UCCS was well represented as 78 undergraduate students presented research and creative works during the 15th Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum April 28.
The collaboration between UCCS, Colorado College and the U.S. Air Force Academy brings together students to present posters, oral presentations and creative works in a formal academic setting and receive feedback from scholars and peers across disciplines. A complete book of abstracts is available here.
Each student, sorted alphabetically, with the title and faculty mentors, is included below:
- Jeffrey Baston: Surface Tension of Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and Polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) Polymers – Faculty mentor: Jena McCollum, assistant professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
- Justin Becker and Sarah Dietrick: Increasing starch degradation efficiency in engineered yeast – Faculty mentor: Wendy Haggren, senior instructor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Nicole Beutell: Investigation of Self-Efficacy in Seeking Mental Health Care – Faculty mentor: Charles Benight, professor, Psychology Department, and director, Trauma, Health and Hazards Center
- Matt Bone: Economic Benefits of Alternative Transit to Colorado Springs – Faculty mentor: Daphne Greenwood, professor, Economics Department, and director, Colorado Center for Policy Studies
- Rachel Brottlund: Fixed vs. Growth – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Gwen Chambers: Regretting Parenthood – Faculty mentor: Zek Valkyrie, senior instructor, Sociology Department
- Carl Churchill: Maliki Islam and Tribal Politics in Medieval North Africa: the Rise of Berberism – Faculty mentor: Michael Martoccio, assistant professor, History Department
- Christopher Clements: Synthesis and Isolation of Functionalized Quinoxalyltriazoles – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Samantha Coyne: Construction of a Flavor-Profiling Library by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) – Faculty mentor: Janel Owens, associate professional, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Jennifer Cowan: The Effects of Vegetation on Snow Accumulation – Faculty mentor: Brandon Vogt, associate professor, Geography and Environmental Studies Department
- Stacy Crotty: How do Older vs. Younger Individuals view/use Writing? Generational Differences in Writing as Communication – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Kaelyn Daughetee: Discobolus and Diadoumenos: Greek Athleticism – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Breanna Davidson: Exploring the Connections between Critical Thinking, Close Reading, and the Reader – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Julien DePolo and Duane Dougherty: Politics in Education – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Rubi Diaz: Determining Concentrations of Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) in Produce from Historic Venetucci Farm – Faculty mentor: Janel Owens, associate professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Ryder Dunbar: Charles Mulford Robinson and The City Beautiful Movement – Faculty mentor: DeLyn Martineau, instructor, English Department
- Cassandra Eagan: Surface Plasmon Resonance in Anisotrophic Nanoparticles – Faculty mentor: Anatoliy Pinchuk, assistant professor, Department of Physics and Energy Science
- Kendra Engstrom: Synthesis and Characterization of [Ru(dpop’)(2,3-dpp)(Cl)](PF6).H2O and [Ru(dpop’)(2,3-dpp)(H2O)](PF6)2.H2O – Faculty mentor: Ronald Ruminski, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Sandy Fales with Emily Bertrand, U.S. Air Force Academy and Cole Simon, Colorado College: Connected: Increasing Access to Social Services through Interactive Technology – Mentor: Jake Eichengreen, executive director, Quad Innovation Partnership
- Evan Furr: Examining personality and dementia-related attitudes and knowledge – Faculty mentor: Molly Maxfield, assistant professor, Psychology Department
- Elaine Garcia: Veteran Students College Experience – Faculty mentor: Judith Long, instructor, Psychology Department
- Francis Gourley: Stigmatization of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder – Faculty mentor: Kristin Samuelson, assistant professor, Psychology Department
- Jaime Gray: Depicting the American Landscape – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Brittany Hall: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Pre-Columbian Afterlife: Mayan and Aztec Visual and Literary Interpretations of Life after Death – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Shelby Harvey: Comparing Alert and Flight Initiation Distances among Varying Animal Species in a Human-Built Environment – Faculty mentor: Emily Mooney, assistant professor, Biology Department
- Kristin Henrich: Memory storehouse – The Women of Abstract Expressionism – Faculty mentor: Claire Rau, instructor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Gina Herriage: Engineering Majors’ Attitudes toward Writing – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Toan Hoang: Identifying Male-Transferred sRNA in Same Line and Different Line Crosses of Drosophila – Faculty mentor: Jeremy Bono, associate professor, Biology Department
- Megan Hopkins: Inclusion: What’s keeping Theory out of Practice? – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Jansen Howard: Artists Talk – Revelation through Creation – Faculty mentor: Corey Drieth, assistant professor and co-director, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Stefan Huddleston: Alexander Films: Colorado’s Lost Legacy – Faculty mentor: Robert Von Dassanowsky, professor, Languages and Cultures Department, and director of film studies, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Sara Johnson: Plant Community Recovery on a Closed Social Trail Using Active vs. Passive Restoration – Faculty mentor: Emily Mooney, assistant professor, Biology Department
- Matthew Knott: Beta Phase Analysis of PVDF – Faculty mentor: Jena McCollumm, assistant professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
- Lydia Lac: Using in silico Methods to Develop a Therapeutic for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus via Targeting the Complement System – Faculty mentor: James Kovacs, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Katherine Latona: Monuments and Cultural Identity: Ancient Precedents, Modern Controversies – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Ashley Leonard: Putting Feelings into Words: The Emotional Experience of Writing – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Danielle Lopez and Timmy Vilgiate: The Best of Times/The Worst of Times: Contemporary Viewpoints across the Political Spectrum – Faculty mentor: Linda Watts, associate professor, Anthropology Department
- Bethany Lundy: Time and Death: Relationships between Time Perspectives and Death Attitudes – Faculty mentor: Fredrick L. Coolidge, professor, Psychology Department
- Nicole Marle: The Threat of Active Shooters on School Grounds and the Effect on a Community: Perspectives from Stakeholders – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Katelin Matson: Postpartum Depression – Faculty mentor: Sarah Treschl, senior instructor, English Department
- Allison McDonald: The Female Inciters of the Laxdaela saga – Faculty mentor: Michael Martoccio, assistant professor, History Department
- Andrew McGrath: Sonogashira Coupling of Non-Traditional Halides – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Lisa Miller: Effect of Media Role on Women’s Interest in Pursuing a STEM Field – Faculty mentor: Edie Green, professor, Psychology Department
- Erynn Mitchell
- Milk and Strawberries – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Hitchcock and the Social Contract – Faculty mentor: Robert Von Dassanowsky, professor, Languages and Cultures Department, and director of film studies, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Jose Montanez: Triazoles Synthesis and Microwave Assisted Diels-Alders – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Brittany Nelson: Parent Opinions on Banned Literature – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Rhiannon Nevinczenko: The Heritability of Personality Disorders over Time: A Child and Adolescent Twin Study – Faculty mentor: Fredrick L. Coolidge, professor, Psychology Department
- Heather Poll: The Face of Claudius: Out with the New and In with the Old – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Melody Reither: Socialization on Forums: Developing Social Skills and Relations in an Online Community – Faculty mentor: Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Irini Rinn: Methodologies That Students Utilize in Writing in a Foreign Language – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Shannon Ritchey: The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the Society of the Spectacle – Faculty mentor: Samantha Christiansen, assistant professor, History Department
- Samone Roberts: The Farmer: An Animated 2D short film – Faculty mentor: David Nelson, professor and chair, Communication Department
- Trudy Roberts: Media Construction of Masculinity: How Media Affects Men’s Attitudes toward Masculinity and Fatherhood – Faculty mentor: Elizabeth Daniel, assistant professor, Psychology Department
- Sam Rodriguez and Andrew Reckard: Characterization of the higher order organization of the heterochromatin machinery genes in the nucleus of Neurospora crassa – Faculty mentor: Drew Klocko, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Trina Rohrer: Early Palliative Care Intervention Starts within the Emergency Department – Faculty mentor: Teresa Yambo, assistant professor, Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
- Kaylene Ross: In vivo quantitative near-infrared spectroscopy in skeletal muscle during incremental whole-body exercise using a commercial available oximeter. – Faculty mentor: Robert A. Jacobs, assistant professor, Biology Department
- Nicole Russell: Understanding the Molecular Interactions of a Complement Directed Lupus Therapeutic – Faculty mentor: James Kovacs, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Alexis Ryan: Investigating the role of a gene in Drosophila arizonae reproduction – Faculty mentor: Jeremy Bono, assistant professor, Biology Department
- Tamara Saunders: The Effect of Priming Feelings of Grief on Various Aspects of Language Production – Faculty mentor: Lori James, professor, Psychology Department
- Alekxandria Schneebeck: Investigating the relationship between Mortality Salience and the perception of the “Uncanny Valley” in robots – Faculty mentors: Edie Green, professor, Psychology Department; and Damon Tomlin, instructor, Psychology Department
- Joanna Schumacher: Perceptions of High School Literature: Understanding the Experience of Required Rading – Faculty mentor: Michelle Neely, director, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing Portfolio Assessment Program, English Department
- Evelyn Smith: Alfred Hitchcock’s Metal Gear Solid: The Hitchcockian Influences of Hideo Kojima – Faculty mentor: Robert Von Dassanowsky, professor, Languages and Cultures Department, and director of film studies, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Kevin Stewart: Synthesis of a Novel Triazole Polymer – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Alexandra Stuart: The stray magnetic field above a magnetic domain wall – Faculty mentor: Karen Livesey, assistant professor, Department of Physics and Energy Science
- Louis Swanson and Ashleigh Zeller: Electrochemical Route to Vicinal Ditriazoles from 2-Methylpyrazine – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Gwendolyn Swift: Still Life and Meaning in the Dutch Golden Age – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Bethany Tindell: “Invisible” Project – Faculty mentor: Abbey Hepner, instructor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Michael Titus: Belle interacts with Shep to regulate neuron morphology in Drosophila – Faculty mentor: Eugenia Olesnicky Killian, assistant professor, Biology Department
- Adam Toomes: Secular Turned Sacred – Faculty mentor: Lauren Kinnee, visiting professor, Visual and Performing Arts Department
- Marissa Trujillo: Synthesis of Perfluoropyridyl-1H-1,2,3-Triazole Derivatives – Faculty mentor: Allen Schoffstall, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Brennan Watts: The Chemical Modification of Hydrogels for Single Walled Carbon Nanotube Purification – Faculty mentor: Kevin Tvrdy, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Bailey Weidner: Complement Components Required for the Establishment of a Latent HIV-1 Reservoir – Faculty mentor: James Kovacs, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department
- Lauren Young: The RNA binding protein Caper regulates larval locomotor behavior – Faculty mentor: Eugenia Olesnicky Killian, assistant professor, Biology Department
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