Students -- Research, Data, Projects, and Papers

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  • ItemOpen Access
    2 - Bi
    (2011-02-16) Seki, Hannah; Hachiyanagi, Rie
    This thesis will examine the visually-created inner workings of the bilingual brain, while also portraying the conflict and frustrations that come with being raised bicultural. I explore the ideas of language and duality: two prominent aspects in my installation. The text, the interweaving wooden structure, the ribbons representing my streams of consciousness, the light projections, and the audio element of my installation are individually investigated and analyzed. From the materials used to the history and philosophical reasoning behind each esthetic and theoretical decision, I explore my installation in its entirety. By limiting my color palette to neutral tones, I am leaving room for individual interpretations from my audience rather than potential color associations. My inspirations, influences, technical and creative processes are investigated within the thesis. A self-critique and analysis of the installation are also included. This project is my way of conveying to the public that I am coming to terms with both my Japanese and American culture and identity.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A 2D microfluidic model of cerebrospinal fluid flow in periarterial spaces
    (2024-05-17) Toole, Sasha; Nordstrom, Kerstin
    The glymphatic system is a pathway for metabolic waste clearance in the brain. In a crucial step of this pathway, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) enters the brain via periarterial spaces. Previous studies in live mice have found that peristaltic waves in the arterial wall, driven by pulsatile blood flow, can induce the flow of CSF in the surrounding periarterial space. However, the exact mechanism driving CSF flow remains unclear among multiple possible contributing mechanisms. We developed a microfluidic device that serves as a two-dimensional model of the arterial wall interface between the periarterial space and inner artery to study the flow of peristaltically driven CSF. With this microfluidic model, we tested pulsation frequencies motivated by human, rat, and mouse heart rates and observed trends in both the oscillatory and bulk components of the model CSF flow. We additionally observed a relationship between the approximate membrane waveform and the fluid motion in the model periarterial space. These observations contribute new insight to the understanding of CSF flow mechanisms.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A Community Health-Based Research Experience: A Well-Rounded Internship at the SPRC
    (2018-03-26) Young, Aladrianne
    The Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC) is composed of leading researchers who strive to combat diseases and improve the health of populations within the United States and across the world. During the summer of 2015, Aladrianne Young was a research intern for the Healthy Aging Research and Technology Solutions (HARTS) Lab at the SPRC in Palo Alto, CA. The HARTS lab, directed by Dr. Abby King, focuses on addressing barriers and facilitators that influence the ability of older adult populations to incorporate physical exercise into their lives and their ability to access quality foods in order to eat healthfully. As a research intern, Aladrianne worked closely under Dr. Jylana Sheats on various projects pertaining to simultaneous studies conducted at the lab. Aladrianne attended weekly team meetings, conducted a focus group, created evidence tables, created a validated survey database, learned print and digital marketing strategies, attended a site visit, networked with colleagues, assisted with website development, and co-edited a resource guide for participants.Through her internship she learned about the many facets that compose research. This presentation will highlight Aladrianne’s overall summer experience and provide an overview of the projects she was a part of with HARTS.
  • ItemOpen Access
  • ItemRestricted
    A Laughing Matter: Translating the Humor of Catullus
    (2024-05-21) Moon, Lila; Arnold, Bruce
    Catullus, an innovative and sharp-tongued poet writing during the late Roman republic, has engaged generations of scholars and students alike with his unique wit. Generally, however, the humorous aspect of his poetry is overlooked in academic settings, especially when it comes to translations of his work. Beyond engaging readers, Catullus’ humor reveals many things about the society in which he lived. In this thesis, I explore how we can communicate Catullus’ humor in translation, so that those who do not read Latin may enjoy his poetry and the knowledge that comes with understanding it. Catullus’ work, and especially the humor of his work provides an accessible point of entry into the Roman republic, one of the richest and most enlightening periods of Roman history. In analyzing Catullus’ unique sense of humor, I consider his work through the lenses of two major philosophical theories of humor, as well as through the lens of the literary tradition that inspired the poet. Within this thesis, I offer my own translations of a selection of Catullus’ work in order to prove the feasibility of translating his humor and to demonstrate how this goal should be achieved. I also provide commentary on my translations in order to explain the choices I made to best display Catullus’s humor.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A Modern Dance with Death: Percy Delf Smith and the Aesthetic of Direct Experience
    (2020-05-25) Shaw, Clara; Lee, Anthony
    In 1919, immediately following the First World War, the English artist Percy Smith produced a series of seven etchings entitled Dance of Death 1914-1918. Contemporaries responded enthusiastically to his inventive treatment of the subject. This paper reinterprets the series in its historical and social context to better understand its original emotional impact. During the war, censorship created a chasm between the home front and the Western Front. Towards the end of the conflict, soldiers began producing writings and visual art that presented an unfiltered image of the war, which an uneasy public began to crave. These frontline accounts brought the daily perils of the Tommies home, and contained what historian Samuel Hynes called the “aesthetic of direct experience.” This quality of authenticity became a prized ingredient in the public’s eye. Smith illustrated his own military experience through the reimagining of a recognized Medieval trope. The series vicariously transports viewers to the front line, following Death as he meanders through the war zone, pausing here and there to either spare or collect a soldier. By conflating the factual with the macabre, Smith expanded the aesthetic of direct experience to expose not only the war’s physical trauma but its psychological toll. Despite the War’s centennial and reinvigoration of scholarship on its art, Smith’s contributions have remained largely unstudied. My research draws heavily on unpublished archival material housed in the Percy Smith Foundation in Cheshunt, England, and early published sources.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A Summer at the UN: Lessons in Diplomacy & International Policy Creation
    (2019-04-19) Amoafoa-Smart, Edith
    This summer, I was a participant and primary witness to the upscaling and downscaling processes involved in the formation of international law and policy, and to the impact of the practice of diplomacy on domestic policy creation. Interning with the United Nations through the Permanent Mission of Ghana provided unrivaled exposure to the nature of the two-way interactions between states and the international community. I attended a series of high-level political meetings and got to meet important people both in Ghanaian foreign policy and international diplomacy. I will be discussing how my classes and extracurricular involvement prepared me for this experience, and what my major takeaways are moving forward. Students interested in international affairs and public policy on a global scale will find this panel useful.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A Summer of 25 Concerts and a Great Deal of Experience Gained
    (2019-04-22) Olgaard, Isabella
    Aren’t you supposed to have fun in the summer? This summer I did exactly that. I worked for BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn, a summer-long music festival run by a non-profit in Brooklyn, New York, as a lighting production intern. One of my favorite parts of my day included running the follow spot during shows to light up Grammy winners and musicians from all over the world. I learned about how much work goes into putting on concerts and the amount of hard work required to make the shows look and sound incredible. I am a double major in Film Studies and Studio Art and want to work in the film industry after graduation. I used my art skills during my daily tasks and then realized that most of the work I did this summer directly relates to the technical portions of filmmaking.
  • ItemOpen Access
    A Taste of the Chemistry World
    (2019-04-22) Maziarz, Kate
    During my internship at Mount Holyoke College, granted by the Lynk Program, I immersed myself in an environment that further developed my chemical background. Working under the mentorship of Kyle Broaders, I explored chemical techniques and advanced my skills by operating analytical equipment in the laboratory. The synthesis of biodegradable polymers was a daunting task, but my efforts yielded results due to the dedicated time put into the research. These polymers have a wide range of applications, including materials for drug delivery, but one must learn various methods of synthesis in order to understand polymer properties. Organic chemistry is a very complex discipline but if true passion crosses paths with nature’s puzzles, then the pursuit of mastery can be witnessed like no other. The internship reinforced my goals of getting into a graduate program in organic chemistry. Moreover, this experience fortified my enthusiasm and independence as a young scientist.
  • ItemRestricted
    Ability of Orconectus rusticus to Recover from Exposure to the Pesticide Imidacloprid
    (2018-07-02) Omer, Meredith; Brodie, Renae
    Imidacloprid, the most widely used pesticide in the world, is known to affect invertebrates’ ability to move and feed. There is growing concern about the effects Imidacloprid may be having on non-target organisms. In my study I asked the question can organisms exposed to Imidacloprid recover mobility. I exposed crayfish to either 1 µg•L-1, 10 µg•L-1 or 100 µg•L-1 of Imidacloprid for seven days. After the week of exposure, crayfish were transferred to pesticide-free water and tested their mobility by timing how long it took each individual crayfish to right itself after being placed onto its back. This test was repeated every three days for a total of five cycles. The crayfish exposed to either 1 µg•L-1 or 10 µg•L-1 of Imidacloprid did not show differences in average flip times compared to the control crayfish at any point during the study. Crayfish exposed to 100 µg•L-1 of exhibited significantly different flip times from the 1 µg•L-1, 10 µg•L-1 and control crayfish until the thirteenth day. At that time, they were not significantly different from the 10 µg•L-1 exposed crayfish. The righting time of crayfish exposed to 100 µg•L-1 trended towards the control over the course of the recovery period.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Abject Utopia
    (2012-05-21) Garon, Elizabeth; Campbell, Nancy
    Through bodily mark-making, overlapping and layering multiple lithographs and screen prints, and the use of color, I strive to reference a sexual encounter within a figural landscape, so the figure is both the subject and the space its placed in. The improvisation and impulsiveness that guides my decision-making relies upon the decision made before it, a process that parallels the improvisation of contact that two bodies share during sex. In the rendering of these experiences, the intersection, consumption, and combining of flesh are symbolic of Eve’s fall from innocence and rise to maturation. Printing with themes of consumption, gluttony, and sin, I work to blur the lines between what is considered good and evil, referring to the cyclic nature of birth, growth, decay and death.
  • ItemRestricted
    About our cognitive processes: computational verses embodied
    (2015-05-20) Fu, Wanyun; Mitchell, Samuel
    This thesis discusses two distinct cognitive theories in philosophy of mind. In 1975, Jerry Fodor proposed the Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH). This hypothesis essentially offers a computational theory of mind. It states that our cognitive processes proceed like physical computers, in which we employ an internal representational system for computation. Moreover, he claims that this representational system is literally a language of thought, consisting of syntax and semantics for representing things out there in one’s head. On the other hand, in 1972, Hubert Dreyfus proposes the Embodied Cognition (EC) that completely contradicts the LOTH. The EC suggests an embodied solution. By virtue of having a human body, agents are always situated in the environment, given direct access to the physical world. In this case, the EC denies any computational process or any internal representational system. In this thesis, I attempt to defend the LOTH against the EC. I discover that the EC can be refuted by the LOTH, simply because the embodied cognitive processes require computational processes of some kind as well. The upshot is, our cognitive processes are necessarily computational.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Access to Death: Prisons, Hospice and Voices
    (2011-06-27) Axtman, Sophia; Crosthwaite, Jane
    Since, 1992 the number of inmates over the age of fifty in the United States has almost tripled. This rapidly growing population of elderly inmates is due to a national “tough on crime” attitude, which has put 1 in 100 Americans behind bars, many of whom will age and die in a correctional setting. The National Center on Institutions and Alternatives estimates that housing and caring for American inmates over fifty-five, costs state and federal governments an annual sum of $2.1 billion – almost three times the amount it costs to accommodate a younger prisoner . To successfully provide mental and physical care for a geriatric patient is not only expensive, but also costly in the sense that elderly patients require a more sophisticated level of care. Coupled with longer sentencing, and the War on Drugs law-enforcement initiative, there is a greater need for long-term and eventually end-of-life medical care in prisons. Ironically, prison inmates in the United States are the only citizens who have an inalienable right to health care. Yet, with an increasing emphasis on life sentencing and prison privatization, dying inmates are not receiving the level of care they deserve, which poses the question: who has access to a humane death? This project examines both who, in fact, has access to a meaningful death, and also what constitutes a “good death” behind bars. Correctional hospice programs exemplify a new and modern initiative to make hospice and a “good death” accessible to inmates – some of America’s most underrepresented citizens. Prison Hospice represents a shift from an inhumane death in prison towards a compassionate consideration for a dying inmate. Although the hospice movement in prisons is growing, many wonder if hospice behind bars will ever measure up to traditional, community hospice programs. There is the very real possibility that, with the current infrastructure of correctional facilities coupled with strict security procedures, a successful prison hospice program will never be achieved. Still, prison hospice could become a catalyst for improving America’s prison system. Perhaps a successful hospice program is the catalyst the United States needs to implement better care for its inmates. No prison hospice program will ever be successful without two essential elements: the autonomous voice of the prisoner and sympathetic support. I present the majority of my argument in the context of the prisoner’s voice and the manner in which the inmate’s autonomous choices dictate the success of a prison hospice program, in giving dying inmates what they deserve: access to a good and meaningful death.
  • ItemOpen Access
    An Acre of America in Cairo: The American University in Cairo and the Production of Americanized Egypt from 1919-1948
    (2013-07-02) Laguerta, Dianne; Hanson, Holly
    In 1919, after years of planning and earning financial support, the American University at Cairo (AUC) opened its doors to students from the Middle East in a building formally built as a palace turned cigarette factory turned university campus, straddling the line between “modern” and “medieval” Cairo. But the campus that people now know as the American University in Cairo at Tahrir Square – which moved in 2008 to New Cairo – has a long history of what it hoped to be: a campus at the outskirts of Cairo, right next to the Pyramids. By comparing the two campuses—the real and the imaginary—I argue that the AUC missionaries desired to create a hybrid campus of Egyptian and Muslim identity on the exterior but a recognizable “American” sense of space and culture within students. This internal American space became the place for teaching the “evangelical ethos” of discipline, morality, and order for students who would be “converted” within their hearts if not by name. Using missionary materials from the AUC Archives—letters, committee meeting minutes, class syllabi, pamphlets, building designs, and photographs—my project explores how prominent American Presbyterian missionaries constructed AUC as an ideal space and location for conversion of the Muslim world. By analyzing these documents, one can begin to understand the delicate balance that AUC affiliates maintained between their missionary goals and conceptions of American space, Orientalist opinions on Islam, and Egyptian identity.
  • ItemRestricted
    Adrift: ghost stories
    (2011-05-17) Kupersmith, Violet; Martin, Valerie; Weber, Donald
  • ItemOpen Access
    Adsorption of poly(vinyl alcohol) onto polydimethylsiloxane substrates: formation of continuous films, honeycomb structures, and fractal morphologies
    (2015-05-05) Karki, Akchheta; Chen, Wei
    While polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has many uses in analytical, biomedical, and electronic systems, its hydrophobicity hinders some of its applications by causing incompatibility with aqueous media. Specifically, this can cause great difficulties to the polymer’s applications in bioengineering, as most biological systems are water-based. In this research, surface hydrophillization of PDMS was carried out by adsorption of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH, 99% hydrolyzed, M.W. = 89-98 kDa) from aqueous solution. PDMS of different molecular weights, from 2 kDa to 116 kDa, were covalently attached to silicon wafer substrates. All the substrates were characterized using ellipsometry, contact angle goniometry, and atomic force microscopy before and after each step. Adsorbed PVOH thin films were only continuous on PDMS layers of 2 kDa and showed “dewetted” morphologies, such as honeycomb structures and fractal features, as the underlying PDMS molecular weight increases and decreases. The instability of the adsorbed PVOH thin films is likely caused by surface chemical and/or physical “defects”. PVOH morphologies on various PDMS substrates are determined by the density and extent of defects in different PDMS substrates, and/or the molecular weights (flexibility) of PDMS chains. Lower molecular weight PDMS are most easily hydrophilized by adsorbed PVOH as indicated by the low receding contact angle values. Higher molecular weight PDMS have incomplete coverage of PVOH, giving rise to high advancing contact angle values. In-situ imaging confirms that various PVOH morphologies are formed upon exposure to air, not in solution, and that PVOH desorption is minimal. The unique structural features of adsorbed PVOH thin films are likely the direct result of PVOH crystallization upon dehydration and are dependent on surface defects.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Advocacy for Low-Income LGBTQ and HIV+ New Yorkers
    (2019-04-22) Lamb, Schuyler
    The LGBTQ and HIV unit at Brooklyn Legal Services provides free legal services to LGBTQ and HIV+ residents of Brooklyn on problems related to housing, public benefits, immigration, and employment law. Paralegal interns meet with clients, attend community meetings, accompany attorneys to court, and do advocacy research and writing on behalf of clients. I was responsible for doing research related to conditions for LGBTQ and HIV+ people in Venezuela and in Turkmenistan for asylum applications. I also worked on reaching out to current clients to see if they were eligible for a rent freeze program and helped them apply if they were. Working side by side with the committed advocates at BLS showed me the power of understanding how the legal system works and how that knowledge can be used to help those who our society seeks to disenfranchise.
  • ItemOpen Access
    After the Evening Bell: Working Women and Leisure Time in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1830-1860
    (2016-06-13) Cos, Phoebe; Miller, Aaron; Renda, Mary
    In the fall of 1836, Harriot Curtis opened a letter to her friend and suitor, Hezikiah Wead, with a statement about the boundless sense of independence she cherished. “Alone, I am fancy free,” she declared, “… with the sun, moon, stars, sky, the fleecy clouds of sunshine, the dark messengers of storm, the thunder’s peal, and the bright brilliant lightning, I can never be alone.”1 Curtis had recently moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, from Kelleyvale, Vermont, swapping life on her family’s farm for the factory’s bells that marked the beginning, middle, and end of the workday. After the evening bell, she was free to choose how she spent her time. Like other working women, she shopped in local stores, attended lectures at the Lowell Lyceum, enjoyed the theatre, spent Sundays at church, and wrote about her experiences—in private letters and in the Lowell Offering. Writing held a particular significance for Curtis, who later ventured a new career, as a writer. This project examines the history of working women’s leisure time during the early years of industrialization in Lowell, Massachusetts. Diaries, letters and published writings by Curtis and other women open a window onto working women’s lives outside the factory gate. Alongside these written sources, watches, textiles, medicine bottles, and other material artifacts held in museums and archives can help us imagine what it was like for such women to move through the world of Lowell on their own time and in their own way. To explore this dimension of history, this thesis will draw on the public history component of my project, the exhibition After the Evening Bell: Working Women and Leisure Time, 1830-1860, on display in the Williston Library atrium from March 14th through April 11th. Based on insights gained from these writings and objects, I argue that despite the shortness of their leisure hours, working women gained a new awareness of themselves through their leisure-time activities. Working women like Harriot Curtis gained a greater sense of their independence, not only by working and earning a wage, but also through the choices they made about how to spend their time and money, and how to represent themselves after the evening bell.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The Age and Petrogenesis of a Sillimanite Gneiss within the Belchertown Igneous Complex, Massachusetts
    (2021-05-24) Rindlisbacher, Margrit; Dunn, Steve
    This study applies chemical dating of monazite following the methods of Williams et al. (2017) in samples from a septum of metapelite that lies within the Belchertown intrusion in central Massachusetts. This septum is identified as Partridge Formation sillimanite schist that is characterized by large (10 cm long) sillimanite porphyroblasts interpreted to be pseudomorphs after andalusite in previous studies. Three samples (BE17-2, PF-2, and MAR20-1) were collected from an outcrop on the southern end of the septum. Whole rock composition data for these samples was obtained from XRF analysis. Individual monazite grains were identified by compositional mapping of thin sections with the electron microprobe at UMass. Individual monazite grains were mapped for Y, Th, and other elements and chemical domains were identified. Complete chemical analysis of selected domains was conducted and an age was calculated following the methods of Williams et al. (2017). Pseudosections detailing P-T stability fields for these samples were generated using Theriak Domino and the whole rock composition data. The estimated pressure of stability for all three samples is greater than 5 kbar. The temperature stability range for one staurolite-containing sample is estimated to be 500-700°C, and for the other staurolite-lacking samples, the temperature range is greater than 650°C. The majority of monazite grains in all three samples give an age of ~370 Ma, which corresponds to the Neo-acadian orogeny and metamorphism in central Massachusetts (Robinson et al., 1998). A few grains from two samples give much younger dates of ~280 Ma, which dates to the Alleghanian orogeny. Highly irregular, patchy textures in Y composition maps of these grains are interpreted to be the result of a fluid-mediated alteration event. Fluid alteration would reset the U-Th-Pb system, leading us to conclude that the fluid alteration event would have occurred during the older Neo-acadian event.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Agent, Editor, Author: Planning for a Future in Publishing
    (2019-04-22) Kelly, Trisha
    Ever wonder what happens to a book before it lands on an editor’s desk? Trisha spent her summer immersed in the New York City publishing scene through her work at InkWell Management, a literary agency with a client base ranging from Anthony Bourdain to Markus Zusak. This presentation will outline the role of literary agencies in the publishing landscape along with Trisha’s specific responsibilities at InkWell, explaining how her newfound knowledge of the industry and the respect that InkWell’s agents showed towards genre fiction worked in tandem to give her the confidence to plan for a future in writing romance and women’s fiction. Although her internship assured her that she would find fulfillment working as an agent or editor, it ultimately solidified that she has the passion and determination to make it as an author, and even more importantly, that she owes it to herself to try.