Biology and Medicine as well as on the editorial board of the Journal of Neuroscience and of Eye and Brain.

Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

http://research.vtc.vt.edu/

Dr. Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D.

http://research.vtc.vt.edu/


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Plenary 3: Research at the Intersection of Science, Engineering, Art, and Design Talk description: Societal and industrial challenges demand creative processes that stem from the realization that design, aesthetic, and technological development now have become symbiotic. Form no longer follows function. Form and function are inseparable. This talk will explore several examples of trans-disciplinary project-based research that demonstrates this principle and give us a glimpse of where university and industrial research might be headed.

Biographical Sketch Dr. R. Benjamin Knapp is the founding director of the Institute for Creativity, Art, and Technology (ICAT) at Virginia Tech. This institute fosters and studies the creative process, from imagination to innovation, to create new possibilities for exploration and expression. Its mission is to forge a bidirectional pathway between trans-disciplinary research and artistic output, scientific and commercial discovery, and educational innovation. In his own research, Dr. Knapp has been working at the boundaries between human-computer interaction, universal design, and creative practice. His research on human-computer interaction has focused on the design of user interfaces and signal processing software that enable the composer and performer to augment the physical control of a musical instrument with more direct neural interaction using physiological/biometric indicators of gesture and emotion. His research also involves the design of home environments that support people as they age. Using ambient sensing, he has been exploring ways to understand behavioral and emotional changes that predict changes in physical and mental status.

Institute for Creativity, Art, and Technology

http://www.icat.vt.edu/index.html

Dr. R. Benjamin Knapp

http://www.icat.vt.edu/index.html

AGENDA 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference Agenda

Friday, March 30 3:00-5:00 PM Conference Registration at the Inn at VT 5:00 PM Gather for Transport to Lane Stadium for President’s Reception 5:30-6:30 PM President’s Reception, Lane Stadium President’s Box 6:30 PM Gather for transport to the Inn for students and dinner for faculty 6:45 PM Faculty Dinner; Students Dinner on Own

(see registration packets for options)

Saturday, March 31 8:00 AM Breakfast and Announcements (Latham C) 8:30 AM Welcome and Opening Plenary: Skip Garner (Latham C) 9:45-11:00 AM Oral Presentations Session 1: English, Literature and Creative Writing (Cascades A) Session 2: Behavior, Models, and Ethics (Cascades B) Session 3: Physics and Mathematics (Latham C) 11:00-11:15 AM Break 11:15 AM-12:15 PM Oral Presentations Session 4: Biology and Psychopharmacology (Latham C) Session 5: Architecture and Interior Design (Cascades A) Session 6: Health (Cascades B)

12:15-1:30 PM George Barthalmus Memorial Luncheon (Latham A)

Remarks from David Brown of the ACCIAC George Barthalmus Remembered. Less than a month after George accompanied the NC State delegation to last year’s Meeting of the Minds Conference, he suddenly died. As the undergraduate research director, George attended every ACCIAC conference, always brought the largest delegation (other than the host institutions), chaired the conference when at NC State, invariably visited every poster and meaningfully interacted with each student researcher, introduced the highly successful lunch-in-the-midst-of-the-poster-sessions, and served as NC State’s representative at the first meeting of the ACCIAC Advisory Committee. At President Shalala’s dinner on the eve of this meeting, John Ambrose led us in a toast to George’s service. To enable broader remembrance of George’s contribution, we designated the luncheon at Virginia Tech’s 2012 MOM Conference as the George Barthalmus Memorial

AGENDA 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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1:45-3:00 PM Oral Presentations Session 7: Biology and Engineering (Cascades A) Session 8: Music, Religion, and Learning (Latham A) Session 9: Politics, Language, and History (Cascades B) 3:00-3:30 PM Poster Set-up and Break 3:30-5:30 PM Poster Presentations (Solitude) 6:30 PM Dinner and Plenary Speaker: Mike Friedlander (Latham DEF)

Sunday, April 1 8:45-9:15 AM Breakfast and Announcements (Latham C) 9:15-10:30 AM Oral Presentations Session 10: English, Psychology, and Political Science( Cascades A) Session 11: Clean Energy, Engineering, and Politics (Cascades B) 10:30-10:45 AM Break 10:45-11:45 AM Closing Plenary Speaker: Ben Knapp (Latham C) 11:45 AM-12:00 PM Closing Remarks and Boxed Lunch Pickup 12:00 PM Departures

ORAL PRESENTATIONS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Oral Presentations 9:45 – 11:00 AM

Session 1: English, Literature, and Creative Writing – ROOM: CASCADES A PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Amanda Auerbach

Duke English Objects and Agency: James and the Aesthetic Heroine

Ali Yalgin Duke Theater Studies

Dream and Reality in Strindberg’s Naturalistic Tragedies

Lara Mangum Virginia Tech English Evelina and the French Connection: The Madame Duvall Subplot

Morgan Kayser Florida State Creative Writing

Identity: A Short Story Collection

Session 2: Behavior, Models, and Ethics – ROOM: CASCADES B PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Colette Nataf Maryland Economics/ Mathematics

Love the One You’re With: The Endowment Effect in the Dating Market

Joshua L. Lucas NC State Psychology Do Machines Have Prima Facie Duties?

Alyssa McCarthy

Boston College Psychology Children and Emotional Expression: Children’s Understanding of Norms about Emotion Expression in Public and Private Contexts

Shibani D. Kansara

Georgia Tech Management Above and Beyond, Again and Again: A Model of OCB, Motive Fulfillment, and Feedback

Session 3: Physics and Math – ROOM: LATHAM C PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Harley Katz Maryland Astronomy/ Physics

Testing for Bulk Flows and Bullet Clusters with QUMOND

Matthew E. Caplan

Virginia Physics Scattering by Black Hole Binaries and the Final Parsec Problem

Travis Byington Duke Physics The Hierarchical Freezing of an Aperiodic Tiling

Yu-Po Ken Wong

Duke Physics Building a Quantum Key Distribution System

Arielle Grim McNally

Virginia Tech Mathematics Improving the Near Diagonal Dominance of Slater Matrices for Insulators

ORAL PRESENTATIONS Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Oral Presentations

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Session 4: Biology and Psychopharmacology – ROOM: LATHAM C PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Mejdi Najjar Miami Neuroscience Conserved and Divergent Functions of Growth Differentiation Factor 11 in Dorsoventral and Anteroposterior Neural Patterning in Zebrafish

Matthew D. Lycas

Virginia Undeclared Effect of Topiramate on the Reinforcing Properties of Ethanol in Wistar and P Rats

Sarah C. Weber

Georgia Tech Biology Spatial Variation in Nutrients, Pigments, Particles, and Phytoplankton Abundance in the Amazon River Plume

Eric Reasor Virginia Tech Crop and Soil PlumeThe Influence of Fall Fertilization Programs on the Traffic Tolerance and Recovery of Sprigged Bermudagrass Varities

Session 5: Architecture and Interior Design – ROOM: CASCADES A PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Brian Eugene Gaudio

NC State Architecture Que lo Que’s Asset-Based Community Inventory

Amanda Krueger

Florida State Interior Design Healthy Interior Environments in Hatian Orphanage Design

Joel Dixon Clemson Architecture Issues Hindering the Development of Chinese Intellectual Property Protection in Architecture

Kenneth Black/Ross McFarland

Virginia Tech Architecture Reshape, Inform, Inspire: Pallet Reuse as a Design Medium

Session 6: Health – ROOM: CASCADES B PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Bryant Huang Miami Neuroscience The Epidemiological and Health Transition of Obesity in Hong Kong: Socioeconomic Determinants of Diet, Nutrition, and Lifestyle in the 21st Centruy

Laura Grace Carroll

Wake Forest Communication Health Education in Kenya

Chenxi Yu North Carolina Mathematics Integrating the Jamkhed Model into the Health Care System of Rural China

Matthew Alonsozana

Boston College

Economics Philippine Perspectives on Public Policy: Disaster management and Local Health

ORAL PRESENTATIONS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Oral Presentations

1:45 – 3:00 PM

Session 7: Biology and Engineering – ROOM: CASCADES A PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Meredith Cole Clemson Bioengineering A Novel Method for Assessing Horse-Rider Biomechanics in Hippotherapy

Ian Ergui Miami Biology Effects of Cocaine Use on Genomic Methylation

Kanav Jain Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering

Permutations of Short sRNA Segments for sRNA-mRNA Interaction Study

Winston Becker Virginia Tech Engineering Science and Mechanics

Advancing Tissure Engineering Through a Mechanical Characterization of the Insect Respiratory System

Radu Reit Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering

Vertically Aligned Carbon nanotubes as Active Electrodes for Metal Substrate Supercapacitors

Session 8: Music, Religion, and Learning – ROOM: LATHAM C PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Kristen Fowler Virginia Tech Music The Tango: A Modern Interpretation

Dana Boebinger Florida State Psychology/ Music

Are Implicit Learning Abilities in Music and Language Related?

Braxton Shelley Duke Music Gospel Goes to Church (Again): Smallwood’s Hybridity as Liturgical Compromise

Morgan Abbott North Carolina Religious Studies

Jesus, the Final Paschal Lamb: A Comparison of the Ideas of Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Passover Sacrifice in the Gospel of John and 1 Corinthians

Ryan Folio Boston College

Islamic Civilization

Confessions of the Lebanese Media: Media Coverage of Ethnic-Religious Communities in Beirut

Session 9: Politics, Language, and History – ROOM: CASCADES B PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Anne Ornelles Wake Forest Spanish Catalan Today and Tomorrow: An Examination of Language Policies, Attitudes, and Usage

Victoria James Virginia Tech International Studies

Después de la guerra: An examination of Argentina’s Dirty War and Political History as a Post-Conflict Society

Nrintohn Luangrath

Boston College

International From sud-Ouest to Le Parisien: Portrayal of the Burqa Ban in French Print Media

Okello Carter Boston College

History A People Without a Country: Filipino Nationals and the 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act

Caroline Kirby North Carolina Comparative Literature

Memorializing Shame and Defeat: Leïla Sebbar’s La Seine Était Rouge in Paris

ORAL PRESENTATIONS Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Oral Presentations

9:15 – 10:00 AM

Session 10: English, Psychology, and Law – ROOM: CASCADES A PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Ashley Birkedal Wake Forest English Perceiving the Ideal: Edith Wharton and the unrealistic Portrayal of Women in Art

Emily Bray Duke Psychology Social, Physical, and Emotional Factors Affecting Inhibitory Control in Dogs

Yuliya Malmud Maryland Psychology/ Russian

Facial Configuration and Judgment: Improving Eyewitness Identification Accuracy

Oral Presentations

9:15 – 10:30 AM

Session 11: Clean Energy Science, Engineering, & Politics – ROOM: CASCADES B PRESENTER UNIVERSITY MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

Holly C. Sweeney NC State Statistics Do Heat Waves Impact Ground Level Ozone Levels?

Adam Klett Clemson Chemical Engineering

Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Compositions of the Iodine-HI-Water System of the Sulfur-Iodine Cycle at Elevated Temperatures and Pressures

Travis T. Lekich NC State Chemistry Creating Fuel from Sunlight Through Metal to Metal Charge Transfer

Eric Antmann Miami Environmental Engineering

Continuous-Discrete Simulation-based Decision Making Framework for Solid Waste management and Recycling Programs

Joseph Manning Boston College Political Science

The Impact of Politics on Renewable Energy Development in Rural Nova Scotia

POSTER PRESENTATIONS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Poster Presentations

3:30 – 5:30 PM

POSTER #

UNIVERSITY PRESENTER MAJOR RESEARCH TITLE

1 University of Virginia

Aileen L. Giordano

English Revising the Legacy of the Old South: The Evolution of Faulkner’s Depiction of Race and Racism in The Unvanquished

2 NC State University

Taylor J. Belge, Andy B. Park, Julio C. Martinez

Architecture Adaptive Reuse of Warehouse 202

3 Virginia Tech Daniel Wainless Industrial Design Medical Transportation Chair

4 University of North Carolina

Patrick Mullins Archaeology Fortaleza de Quirihuac: A Chimú Fortification in the Middle Moche Valley of Perú

5 Duke University

Andrea Patiño Cultural Anthropology

Photographs of the Ordinary as an Alternative Political Space in Palestine

6 Duke University

Peichun Wang Economics How Shall-issue Concealed Carry Laws Affect Violent Crime Rates – Using Cohort Panel Data Model


Jessica Bodford Psychology Potential Moderators of the Relationship Between Religiosity and Alcohol Use in College Students

8 Clemson University

Zakery James Pre-Professional Health Sciences

Personality, Communication Apprehension and Facebook: A Study of Well-Being and Relational Closeness Outcomes

9 Virginia Tech Laura Craig Public and Urban Affairs: Urbanization Planning And Policy

Obesity and Income within the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News MSA


Lauren Hock Psychology Why Obesity?: The Actor Observer Bias in Attributions for Obesity

11 Wake Forest University

Ryan Ford Psychology Examining the Role of Nucleus Accumbens Serotonin 2A And 2B Receptors On Food-Seeking Behavior In The Rat


Emily McCanless Sociology & Anthropology

Examining the Importance of Body Size for Assessing Attractiveness in a Potential Dating Partner for Different Dating Arenas


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13 Georgia Institute of Technology

Robert S Rule History, Technology & Sociology

Obstacles to Women's Participation in Chemistry and Computer Science


Casey Shutt Exercise & Sport Science

Physical Contributors to Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit in High School Baseball Players

15 Florida State University

Andrew Koutnik Exercise Science The effect of L-citrulline supplementation on blood pressure as well as pressure wave reflection responses during acute cold exposure with isometric exercise.


Myong Joon Kim Biomedical Engineering

Study of Vertical Leg Stiffness In Asymmetrical Running


Tim Brady Health & Exercise Science

The Effect of Breathing Frequency on Baroreceptor Sensitivity

18 University of Maryland

Nathan Zimnik Physiology & Neurobiology

Age-Dependent Noradrenergic Modulation of Inhibition in the Olfactory Bulb


Tyler Treadway General Biology Age-Dependent Noradrenergic Modulation of Inhibition in the Olfactory Bulb

20 University of Miami

Betty Albo Obeso

Biology Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) is an important regulator of Retinal Ganglion Cell (RGC) survival


Brice I Hwang Biochemistry GFP Chromophores as Fluorescence Ligands for Detection and Activation of Nuclear Receptors


Catherine Bessell

Cellular Biology and Mole

Dscam and its Role in Drosophila Hemocytes


Cecilia Perez Biology Conus Venom Screening To Identify Novel Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists For Gene Therapeis in Pain Modulation


Haaris Khan Genetics & Biochemistry

Development of Molecular Beacons for Detection of African Trypanosome Infections


Spencer Carter-Carpenter

Biology Jumping performance of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) across a size gradient


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Carly (Alanna) Slack

Wildlife and Fisheries Biology

Coforaging in wild golden lion tamarins in the União Reserve, RJ, Brazil


Sara Marin Biology The Attenuation of the Gulf Toadfish Hypoxia Response:Concern over Antidepressants Detected in our Marine Environments

28 Virginia Tech Bethany Gregory Wildlife Science The influence of the bacterial endophyte Burkholderia phytofirmans (strain PsJN) on growth, leaf gas exchange and drought tolerance of Switchgrass Alamo

29 Virginia Tech Casey Setash Wildlife Science Wing Morphology and Foraging Stratification in Forest-Dwelling Birds


Jordan Ferguson Biology Hedgehog Signaling Controls Intestinal Malrotation and Epithelial Cell Development in Xenopus laevis


Rebecca Perry Biology Probing the regulatory mechanism of AKH cell excitability

32 Virginia Tech Michael Lawless Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise

Lipid Metabolism As Target For Ovarian Cancer Prevention By Exogenous Sphingolipids

33 Virginia Tech Andrew Hall Biological Sciences Identify-Y: A novel computational method for the discovery of Y chromosome sequences


Saramati Narasimhan

Biomedical Engineering

Development of a Method to Investigate the Dynamics of Accommodation using an Ex-Vivo Accommodation Simulator

35 University of Virginia

Cori Watson Electrical Engineering

Olfactory Bulb Circadian Rhythms


Joseph Moo-Young

Textile Engineering Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Carbon Nanotube-Polythiophene Interactions


Nadine Luedicke Bioengineering Re-Engineering Medical Training Simulators: CVC Simulator

38 Virginia Tech Stephanie Welch Civil & Environmental Engineering

Calibration of Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring Instruments

ABSTRACTS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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Morgan Abbott, University of North Carolina

Jesus, the Final Paschal Lamb: A Comparison of the Ideas of Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Passover Sacrifice in the Gospel of John and 1 Corinthians

In the New Testament, the authors of the Gospel of John and 1 Corinthians both refer to Jesus as the “paschal” or “Passover” lamb, reinterpreting traditional Jewish terminology and ideas to fit within a new Christian context. The author of the Gospel of John and Paul in 1 Corinthians did not understand Jesus’ sacrifice to be explicitly atoning, although this notion did play an important role. Rather, the authors viewed Jesus as the ultimate and final paschal lamb. Through the use of language that would have been familiar to their readership, the author of John drew parallels between Jesus and the paschal lamb to highlight the substitutionary component of the annual Passover sacrifice, while Paul emphasized the shared participatory component. Just as God substituted the death of the Passover lamb for the death of the first-born son in Exodus 12, God constituted Jesus’ death as the ultimate Passover sacrifice, rendering subsequent Passover sacrifices unnecessary as Jesus exchanged his life for the lives of all present and future believers in the Jewish God. Furthermore, the authors highlighted the early church's ability to participate directly in the body of Christ through the sacrifice and the Eucharist. The author of the Gospel of John and Paul both referred to Jesus as the paschal lamb to symbolize the substitutionary and participatory, rather than atoning, component the Passover celebration and Jesus’ death as fulfillment of the final Passover sacrifice. Thus, the church could share in the redemptive quality of Jesus' death.

Mentor: Dr. Bart Ehrman

Sheridan E. Ackiss, Georgia Institute of Technology

Hydrated Sulfates in the Southern High Latitudes of Mars

Hydrated sulfate minerals record the history of water and habitable environments on Mars, yet

prior studies of them have neglected a vast region surrounding the planet’s south pole. Some of the few sulfates reported there are localized to putative ancient volcanoes that may have erupted under an ice sheet, possibly forming sulfates via hydrothermal alteration. Alternatively, sulfates may have formed more recently from sunlight causing minor melting of polar ices and weathering embedded dust particles, a process thought to explain the sulfates found near Mars’s north pole. To test these hypotheses, we searched for southern high-latitude sulfates using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), focusing to date on the region surrounding the putative volcanoes. In 40 images, we used spectral parameters to identify regions of interest, from which we extracted spectra. The spectra were then visually compared to laboratory spectra to identify possible hydrated mineral constituents. We found that exactly 50% of CRISM images on putative volcanoes show a 1.9-micron absorption consistent with hydration. The percentage for images on the plains between volcanoes is actually higher; i.e., hydration is not unique to the volcanoes. Nevertheless, the three locations at which we found the strongest absorptions are all on volcanoes; their spectra are most consistent with gypsum. To further test our hypotheses, we will next explore lower-resolution CRISM multispectral data to map hydration beyond the small areas of the high-resolution targeted images. We will also use visible images to examine the morphology of sulfates identified in various locations.

Mentor: Dr. James Wray

Matthew Alonsozana, Boston College

Philippine Perspectives on Public Policy: Disaster Management and Local Health

The most affluent area of the Philippines, Metro Manila, faces immense public policy challenges, due to a large population, insufficient infrastructure, a lack of government funds, poverty, and chronic corruption. Policy-makers at every level rightly have responded by incorporating better technology, vetting resource management, and pressing for organizational reform. Despite these well-intentioned efforts, health and policy deficiencies remain and will


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continue, because these efforts ignore municipal and local dynamics and their effect on the actual implementation of public policy. An understanding of local socio-economic and political dynamics is crucial, as can be seen in both disaster management and public health. Thus, policy-makers require a model that better synthesizes the collective and distributive capabilities of local communities. This project develops an “I.N. & O.U.T. System” model that can one day be a basic tool for designing more empowering and effective local policies.

Mentor: Professor James Keenan

Eric D. Antmann, University of Miami

Continuous-Discrete Simulation-based Decision Making Framework for Solid Waste Management and Recycling Programs

Solid waste produced as a by-product of our daily activities poses a major threat to societies as populations grow and economic development advances. Consequently, the effective management of solid waste has become a matter of critical importance for communities. In this study, we propose a simulation-based decision-making and optimization framework for the analysis and development of effective solid waste management and recycling programs, under uncertainty. The development of such frameworks is frustrated by the large, diverse, and dynamic nature of such systems, and the numerous stakeholders with divergent objectives. The proposed solution includes a database and two modules: an assessment module and a resource allocation optimization module. The assessment module identifies the sources of uncertainties in the system and develops a parameterization of them for incorporation into the resource allocation optimization module. The resource allocation optimization module involves a discrete-continuous model of the system under consideration, with respect to the waste types and characteristics, costs, environmental impacts, types, location and capacities of processing facilities, and their capabilities. Then, the multi-criteria problem of the allocation of limited resources is solved via the optimization mechanism embedded in the resource allocation

optimization module. This mechanism uses meta-heuristics to reduce the computational burden imposed by the characteristically large solution space. Here, the optimum solution is defined by the user and infinitely variable. The proposed decision making framework has been successfully demonstrated for the Miami-Dade County Solid Waste Management System in the State of Florida.

Mentor: Dr. Nucrin Celik

Amanda Auerbach, Duke University

Objects and Agency: James and the Aesthetic Heroine

Are the desire for agency and the desire to be valued aesthetically completely incompatible? In my thesis, I move from Daisy Miller to The Golden Bowl, exploring how the Victorian heroine evolves into the Jamesian heroine. In Victorian novels, the heroine can only be said to have an aesthetic value insofar as she represents the concept of the aesthetic itself: whatever the novel-reading culture claimed was beautiful, good, and true. In our culture, the phrase “the objectification of woman” is a vague way of expressing a certain kind of persecution. James shows, however, that tying the aesthetic experience the heroine provides to her individuality, making her an aesthetic object in rather than the aesthetic object of the novel is the first step to moving away from a Victorian structure of the marriage plot that can make the identity of the heroine —and, as Daisy shows, also her life — negligible. In my chapter on The Portrait of a Lady, I argue that by choosing her one-sided relationships that allow her to cultivate beautiful thoughts over her romantic followers and her own physical wellbeing, Isabel makes herself an art object by exercising agency over her desire. In The Golden Bowl, Maggie Verver exercises agency in the direction of her desire by assigning objects (her rival Charlotte Stant, as well as the golden bowl) an aesthetic value. The novel moves away the marriage plot of the male subject and the female aesthetic object toward male and female aesthetic subjects and beautiful objects.

Mentor: Tom Ferraro


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Winston R. Becker, Virginia Tech

Advancing Tissue Engineering through a Mechanical Characterization of the Insect Respiratory System

One of the major challenges in tissues engineering is vascularization. The growth of large complex tissues is hindered by the inability of current methods to supply sufficient oxygen and nutrients to cells within the tissue scaffolds. The insect respiratory system may provide a source of bio-inspiration to overcome this problem. Unlike larger animals, insects employ an extensive network of tracheal tubes to effectively transport oxygen directly to every cell of the body. One mechanism for the transport of oxygen is the localized rhythmic deformation of the tracheal tubes. This deformation is likely determined by local variation in the mechanical properties of these tubes. In this study, the first mechanical tests aimed at quantifying such variation have been conducted. A new tensile testing device was designed to measure the ultimate tensile strength, ultimate strain, elastic modulus, and toughness of ring sections extracted from the main thoracic tracheal trunks of American Cockroaches. A total of 33 ring sections collected from 14 tracheal tubes were tested. The results demonstrated that the mechanical properties of ring sections excised from the same tracheal tube exhibit less variability than those of ring sections excised from different tracheal tubes. A micro-structural analysis is currently underway which may reveal the origin of this experimentally observed mechanical variability and, ultimately, lead to the creation of bio-inspired applications in tissue engineering.

Mentor: Raffaella De Vita

Taylor J. Belge, NC State University

Adaptive Reuse of Warehouse 202

The advent of the gasoline automobile jolted our country into an uncontrolled spiral of unsustainable growth. Urban industrialism was recognized as a public nuisance, which initiated a trend towards the separation of uses and the decentralization of society. Urban planning was transformed from an architectural design process to a municipal procedure conducted under the

umbrella of public administration. Separation of uses can be found most clearly illustrated in young cities like Raleigh. The Warehouse District, a twelve-block area located close to the heart of downtown, was the city’s railroad and warehouse distribution hub from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. However, in the late 1950’s, the trucking industry proved more profitable than the railroads. The livelihood of the district was relocated and many buildings were left vacant. The past decade has brought new life to the Warehouse District. Countless buildings have been revitalized. With this renewal, the district’s function has shifted from industrial to arts and entertainment. Nonetheless, a large portion of the district has remained unchanged; a majority of these enormous warehouses lay empty and in a perpetual state of disrepair. Further rebuilding is necessary to complete the renaissance of the district; one solution is the implementation of mixed-use functions into existing warehouse spaces. This proposal addresses both residential and commercial applications that target the young, creative class of Raleigh. Deliverables include site analyses to determine project implications and needs; precedent studies of similar topics; and design schemes performed in a single warehouse scenario.

Mentor: Dr. Robin Abrams

Catherine Bessell,

University of Maryland

Dscam and its Role in Drosophila Hemocytes

Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule (Dscam) was first discovered as a membrane bound receptor in developing neurons. Dscam has extensive expression diversity from alternative splicing patterns and can be expressed into tens of thousands of different isoforms. Dscam is also expressed in Drosophila hemocytes, one of the major immune cells of the fly, and appears to be involved in phagocytosis (Watson, et. al., 2005). My research focuses on Dscam function in hemocytes; does Dscam influence hemocyte behavior? An RNAi line to inhibit Dscam expression is being used to compare between hemocytes with reduced Dscam production to those with normal expression. Bacterial or viral


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challenges were done to examine if Dscam mutant adults have an increased susceptibility to specific pathogens. Dscam mutants showed no increased suspectibility to Staphylococcus aureus challenge. However, Dscam mutants may be susceptible to Drosophila X Virus (DXV) challenge. A modest accumulation of virus protein was observed in Dscam mutants as compared to wildtype. The hemocytes from Dscam mutant larvae were also visualized after a wound event; the hemocytes did not have a decrease in aggregation to the wound site. My preliminary evidence suggests that Dscam may be important for clotting at the wound site and in the regulation of melanization.

Watson, F.L., Puttmann-Holgado R., Thomas, F., Lamar, D.L., Hughes, M., Kondo, M., Rebel, V.I., & Schmucker, D. (2005). Extensive Diversity of Ig-Superfamily Proteins in the Immune System of Insects. Science, 309:1874-78

Mentor: Dr. Louisa Wu IBBR, CBMG

Ashley Birkedal, Wake Forest University

‘Perceiving the Ideal:’ Edith Wharton and the Unrealistic Portrayal of Women in Art

In her seventy-five years of life, Edith Wharton took on many roles: a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist, short story writer, horticulturist, and world traveler. However, readers and critics alike often pay little attention to Wharton’s life-long interest in the visual arts. Not only did her allusions to well-known artists often aid in crafting her character and class descriptions, but also her familiarity with art became the basis for some the most prevalent themes in her work. To the young Edith Wharton, her world was a sphere of artistic starvation where the true artist was frowned upon as unfit for polite society. This sentiment translated to her writing in which she often criticizes the brand of artists who were accepted by society and the compromises that they must make for their acceptance, particularly in their depiction of the ideal woman.

Mentor: Dr. William Moss

Kenneth A. Black, Virginia Tech

Reshape, Inform, Inspire: Pallet Reuse as a Design Medium (Co-Presenter Ross McFarland)

Excerpt from academic journal publication by Dr. Elizabeth Grant, advisor to our project: "As the world population grows and urbanizes, faculty at schools of architecture are increasingly being asked to tackle issues of sustainability. To that end, this paper describes a pedagogical approach we have undertaken at the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech in our third-year undergraduate design lab that attempts to integrate these concepts with the workings of the design process. This paper presents the process and results of a competition initiated by the Town of Blacksburg that asks the question, 'What can be done with used pallets, one of the most prevalent waste products of our globalized and industrialized culture?' ... Reuse of Pallets in Full Form The winning entry in this category was designed by two of our students, Kenneth Black and Ross McFarland. They embraced the idea of sustainability not merely in the reuse of pallets, but throughout the work. Their entry was an articulated system of pallets arranged in three dimensions to form an integrated garden system for small urban lots." A copy of the entire journal essay is attached. Please reference pages 1-5 for a longer description of the project premise and a more detailed look at our project specifically.

Mentor: Elizabeth Grant


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Jessica Bodford,

University of North Carolina

Potential Moderators of the Relationship Between Religiosity and Alcohol Use in College Students

The purpose of this study was to identify the conditions under which public religiosity (i.e., outwardly visible forms of religious involvement) does not protect against college-age drinking as effectively as private religiosity due to its social nature. Past research has found that religiosity is a significant deterrent of alcohol use across all age groups when measured as a composite of private and public manifestations; however, because adolescent drinking is closely tied to the social atmosphere inherent in college settings little research has examined emerging adult alcohol use in relation to public religiosity alone. Underage students enrolled in a southeast public university (n = 230, 60% female) completed an online assessment of parent and peer relationships, alcohol use, and religiosity. Analyses indicated that the significantly negative correlation between religiosity and alcohol use was distinctly moderated by a number of factors spanning social and religious domains. These moderating variables are discussed in further detail, as are possible explanations for their influence on college-age drinking. This study concludes with strengths and limitations in design and operationalization of constructs as well as directions for future research.

Mentor: Dr. Andrea Hussong

Dana Boebinger, Florida State University

Are implicit learning abilities in music and language related?

One active area of psycholinguistics research seeks to determine whether language acquisition occurs through domain-specific processes or domain-general processes. One strategy for investigating this question is through the comparative use of language and music: each is a complex system in which basic auditory elements are combined in hierarchical sequences governed

by abstract rules. To understand either language or music, a person must learn these syntactic rules and generalize them to new situations. This study used an artificial grammar learning paradigm to investigate whether people learn and process musical and linguistic syntax similarly, and whether there is a correlation between a person’s ability to learn complex grammatical systems in multiple modalities. The effect of previous musical experience on sequence learning was also examined. Results showed no correlation between learning ability in language and music. The implications of these results are discussed.

Mentor: Dr. Michael Kaschak

Tim Brady, Wake Forest University

The Effect of Breathing Frequency on Baroreceptor Sensitivity

Diminished baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) has been associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Studies suggest that BRS may be influenced by breathing frequency; however, most studies have been conducted without control of breathing frequency and none has compared the effects of different breathing frequencies with spontaneous (non-paced) breathing on BRS. To compare BRS measured during spontaneous, 6 and 15 breaths per minute. 32 healthy 18-25 year olds recruited from the Wake Forest Community obtained informed consent according to institutional guidelines. Continuous measurement of blood pressure and ECG were made using a CNAP device and Biopac system for 5-minute intervals of spontaneous and paced (6 bpm and 15 bpm) breathing, the order of which was randomly assigned. BRS was determined in both time (BRS_tot) and frequency (α-LF and α-HF) domains using Nevrokard Software. Within group comparisons were made using the Friedman Test for related samples. 30 subjects (16 M) had valid BRS data across the 3 breathing conditions. Values are expressed as median (minimum, maximum). Analyses revealed that α-LF was significantly different among the 3 breathing conditions with 15 bpm [20.00 (6.55, 166.0)] < spontaneous [29.13 (9.9, 178.2)] < 6 bpm [34.83 (16.2, 143.5)]. For α-HF, only the 15 bpm [31.1 (7.1, 261.7)] and spontaneous [43.3 (9.7, 208.4)] conditions differed. BRS_tot did not differ


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significantly among breathing conditions. The results suggest that spontaneous breathing yields different BRS values vs. paced breathing, supporting the need to standardize breathing frequency in clinical studies of BRS.

Mentor: Dr. Pat Nixon

Emily Bray, Duke University

Social, Physical, and Emotional Factors Affecting Inhibitory Control in Dogs

Comparative psychologists believe that inhibitory control is central to many problems that animals solve and thus examine different species’ ability to resist tempting, impulsive responses in favor of more difficult, adaptive behaviors. One interesting question is whether an individual’s capacity for inhibitory control is stable across contexts, and potentially domain general, or varied across decision types, and potentially domain specific. To explore this question, I tested dogs’ abilities to regulate their impulsivity across physical, social, and emotional contexts. In a detour task, I investigated if dogs would suppress their desire to walk straight toward food behind a transparent barrier in favor of a less direct but more fruitful path. Additionally, I used an A-not-B task to study if dogs were able to inhibit their desire to go to a place where they had been previously rewarded after watching food moved to a novel location. In the social domain, dogs were taught the reputations of a stingy and generous experimenter, then confronted with a situation in which the stingy experimenter offered (but ultimately withheld) more food than the generous experimenter (who continued to share). The research question was whether dogs could inhibit the desire to approach a larger quantity of food that was unobtainable in favor of a smaller, but realizable reward. Finally, using a within-subjects design, I compared dogs’ abilities to bypass a transparent fence and approach a researcher, thereby creating temporary distance between themselves and food, when being addressed in a monotone (baseline condition) versus excited (arousal condition) voice.

Mentor: Drs. Brian Hare and Stephen Mitroff

Travis Byington, Duke University

The hierarchical freezing of an aperiodic tiling

A novel result in tiling theory is exploited to construct a two-dimensional lattice model with neighbor and next-nearest neighbor interactions that is known to have a limit-periodic ground state. We show that during a slow quench from a high temperature, disordered phase, this system reaches its ground state through an infinite hierarchy of second-order phase transitions. By defining appropriate order parameters, we further show that these transitions are identical up to renormalizations of the temperature scale and interaction energy. For any finite quench rate, there is found to be an eventual simultaneous freezing of multiple levels of the system, due to the increasing scale of the renormalization. The resulting kinetic barriers induce a glass-like state of locked-in disorder.

Mentor: Dr. Joshua E. S. Socolar


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Matthew E. Caplan, University of Virginia

Scattering by Black Hole Binaries and the Final Parsec Problem

The current model of galaxy formation predicts that galactic mergers should be common. Furthermore, most, if not all, galaxies contain a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in their nucleus. If galaxy mergers are common, then we should also expect that SMBH binaries will form in the nuclei of the merger products. To date, few binaries have been observed but their detection would have major implications in astrophysics and gravitational wave observations. The small number of known binaries prompts the belief that SMBH binaries are short lived, and merge in ~108 years. Current models of binary coalescence describe binaries that exchange energy and angular momentum with surrounding matter, causing the binary orbit to decay. It is believed that episodic replenishment of the loss cone provides the matter to drive this decay. This research investigates the gravitational scattering of stars from a massive binary during these replenishment events. A numerical simulation written in C was used to construct a catalog of asymptotic structure produced by scattering a ring of particles from a massive binary. The n-body gravitational interaction of the two members of binary with individual stars was treated as a restricted 3-problem; the binary was self-gravitating, unperturbed by the test particles, while the stars only interacted gravitationally with the binary. This 2+1-body simulation was used to study the scattering structure from binaries with a variety of orbital parameters; simple stable binary orbits were produced by systematically varying the mass ratio and eccentricity of a symmetric circular orbit.

Mentor: Professor William Saslaw

Laura Grace Carroll, Wake Forest University

Health Education in Kenya

“Sub-Saharan Africa has 24% of the world’s disease burden, but is addressed with less than 1% of the world’s health care spending”-Nick Kristof, Half the Sky

With this information in mind, the idea for me to study Health Communication, particularly in the education system in Kenya was developed and implemented. With the desire to spend my time doing something worthwhile and beneficial for the people of Kenya, I began to explore health concerns around the community. This research is focused primarily in a rural area near the base of Mount Kenya, where 20,000 people depend on one health clinic and the idea of Health Education on precautionary topics is extremely new. Though the idea began with researching how health concerns were communicated, it quickly evolved as I realized that health concerns were scarcely communicated or mentioned at all. The three main areas of research were Samaria Health Center, the local clinic that treats the sick throughout the community; Mapema Primary School and Mountain Star Academy, two local elementary schools where the trial “Health Seminars” were tested and successful; and starting a Community Development Center that will continue to encourage healthy lifestyles and provide educational books and references regarding health concerns. The focal point of my time and research ended up being educating children on basic preventative health concerns that they could initiate, and the beneficial effects of these throughout the community.

Mentor: Dr. Alessandra Beasley Von Burg

Okello Carter, Boston College

A People without a Country: Filipino Nationals and the 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act

The 1935 Filipino Repatriation Act (FRA) was passed in order to facilitate the repatriation of Filipino nationals in America, by offering free travel to the Philippines at the expense of the American government. Supported primarily by American nativists who wanted to restrict Filipino immigration, the FRA was an attempt to remove and exclude America’s Filipino population despite being presented as an act of humanitarianism toward impoverished Filipinos. Although the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimated that the law would successfully repatriate ten to fifteen thousand Filipinos, by 1940


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only 2,064 took advantage of the legislation after it had already been extended three times. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the American government’s failed attempt to repatriate Filipino nationals; it argues that the FRA was a unique combination of voluntary repatriation and compulsory deportation and was largely rejected by the Filipino community as a result of that combination.

Mentor: Professor Arissa Oh

Spencer Carter-Carpenter,

Wake Forest University

Jumping performance of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) across a size gradient

Some fishes may temporarily become stranded on land due to efforts to escape predation, find resources, or escape poor water quality. While adult mangrove rivulus and mosquito fish are capable of tail-flipping to produce directed movements on land, adult largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) do not seem to possess this ability. We hypothesized that scaling of body mass versus muscle cross-sectional area may result in a threshold size, above which fish are unable to jump or attempt to tail-flip on land. We examined the relationship between body size and jumping ability in juvenile largemouth bass, hypothesizing that the propensity to jump and jump distance would decrease with increasing body size. Individual fish (n = 9) were placed in the center of a kiddie pool and allowed to voluntarily jump for two minutes; all movements were recorded with a video camera (60 fps) above the pool. Videos were quantifed in ImageJ for: number of jumps, average and maximum jump distance, jump trajectory, and other movements. Trajectories were variable, but clustered around 180 degrees, indicating that bass tended to jump over their tail. Linear regressions showed that neither number of jumps nor jump distance were correlated with increasing body length or mass, though there was a nonsignificant trend of decreasing maximum jump distance as body length increased. Regardless of body length or mass, juvenile largemouth bass spent proportionally more time flipping, bouncing, rolling, or twisting their body than jumping, suggesting

that bass of any size possess limited capacity for producing directed terrestrial movements.

Mentor: Drs. Miriam Ashley-Ross and Benjamin Perlman

Meredith L. Cole, Justin A. Arnosky, Beryl A. Walker, Simone Newhoff, Clemson University

A Novel method for Assessing Horse-Rider Biomechanics in Hippotherapy

Hippotherapy is a rehabilitation therapy that utilizes a horse as a moving platform for the treatment of physical or neurological conditions. The patient is placed on the horse’s back and performs activities while the horse is led around an arena. The motion that the horse provides is a crucial part of the treatment, yet the biomechanical interaction between horse and rider in hippotherapy is largely unknown. It is known that the horse’s movement provides passive stimulation to the patient’s muscles as the patient compensates for the horse’s movement and works to maintain his or her balance. Previous studies have found that conformational aspects affect the movement of the equine back and that the rider is directly influenced by the motion in the horses back. The purpose of this experiment was to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between horse and rider kinematics during hippotherapy. A Biometrics motion system (SG150, Gwent, United Kingdom) was used to measure the spine (thoracic and lumbar) and hip joint (abduction and flexion) angles of the rider while the horse was led on a straight path at the walk. A video capture motion analysis system (Casio Exilim Pro F1, Casio America, Dover, NJ) was used to capture the horse’s motion at 300 frames per second. Results show that the horse produces cyclical motion in monitored joints corresponding to the stride phase and that repeatable motion analysis data collection was possible for both horse and rider with this methodology.

Mentor: Dr. John D. DesJardins


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Laura K. Craig, Virginia Tech

Obesity and Income within the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News MSA

Obesity is a multifaceted issue, there is not a universal cause for obesity, but there could be a correlation between certain factors and obesity. This report details the possible relationship between obesity and income related factors such as; food stamp recipient percentages, health insurance coverage by income, educational attainment, and food desert locations. These indicators are all income related, and data from the Center for Disease Control was used for information on obesity percentages of the adult population. The areas studied were seven localities within the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News MSA. Data was derived from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey, US Department of Agriculture, and the Center for Disease Control. All of the localities with median household incomes under $50,000 had obese populations of over 30%. The exception was Suffolk, Virginia which had a median household income over $50,000 and one of the top four highest percentages of obese adults. The localities that displayed the highest correlation between obesity and income related determinants were Norfolk and Portsmouth. Both Norfolk and Portsmouth had obese populations of over 30%, median household incomes under $50,000, over 20% of their low income households lacked health insurance, and less than 15% of their populations had attained Bachelor’s degrees.

Mentor: Dr. Ted Koebel

Joel Dixon, Clemson University

Issues Hindering the Development of Chinese Intellectual Property Protection in Architecture

This paper seeks to understand why many architectural construction works in the People’s Republic of China are the direct result of copying and design theft. To answer this question, this study, partially supported by the Creative Inquiry program, examines the factors inhibiting the development and protection of intellectual property rights of architectural works in Mainland China.

Through an extensive cross-disciplinary process of systematic literature reviews, interviews, and direct observations made during a summer-study in China, the findings recognize the lack of scholarly information on the topic and seek to establish a framework grounded on the comparative empirical data of computer software copyrights and patents. The influencing factors explore the structural and language issues within Chinese Copyright Law and find that inconsistent interpretation and unreliable enforcement result. The study investigates societal, political, and economic factors in China, concluding that both historical influences and contemporary capitalistic culture motivate infringing behavior. While enforcement of building architecture and software copyrights have definite deficiencies, success in patent protection provides an outline for better intellectual property (IP) defense and gives reason to believe that the state of intellectual property development is changing. For works of architecture to achieve full copyright protection, the existing laws and civil enforcement system must be enhanced and coupled with a centralized government agency to act as a mobilizing instrument for architecture-specific intellectual property enforcement. This study concludes by outlining the necessary changes to create such an agency and reduce the high level of IP-infringing behavior.

Mentor: Dr. Michael Morris

Ian Ergui, University of Miami

Effects of Cocaine Use on Genomic Methylation

Tax payers in the United States will pay 24.11 billion dollars in 2011 to combat the sale and use of illegal narcotics. With almost half of all drug related emergency room visits attributed to cocaine use and 27.5 percent of prisoners admitting to being cocaine users, it is obvious that better treatments for addiction are needed to address these issues.

I investigated the epigenetic changes that occur in the Striatum region of the brain, as a result of cocaine use. Epigenetics is the study of how the environment interacts with one’s genome. More specifically, I studied how cocaine use affects genomic methylation. Methylation is an epigenetic


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mechanism in which methyl groups are either added (hypermethylation) or removed (hypomethylation) from areas of the genome. By engaging in certain behaviors, such as using cocaine, I hypothesized that one would directly affect methylation patterns in their genome.

After treating mice with either saline, an acute dose of cocaine, or a chronic dose of cocaine, Striatum DNA was extracted and isolated for methylation analysis. DNA was then run on a microarray and differential methylation was analyzed.

The microarray data indicated that cocaine use did cause changes in methylation in regions of the genome of Striatum cells. Since the Striatum is one of the reward centers of the brain, and it is thought that changes in the plasticity of Striatium synapses directly affects addiction, alteration in methylation as a result of drug use may play a role in addiction.

Mentor: Dr. Juan I Young

Jordan Ferguson, NC State University

Hedgehog Signaling Controls Intestinal Malrotation and Epithelial Cell Development in Xenopus laevis

During the development of the digestive tract, the intestine must rotate in a specific direction in order to create proper anatomy. Intestinal malrotation affects 1 in 500 births, and predisposes affected babies to life-threatening complications. It has been shown that disruption of hedgehog signaling can cause intestinal malrotation in mouse models. However, the specific mechanism by which Hedgehog affects intestinal rotation is still unknown. The morphogenesis of the intestinal epithelium occurs coincident with intestinal rotation. I hypothesized that Hedgehog is a controlling gene in epithelial cell arrangement, shape and viability during intestinal rotation. In order to assess the role of Hedgehog in epithelial cell development, developing Xenopus laevis embryos were exposed to either cyclopamine, a chemical which inhibits Hedgehog signaling, or purmorphamine, which activates inappropriate Hedgehog signaling, to generate models of intestinal malrotation. Immunohistochemistry was then used to visualize the development of abnormally rotating guts at a molecular and

cellular level. Both compounds affect the formation of the intestinal lumen, as well as intestinal epithelial cell shape, and adhesion. Cyclopamine caused an enlarged lumen with an abnormally wide gut tube, while those embryos treated with purmorphamine had a narrow gut tube with a loss of lumen. These results suggest that Hedgehog signaling controls intestinal rotation by regulating the size of the gut lumen, and the shape and adhesion of intestinal epithelial cells. Therefore, one of the root causes of intestinal malrotation may be changes in cell shape, adhesion, and lumen development, possibly caused by abnormal Hedgehog signaling.

Mentor: Dr. Nanette Nascone-Yoder

Ryan Folio, Boston College

Confessions of the Lebanese Media: Media Coverage of Ethnic-Religious Communities in Beirut

In the wake of the Arab Spring, scholars have become increasingly concerned with the study of media as a means to understand conflict. Protesters have demonstrated that media systems are not simply dependent upon the influence of their governments, but can also play an independent role in shaping their countries’ political futures. The ACC-IAC Grant for Thesis Research allowed me to research the relationship between Lebanon’s highly sectarian confessional political system and the country’s media outlets. Over the course of four weeks, I lived in Beirut and conducted translations on a range of issues including NATO intervention in Libya, the Syrian uprising, and Iran. My project illustrates how media studies can provide a lens for viewing the different narratives presented by opposition members and government supporters in Syria’s modern crisis.

Mentor: Professor Kathy Bailey


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Ryan Ford, Wake Forest University

Examining the Role of Nucleus Accumbens Serotonin 2A And 2B Receptors On Food-Seeking Behavior In The Rat

Previous research suggests that serotonin signaling within the brain affects food intake and satiety processes. Recently, we have shown that select serotonin (5-HT) receptors located in the nucleus accumbens impact food seeking and consumption. Specifically, activation of the 5-HT6 receptor increases feeding and food-seeking behaviors, while the co-stimulation of 5-HT1/7 receptors decreases food-seeking behaviors. These experiments extended previous work by assessing the roles of 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors in the nucleus accumbens on appetitive motivation. We examined the effects of bilateral nucleus accumbens infusions of the 5-HT 2A receptor agonist TCB2 (at 0, 1, 5, & 10 µg/side), the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist kentanserin (at 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.5 µg/side), the 5-HT2B agonist BW 723C86 (at 0, 2, and 5 µg/side) and the 5-HT2B antagonist RS 127445 (at 0, 2, and 5 µg/side) on food-seeking behaviors in rats trained on a progressive ratio 2 (PR2) schedule of reinforcement. Changes in food-seeking behavior were compared using each rat’s breakpoint across several doses of each drug. The breakpoint was defined as the maximum number of times each rat lever pressed in order to receive a sugar pellet. Neither stimulation nor blockade of the 5-HT2A or 5-HT2B receptors dose-dependently altered progressive ratio performance. These data suggest that, unlike the 5-HT6 and 5-HT1/7 receptors, 5-HT2A&2B receptors of the nucleus accumbens do not regulate appetitive motivation for food reward.

Mentor: Dr. Wayne Pratt

Kristen H. Fowler, Virginia Tech

The Tango: A Modern Interpretation

The Tango: A Modern Interpretation The tango is a rhythmically complex and extremely passionate Latin American dance with a very distinct style. In this presentation, the compositional process of creating a stylized tango for a saxophone quartet

will be discussed. In addition to an oral presentation of this research, a saxophone quartet from the Department of Music will perform the work. This study explores the history, instrumentation, and musical characteristics of the tango, focusing on the works of Astor Piazzolla, a composer well-respected for his tangos. The research methods used include researching the history of the tango and its aspects of style, musical score study to analyze harmonic structures, listening to recordings to understand the characteristics of style, and composing at the piano and experimenting with aspects of the dance discovered through research. Inspired by the bandoneón, an accordion-like instrument often featured in tangos, it was decided that the saxophone quartet would be an appropriate modern instrumentation because of the ensemble’s ability to blend exceptionally well with a very rich sound. The composition features traditional harmonic structures and stylistic components of the tango with the exception of a few modern compositional techniques including sudden, unexpected modulations and exciting flourishes throughout.

Mentor: Kent Holliday

Brian Eugene Gaudio,

NC State University

"Que lo Que's Asset-Based Community Inventory"

This innovative community-based research initiative combined community organizing, asset-based development, and information-design. Beginning with a literature review on sustainable development methods at North Carolina State University, the research team applied this knowledge of asset-based methodologies in the summer of 2011 while studying in the Dominican Republic (DR). Working with residents from the rural village Las Lajas, DR, the research team facilitated the creation and implementation of an asset-based community survey to highlight and document the skillets of individuals living in Las Lajas. A team of volunteers from the village created and conducted 136 interviews with adults in the community and hosted two youth camps to collect information. Using the survey data, the research team created a "skill directory,"


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chronicling the skills individuals possessed and the skills they sought to learn. This directory could be used by residents of Lajas to create youth development programs.

Mentor: Professor Thomas Barrie

Aileen L. Giordano, University of Virginia

Revising the Legacy of the Old South: The Evolution of Faulkner’s Depiction of Race and Racism in The Unvanquished

I am studying the revision of the six short stories, “Ambuscade”, “Retreat”, “Raid”, “The Unvanquished”, “Vendée”, and “Drusilla”, which were ultimately compiled into William Faulkner’s novel, The Unvanquished. My research has consisted of a careful study and comparison of the manuscript, typescript, magazine, and novel versions of these stories. My primary goal in examining these texts is to elucidate the evolution of Faulkner’s depiction of race and the legacy of the Old South by studying modifications in Faulkner’s employment of racial stereotypes, dialect, and nostalgic representations of plantation life in subsequent versions of these texts. More broadly, I am studying the vacillations in the tone with which Faulkner addresses the Southern past, from elegiac, to defensive, to condemnatory. There are two original aspects to my work. Firstly, the extensive catalogue of surviving documents pertaining to The Unvanquished make these stories a particularly rich way to study Faulkner's composition practice since these primary sources provide an archeological record of Faulkner’s creative process. Surprisingly, these primary materials have received very little attention from Faulkner scholars. Secondly, while Faulkner's depictions of race and slavery have been well studied in many of his other novels, few critics have looked closely at how these themes are treated in The Unvanquished. Ultimately, by studying Faulkner’s process of creation and revision, I have gleaned insight into Faulkner’s conflicted position as both a proud heir to the Southern legacy and a modern artist struggling with the injustice and racism which are seemingly inextricable from this inheritance.

Mentor: Professor Stephen Railton

Bethany Gregory, Virginia Tech

The influence of the bacterial endophyte Burkholderia phytofirmans (strain PsJN) on growth, leaf gas exchange and drought tolerance of Switchgrass Alamo

Switchgrass is one of the most promising bionergy crop candidates for the US. It gives relatively high biomass yields and can grow on marginal lands. The overall goal of this research is to develop a low input and sustainable switchgrass feedstock production system utilizing beneficial bacterial endophytes. Beneficial microbial endophytes, generally, promote plant growth, increase nutrient uptake, enhance host tolerance to environmental stresses, and inhibit the growth of plant pathogens and associated diseases. We have demonstrated that one plant growth-promoting bacterial endophyte, Burkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN, is able to colonize and significantly promote the growth of switchgrass Alamo. However, the physiological mechanisms responsible for the enhanced growth are unclear. In this study we measured three endophyte infected and three control switchgrass plants for leaf gas exchange (photosynthesis, transpiration, leaf conductance) during a simulated drought in the greenhouse. Leaf water potentials during the “drought” were measured using a pressure chamber. Following the “drought”, plants were harvested for above ground biomass. Endophtye infected plants consistently had lower leaf transpiration and conductance; however, photosynthetic rates were lower. Water use efficiency was greater in endophyte infected plants.

Mentor: John R. Seiler, Alumni Distinguished Professor Forest Biology


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Andrew B. Hall, Virginia Tech

Identify-Y: A novel computational method for the discovery of Y chromosome sequences

Y chromosomes are exceptionally important, but are characterized in only a few model organisms. Computational methods for discovering Y chromosome sequences rely on leftovers of assembly, and are ill suited for low quality genomes. We report Identify-Y, a simple and fast in silico algorithm to discover Y chromosome sequences independent of assembly quality. Identify-Y classifies sequences into one of three categories by calculating the chromosome quotient, the frequency of alignments from a female next-generation sequencing database, divided by the frequency of alignments from a male next-generation sequencing database. Autosomal sequences are present in the same number in males and females and have a chromosome quotient near one. X chromosome sequences are twice as numerous in females as in males and have a chromosome quotient near two. Y chromosome sequences are only present in males and have a chromosome quotient near zero. We found a region of chromosome quotients near zero, distinct from the chromosome quotients of autosome and X chromosome sequences that are highly enriched for Y chromosome sequences. In the malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi, we report the identification of 462 Y chromosome sequences. One of the Y chromosome sequences was discovered to contain an expressed sox transcription factor gene, making it the second mosquito Y chromosome gene ever found.

Mentor: Jake Tu

Lauren Hock, Clemson University

Why Obesity?: The Actor Observer Bias in Attributions for Obesity

It is by now common knowledge that the social and economic costs of obesity thrust an enormous burden on the U.S. health care system. This study investigates the consequences of social stigmatization of obesity: namely, normal and overweight individuals’ attitudes toward obesity and attributions, or causal explanations, made for

their own and others’ obesity. 65 adults (23 males and 42 females) participated in the study. Analysis of quantitative survey measures of implicit and explicit attitudes of normal (BMI<25) and overweight (BMI≥25) individuals supported the existence of an actor-observer bias in attributions for obesity. Normal and overweight individuals were equally likely to make internal, or trait-based, attributions for the obesity of others, but overweight individuals were significantly more likely to make external, or situation-based, attributions for their own weight status. Overall, women were significantly more likely than men to make external attributions for their own weight status. However, 85% of participants demonstrated a strong or moderate implicit preference for thin persons over obese persons, suggesting the strength and prevalence of inherent stigmas towards obese persons. This study also addressed the effect of fitness-related media messages on individuals’ health locus of control, in this case the degree to which they believed their weight status to be the result of their own actions rather than environmental factors. However, the pattern of findings for this part of the study was unclear, suggesting the need for further investigation of this effect. This work was supported by an ACCIAC Fellowship in Creativity & Innovation.

Mentor: Dr. Robin Kowalski, Ph.D.

Bryant Huang, University of Miami

The Epidemiological and Health Transition of Obesity in Hong Kong: Socioeconomic Determinants of Diet, Nutrition, and Lifestyle in the 21st Century

Historically, obesity has been localized to developed countries with high socioeconomic statuses (SES). In recent years, however, obesity has become a significant and increasing global health epidemic in both developed and developing countries. In Hong Kong, the prevalence of obesity has increased from 5% in the 1990’s to over 30% today. Due to the fact that obesity is a chronic disease associated with an increase in risk of morbidity and mortality, developing appropriate interventions ought to be more widely recognized as a public health priority in Hong Kong. At the most basic level, obesity is due to an imbalance of


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food energy intake and expenditure. Increasing evidence, however, implicates other factors associated with diet, nutrition, and lifestyle. What, then, are the drivers that shape these factors? Much of the literature details the biomedical basis for obesity, yet few researchers have studied obesity in Hong Kong in context of SES. Consequently, to better understand the patterns and trends of the rising obesity phenomenon, this project examines the distribution and determinants of obesity in Hong Kong by analyzing the association between obesity and two indicators of SES – living standards (as measured by gross national income per capita) and education (as measured by mean years of schooling). Specifically, this study uses annual reports released by the UN Development Programme and the Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department to look at how socioeconomic determinants create micro and macro environments that influence diet, nutrition, and lifestyle to ultimately shape the prevalence of obesity in Hong Kong.

Mentor: Dr. Sherri L. Porcelain

Brice I Hwang,

Georgia Institute of Technology

GFP Chromophores as Fluorescence Ligands for Detection and Activation of Nuclear Receptors

The objective of this project is to engineer the ligand binding domain of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR γ) and other nuclear receptors (NR) to bind and activate transcription by green fluorescent protein (GFP) chromophore. Binding of the GFP chromophores can be a valuable tool for detecting the expression pattern of PPAR γ and other nuclear receptors in human cells. The use of GFP chromophore as NR ligands provide a unique opportunity to use sensitive fluorescence techniques to detect NR patterns, to understand the interactions between protein and nuclear receptor, and to potentially develop a new class of nuclear receptor drugs that can help treat cancer or diabetes. Nuclear receptors are a family of ligand-activated transcription factors that are involved in a number of diverse roles in biological and physiological pathways, such as development, cell differentiation and homeostasis. Nuclear receptors are proteins which comprise of a DNA

binding domain (DBD) and a ligand-binding domain (LBD). The DBD binds to a DNA response element, and ligands bind to the LBD which contains a ligand-dependent transcriptional activation region that initiates transcription of a specific gene. Once the ligands bind to the LBD, the LBD goes through a conformational change causing the transcription activation function region to turn on. A wide variety of nuclear receptors exist and each NR regulates specific biological and physiological pathways.

Mentor: Dr. Bahareh Azizi

Kanav Jain, Georgia Institute of Technology

Permutations of short sRNA segments for sRNA-mRNA interaction study

Small RNA (sRNA) segments in bacteria have been found to bind to the 5’ leader region of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and regulate the translation that follows the start codon. In turn, sRNA-mRNA interaction is modulated in numerous ways by Hfq, a hexameric sRNA-binding protein. In one case, DsrA sRNA is thought to bind to the leader region of the RpoS stress-sigma factor mRNA in order to regulate its translation. However, when the pair is run through partition-function-based interaction site prediction software RNAup (http://rna.tbi.univie.ac.at/cgi-bin/RNAup.cgi), the lowest free energy site found in silico does not match that found in vivo and in vitro. Permutational stem loop mutations made in the software analysis – i.e., running every possible set of nucleotides for the length of one side of hairpin stem I in place of the wt DsrA – returned an accurate binding location for select permutations. Hfq could be the factor destabilizing the hairpin stems, and this could be checked in vitro; in melting curve analyses, 1.5 µM Hfq was found to lower the Tm of DsrA domain I from 62°C to 51°C. The permutation algorithm can easily be extended to more cases to ultimately determine which mutations will ultimately modulate translation.

Mentor: Dr. Roger Wartell


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Zakery James, Clemson University

Personality, Communication Apprehension and Facebook: A Study of Well-Being and Relational Closeness Outcomes

The goal of this study was to assess whether the utilization of Facebook.com independently affects interpersonal relationship closeness and psychosocial well-being. Communication apprehension and personality type were the primary variables tested. FacebookThe goal of this study was to assess whether the utilization of Facebook.com independently affects interpersonal relationship closeness and psychosocial well-being. Communication apprehension and personality type were the primary variables tested. The rapid growth and utilization of the medium along with increasing rates of depression and loneliness have targeted Facebook as a possible scapegoat for increasing social isolation, depression, and other poor psychosocial well-being outcomes. Various hypotheses have been proposed concerning Facebook’s effect on interpersonal communication and mental health, and are examined individually. From the literature review, several research questions and hypotheses were proposed. Cross-sectional data was collected using an IRB-approved survey instrument testing for personality type, communication apprehension, Facebook utilization, mental health, and relationship closeness. There were 156 participants and data was analyzed using IBM SPSS data analysis software. No direct statistically significant correlation between independent Facebook use and mental health was supported. Facebook was utilized primarily by extraverts, and in accordance with the Stimulation and Social Enhancement Hypotheses, a correlation was observed between Facebook utilization and enhanced relationship closeness. Communication apprehension was also correlated with poor mental health outcomes and certain personality types. Although Facebook may not independently be a causal factor for poor psychosocial well-being outcomes, it may be an enabling or reinforcing factor if employed by individuals expressing communication apprehension characteristics. Facebook may further enhance relationship closeness, especially when utilized by extraverts. is a social networking website that has become a ubiquitous facet of

contemporary communication. The rapid growth and utilization of the medium along with increasing rates of depression and loneliness have targeted Facebook as a possible scapegoat for increasing social isolation, depression, and other poor psychosocial well-being outcomes. Various hypotheses have been proposed concerning Facebook’s effect on interpersonal communication and mental health, and are examined individually. From the literature review, several research questions and hypotheses were proposed. Cross-sectional data was collected using an IRB-approved survey instrument testing for personality type, communication apprehension, Facebook utilization, mental health, and relationship closeness. There were 156 participants and data was analyzed using IBM SPSS data analysis software. No direct statistically significant correlation between independent Facebook use and mental health was supported. Facebook was utilized primarily by extraverts, and in accordance with the Stimulation and Social Enhancement Hypotheses, a correlation was observed between Facebook utilization and enhanced relationship closeness. Communication apprehension was also correlated with poor mental health outcomes and certain personality types. Although Facebook may not independently be a causal factor for poor psychosocial well-being outcomes, it may be an enabling or reinforcing factor if employed by individuals expressing communication apprehension characteristics. When utilized by extraverts, Facebook may further enhance relationship closeness.

Mentor: Joseph Mazer, Ph.D.

Victoria S. James, Virginia Tech

Después de la guerra; An Examination of Argentina´s Dirty War and Political History as a Post-Conflict Society

How did La Guerra Sucia impact Argentine political history as a post-conflict society? La guerra sucia, or ‘Dirty War’, of the 1970’s and 80’s represents one of the darkest periods in Argentine and human history. The War, which included the kidnapping, torture and murder of thousands of Argentines and foreigners, remains relatively unacknowledged in modern Argentine society. Why? My objectives were to explore the political


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implications and decisions surrounding the current comprehension and acknowledgement of the Dirty War. The Argentine presidential administrations which I researched are: Raul Alfonsin, Carlos Menem and the Kirchners. I examined each politician’s policy decisions and legislation in reaction to the decades following the Dirty War. The goal of conducting this research was to gain a better understanding of the Dirty War, identify the government's reactionary policy and lessons learned by Argentina as a post-conflict society. The methods used during this research were to examine the historical and scholarly literature, news reports and interviews which discuss the Dirty War and the stories of the political prisoners. Argentina still suffers a great deal of political amnesia and continues to experience widespread corruption; however, as a post-conflict society, it has begun to accept and memorialize what occurred during the Dirty War and empowers its citizens and political institutions with knowledge and power to prevent another 'Dirty War' in the future.

Mentor: Dr. Jason Weidner

Shibani D. Kansara,


Above and Beyond, Again and Again: A Model of OCB, Motive Fulfillment, and Feedback

In daily life, it is difficult to examine how people go about succeeding in the things that they do. What distinguishes successful people from those who struggle to move forward in their careers or other endeavors? Of course, the answer differs from person to person, but oftentimes, performing organizational citizenship behaviors within an organization might play a key role. Organizational citizenship behaviors can be defined as the above and beyond contributions that individuals make which are not listed in one’s job description. There has been over three decades of research on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This research has shown the value of OCBs, as well as the causes and effects of OCBs. However, there are still some research questions remaining; one of which is the motivational foundation of OCBs, especially as it pertains to ongoing OCBs and their consequences. An appropriate research site was

located in a university department of student housing. In accessing a sample of the employees of a university’s on-campus housing department, the answer to the following questions were sought:

1) How do organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) play a role in student staffmember’s actions?

2) What constitutes underlying motives behind performing these behaviors?

3) More specifically, how do the motives for performing OCBs change with time

and experience with the organization?

Many of the motives are known for they are grounded in research and theory. It is also known and can be assumed that the strength of motives can change with time and experience (Schnake, 1991).

Mentor: Dr. Charles Parsons

Harley Katz, University of Maryland

Testing for Bulk Flows and Bullet Clusters With QUMOND

While MOND has been extremely successful in galactic environments, it has been relatively unsuccessful atlarger scales. I study the effect of adding an 11eV free streaming sterile neutrino into a Modified Newtonian Dynamics simulation and determine whether recent bulk velocity measurements of galaxy clusters and the Bullet cluster pairwise velocity measurements are compatible with this new theory. This sterile neutrino has simultaneously matched the primordial angular power spectrum and provided the necessary structure growth long though impossible in a MONDian Universe. In total we have run five 11eV MOND simulations using the QUMOND code and utilize the publicly available

find that the observational bulk velocity measurements are natural within the MOND simulations, while the measurements from the

can conclude that the probability of finding a bullet

theorder of 10^-11 while this probability is roughly 10^-4 for the 11eV MOND Universe.


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Finally, we determine that the El Gordo system is a statistical impossibility in the MultiDark simulation while such a system can occur naturally in a MONDian Universe.

Mentor: Stacy McGaugh

Morgan Kayser, Florida State University

Identity: A Short Story Collection

Most people spend the majority of their young adulthood trying to find their place in the world. Some define themselves by a job, by a relationship, or by their beliefs. Others struggle to define themselves at all. My thesis project explores this struggle through a collection of three short stories. Two of these stories are written in the tradition of fantasy and magical realism, the study of which I believe is important in diversifying the literary canon, despite the fact that it is discounted by many academics. Studying and writing works of different genres gives writers a stronger academic background and more unique understanding of the craft. For my presentation, I’ll read an excerpt of my work, talk about my creative process and inspirations and do a question and answer session.

Mentor: Barbara Hamby

Haaris S. Khan, Kenneth A. Christensen, James C. Morris, Clemson University

Development of Molecular Beacons for Detection of African Trypanosome Infections

The goal of my project was to develop a device for the detection of Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, a neglected tropical disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. As the name suggests, neglected tropical diseases have been historically overlooked by the majority of researchers and drug developers, often due to a perceived lack of incentives. This oversight has had a tremendous impact on many of the world’s poorest countries. The first step

towards the treatment of these diseases is an accurate diagnosis. Currently, however, only trained technicians typically working in a clinical laboratory can diagnose these diseases, a privilege that is unavailable to most at-risk communities. The goal of this project was to develop a device that would quickly and accurately determine the presence of trypanosomal DNA. By fixing various single-stranded DNAs to a polypropylene fiber, trypanosomal DNA was detected through annealing by base pairing with a second fluorescent DNA. This signal was scored using a fluorescent microscope. This method has been shown to be able to discriminate between samples containing the trypanosomal DNA of interest, samples that contain a random sequence, and samples without any DNA. Further developments will allow for the detection of the parasite in a quick, easy, and inexpensive way. This research was possible through grants from the Calhoun Honors College and an ACCIAC fellowship.

Mentor: Dr. James Morris

Myong Joon Kim,


Study of Vertical Leg Stiffness In Asymmetrical Running

The goals of this study are to examine the following hypotheses: (a) there is a positive correlation between vertical leg stiffness and the speed and (b) each leg will exhibit the vertical leg stiffness of its own speed even in asymmetric running condition. Force is measured with a force plate under a split-belt treadmill. Vertical movement of the test subject will be collected with a reflective ball attached to his back which then imported as a point over time by VICON cameras. Six test subjects will be running on a split-belt treadmill with different speed on each leg: 2m/s on the right leg, and 3m/s on the left leg. Running velocity affects the vertical leg stiffness but the study has not been done under asymmetric running condition. From the result, statistical test will be done to verify both suggested hypotheses.

Mentor: Dr. Young-hui Chang


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Caroline Kirby,


Memorializing Shame and Defeat: Leïla Sebbar’s La Seine Était Rouge in Paris

In the wake of traumatic events, memorials serve an important role in stimulating dialogue and healing. However, at times it can seem more convenient to forget events that evoke feelings of shame. Absent from school manuals and rarely included in the public discourse, la Guerre d’Algérie (1954 – 1962) remains an open wound in the collective French memory. On the night of October 17, 1961, hundreds of peaceful protesters lost their lives in the streets of Paris after forceful repression from the police. Silence on the part of the press and the state prolonged for decades, leaving a blank in the history books for the next generation’s readers. Leïla Sebbar, in La Seine Était Rouge, attempts to construct memorials in the space of literature. Her protagonists trace the steps of the October 17 protesters in a desperate attempt to understand their struggle. Building on the work of Mildred Mortimer, I discuss Sebbar’s work as an important literary model for recovering memory. Through architectural markers and documentary filming, the characters begin to engage in dialogue about the tenuous relationship between France and Algeria. Sebbar demonstrates that this dialogue can lead to healing for past, present and future generations as violence and wrongdoings are acknowledged and understood. In my own film footage and photographs of these sites, I have attempted to build on this process. The tensions between French and Algerians that continue today are better understood by shedding light on these dark spots of the nation’s history.

Mentor: Dr. Inger Brodey

Adam S. Klett, Clemson University

Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Compositions of the Iodine-HI-Water System of the Sulfur-Iodine Cycle at Elevated Temperatures and Pressures

The Sulfur-Iodine (SI) Cycle, the world’s leading competitor for large scale hydrogen production, consists of three main steps which thermochemicaly split water into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Efficiencies of the process are very promising; however, the non-ideality and extreme corrosiveness of this system has prevented the necessary phase equilibrium measurements from being taken that are required to design an efficient process. The goal of this research was to overcome these obstacles and conduct the experiments necessary to construct a phase diagram of this complex system. With the information gained from this research, a reliable model of this system can be produced. This model would allow the design of a reactive distillation column for the SI Cycle allowing for the large scale production of hydrogen, providing an alternative to fossil fuels and a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions which contribute to global warming.

Liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) phase behavior was investigated for the hydroiodic acid-iodine-water (HI-I2-H2O) system near the high temperatures and pressures of interest for the reactive distillation column of the SI Cycle using a continuous flow apparatus with wetted parts made from tantalum-tungsten alloys. LLE compositions for all components present were determined via titration of both liquid phases at 200 °C and 850 psig. Overall HI feed compositions from 0 to 3.3 mol% were investigated. The system’s plait point was found to be near the upper concentrations investigated.

We would like to acknowledge the ACCIAC, the Calhoun Honors College at Clemson University, and the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative DE-FC07-051D14677 for funding.

Mentor: Dr. Mark C. Thies


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Andrew Koutnik, Florida State University

The effect of L-citrulline supplementation on blood pressure as well as pressure wave reflection responses during acute cold exposure with isometric exercise

Studies suggest cardiovascular disease is more prevalent in the winter months. Cold temperatures have been implicated as the potential factor associated with cardiovascular complications such as hypertension, heart attack, stroke, and fatal heart rhythms. Additionally, exposure to cold temperatures is considered an occupational hazard for those working inside cold rooms. L-citrulline (L-cit) supplementation may decrease the cold induced cardiovascular complications. We examined the effects of a 14-day course of L-cit supplementation on brachial and aortic blood pressure (BP) as well as wave reflection during acute whole body cold exposure at rest, during isometric handgrip exercise (IHG), and recovery. Sixteen young men assumed the supine position for 30min inside a cold chamber at 4ºC. After 5min of rest measurements, participants performed 3min of IHG at 30% of their maximal voluntary contraction followed by a 3min recovery period. After baseline measurements, cardiovascular function was evaluated at 4ºC before the first supplementation period. In a crossover randomized fashion, subjects were then assigned to placebo or L-cit for 14-days, followed by a 14-days washout period, and then 14-days of the second treatment. Subjects were reevaluated at the end of each 14-day period. At rest, there was a significant treatment-by-time interaction for brachial systolic BP (BSBP), aortic systolic BP (ASBP), augmentation index, and wasted left ventricular energy (ΔEw). At recovery, L-cit significantly decreased BSBP, ASBP, augmentation index, and ΔEw. These results suggest that L-cit supplementation can provide protection against adverse cardiovascular events for those exposed to cold during the winter months and occupational periods.

Mentor: Arturo Figueroa

Amanda Krueger,

Florida State University

Healthy Interior Environments in Haitian Orphanage Design

Haiti’s 2008 hurricane season destroyed upwards of 22,702 homes and damaged another 84,625, for a total of 107,327 homes and 800,000 people impacted (DCHA & OFDA, 2009). Because of the intense rain fall, floods wiped out 70% of Haiti’s crops, resulting in the deaths of malnourished, newly-homeless children following the storms (DCHA & OFDA, 2009). These factors, combined with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010, have intensified the need to provide homeless children with a timely solution to the lack of orphanage facilities. Swedish oncologist Karl-Henrik Robèrt, an internationally recognized leader on sustainable progress, developed an outline called, “The Natural Step Framework” in 1989, which considers the effects of interior finish material selection on human health. Within this framework, Dr. Robèrt suggests that multiple health problems, predominantly those of children, result from interior finish materials that we are exposed to every day (Robèrt, 2002). This framework is relevant as it relates to researching local interior finish materials in Haiti that have positive effects on orphaned children’s health, as opposed to products that will result in increased health problems. It is the goal of this thesis to examine Haiti’s natural resources and existing labor situation, investigate opportunities for newer, more sustainable interior finish building materials, and together, how they can positively impact Haitian children’s health. The findings will add to the body of knowledge concerning interior finish materials that can aid in the healthy recovery of Haitian children and their orphanages from currently untenable conditions.

Mentor: Jim Dawkins


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Michael H. Lawless, Virginia Tech

Lipid Metabolism As Target For Ovarian Cancer Prevention By Exogenous Sphingolipids

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death by cancer among women, with a low 5-year survival rate when it is detected late. Changes in the cellular metabolism contribute to cancer growth and progression, and may be good targets for the design of prevention and treatment strategies. To identify enzymes of lipid and cholesterol biosynthesis that are increased during ovarian cancer progression and are targeted by non-toxic concentrations of exogenous sphingosine. Mouse ovarian surface epithelial (MOSE) cell lines representing the progression of ovarian cancer from non-tumorigenic to an aggressive and malignant disease were treated with non-toxic concentrations of the bioactive sphingolipid metabolite sphingosine that may be responsible for the suppression of cancer by dietary sphingolipids in vivo. An Affimetrix gene array identified genes involved in lipid and cholesterol biosynthesis. Changes in the gene products were confirmed by Western Blotting and indirect immunofluorescence. Changes in enzymes of lipid and cholesterol biosynthesis were associated with ovarian cancer progression, but responded well to the treatment with sphingosine. In particular, arylsulfatase A (ARSA) is subject to a significant (p < 0.01) increase in mRNA expression levels with cancer progression, and even more so with sphingosine treatment.

Mentor: Dr. Eva Schmelz

Travis T. Lekich, NC State University

Creating Fuel From sunlight Through Metal to Metal Charge Transfer

As the world's population grows, so does its use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide output. Many have proposed use of alternative energy sources to solve this problem such as hydroelectric, wind, and solar power. These technologies are promising because they produce low-pollutant electricity; however, this electricity lacks the energy density and storability of fossil fuels. For these reasons, we are studying molecular systems

that can capture sunlight and store that energy in a chemical species such as hydrogen or methanol. To do this, we have designed a compound containing an oxygen-bridged molybdenum and titanium potentially capable of light-induced metal to metal charge transfer. This charge transfer provides high-energy electrons and holes for catalysis of unfavorable reactions such as splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.

Mentor: Dr. Walter Weare

Narintohn Luangrath, Boston College

From Sud-Ouest to Le Parisien: Portrayal of the Burqa Ban in French Print Media

International scrutiny of France following its 2011 ban of the niqab, or burqa, in public places illustrated the difficulty that many foreigners had in comprehending the ban. Understanding France’s uneasiness towards religion in the public sphere requires an understanding of the French concept of laïcité. However, the rising popularity of extreme, right-wing groups like Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front and the increasing xenophobic rhetoric, sometimes directed towards North African Muslim immigrants, is concerning. My research focused on how words can be used to stigmatize a population, and whether those words reflect mainstream attitudes and values. In Bordeaux and Paris, I studied French print media’s reportage on the burqa ban, as well as French and North African Muslims. Noting differences in the newspapers’ and magazines’ region of publication, political leaning and target audience, I examined the diction used in commentary on the ban and evaluated whether the words used contained positive, negative, or neutral connotations, while assessing possible implications that can be construed from the articles’ content.

Mentor: Professor Kenji Hayao


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Joshua L. Lucas, NC State University

Do Machines Have Prima Facie Duties?

Which moral theory should be the basis of algorithmic artificial ethical agents? In a series of papers, Michael Anderson and Susan Leigh Anderson (2006, 2007, forthcoming) argue that the answer is W.D. Rossʼs account of prima facie duties. The Andersons claim that Rossʼs account best reflects the complexities of moral deliberation, incorporates the strengths of teleological and deontological approaches, and yet is superior to both of them insofar as it allows for “needed exceptions.” We argue that the Andersons are begging the question about “needed exceptions” and defend Satisficing Hedonistic Act Utilitarianism (SHAU). SHAU initially delivers results that are just as reflective, if not more reflective than, Rossʼs account when it comes to the subtleties of moral decision-making. Furthermore, SHAU delivers the ʻrightʼ (that is, intuitively correct) judgments about well-established practical cases, reaching the same verdict as a prima facie duty-based ethic in the particular health-care case explored by the Andersons (a robot designed to know when to over-ride an elderly patientʼs autonomy).

Mentor: Dr. Gary L. Comstock

Nadine Luedicke, Elizabeth Burghardt, Melissa Dunphy, Kaitlin Grove, Molly Townsend, Clemson University

Re-Engineering Medical Training Simulators: CVC Simulator

This project focuses on re-engineering a simulator for the Central Venous Catheterization (CVC) procedure. This procedure involves inserting a catheter through one of the large veins in the neck or chest into the heart when a patient requires a large influx of drugs, such as severe trauma cases. With the target veins so close to the lungs and vital arteries, precision is necessary and imprecision is fatal. Unfortunately, it is particularly challenging for students to learn this procedure and novices often practice on live, unsuspecting patients instead of simulators currently on the market. These simulators are expensive, inconvenient, and not anatomically accurate,

which leads to improper training of students. Some of the aforementioned shortcomings with existing designs include the lack of a rotatable head, necessary anatomical landmarks for accurate needle placement, and a mechanism for proper patient orientation. Our novel design not only addresses the shortcomings of current simulators on the market but it also includes additional capabilities that have specifically been requested by clinicians. The mannequin, consisting of a torso with a rotatable head, is mounted on an inclinable platform. The area of interest is made from modified ballistics gel and includes plastic bones, stiff arteries, and expandable veins. Our training simulator is ultrasoundable and can replicate both the pulsing of the arteries and the expanding of the veins under changes in fluid pressure. In addition, our simulator comes with training software which allows for tracking of student progression.

This research was partially supported by the Creative Inquiry program.

Mentor: Delphine Dean, Jiro Nagatomi

Matthew D. Lycas, University of Virginia

Effect of Topiramate on the Reinforcing Properties of Ethanol in Wistar and P Rats

Alcoholism is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Although there are currently several approved treatments, the efficacy of each medicine is variable. Novel treatments are needed to provide relief. One promising medication is topiramate, a glutamate/gamma-aminobutyric acid modulator that has been shown to decrease drinking in both humans and animal models. While the efficacy of topiramate is believed to occur through its effects on dopamine, to date, no studies have examined this possibility. Thus, in this study we analyzed the effects of topiramate on both ethanol self-administration and changes in ethanol-induced neurotransmitter levels in order to determine the mechanism for its efficacy. Ethanol self-administration was examined under a progressive-ratio schedule to assess motivation to obtain ethanol, and neurotransmitter levels of glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine were assessed using microdialysis. In order to account for genetic


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differences, two different strains of rats were used: alcohol preferring (P) rats and their control background strain (i.e., Wistar rats). Our results show that in P rats, topiramate decreased motivation for alcohol at the 10 mg/kg dose, but was without effect at the 20 mg/kg dose. There was no effect at either dose on the level of responding in Wistar rats. Our preliminary data from the microdialysis study showed topiramate-induced alterations in the nucleus accumbens in the levels of serotonin and glutamate, but not dopamine. Its effect on serotonin appears to be significant in that the direction of change corresponds to the behavioral data.

Mentor: Dr. Wendy Lynch

Yuliya Malamud, University of Maryland

Facial Configuration and Judgment: Improving Eyewitness Identification Accuracy

The United States legal system seeks to convict the guilty and protect the innocent. However DNA exonerations prove that sometimes this system fails and innocent people are convicted. It has been shown that eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of such wrongful convictions (Innocence Project, 2011). We examine the problem of witness misidentification by assessing current lineup procedures in light of cognitive theories of memory and recognition. We focus on testing new lineup procedures to create a better match between what a witness has stored in their memory system and what they are asked to report. When a person views a face, they often encode configural information about the face as well as featural information (Fallshore & Schooler, 1995). However, when people describe faces they often do not report configural facial information (Rhodes & Peterson, 2003). This mis-match between what is stored in memory and what is reported may decrease recognition in subsequent lineups. Previous studies conducted by Dr. Tracy Tomlinson (University of Maryland) indicated that people have difficulty describing a person’s facial configuration even when instructed to do so. In the present study, we test a method for training eyewitnesses to provide configural descriptions, and the resulting effects on the accuracy of lineup

identifications are examined. This research is directly applicable to the improvement of lineup procedures currently used by law enforcement to reduce mistaken eyewitness identification.

Mentor: Dr. Tracy Tomlinson

Lara J. Mangum, Virginia Tech

Evelina and the French Connection: The Madame Duvall Subplot

In examining Frances Burney’s Evelina within a larger historical, cultural and literary context, I hope to uncover Burney’s motivations for satirizing French characters like Madame Duval. Not only a historical understanding, but also a cultural one is necessary to perceive the “francophobia” within the novel’s more obvious coming of age plot. With the unique ability to use French as well as English resources through library and library database research, I will add a bilingual and bicultural facet to the seemingly flat character of Madame Duval and her juxtaposition with Evelina, her British foil. French and British animosity must not be overlooked when contextualizing Evelina. In vying for political power, both countries fanned the fire of literary competition, which we see seeping through an apparently romantic genre geared toward a feminine audience, the epistolary novel. Merging French and British contexts sheds a new light on Evelina as a nationalist novel. My research on this novel’s subplot promotes a French reading of its characters as well as a British one, and thus positions characters like Madame Duval and M. Du Bois within a bicultural frame, rather than a purely English point of view.

Mentor: Nancy Metz


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Joseph Manning, Boston College

The Impact of Politics on Renewable Energy Development in Rural Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is quickly becoming Canada’s maritime leader in renewable energy, recently establishing an energy goal of providing 40% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. This is fitting, as Nova Scotia has the world’s strongest tides and thousands of miles of coastline that are pounded daily by wind and waves. But what policies are making this transition possible? What are the regulations and political attitudes that have facilitated and inhibited Nova Scotia’s renewable energy revolution? I will focus on the way in which Nova Scotia has chosen to implement renewable energy, the political atmosphere that surrounds the new technology, and the public perception of renewable energy projects. My research points toward aspects of Nova Scotia’s politics that might serve as a model for provinces/states that are looking to transition their electricity grid toward renewable energy. I will also assess the roadblocks and obstacles that still impede Nova Scotia in reaching its full potential as a renewable energy leader.

Mentor: Professor Brian Gareau

Sara Marin, University of Miami

The Attenuation of the Gulf Toadfish Hypoxia Response: Concern over Antidepressants Detected in our Marine Environments

With the rapidly increasing production of pharmaceutical drugs and the steady increase of their consumption and excretion by humans, concern over the presence of these chemicals in our marine habitats has arisen. Antidepressants, namely selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), inhibit the reuptake of the neurotransmitter, serotonin (5-HT) into cells. We believe that exposure to waterborne SSRIs may be particularly dangerous for aquatic fish when done so in conjunction with hypoxic (low oxygen) environments, which triggers a cardiovascular and respiratory response to optimize O2 uptake from the environment. This is because the hypoxia response is believed to be initiated by a release of

5-HT that is packed within the neuroepithelial cells (NECs) of the gills in fish. We hypothesized that treatment of the Gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, with fluoxetine (FLX), the active ingredient in the common antidepressant Prozac TM , will prevent the fish from having a significant hypoxia response due to the depletion of 5-HT from the NECs. Our data shows that toadfish treated with FLX have a decreased capacity to respond to hypoxia, suggesting that FLX and other SSRIs may have a negative impact on the health of toadfish and other hypoxia-sensitive marine organisms. The research presented in this report shows that there are negative implications on our marine environments when pharmaceutical waste contaminates our coastal waters and points out potential implications for human and ecosystem health amidst a booming pharmaceutical market.

Mentor: Dr. M. Danielle McDonald

Julio C. Martinez, NC State University

Adaptive Reuse of Warehouse 202 (Co-Presenters Taylor J. Belge and Andy B. Park)

The advent of the gasoline automobile jolted our country into an uncontrolled spiral of unsustainable growth. Urban industrialism was recognized as a public nuisance, which initiated a trend towards the separation of uses and the decentralization of society. Urban planning was transformed from an architectural design process to a municipal procedure conducted under the umbrella of public administration. Separation of uses can be found most clearly illustrated in young cities like Raleigh. The Warehouse District, a twelve-block area located close to the heart of downtown, was the city’s railroad and warehouse distribution hub from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. However, in the late 1950’s, the trucking industry proved more profitable than the railroads. The livelihood of the district was relocated and many buildings were left vacant. The past decade has brought new life to the Warehouse District. Countless buildings have been revitalized. With this renewal, the district’s function has shifted from industrial to arts and entertainment. Nonetheless, a large portion of the district has remained unchanged; a majority of these enormous warehouses lay empty and in a perpetual state of


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disrepair. Further rebuilding is necessary to complete the renaissance of the district; one solution is the implementation of mixed-use functions into existing warehouse spaces. This proposal addresses both residential and commercial applications that target the young, creative class of Raleigh. Deliverables include site analyses to determine project implications and needs; precedent studies of similar topics; and design schemes performed in a single warehouse scenario.


Emily McCanless, Clemson University

Examining the Importance of Body Size for Assessing Attractiveness in a Potential Dating Partner for Different Dating Arenas

This project examined the role of body size and muscularity in estimations of personal attractiveness. Typically, as dating relationships become more serious, so do the levels of commitment and assessment standards. Body size and muscularity are components of how people assess attractiveness in potential dating partners and I sought to understand if body size and muscularity expectations of a romantic partner vary between different levels of dating relationships (e.g., long-term dating, casual dating, and hook up dating).Clemson University and non-Clemson University participants voluntarily agreed to partake in this study. A body size and muscularity survey was created for the purposes of this research. The survey was distributed via Facebook, email, and word of mouth. Results show that there are slight differences in preferences for both body size and muscularity across the three levels of dating that were assessed, although final analyses are still being conducted. By conducting research that combines the significance of dating and assessing potential dating partners, this study both connects and advances the arenas of dating, partner selection, and obesity. I believe that dating is an integral part of our human development, which is why I believe this nature of research is especially valuable to professionals who mentor/counsel adolescents and is necessary in the fields of psychology and sociology. This work was supported by an ACCIAC Fellowship.

Mentor: Dr. Ellen Granberg

Alyssa McCarthy, Boston College

Children and Emotional Expression: Children’s Understanding of Norms about Emotion Expression in Public and Private Contexts

This project examines the development of children’s understanding of prototypical emotional expressions in public versus private places. Prior work on this topic has focused on children’s understanding of regulated emotional expressions, such as “display rules.” Such studies have shown, for example, that by the age of three years, children understand that one’s internal feelings are distinct from one’s emotional displays, and children have clear ideas about whether or not to express or hide one’s internal feelings. However, little is known about children’s understanding of unregulated expressions of emotion, for example, in situations where one feels an emotion and expresses it fully but disruptively? My findings reveal a developmental pattern in which children’s understanding of unregulated emotional expressions is initially broad, but gradually becomes differentiated and more complex as children integrate the context of the scenario and the emotion being expressed when formulating judgments of appropriateness by the age of eight.

Mentor: Professor James Russell


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Ross McFarland, Virginia Tech

Reshape, Inform, Inspire: Pallet Reuse as a Design Medium (Co-Presenter Kenneth A. Black)

Excerpt from academic journal publication by Dr. Elizabeth Grant, advisor to our project: "As the world population grows and urbanizes, faculty at schools of architecture are increasingly being asked to tackle issues of sustainability. To that end, this paper describes a pedagogical approach we have undertaken at the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech in our third-year undergraduate design lab that attempts to integrate these concepts with the workings of the design process. This paper presents the process and results of a competition initiated by the Town of Blacksburg that asks the question, 'What can be done with used pallets, one of the most prevalent waste products of our globalized and industrialized culture?' ... Reuse of Pallets in Full Form The winning entry in this category was designed by two of our students, Kenneth Black and Ross McFarland. They embraced the idea of sustainability not merely in the reuse of pallets, but throughout the work. Their entry was an articulated system of pallets arranged in three dimensions to form an integrated garden system for small urban lots." A copy of the entire journal essay is attached. Please reference pages 1-5 for a longer description of the project premise and a more detailed look at our project specifically.

Mentor: Elizabeth Grant

Arielle Grim McNally, Virginia Tech

Improving the Near Diagonal Dominance of Slater Matrices for Insulators

This research focuses on a more efficient particle reordering strategy for Slater matrices for insulators in the context of the larger work of [1]. The computational cost of the current reordering algorithm is O(n2). The proposed strategy seeks to reduce that cost, while minimizing the average distance between particles and their associated orbitals in an effort to improve the near diagonal dominance of the Slater matrices. Alternative solutions were examined, including bottleneck and bipartite matching. Ultimately, a heuristic solution

was implemented that utilized the Delaunay triangulation, the Voronoi diagram, and a custom particle pass. Computational cost was reduced in most cases, but one area of the particle pass remains of concern and must be improved in later implementations. Integration into the larger code of [1] is not yet fully implemented, and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy improving the near diagonal dominance of the matrices remains uncertain. Future refinements in the code will focus on a possible implementation of the bipartite matching at the local level. [1] K. Ahuja, et al., Improved Scaling for Quantum Monte Carlo on Insulators, SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing, 33 (2011), pp. 1837-1859.

Mentor: Dr. Eric deSturler

Cody Allen Melton, NC State University

What Drives the SASI in Core-Collapse Supernovae

A critical component behind a core-collapse supernova is the spherical accretion shock instability, or SASI. Two theories describing this mechanism have been proposed. The advective-acoustic mechanism says entropy perturbations generated at the shock travel radially along the accretion flow at the free-fall velocity, which couple to an acoustic wave and travel radially outward. Amplification at the shock leads to the instability. The acoustic mechanism states that the SASI is purely an acoustic phenomenon in which a sound wave travels around the circumference of the shock which is dominated by the l=1 mode. Amplification of this wave interferes with the shock to create the instability. We resolve the debate between the two theories by observing the SASI in a regime where the period of oscillation for each mechanism becomes disparate. Because the sound speed behind the shock is determined by the gravitational potential and the post shock flow speed is a strong function of the ratio of specific heats, γ, the advective-acoustic mechanism has a much longer timescale for small values of γ. By using two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, we show that the linear growth of the SASI oscillates at a period between the acoustic and advective-acoustic prediction, indicating that the SASI operates as a combination of both descriptions.

Mentor: Dr. John Blondin


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Joseph Moo-Young, NC State University

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Carbon Nanotube-Polythiophene Interactions

The goal of this work is to investigate the interactions between a series of polythiophenes and zig-zag carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with varying diameters using molecular dynamics simulations. We hypothesize that the interfacial interactions between the polythiophenes and CNTs will largely be a function of the chemistry of the polymer aliphatic substituents, as well as CNT diameter. These results provide the best combination of polymer and CNT diameter that produces desired material properties for unique application in better solar cell technologies. The correlation of these simulation results to experiments done by a collaborator will be discussed.

Mentor: Dr. Melissa Pasquinelli

Patrick Mullins, University of North Carolina

Fortaleza de Quirihuac: A Chimú Fortification in the Middle Moche Valley of Perú

Fortaleza de Quirihuac is a Chimú fortified settlement built on a mountaintop some 400m above the floor of Peru’s Moche Valley. During the 2010 and 2011 field seasons, the author used funds from two separate grants to map the fortress and conduct surface collections in order to gain a greater understanding of site activities and chronology. A defensive role is strongly suggested by the presence of sling stone piles and the concentric rings of fortified and parapeted walls protecting all passable routes to the peak. These defensive walls are protecting non-agricultural terraces and compounds that possibly served as habitation for a garrison of soldiers or as temporary housing for refugees and elites from the valley floor. The author used the latest ArcGIS mapping software to digitize all maps in order to gain a greater understanding of the true extent of the fortifications at the site. In order to further

support the map data, artifact evidence indicates an emphasis on the storage and serving of imported food; a trend indicative of a garrison being consistently stationed at the site. The data collected at Fortaleza de Quirihuac along with the presence of similar Chimú fortresses at strategic mountaintop locations along the Moche Valley suggests that an extensive defensive imperial strategy was needed and used to protect the Chimú Empire’s heartland up to its eventual conquest by the Inka.

Mentor: Dr. Brian Billman

Mejdi Najjar, University of Miami

Conserved and Divergent Functions of Growth Differentiation Factor 11 in Dorsoventral and Anteroposterior Neural Patterning in Zebrafish

Regulation of neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation in the spinal cord is a complex process. Key to neural proliferation and anteroposterior and dorsoventral identity regulation is the TGF-beta superfamily member Growth Differentiation Factor 11 (GDF11). Loss of GDF11 in mice slows down neuronal differentiation and induces a caudal shift of Hox-c expression and motor neuron populations in the spinal cord (Shi. Y & Liu. J, 2011, Liu 2006). To understand GDF11 function in spinal cord development, we have taken a loss of function approach in zebrafish using anti-sense oligonucleotides (morpholinos) to disrupt GDF11 function. We have found that loss of GDF11 function caused an early disruption in the appearance of islet-1 motor neuron population, suggesting that GDF11 function in regulating neural proliferation rates in the nervous system is evolutionarily conserved. Surprisingly, however, Hox gene expression was not affected by the loss of function of GDF11. This suggests that either GDF11 is not required for anteroposterior patterning in zebrafish or that its function is redundant with other TGF-beta family members, such as GDF8 (Myostatin). Future work will test the individual and combined functions of GDF8 and GDF11 during zebrafish nervous system patterning.

Mentor: Dr. Isaac Skromne


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Saramati Narasimhan,

University of Miami

Development of a Method to Investigate the Dynamics of Accommodation using an Ex-Vivo Accommodation Simulator

The purpose of the project is to evaluate the feasibility to quantify the dynamics of accommodation in ex-vivo tissue. The secondary goal of this investigation is to see if the dynamics of a natural lens and the dynamics of a refilled lens, using the Phaco-Ersatz procedure, can be quantitatively compared using such a method. Using the accommodative apparatus of a 14 y/o human eye (~72 PMT) and an Ex-Vivo Accommodation Simulator, the tissue was stretched and during this time a coronal view was recorded using a surgical microscope. The frames of the accommodation portion of the run were isolated and used for data. Diameter, velocity, and acceleration measurements were taken on the lens, ciliary body, and polymer diameter. The results proved that the method developed can be used to quantify the dynamics of accommodation in ex-vivo tissue. It also can compare the behavior of the natural and refilled lens. The natural lens had a distinct visco-elastic component, while the refilled lens behaved elastically. The calculations used to determine velocity indicated micro-fluctuations within the tissue, regardless of state. Overall, the method developed can be used to analyze the dynamics of accommodation in ex-vivo tissue. It also provides a way to evaluate the impact of the Phaco-Ersatz procedure.

Mentor: Dr. Jean-Marie Parel

Colette Nataf, University of Maryland

Love the One You’re With: The Endowment Effect in the Dating Market

The endowment effect appears to be much

stronger in markets for environmental goods that are not usually monetized than in traditional markets. This study explores the effect in another non-traditional market: the dating market. In Experiment 1, participants are asked either for a buying or selling price for the contact information of each of 10 dates. The WTA/WTP ratios within

this market are higher than in traditional markets and, unexpectedly, are much higher for women than for men, with an average ratio of 9.37 and 2.70, respectively. Experiment 2 replicates this result and finds in a within-subject design the usual WTA/WTP ratio for coffee mugs. The paper concludes with a discussion of differences between traditional and non-traditional markets, with a special emphasis on the dating market.

Mentor: Dr. Thomas S. Wallsten

Betty Albo Obeso, University of Miami

Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) is an important regulator of Retinal Ganglion Cell (RGC) survival

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival and neurite outgrowth are promoted by neurotrophins, and extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules such as laminin. Degradation of laminin in the ECM of RGC in a mouse model of retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI) has been shown to contribute to RGC death. The attachment of RGC to the ECM is mediated by integrins. Since integrins are the major ECM receptors, we have identified β1 integrin, FAK, Akt, and bclxL as important regulators of the integrin survival pathway in RGC, and showed that this pathway is disrupted after RIRI. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) in RGC survival. RGC were purified by immunopanning and cultured on PDL as well as in laminin and treated with β1 integrin activating antibodies, HUTS-21, or isotype control antibodies 12 hours after plating. In several experiments, RGC were preincubated with the FAK inhibitor PP2 overnight, before HUTS-21 addition. RGC viability was assessed 24, and 72 hours later. In RGC’s, FAK expression was inhibited by electroporation with custom made FAK siRNA or non-targeting control siRNA. The RCG’s were tested for knockdown of FAK expression 24 and 72 hours later by RT-PCR as well as by immunohistochemistry. RGC survival and neurite extension were evaluated. Our results showed that β1 integrin activating antibodies HUTS-21, promote RGC survival. Also, FAK inhibitor PP2, suppresses laminin and HUTS-21 survival effect. Down-regulation of FAK by siRNA in RGC reduces RGC survival by 25%. We demonstrated that FAK


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is an important regulator in laminin-integrin survival signaling, and it promotes neurite outgrowth in RGC.

Mentor: Dr. M. Livia Bajenaru

Anne Ornelles, Wake Forest University

Catalan Today and Tomorrow: An Examination of Language Policies, Attitudes and Usage

This thesis examines the relationship between the sociolinguistic factors regarding Catalan - the attitudes of its speakers and the practical usage of the language, for example - and the language rights and policies allocated to the Catalan language by the central government of Spain and the regional government of Catalonia. Due to the effects of the internet and other technological innovations, the future of minority languages has become a relevant and widely-discussed issue, while Catalan specifically serves as a fascinating case because of its speakers’ especially strong sense of ethno-linguistic identity. Since the end of Franco’s regime, language policies in Catalonia have succeeded in increasing the number of people who speak and understand Catalan, making it the primary language of education, government and popular media. However, in this thesis, I use a variety of studies to show that while the use of Catalan has risen, other factors like globalization and increased immigration affect language attitudes and create a discrepancy between the knowledge and practical use of Catalan in other sectors. For example, students in multicultural classrooms tend to favor Spanish over Catalan, young Catalan-speakers still tend to use Catalan only with each other, and popular media often fails to accurately reflect the style of speech of Catalan youth. Finally, I will briefly describe similar cases of minority language policy elsewhere in the world to isolate the elements of such policies that make language sustainability successful or unsuccessful, and conclude with perspectives on the future for the Catalan language.

Mentor: Dr. Jane Albrecht and Dr. Stanley Whitley

Andy B. Park, NC State University

Adaptive Reuse of Warehouse 202 (Co-Presenters Taylor J. Belge and Julio C. Martinez)

The advent of the gasoline automobile jolted our country into an uncontrolled spiral of unsustainable growth. Urban industrialism was recognized as a public nuisance, which initiated a trend towards the separation of uses and the decentralization of society. Urban planning was transformed from an architectural design process to a municipal procedure conducted under the umbrella of public administration. Separation of uses can be found most clearly illustrated in young cities like Raleigh. The Warehouse District, a twelve-block area located close to the heart of downtown, was the city’s railroad and warehouse distribution hub from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. However, in the late 1950’s, the trucking industry proved more profitable than the railroads. The livelihood of the district was relocated and many buildings were left vacant. The past decade has brought new life to the Warehouse District. Countless buildings have been revitalized. With this renewal, the district’s function has shifted from industrial to arts and entertainment. Nonetheless, a large portion of the district has remained unchanged; a majority of these enormous warehouses lay empty and in a perpetual state of disrepair. Further rebuilding is necessary to complete the renaissance of the district; one solution is the implementation of mixed-use functions into existing warehouse spaces. This proposal addresses both residential and commercial applications that target the young, creative class of Raleigh. Deliverables include site analyses to determine project implications and needs; precedent studies of similar topics; and design schemes performed in a single warehouse scenario.


Andrea Patiño, Duke University

Photographs of the Ordinary as an Alternative Political Space in Palestine

For years we have consumed repetitive images of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Anyone who


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watches the news would recognize these recurring tropes: young Palestinian men in keffiyehs throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, children playing with plastic guns or ruined refugee camps. Photographs offer us a version of reality that in many cases, we wouldn’t have access to otherwise. They become our visual archive of an event and thus constitute our knowledge of it. This is particularly true for places in conflict—our ideas about them are informed by the photographs we see. Influential photography scholars have declared their skepticism about the medium. Roland Barthes stated that the ability of photography to portray reality is only a fiction. Susan Sontag saw it as an exploitative dynamic of power where those photographed lose their agency. More recently, Ariella Azoullay has countered those arguments by stating that victims of war who are photographed can hold the power. Interviews and observations during my fieldwork in the West Bank made me realize that much of Palestine’s youth is concerned with showing the world a different imagery. Still political, their photographs are preoccupied with telling a story about daily life and what it means to grow up in Palestine. Can quotidian imagery become an alternative political space for the Palestinians to effectively bring about tangible changes? I explore this question by putting in conversation my own experience in the West Bank—as photographer and observer—with modern theories of photography.

Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Stein

Cecilia Perez, University of Miami

Conus Venom Screening To Identify Novel Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists For Gene Therapeis in Pain Modulation

Chronic neuropathic pain significantly affects the quality of life of peripheral nerve injury or spinal cord injury patients. With low efficacy of current pharmacotherapy for chronic pain, the identification of alternative approaches and new therapeutic targets is essential. Cannabinoid (CB) receptors have been recently recognized as valuable targets for various clinical indications. However, most of the drugs used therapeutically that interact with CB receptors are derived from cannabis and for their psychoactive components

cannot be widely used. Therefore specific compounds interacting with CB receptors without aversive side effects are of clinical interest. In this study we evaluated the ability of several venom extracts to interact with CB1 receptor. The aim of this study is to identify the venom fractions able to induce CB1 receptor internalization and to test selected fractions for their possible analgesic effect. The venom extracts of six Conus species were analyzed in vitro. HEK293 cells expressing CB1 were treated with venom extracts for 30 minutes, fixed and immunostained. Internalization of CB1 receptor was evaluated using specific fluorescent antibody and confocal imaging or high content screening. Results showed the highest rate of CB1 internalization in HEK293 cells after treatment with venoms of C. miles and C. textile. HPLC fractions of these venoms were subsequently analyzed. The identification of a single analgesic agent with CB1 agonist activity within the selected venom fractions is in progress. This analgesic agent could subsequently be used as a new analgesic agent in recombinant cell or gene therapy approaches.

Mentor: Drs. Stanislava Jergova; David Collante; Shyam Gajavelli; Jacqueline Sagen.

Rebecca Perry, Wake Forest University

Probing the regulatory mechanism of AKH cell excitability

The mechanisms of how organisms maintain metabolic homeostasis in light of dynamic nutrient availability is not completely understood. In Drosophila, the adipokinetic hormone (AKH) is a principal hormone that functions in this process. AKH signaling regulates energy levels, through the direct mobilization of trehalose during low hemolymph sugar. Adipokinetic hormone is required for starvation-induced hyperactivity, an adaptive behavior that assists in foraging. In order to better understand AKH signaling, we are conducting a genome-wide RNAi based screen targeting different ion channels that may regulate AKH cell physiology. We evaluated the consequences of RNAi expression in AKH cells on AKH related phenotypes, specifically lifespan and locomotion during starvation. From this initial behavioral screen, we identified the channel


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encoding the TASK6 potassium channel as a candidate AKH regulatory element. Expression of the TASK6 RNAi in AKH cells leads to lengthened lifespan during starvation. Additionally, there were observable changes in starvation-induced hyperactivity. We are in the process of confirming TASK6 expression in AKH neuroendocrine cells through single-cell RT-PCR. We will also report preliminary experiments on AKH cell activation in a TASK6 mutant background and report other findings from the genome-wide RNAi screen.

Mentor: Dr. Erik C. Johnson

Eric H. Reasor, Virginia Tech

The Influence of Fall Fertilization Programs on the Traffic Tolerance and Recovery of Sprigged Bermudagrass Varities

Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) is a popular athletic field turfgrass in the transition zone due to its rapid growth rate and high density. However, the ability of a newly sprigged bermudagrass field to withstand first season traffic can be challenging due to the onset of winter dormancy. This research evaluated first season traffic tolerance of 3 bermudagrasses (Patriot, Riviera, and an experimental ecotype called Wayland) to varying levels of fall Nitrogen fertilization. Plots of 9.3m2 were established at the VT Turfgrass Research Center in June of 2010 using sprigs generated from shredded sod. All plots received N at a level of 49kg/ha-1 per month for June and July and were mowed three times weekly at 2.5cm. A traffic simulator was applied weekly to one half of the bermudagrass plots to simulate the traffic of 6 football games per week for August 30 through November 7. The fertilization treatments were 49kg ha-1 monthly from June through August, June through September, and June through October. Patriot bermudagrass established fastest and was the most traffic tolerant, followed by Riviera. Fall N fertilization treatments extended bermudagrass color and improved turf density of all cultivars in both trafficked and non-trafficked treatments until killing frost in mid-October. Additional measurements of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as an assessment of turf density and a 2011 spring greening response

as affected by the traffic and fertilization treatments.

Mentor: Dr. Michael Goatley, Jr.

Radu Reit,


Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes as Active Electrodes for Metal Substrate Supercapacitors

The aim of this project is to create dense growths of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on various conductive substrates. Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes present a larger pore size as compared to activated carbon or nonaligned carbon nanotubes, increasing the motility of the ions contained in the electrolyte separating the two electrodes. By utilizing various combinations of a diffusion barrier layer and catalyst support layers, vertically aligned nanotube growth can be controlled to alter height and density. Current testing has produced samples on Inconel substrates with specific capacitance values of 51.1

14.7 F/g and samples on aluminum substrates

with specific capacitance values of 55.7 8.3 F/g. With further optimization of the spatial distribution of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, as well as the addition of pseudocapacitative elements to the current configuration, more powerful supercapacitors can be designed with potential applications in hybrid energy vehicles.

Mentor: Dr. Jud Ready

Robert S. Rule,


Obstacles to Women's Participation in Chemistry and Computer Science

The project was sociological research into the obstacles women face in higher education, specifically investigating the fields of Computer Science and Chemistry, and producing a paper on the subject. The main topics discussed include history of female participation in these fields, the influence of socialization, pedagogical obstacles, and professional obstacles. The project


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emphasizes that women still face many obstacles (overt and subtle) to participating in higher education, especially in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields despite many years and dollars being spent to minimize such obstacles. The project also presents ideas to soften or possibly remove some of the obstacles to women’s participation in STEM fields. The project was funded by a PURA, and supervised Dr. Wenda Bauchspies.

Mentor: Dr. Wenda Bauchspies

Casey Setash, Virginia Tech

Wing Morphology and Foraging Stratification in Forest-Dwelling Birds

WING MORPHOLOGY AND FORAGING STRATIFICATION IN FOREST-DWELLING BIRDS Casey Setash*1, Fang-Yee Lin1, Dean Stauffer1 Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, VA 24060 Abstract Wing morphology is well-recognized as the evolutionary product of the life history of certain organisms due to migration behavior and habitat use. In this study, we investigated the association of wing morphology and vertical stratification of 26 bird species trapped in Hui-Ban, Taiwan, which consists mostly of secondary lowland forest mixed with some agricultural land. Aspect ratio and wing loading, two most commonly used parameters of wing morphology, were estimated for each individual. We hypothesized that birds with lower aspect ratios and higher wing loadings were typically ground-foragers that did not usually fly long distances and needed more maneuverability in the cluttered environment. Our findings were in alignment with our hypothesis; the species that spent most of their time on the ground or in the shrubbery tended to have higher wing loadings and lower aspect ratios than those that foraged in the canopy. Keywords: Birds, Taiwan, Wing Morphology, Foraging Behavior, Vertical Stratification

Mentor: Fang-Yee Lin

Braxton D. Shelley, Duke University

Gospel Goes to Church (Again): Smallwood’s Hybridity as Liturgical Compromise

Although many non-academic reviewers describe Richard Smallwood’s oeuvre as a synthesis of Gospel and Classical music, that description, an amalgamation of ideal types, ignores the liturgical considerations likely influencing the composer’s hybridity. In the paper, my musical and textual analysis reveals the ways in which the composer’s hybridity is manifested in the choices he makes about harmony, voice leading, form, and lyrics in his works “I Love The Lord (He Heard My Cry),” “Total Praise,” and “Anthem of Praise.” Markedness theory, as adapted for music semiotics by Robert Hatten, will facilitate a discussion of the intertextual relationship between Smallwood’s body of work, African American Gospel Music, and other protestant liturgical musical forms. From my conclusions drawn from this analysis and interpretation I argue that Smallwood’s hybridity can be understood as an attempt to bridge the divide between the varied tastes of his listeners, stemming from different backgrounds in African American Christianity.

Mentor: Dr. Anthony M. Kelley

Kai Shin, University of North Carolina

Density Gradient of Bishop Tuff in Owens River Gorge, California

The Long Valley Caldera in California is the result of a massive volcanic eruption about 760,000 years ago of mega-colossal magnitude. Pyroclastic flow from the eruption hardened into volcanic rock during the subsequent years and is now part of the current landscape. In one area, the Bishop Tuff, the Owens River has carved a canyon into that volcanic rock all the way down to its contact point with the underlying granite. We took several rock samples spanning the height of this canyon and determined their densities using a Jolly balance, weight, and volume measurements. We plotted the samples’ densities on a scatter plot according to their depth and found a maximum density that corresponds to a zone of densely welded tuff and a minimum at the canyon rim


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about 80 meters above the densely welded zone. This reflects typical tuff cooling models where the peak density is not at the contact point between the original surface rocks but rather at some middle point. Our data are consistent with the Bishop Tuff in Owens River Gorge being a single cooling unit, but the presence of a second, smaller cliff approximately 65 meters below the main cliff indicates that a second cooling unit may be present although this evidence was only observed on one of the two sides of the gorge.

Mentor: Dr. Allen Glazner

Casey Shutt,


Physical Contributors to Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit in High School Baseball Players

Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD) of the throwing shoulder in baseball players has been shown to be a risk factor for shoulder and elbow injury. Although clinical assessments of internal rotation are used to develop intervention programs, these clinical measures do not differentiate between muscular, capsuloligamentous, and bony contributors to GIRD. The relative contribution of each of these components is important to understand in order to develop more targeted intervention programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which the muscular, capsuloligamentous, and osseous components contribute to GIRD in high school baseball players. A total of 186 high school baseball players between the ages of 14-18 will undergo a testing session in which they will complete a survey on participation and injury history and then a physical screening that will include assessment of internal and external range of motion, posterior shoulder muscle stiffness, posterior capsule thickness, and humeral torsion. Data will be entered into a step-wise regression to determine the significant predictors and relative contribution to GIRD. Understanding which factors have the greatest relative contribution to GIRD will allow clinicians to develop more effective interventions to reduce the incidence of injuries.

Mentor: Dr. Joseph Myers

Carly (Alanna) Slack, Clemson University

Coforaging in wild goldenlion tamarins in the União Reserve, RJ, Brazil

Callitrichidae primates (tamarins and marmosets) are cooperative breeders; all adult groupmembers exhibit extended parental care by provisioning young and providing foraging assistance. Callitrichids feed on a wide variety of plant and prey items gathered from numerous types of foraging substrates in the environment. Juveniles often follow adults and forage with them - this is termed coforaging. Coforaging may allow immature animals to learn from older group members and therefore become proficient foragers of such complex diets more quickly and safely. We conducted a longitudinal study of wild golden lion tamarins 11-56 weeks of age, in six groups, to examine the ontogeny of coforaging behaviors. A linear mixed-model analysis of variance incorporating repeated measures was performed on rates of five foraging behaviors. Rates of approaches and begs to foraging group members, and rates of coforages decreased as a function of age. Even in the oldest age category, juveniles approached, begged, and coforaged at higher rates than adults, perhaps as a means to acquire information from older group members. Juvenile interest in high-protein, nutritionally dense prey items did not differ from their interest in plant items and juvenile prey capture rates when coforaging were extremely low. Therefore, coforaging is likely important for obtaining foraging information and not solely for nutritional supplementation.

Mentor: Dr. Lisa G. Rapaport

Vladislav O. Sviderskiy, University of Virginia

Converting Solar Energy to Chemical Fuels: Novel Transition Metal Catalyst for Water Oxidation

The anticipated rise in global energy consumption will increase the demand for fossil fuels, leading to greater competition and economic instability. Therefore, the development of scalable carbon neutral energy sources would provide economic stability and environmental benefits. Out of the


46

possible options, only solar energy has the capacity to meet projected global demand. However, scaled up use of solar energy has been challenging with a major issue being the storage of solar-derived energy. Of the available options for storage, chemical bonds offer substantial advantages because of their high energy density and ease of transportation in liquid form. A promising method for storing solar energy in chemical bonds is water splitting, which involves the conversion of water to oxygen and hydrogen. In this strategy, sunlight would be used to promote water splitting, and the electrons and protons produced during this process would then be used for electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to form fuel that can be used when needed. However, water splitting requires a catalyst because the formation of oxygen, especially the O—O bond, has been a major catalytic challenge. Hence, we are working on a new approach to forming the O—O bond that uses d6 metal catalysts with cis-aqua ligands. For this project, I synthesize cis-aqua complexes of the form [L4Ir(H2O)2]n+ (L4= various ancillary ligands) and then test them for catalytic water oxidation. Our primary goal is to elucidate a structure/activity relationship that will allow for a fine-tuned water oxidation catalyst.

Mentor: Professor T. Brent Gunnoe, Professor W. Dean Harman

Holly C. Sweeney, NC State University

Do Heat Waves Impact Ground Level Ozone Levels?

Heat waves are currently defined as extended periods of unusually hot weather. These periods of time can affect us in many ways, such as worsened drought conditions and increased energy use (e.g. air conditioning). It is also known that ground level ozone exposure can lead to respiratory problems and high levels can damage vegetation and ecosystems. The relationship between heat waves and ground level ozone is currently not well known. Our client from the North Carolina State Climate Office asked us to examine heat wave occurrences in North Carolina and then examine the relationship between these heat waves and ground level ozone during the same time period, focusing on the months of April through September, North Carolina’s ozone season. We analyzed climate and ground level

ozone data from seven stations across North Carolina covering the coastal, piedmont, and mountain regions. We focused on five variables for our heat wave analysis for each station: number of unusually hot days, number of heat waves, and length, intensity, and frequency of heat waves. We are currently comparing the ozone and climate data to see if there if a relationship between the length and intensity of heat waves and ground level ozone. Successfully de-trending the ozone data by taking precursor hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxides emission reductions into account will allow us to see the direct relationship between the two. Our finished analysis will provide information to make more informed decisions about public health resulting from heat waves and ground level ozone concentrations.

Mentor: Dr. William F. Hunt

Tyler Treadway, University of Maryland


Odor perception recruits a series of intricate neural networks that connect peripheral sensory neurons to the brain’s cortical interpretation centers. One of the most important networks in this chain consists of a dendrodendritic microcircuit in the olfactory bulb (OB) between prevalent, inhibitory granule cells (GCs) and the OB’s output neurons, mitral cells (MCs). Across numerous dendrodendritic synapses, GCs release GABA, a neurotransmitter that effects a powerful inhibition of MCs. This inhibition is instrumental in shaping odor signals in a manner that facilitates cortical compilation of a detailed olfactory scene. Dendrodendritic circuit activity experiences significant influence from afferent projections originating in the locus coeruleus, a region of the brainstem responsible for the release of noradrenaline (NA). Past work from our lab has shown that NA induces a long-lasting increase in GC excitability, thereby enhancing the release of GABA onto MCs. Here, we further explore noradrenergic modulation in the OB through in vitro single-cell recording in mice, describing the involvement of specific adrenergic receptor (AR) subtypes and the developmental regulation of their function. We find that activation of both α1A and β-ARs significantly increases the


47

frequency of GABAergic inhibitory currents in MCs, particularly in young mice, with significant decline in β-AR contribution at older ages. These results suggest the possibility that β-ARs are crucial in early olfactory-mediated behaviors such as neonatal odor learning and detail a physiological function for the α1A-AR, a receptor subtype lacking a defined role in the brain.

Work supported by a NIDCD RO1-DC-009817 to R.C.A., a fellowship from the Chilean government to A.N., and HHMI Undergraduate Research Fellowships to N.C.Z. and T.W.T.

Mentor: Ricardo C. Araneda

Daniel M. Wainless, Virginia Tech

Medical Transportation Chair

Transporting patients is an integral part of daily operations in hospitals, clinics, and assisted living facilities. Their interiors are fast moving places with narrow hallways, filled with chairs, beds, and other people. Patients are moving from one to room to another. In order to transport them, hospital nurses, physical therapists, and other caregivers use the standard folding wheelchair design that has remained unchanged for almost a hundred years. Since wheelchairs were designed for a purpose other than how they are used in this situation, elements that could specifically help the patient transport process are unincorporated. The goal of this research is to determine if us¬¬¬¬ing a wheelchair not specifically designed for the task it is performing, is hindering the patient transportation process? Can the use of a more specialized transportation chair aid in the process of transporting patients within these larger facilities? If so, there is an opportunity to benefit from a more specifically designed transport device to be designed and implemented. Transporting patients is an integral part of daily operations in hospitals, clinics, and assisted living facilities. Their interiors are fast moving places with narrow hallways, filled with chairs, beds, and other people. Patients are moving from one to room to another. In order to transport them, hospital nurses, physical therapists, and other caregivers use the standard folding wheelchair design that has remained unchanged for almost a hundred years. Since wheelchairs were designed for a purpose other than how they are used in this

situation, elements that could specifically help the patient transport process are unincorporated.

The goal of this research is to determine if us¬¬¬¬ing a wheelchair not specifically designed for the task it is performing, is hindering the patient transportation process? Can the use of a more specialized transportation chair aid in the process of transporting patients within these larger facilities? If so, there is an opportunity to benefit from a more specifically designed transport device to be designed and implemented.

Mentor: Lawrence Fenske

Peichun Wang, Duke University

How Shall-issue Concealed Carry Laws Affect Violent Crime Rates – Using Cohort Panel Data Model

Shall-issue laws are state laws that essentially permit every citizen to carry concealed weapons. More than thirty states have adopted shall-issue laws in the past few decades. John Lott’s famous book, More Guns, Less Crime, and article, Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, claimed that shall-issue laws reduced violent crimes by deterring violent criminals with concealed weapons. Lott’s work had received great popularity among the general public and triggered a wave of adoptions of shall-issue laws in the U.S. However, Lott’s work was soon critiqued by several economists such as Ayres and Donohue, which then started a heated academic debate that lasted many years. This paper, after conducting a thorough review of the literature involved in the debate, will propose a new methodology that addresses an omitted variable bias problem in the previous studies by aggregating data into cohort level. Using this Cohort Panel Data Model, we will re-evaluate how people’s decisions to enter or exit violent crimes are affected by the adoption of shall-issue laws.

Mentor: Dr. Marjorie McElroy


48

Caroline Watson, Florida State University

Olfactory Bulb Circadian Rhythms

The mammalian olfactory bulb (OB) acts as a circadian oscillator independent from influence by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the brain’s master clock. This manifests as rhythms in clock genes, electrical activity, and odor sensitivity. What is not known are the cellular mechanisms underlying the rhythmic changes in neuronal excitability that regulate OB circuit function and odor processing. Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the nose send their axons to discrete anatomical structures in the OB called glomeruli. OB neurons that project to the same glomerulus synchronize their activity in response to OSN input via a combination of excitatory glutamate transmission and direct electrical coupling by gap junctions. We hypothesized that rhythmic changes in monoamine neurotransmitter content and/or release could have an influence on the cellular changes in excitability that underlie circadian rhythms in the OB. To test this hypothesis, we sampled rat OB tissue at 1-hour intervals over a 24-hour period. Isolation and measurement of monamines was made using HPLC-EC. Pilot data suggest that both norepinephrine and dopamine change over a 24-period, although whether these cycle in a rhythmic fashion requires further analysis that is ongoing. We and others have previously shown that norepinephrine and dopamine modulate OB synaptic transmission. Furthermore, dopamine also has been shown in the retina to affect the phosphorylation state of gap junctions which modulates their electrical coupling with adjacent neurons. These data support the notion that rhythmic alterations in catecholamines could have significant effects on OB circuit behavior and contribute to circadian rhythms in the OB.

Mentor: Dr. Paul Q. Trombley

Cori Watson, University of Virginia

Designing and Accessing Signal Processing Algorithms for Wearable Devices to Monitor Epilepsy

Presently, 20-30% of epileptics cannot be treated

with current techniques. An improved method to provide independence and safety to the 600-900 thousand Americans living with epilepsy is desired. Additionally, the current method of determining if a patient has been successfully treated is to monitor the patient with an electroencephalography (EEG) in a hospital for several weeks. This is cumbersome, expensive, uncomfortable, and time consuming for the patient. The goal of this research is to design a device that can detect if the wearer is having an epileptic seizure based on the acceleration of the body limbs. To achieve this goal, statistical signal processing has been used on data collected from an accelerometer to design an algorithm for classifying signals that represent epileptic seizures from other motion. The current method under investigation examines data from a non-epileptic person to eliminate signals that represent normal daily activities such as writing, walking, and typing. The activities under investigation appear to be removable through classifications of signal structure; these include having a small overall magnitude, local periodicity (more precisely gait motion), and a very short duration. This seeks to eliminate type 1 errors. Additionally, a metric that determines the likelihood that a signal represents an epileptic seizure has been developed based on Teager energy and signal entropy. This seeks to eliminate type 2 errors. The current scope of this project has been limited to clonic seizures.

Mentor: Prof. John Lach

Sarah C Weber1, Joaquim I. Goes2, Edward J. Carpenter3, Victoria J. Coles4, Joseph P. Montoya1,


Spatial Variation in Nutrients, Pigments, Particles, and Phytoplankton Abundance in the Amazon River Plume

The Amazon River forms an extensive surface plume that extends well offshore into the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. Riverine nutrients in the Amazon plume are known to stimulate primary production and nitrogen fixation hundreds of miles from the river mouth, strongly influencing the ecology and biogeochemistry of the Western Tropical North Atlantic (WTNA). As part of the


49

multidisciplinary ANACONDAS program, we embarked on research cruises to the Amazon plume in spring 2010 and fall 2011. We used shipboard underway seawater system to characterize over 450,000 km2 of surface waters ranging in salinity between 18 and 35 psu. We sampled for nutrients, pigments, phytoplankton abundance, and stable isotope natural abundance (d15N, d13C). We found a strong inverse correlation between salinity and silicate concentrations, with frequent biological depletion relative to conservative mixing in the mesohaline (30 to 35 psu) and oceanic (>35 psu) salinity regions. Nitrate was mostly absent from surface waters, whereas phosphate concentrations varied, suggesting remineralization within the aging plume. Hemiaulus was the most abundant diazotroph (N2-fixing) host in low salinity waters (<30 psu), while Trichodesmium and Rhizosolenia occupied the mesohaline and high salinity regions of the plume. The d15N of particles decreased from around 4‰ to roughly –2‰ across this salinity range, reflecting inputs of 15N-depleted biomass through N2-fixation. Carbon isotopes showed less systematic variation with salinity, though elevated values in the mesohaline region may reflect the contribution of large diatoms and Trichodesmium. 1Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

2LDEO, Columbia University, Palisades, New York

3San Francisco State University, San Francisco,

CA 4University of Maryland, Cambridge, MD

Mentor: Dr. Joseph P. Montoya

Stephanie M. Welch, Virginia Tech

Calibration of Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring Instruments

The purpose of the LEWAS lab is to identify land use change effects on water quality and quantity real time and to conduct water sustainability research and education. In order for the LEWAS Lab to deliver accurate water quality data, precise calibration of its water quality and quantity monitoring instruments is necessary. The purpose of this poster will be to demonstrate the theory, maintenance, and calibration of the HydroLab MS5 water quality sonde and SonTek Argonaut SW Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP).

The MS-5 measures six parameters: pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), turbidity, and oxidation reduction potential (ORP). The SonTek Argonaut SW uses acoustic Doppler technology to determine stream discharge. Accurate discharge measurements are important for accurate mass flux measurements. A simple regression model was developed relating index velocity (Vi, m/s) from the ADCP and discharge measurements (Q, m3/s) from the velocity area method. This model was found to have a P value of 0.0003 for Vi, <0.0001 for Q, and a P total of <0.0001. An R2 value of 0.915 was found. According to the linear regression performed on JMP Software, there is a high correlation between the index velocity and discharge.

Mentor: Vinod Lohani

Yu-Po (Ken) Wong, Duke University

Building a Quantum Key Distribution System

One early and important application of the emerging field of quantum information is quantum key distribution (QKD). The primary difference between quantum and classical key distribution is that QKD uses a fundamental property of quantum mechanics, known as entanglement, to increase its performance over existing classical communication systems. Quantum key distribution has been proven to be fundamentally secure against eavesdropping, and may have important uses in securing information communicated between parties, such as in the smart power grid or in the financial industry. The main goal of this project is to build a QKD system for use in an advanced physics laboratory course. In this project, I use the polarization of photons to entangle information. The polarization-entangled photons are created from a nonlinear optical process known as spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). Experimentally, I send a strong laser beam (pump) into a nonlinear crystal where there is a small probability that the pump photon is annihilated and two lower-energy photons with correlated polarizations are created. I characterize the quality of quantum entanglement from SPDC and develop methods to improve the quality of the entanglement, which is important for generating a key with the highest fidelity and rate.


50

I will describe the experimental system, how it is used to distribute a cryptographic key, and methods for error correction and privacy amplification.

Mentor: Dr. Daniel Gauthier

Jason Wong, University of Maryland

Climate Policy and Actor Networks:

Interactive Climate Simulators – A Missing Actant

A new approach to visualizing data may enable the next step towards effective climate policy. Before climate policy can be enacted and implemented, citizens, scientists, and policymakers must arrive at a consensus or compromise. Yet, in some societies where mistrust and misunderstanding exist among these communities, we find no agreement, and often little action in addressing anthropogenic climate change. By visualizing sound climate science, interactive climate simulators offer compelling visuals of climate science that allow policymakers and citizens to view the results of proposed policies in real-time. One such simulator is Climate Rapid Overview And Decision Support (C-ROADS), developed by scientists and policy analysts in partnership with MIT. C-ROADS has been gaining attention at UN Climate Change conferences, in academia, and in governments around the world. By applying the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) developed by the discipline of Science and Technology Studies (STS), I identify some of these impediments through the ANT analysis of the climate policy network and assess whether C-ROADS can help fill the gaps and address such impediments. The ANT analysis reveals that visualization technologies such as C-ROADS, if used more broadly, can fill some of the roles of a missing “actant” in forming a stable climate policy network. Such an informed, effective network will enable experts and societies to motivate changes in human behavior and technology to mitigate the risks of climate change, in a manner more constructive than the climate policy actor-network today.

Mentor: Betsy Mendelsohn, Ph.D.

Ali Yalgin, Duke University

Dream and Reality in Strindberg’s Naturalistic Tragedies

This project consists of two parts. The written part claims that August Strindberg’s Naturalistic Tragedies, which he wrote early in his career (1869 to 1892), are connected with his symbolist Dream Plays (1898-1909). The focus is on Creditors, written in 1888, which is parallel to Strindberg’s first marriage in a lot of ways. Telling the story of a love-triangle, Creditors cunningly carries its audience from a realistic situation to a paranoid fantasy ending, thereby creating an uncanny effect. In order to explore the darker side of the human soul, Strindberg made use of the clinical methods of the day, such as hypnotism and animal magnetism. Delineating such moments in the play, the project suggests that Creditors experiments on the subconscious, and therefore shares some of the characteristics of the Dream Plays. The project takes into account Harry Carlson’s analyses of mythopoeic symbols in Creditors, and argues that these symbols embellish the nightmarish atmosphere of the play. The project proposes that due to a blurring of the line between fantasy and reality, stylization and movement fits Creditors better than a realistic mis-en-scene. The second part of the project is staging a production of Creditors at Duke University, following the suggestion of the written component.

Mentor: Johanna McAuliffe

Chenxi Yu, University of North Carolina

Integrating the Jamkhed Model into the Health Care System of Rural China

Despite China’s economic growth, there still exists a large disparity in rural and urban health status. The Jamkhed model in India is well-konwn in rural healthcare delivery. This study analyzes the Jamkhed model and suggests ways to integrate it into the health system of a Chinese rural village. The first stage was done via a residential program in Jamkhed to learn about its mechanism. The second stage involves in-depth interviews and surveys in Dongchong village, China. It is concluded that Jamkhed functions under a three-tier structure including the Village Health Workers


51

(VHWs), a mobile health team and a cost-effective hospital. Dongchong village has a much more established primary healthcare system. All of the 11 households surveyed have government health insurance. However, 36% of survey participants indicated preference for private clinics and 45% for self-care. Villagers also expressed that their main concern is not health but income generation. 54% of participants are not willing to join a group resembling Jamkhed’s VHWs. Hence, the attempt to organize the community should not evolve around health issues, but start with income generation instead. Also, measures should be taken to increase the utilization of government hospital services, possibly through a similar approach as Jamkhed’s mobile health team. This study shows although the Jamkhed model has the potential to be beneficial in rural China, careful analysis needs to be done to tailor the model to different societal contexts. Empowerment of the community to address its own health needs must be organized around the community’s own interest.

Mentor: Dr. Thomas Konrad

Nathan Zimnik, University of Maryland


Odor perception recruits a series of intricate neural networks that connect peripheral sensory neurons to the brain’s cortical interpretation centers. One of the most important networks in this chain consists of a dendrodendritic microcircuit in the olfactory bulb (OB) between prevalent, inhibitory granule cells (GCs) and the OB’s output neurons, mitral cells (MCs). Across numerous dendrodendritic synapses, GCs release GABA, a neurotransmitter that effects a powerful inhibition of MCs. This inhibition is instrumental in shaping odor signals in a manner that facilitates cortical compilation of a detailed olfactory scene. Dendrodendritic circuit activity experiences significant influence from afferent projections originating in the locus coeruleus, a region of the brainstem responsible for the release of noradrenaline (NA). Past work from our lab has shown that NA induces a long-lasting increase in GC excitability, thereby enhancing the release of GABA onto MCs. Here,

we further explore noradrenergic modulation in the OB through in vitro single-cell recording in mice, describing the involvement of specific adrenergic receptor (AR) subtypes and the developmental regulation of their function. We find that activation of both α1A and β-ARs significantly increases the frequency of GABAergic inhibitory currents in MCs, particularly in young mice, with significant decline in β-AR contribution at older ages. These results suggest the possibility that β-ARs are crucial in early olfactory-mediated behaviors such as neonatal odor learning and detail a physiological function for the α1A-AR, a receptor subtype lacking a defined role in the brain. Work supported by a NIDCD RO1-DC-009817 to R.C.A., a fellowship from the Chilean government to A.N., and HHMI Undergraduate Research Fellowships to N.C.Z. and T.W.T.

Mentor: Ricardo C. Araneda

INDEX 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

52

BOSTON COLLEGE Matthew Alonsozana, 14 Okello Carter. 20 Ryan Folio, 23 Narintohn Luangrath, 33 Joseph Manning, 36 Alyssa McCarthy, 37 CLEMSON UNIVERSITY Meredith Cole, 21 Joel Dixon, 22 Lauren Hock, 26 Zakery James, 28 Haaris Khan, 30 Adam Klett, 31 Nadine Luedicke, 34 Emily McCanless, 37 DUKE UNIVERSITY Amanda Auerbach, 15 Emily Bray, 19 Travis Byington, 19 Andrea Patiño, 41 Peichun Wang, 47 Yu-Po (Ken) Wong, 49 Ali Yalgin, 50 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY Dana Boebinger, 18 Morgan Kayser, 30 Andrew Koutnik, 32 Amanda Krueger, 32 Caroline Watson, 48

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Sheridan E. Ackiss, 14 Brice I Hwang, 27 Kanav Jain, 27 Shibani D. Kansara, 29 Myong Joon Kim, 30 Radu Reit, 43 Robert S Rule, 43 Sarah C. Weber, 48

NC STATE UNIVERSITY Taylor J. Belge, 16 Jordan Ferguson, 23 Brian Eugene Gaudio, 24 Travis T. Lekich, 33 Joshua L. Lucas, 34 Julio C. Martinez, 36 Cody Allen Melton, 38 Joseph Moo-Young, 39 Andy B. Park, 41 Holly C. Sweeney, 46 UNIVESITY OF MARYLAND Catherine Bessell, 16 Harley Katz, 29 Yuliya Malamud, 35 Colette Nataf, 40 Tyler Treadway, 46 Jason Wong, 50 Nathan Zimnik, 51 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI Eric D. Antmann, 15 Ian Ergui, 22 Bryant Huang, 26 Sara Marin, 36 Mejdi Najjar, 39 Saramati Narasimhan, 40 Betty Albo Obeso, 40 Cecilia Perez, 42

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA Morgan Abbott, 14 Jessica Bodford, 18 Caroline Kirby, 31 Patrick Mullins, 39 Kai Shin, 44 Casey Shutt, 45 Chenxi Yu, 51 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Matthew E. Caplan, 20 Aileen L. Giordano, 25 Matthew D. Lycas, 34 Vladislav O. Sviderskiy, 45 Cori Watson, 48 VIRGINIA TECH Winston R. Becker, 16 Kenneth A. Black, 17 Laura K. Craig, 22 Kristen H. Fowler, 24 Bethany Gregory, 25 Andrew B. Hall, 26 Victoria S. James, 28 Michael H. Lawless, 33 Lara J. Mangum, 35 Ross McFarland, 38 Arielle Grim McNally, 38 Eric H. Reasor, 43 Casey Setash, 44 Daniel M. Wainless, 47 Stephanie M. Welch, 49 WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY Tim Brady, 18 Ryan Ford, 24 Rebecca Perry, 42 Spencer Carter-Carpenter, 21 Anne Ornelles, 41 Laura Grace Carroll, 20 Ashley Birkedal, 17

STUDENT EMAIL ADDRESS 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

53

Boston College Matthew Alonsozana [email protected]

Boston College Okello Carter [email protected]

Boston College Ryan Folio [email protected]

Boston College Narintohn Luangrath [email protected]

Boston College Joseph Manning [email protected]

Boston College Alyssa McCarthy [email protected]

Clemson University Meredith Cole [email protected]

Clemson University Joel Dixon [email protected]

Clemson University Lauren Hock [email protected]

Clemson University Zakery James [email protected]

Clemson University Haaris Khan [email protected]

Clemson University Adam Klett [email protected]

Clemson University Nadine Luedicke [email protected]

Clemson University Emily McCanless [email protected]

Duke University Amanda Auerbach [email protected]

Duke University Emily Bray [email protected]

Duke University Travis Byington [email protected]

Duke University Andrea Patiño [email protected]

Duke University Peichun Wang [email protected]

Duke University Ali Yalgin [email protected]

Duke University Yu-Po (Ken) Wong [email protected]

Florida State University Dana Boebinger [email protected]

Florida State University Morgan Kayser [email protected]

Florida State University Andrew Koutnik [email protected]

Florida State University Amanda Krueger [email protected]

Florida State University Caroline Watson [email protected]


Sheridan E. Ackiss [email protected]


Brice I Hwang [email protected]


Kanav Jain [email protected]


Shibani D. Kansara [email protected]


Myong Joon Kim [email protected]


Radu Reit [email protected]


Robert S Rule [email protected]


Sarah C. Weber [email protected]

NC State University Taylor J. Belge [email protected]

NC State University Jordan Ferguson [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





































54

NC State University Brian Eugene Gaudio [email protected]

NC State University Holly C. Sweeney [email protected]

NC State University Travis T. Lekich [email protected]

NC State University Joshua L. Lucas [email protected]

NC State University Julio C. Martinez [email protected]

NC State University Cody Allen Melton [email protected]

NC State University Joseph Moo-Young [email protected]

University of Maryland Catherine Bessell [email protected]

University of Maryland Harley Katz [email protected]

University of Maryland Yuliya Malamud [email protected]

University of Maryland Colette Nataf [email protected]

University of Maryland Tyler Treadway [email protected]

University of Maryland Jason Wong [email protected]

University of Maryland Nathan Zimnik [email protected]

University of Miami Eric D. Antmann [email protected]

University of Miami Ian Ergui [email protected]

University of Miami Bryant Huang [email protected]

University of Miami Sara Marin [email protected]

University of Miami Mejdi Najjar [email protected]

University of Miami Saramati Narasimhan [email protected]

University of Miami Betty Albo Obeso [email protected]

University of Miami Cecilia Perez [email protected]

University of North Carolina Morgan Abbott [email protected]

University of North Carolina Jessica Bodford [email protected]

University of North Carolina Caroline Kirby [email protected]

University of North Carolina Patrick Mullins [email protected]

University of North Carolina Kai Shin [email protected]

University of North Carolina Casey Shutt [email protected]

University of North Carolina Chenxi Yu [email protected]

University of Virginia Matthew E. Caplan [email protected]

University of Virginia Aileen L. Giordano [email protected]

University of Virginia Matthew D. Lycas [email protected]

University of Virginia Vladislav O. Sviderskiy [email protected]

University of Virginia Cori Watson [email protected]

Virginia Tech Winston R. Becker [email protected]

Virginia Tech Kenneth A. Black [email protected]

Virginia Tech Laura K. Craig [email protected]

Virginia Tech Kristen H. Fowler [email protected]

Virginia Tech Bethany Gregory [email protected]

Virginia Tech Andrew B. Hall [email protected]

































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Virginia Tech Victoria S. James [email protected]

Virginia Tech Michael H. Lawless [email protected]

Virginia Tech Lara J. Mangum [email protected]

Virginia Tech Arielle Grim McNally [email protected]

Virginia Tech Eric H. Reasor [email protected]

Virginia Tech Casey Setash [email protected]

Virginia Tech Daniel M. Wainless [email protected]

Virginia Tech Stephanie M. Welch [email protected]

Wake Forest University Ashley Birkedal [email protected]

Wake Forest University Tim Brady [email protected]

Wake Forest University Laura Grace Carroll [email protected]

Wake Forest University Spencer Carter-Carpenter [email protected]

Wake Forest University Ryan Ford [email protected]

Wake Forest University Anne Ornelles [email protected]

Wake Forest University Rebecca Perry [email protected]








NOTES 7th Annual ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference

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The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center Floorplan

ALUMNI ASSEMBLYHALL

Elev.Lobby

Elev.

Latham

LathamBallroom E

Latham

Ballroom D

Tele

phon

es

Lath

am F

oyer

LathamBallroom C

LathamBallroom B

LathamBallroom A

Great Lawn

Latham Foyer

BusinessCenter

Men

Women

Coats

Elev.Lobby

StairFoyer

1872Salon

OldGuard

Con

tinen

tal D

ivid

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on’s

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Smithfield

Duck Pond

Drillfield

FoyerCor

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Women

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CascadesA

CascadesB

Draper’sMeadow

EllettValley

Huckle-berry

NewRiver

Cor

ridor

Corridor

Storage

Telephones

Offices

AdminOffices

Elev.

LowerQuadFoyer

Ballroom F

it is my pleasure to welcome you to

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