The IUPUC Office of Student Research 2020-2021 Exhibition celebrates the eleventh year of vetted student research with its annual showcase. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Student Research (OSR) Student Research Exhibition is online for a second year in a row, with a plan to return to an in-person exhibition in spring 2022.
According to Professor Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, Ph.D., Director of the Office of Student Research, “This year, just as in years past, we are able to spotlight extraordinary student research projects, and this work is a result of the impressive dedication to research and scholarship on the part of undergraduates in partnership with their faculty mentors. The faculty mentors went above and beyond to fold students into existing research projects or introduce and mentor them in new ones, and the students rose to the challenge. Ultimately, the projects this year prove that student research at IUPUC is as strong and remarkable as ever.”
About the Research Projects
This year’s online exhibition features the work of 23 students and11 faculty mentors on a total of 11 research projects. Each student-faculty team received a grant from the Office of Student Research to fund their project. To earn a grant, students submitted detailed project proposals, passed a rigorous vetting process by a review committee, and then completed their projects with direction and guidance from a faculty mentor.
To learn more about the IUPUC Office of Student Research, and to view this year’s presentations, go to https://iupuc.edu/osr.
The following is a list of the projects:
Teaching Aids to Support Online Chemistry Courses
STUDENT: Adrienne Shea
FACULTY MENTOR: James Mendez, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: The current evolving situation due to COVID-19 requires that college courses be taught online or at the very least have the ability to move online with little to no notice. This means finding new and innovative ways to teach courses online, including sciences, that have complementary practical labs taught alongside the lecture components of the courses. The utilization of 3D printing can allow for an inexpensive way to provide students with visual aids to help assist with subjects that can be difficult to grasp. A further support for practical labs includes the purchase of home lab kits with complementary designed labs that can be safely performed in a home setting.
The results of this project were presented at the American Chemical Society Meeting in San Antonio, Texas on March 21, 2021, a national meeting held bi-annually by the American Chemical Society.
Social Cognition, Emotion Perception, and Biological Movement
STUDENT: Bushra Jameel
FACULTY MENTORS: Mark Jaime, Ph.D., and Elizabeth DaSilva, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: This study explores how social cognitive functioning in individuals is conveyed using body movements to express emotions. More specifically, we analyze social cognitive functioning questionnaires of actors in point light display videos and examine associations between the ratings the actors received and emotional states they were trying to convey.
This project will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Affective Science in April 2021.
Infection Control Among the Homeless during the COVID-19 Pandemic
STUDENTS: Allissa DeGroot, Jennifer Ratliff, Hannah Stephenson, Nicholas Wagner
FACULTY MENTOR: Lana Watson, DNP
ABSTRACT: The homeless population is at an increased risk for health disparities, specifically issues with dental care, skin integrity, and infection. With homelessness and Covid-19 both on the rise in Bartholomew county, we hope to provide this population with reusable masks, hand sanitizer, and education on infection control methods using limited resources.
The Power to Decide: Pregnant Women and Opioid Use
STUDENTS: Olivia Fahey, Zoha Jameel, Tyra Newsome, Amy Voss, Kelsey Wallace
FACULTY MENTOR: Lana Watson, DNP
ABSTRACT: Our objective is to educate this population on the resources available to them for cessation of opioid use, combating stigma, and the importance of prenatal care. Care packages, including an educational postcard with a sample of diapers, will be provided to all patients who have a positive pregnancy test at Clarity Pregnancy Services. Although the target population is pregnant women with opioid use disorder, we cannot directly reach that population without making assumptions or further ostracizing that population. Therefore, we will reach out to all pregnant women at the clinic. In doing so, we will address the stigma associated with opioid use and pregnancy, as well as emphasize the importance of prenatal care. This population will be educated on the resources available to them for cessation of opioid use, combating stigma, and the importance of prenatal care.
Are We All Included?: An Analysis of Wonders Literacy Curriculum for Use of Anti-Racist Practices
STUDENT: Megan Purdue
FACULTY MENTOR: A’ame Joslin, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: This project uses Enid Lee’s anti-racist education framework to determine which stage the content of BCSC’s 6th-grade Basal Reading Program, Reading Wonders Literature Anthology Grade 6 by McGraw Hill, is at. Two sample stories and lesson plans will be analyzed and aligned with Lee’s stages. The stages of the anti-racist education framework include the surface stage, transitional stage, integration, structural change stage, and social change stage.
Additive Manufacturing of Continuous Fiber Reinforced Composite
STUDENT: Ross Gardner
FACULTY MENTOR: Noor-A-Alam, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this project is to develop a repeatable process for converting a standard 3D printer into one capable of continuous fiber deposition. Also, it is a goal of this project to incorporate the use of natural and renewable fibers in the printer’s composite production.
Evaluation of Southern Indiana's Health System Response to the Opioid Use Disorder Epidemic
STUDENTS: Jessica Barajas-Fuentes, Iesha London, Tucker Robinson
FACULTY MENTOR: Carrie Shaver, DHA
ABSTRACT: This project focuses on the Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) Epidemic and how health systems of Southern Indiana are responding and evaluating the epidemic. We will focus on Bartholomew, Jefferson, and Jackson counties to provide a comparative analysis and effectiveness against OUD, using a logic model created by The Center of Disease Control (CDC) and referencing OUD goals set by the state.
This project was presented at the Indiana Public Health Association Conference on April 9, 2021.
Intervention of Bar/Restaurant/Hotel Research—Data Analysis
STUDENT: Toni Fisher
FACULTY MENTOR: Jon Padfield, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: Through data collection and analysis of differentiating series of “intervention television programs” in the genre of bars/restaurants/hotels, the researcher identified trends that explain each of the shows varying success rates. After conducting the analysis, they explore a deeper scope to further define what exact types of changes were made to each of the bars/restaurants. The goal is to define which variables caused substantial modifications to each of the establishments, leading them to be successful and remain in business years after the intervention was completed.
Hoosier Youth Activists Project
STUDENTS: Victoria Gilles, Christian Litsey, Laura Palomino, Priscilla Villarreal
FACULTY MENTOR: Stephanie Serriere, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: With the highly political climate that America exists within, youth activism is dramatically on the rise, and with it, the need to study and empower the youth activists pouring themselves into political movements and organizations. This project seeks to find out from local youth activists their observations on secondary influences in their civic agency and empowerment by using surveys and interviews pertaining to their activism in their community. With this data, this research team will use an Action Civics approach to craft recommendations for local schools on how to better encourage and foster their youth activists.
Mechanisms of Control: Literary Findings on the Ways Patriarchy Maintains Intellectual Power
STUDENT: Christian Litsey
FACULTY MENTOR: Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: Throughout history, the intellectual freedom and voice of women has been stifled by the dominant patriarchal society; however, despite this stifling control, many women authors have persevered, detailing this oppression in rich and fascinating ways. This research project explores the works of three women authors—Amy Lowell’s “The Sisters,” Gertrude Stein’s “The Gentle Lena,” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat”—showing the three pillars of phallocentric control in the process. With this gynocritical approach to analyzing women’s literature, this research illustrates the importance of women’s voices in the literary canon in representing the experiences of women through art, justifying a centering of women writers and attendant issues in the literary canon.
This project was presented at the Indiana University Undergraduate Research Conference on December 11, 2020. Christian received the Second Prize for Best Undergraduate Research Project.
Farming Practices as Funds of Knowledge for Multilingual Learners
STUDENT: Taylor Russell
FACULTY MENTOR: Laura Liu, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: This research project builds upon IUPUC teacher preparation course work on integrating diverse funds of knowledge (Moll et al., 1992; González et al., 2005) into curricula and instruction. Recent research has demonstrated the value of inviting and learning from farming practices as funds of knowledge as a supportive educational practice (Harper, 2016). This project builds on this research by seeking to understand farming practices as valuable cultural funds of knowledge and to integrate these perspectives into a revised lesson plan introducing the concept of funds of knowledge to a culturally and linguistically diverse classroom.