2025 Meeting of the Minds Conference Oral Presentations

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2025 Oral Presentation Panels

Oral Presentation Session 1 - Saturday, March 29  9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.

Oral Presentation Session 2 - Saturday, March 29  1:15 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Oral Presentation Session 3 - Saturday, March 29  4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Oral Presentation Session 1

Panel 1

Birdlime: Poems

Makenzie Anderson / Clemson University / English
Many of the poems in “Birdlime” revolve around queer identity and sapphic yearning and explore inner turmoil surrounding religion, especially from someone who grew up in an immensely homophobic, Southern Baptist environment. My poems illustrate South Carolinian flora and fauna, creating a link between themes of prey animals and the act of praying, and the collection shares familial narratives taking place in the Carolinas, framing American southernness as a once-rejected identity that is finally embraced. Several poems also delve into South Carolinian ghost lore, connecting the speaker’s hauntings within her lineage to her present-day fears.

From Pages to Self-Discovery: An Examination of the Impact Historical Picture Books on the Perceptions Children have on their Intersectional Identities

Stephany Andrade / University of Pittsburgh / English Literature
This thesis examines the impact of historical picture books on the identity development and self-perception of children in urban early childhood education, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. Through a critical analysis of selected picture books, it investigates how illustrations and narratives portray cultural diversity and inclusivity, exploring their potential to either affirm or diminish intersectional identities. This study is guided by the following research questions: How do illustrations and narratives in historical picture books portray cultural diversity and inclusivity, and how do these portrayals impact children’s perceptions of their own identities? Additionally, how can these books center or dismiss children's identities, cultures, and experiences? Grounded in critical race theory and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study adopts the Language and Literacy Lab’s 3Rs (Reading, Racial Equity, Relationships) framework to evaluate picture books. Books are assessed for their representation of diversity, authenticity, and social justice themes, alongside their potential to convey biases or perpetuate stereotypes. The research also examines the pivotal role of adult facilitation—both by educators and parents—in guiding children’s critical engagement with these texts. The findings of this study work towards informing practical strategies for teachers, culminating in the creation of a book guide for educator training. By addressing problematic representations in children’s literature and highlighting their implications for identity development, this research seeks to equip educators with tools to promote equity, affirm intersectional identities, and encourage critical thinking in early education settings.

To the Women in Afghanistan

Samman Akbarzada / University of Virginia / Undeclared
"To Those Who Grieved Alone" is a collection that lyrically tells the story of my journey as a refugee from Afghanistan to Rwanda and eventually the United States. The poems explore the profound losses of the journey and linger on the devastating loss of my homeland and mother. It builds bridges where others want to build walls. The manuscript aspires to be a poignant and nuanced portrayal of the refugee experience, fostering a deep sense of empathy and understanding among readers. The project offers a unique and authentic perspective on the refugee experience, spotlighting the often-overlooked emotional dimensions of displacement. To Those Who Grieved Alone serves as a voice for the women in Afghanistan who are currently barred from their fundamental human rights. I could be among them. At its heart, it is a tribute to the women of Afghanistan who are silenced, their voices echoing through poems written from the perspective of young girls longing for freedom in shadowed rooms. These stories, deeply personal and universal, ensure that we are not merely lost to history but remembered as bearers of courage and hope. This manuscript ensures we are not forgotten stories.

Panel 2

Early Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Kin vs. Non-kin Partiality

Anastasia Prussakova / Boston College / Psychology, English
Though upheld by societal norms and routinely justified by philosophers, parental partiality has negative impacts both at personal and national levels, increasing the gap between the rich and the poor to unfathomable proportions. To combat its perpetuation of economic inequality, the roots of such behavior and its societal acceptance ought to be investigated. The present study, aiming to unveil its origins, involved children between the ages of 6 and 9, currently in the critical period for the development of fairness norms and behaviors. In an online interview format, participants were presented with visual scenarios depicting parents’ equal and unequal allocations of non-essential, depletable resources (e.g., cookies, water balloons, etc.) to kin and non-kin. Additionally, participants saw similar distributions enacted by other authority figures, teachers, who divided resources between two students. Then, prompted by a series of questions, participants reported their expectations, evaluations of each act’s morality, and assessments of each distributor’s character. The study revealed the degree to which children’s sensitivity to distribution across dependent measures is moderated by the role of the distributor (i.e., whether they are a parent or a teacher), thus shedding light on early perceptions of kin vs. non-kin partiality.

Shades of Latino Identity: Ethnicity, Race, Skin Color, and Discrimination

Camilla Jimenez / Duke University / Psychology
When asked, "What is your race?" many Latinos face a dilemma: is Latino a race or an ethnicity? Despite the lack of consensus, current demographic forms list Latino only as an ethnicity, which creates institutional social exclusion and threatens one’s sense of belonging. This study explores how Latinos perceive their identity in the context of demographic forms, skin tone, and discrimination. Participants, both children and their parents, were asked to state their preference for race or ethnicity on demographic forms. Participants then self-reported their skin tone using Crayola Multicultural Crayons and answered questions about past experiences with discrimination. Results showed participants had a slight preference for forms listing Latinos as a race, especially among parents with more experiences of discrimination. However, there were no significant differences in skin tone among children and parents who chose race vs. ethnicity forms, possibly due to the limited color variability in the Crayola stimuli. To address this limitation, a re-analysis of skin tone measurement will use a wider range of foundation makeup shades. The implementation of a more robust skin tone system will help us better understand how skin tone and related experiences influence Latino self-identification. Examining how Latinos categorize themselves provides insight into how individuals navigate societal frameworks and the fluidity of identity. Racial-ethnic categorization shapes how individuals are perceived by institutions and society, impacting their access to resources, opportunities, and lived experiences. With this study, our hope is to improve how identities are articulated on demographic forms.

Children's Perceptions of Adults’ Abilities to Use and Fix Technological devices

Brianna Walker / University of Louisville / Psychology
Children depend on adults to learn new things (e.g., Harris et al., 2018). By age three, children understand that adults possess different areas of expertise (Lutz & Keil, 2002). However, little is known about how children consider adults’ age and gender together when judging their knowledge about technology. The current study examines how children ages 5-10 (N = 71; 41 girls, 30 boys) and college students ages 18-25 (N = 53; 28 women, 23 men) perceive adults’ ability to use and troubleshoot devices. Participants heard 6 questions about using tablets (e.g., “Who would be better at turning down the sound?”) and chose one out of two adults varying in age and/or gender (e.g., young man and old woman). Then, participants heard 12 questions about malfunctioning digital and analog devices and chose which of two adults who differed in gender and/or age would be better at fixing them. Analyses revealed that children viewed younger adults as more competent than older adults in using a tablet and troubleshooting digital and analog devices, but they did not show gender preferences overall. College students also viewed younger adults as more competent at using a tablet and troubleshooting digital devices, but they viewed older adults as better at fixing analog devices. These results suggest that children and college students prioritize an adult’s age over their gender when judging technological knowledge. Implications for improving children’s learning about technology will be discussed.

From Wear Time to Words: Investigating the Link Between Hearing Device Use and Language Production in the Classroom

Brielle Distler / University of Miami / Psychology
The use of cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs) in children has revolutionized access to sound and language development. While previous research has established a positive association between device (CI or HA) wear time
and language development, it remains unclear how this relationship relates to children's language production within naturalistic environments. Here, we asked whether childrens device weartime is positively associated with their language
interactions in preschool classrooms. We collected objective measures of vocalization and social interactions in 3 sequential cohorts of twenty-four 2-4 year old children (12 CI and 12 HA) in 2 auditory-oral language inclusive preschool classrooms for children with and without hearing loss. We will investigate if children’s device weartime is associated with kids’ language production in the classroom and whether this language production mediates an association between their device weartime and assessed language abilities. The results will inform future classroom based interventions to support children with hearing loss.

Panel 3

The Role of Diplomacy on the Future International Order for Space Research and Exploration

Montserrat Zeron / Florida State University / International Affairs
Amid a booming space economy, changing science policy, and an increasing number of countries with launch capabilities, space diplomacy has emerged as a crucial topic in international relations. This project explores space diplomacy and international collaboration through the lens of extremely complex scientific missions and the way they are realized in practice. Through a case study of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), this study analyzes distinct components that enabled cooperation between key stakeholders: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), participating governments, private industry, the scientific community, and the public. This telescope—just launched in late 2021—allows for innovative approaches to understanding contemporary space policy: key insights were gained through multiple oral history interviews with senior scientists who shaped the Webb Telescope, greatly expanding (limited) published records and available archival materials. Among the main questions addressed by this project: What does it take to develop and give coherence to multi-state ‘Big Science’ space projects? What was the impact of diplomacy and international partnerships on the planning, development, and current operation of JWST? International law and transnational agreements, funding mechanisms, technological developments, and public opinion: all are analyzed here. Lastly, the project speculates about the future of international cooperation in space missions given the current geopolitical landscape.

Case Study of Gentrification in Miami-Dade County, Florida

Gisela Alvizures / Florida State University / Political Science and Sociology
Climate gentrification is a newer, debated phenomenon, which seeks to address how climate change and sea-level rise will contribute to new urban inequalities and housing geographies. In general, scholars have studied housing markets and demonstrated that rents are rising faster in areas of lower risk than areas that are at risk of climate impacts such as coastal or inland flooding. Though it is not uniformly agreed that speculative investors or new residents are driving gentrification as a climate proofing practice, there is support that gentrification pressures in cities most vulnerable to climate change have impacted the lives of residents in neighborhoods located on higher ground. In Miami, involuntary displacement has arisen because of the pressures of increased housing prices on higher ground that are less impacted by sea-level rise. However, less is known about the contours and experiences of residents and advocates in the context of these climate-driven displacement pressures. This thesis aims to contribute to the conversation of climate gentrification through the experiences of residents, community leaders, and activists, highlighting community perspectives on the phenomenon. Specifically, the focus is on Miami-Dade County, and the lower income neighborhoods within the Greater Miami area. These neighborhoods are both on higher elevation land, and experiencing gentrification pressures that vary depending on actors causing it and demographics. Climate gentrification poses a clear explanation of one of the climate driven issues affecting Miami-Dade County. Yet, this thesis shines a light on the possibility that it is not as clear as presented by scholars and the climate gentrification hypothesis.

CoCoHD: A Congress Committee Hearing Dataset

Arnav Hiray / Georgia Institute of Technology / Industrial Engineering and Mathematics
U.S. congressional hearings significantly influence the national economy and social fabric, impacting individual lives. Despite their importance, there is a lack of comprehensive datasets for analyzing these discourses. To address this, we propose the COngress COmmittee Hearing Dataset (CoCoHD), covering hearings from 1997 to 2023 across 86 committees, with 33,016 records. This dataset enables researchers to study policy language on critical issues such as healthcare, social justice, and climate concerns. We demonstrate its potential with a case study on 1,000 energy-related sentences, analyzing the Energy and Commerce Committee's complex stance on fossil fuel consumption. By fine-tuning pre-trained language models, we create energy-relevant measures for each hearing. Our market analysis shows that natural language analysis using CoCoHD can predict and highlight trends in the energy sector. 

Panel 4

Odor-taste mixture experience modulates odor concentration preference in rats

Dinna Ferreira / University of Louisville / Neuroscience
Varying the concentration of a taste impacts its perceived hedonic value. For example, a higher concentration of sucrose, a sweet taste, is preferred to a low concentration, while the opposite is true for citric acid, a sour taste. Beyond taste alone, experience with odor-taste mixtures also shapes food choice, as odors can adopt the hedonic value of paired tastes. However, the effect of odor concentration, rather than taste concentration, on consummatory choice and odor-taste associations is not well understood. To investigate this, we conducted a 2-bottle brief-access task using rats as a model system. Initially, rats were presented with two concentrations of an unpaired odor (isoamyl acetate) to assess baseline preferences. On subsequent days, one group of rats experienced both odor concentrations paired with a fixed concentration of sucrose (100 mM), while another group experienced pairings with citric acid (30 mM). Rats consistently preferred the low odor concentration to the high one. However, pairing with sucrose increased consumption of the high concentration odor compared to baseline, while pairing with citric acid reinforced a preference for the low concentration. These results show how odor concentration plays a key role in shaping consummatory choice, with lower concentrations generally being favored. Furthermore, odor-taste mixture experiences can modify these preferences, with more salient stimuli (i.e., higher odor concentrations) impacting behavior dependent upon odor-taste associations. This research has broader implications for human health, as adjusting odor concentration could enhance the palatability.

EZspine: A Versatile, Open-Source Tool for Dendritic Spine Classification

Ethan Tieu / University of Miami / Neuroscience and Computer Science
The disruption of neural signals is central to many neurological disorders, including neurotrauma, psychiatric conditions, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Dendritic spines are protrusions on the surface of neuron terminals that help propagate these signals by receiving synaptic inputs. As dendritic spines often undergo morphological changes in neurological disorders that impair their function, techniques for classifying dendritic spines into morphological groups are crucial for studying disease pathology. However, current methods remain limited; manual classification is labor-intensive and subjective, while software tools like SpineTool are incompatible with popular imaging techniques like Golgi staining.
EZspine was designed as an open-source software to provide an efficient, objective, and versatile method for dendritic spine classification. Compatible with compressed images and Z-stacks, EZspine isolates and classifies spines from both Golgi-stained and fluorescent images with minimal user intervention. To enhance applicability across images of varying quality, EZspine identifies and removes noise, artifacts, and unfocused regions. Consistent with established methods, it classifies spines based on length and head width, which are calculated using novel segmentation and processing algorithms. Moreover, analyses demonstrate that EZspine achieves high classification accuracy when compared to expert manual annotations. In addition to classification, EZspine collects additional spinal features (e.g., cross-sectional area) that provide granular, morphological information that could provide additional insights into neuronal function. The open-source EZspine software is a user-friendly and versatile pipeline for dendritic spine classification that maximizes efficiency and eliminates investigator bias without sacrificing accuracy. This resource will assist in the investigation of pathologies associated with alterations in brain circuitry.

Brain Cancer Meets Ultrasound: Interrogating the Cellular Impact of Sonodynamic Therapy on Glioma Cells

Justin Vinh / University of Virginia / Biomedical Engineering
5.8% is the proportion of patients who will live longer than five years once diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM). One of the most common, deadly adult brain cancer types, GBM outcomes have barely improved despite advances in radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgical resection. Recently, one new strategy gaining potential is sonodynamic therapy (SDT), which takes advantage of the tumor's accumulation of the sonosensitizing drug 5-ALA, using it to selectively kill malignant cells upon exposure to focused ultrasound (FUS). FUS is non-invasive and non-ionizing and makes SDT quite advantageous compared to conventional therapies. SDT has shown much promise and is currently in clinical trials, including at the University of Virginia. However, to date, no study has systematically explored the cellular response of GBM to SDT, hampering development progress. The present in vitro study sets out to fill this literature gap by optimizing treatment parameters and characterizing compounds secreted by GBM upon treatment. Thus far, the study has observed a negative relationship between cell survival and higher FUS duty cycles and powers, with early data suggesting 100 mV/30% duty cycle/5-min. duration to be optimal. Further observations suggest cells should optimally be treated with 1 mM of 5-ALA  four hrs prior to sonication. Finally, a trend in higher concentrations of extracellular vesicles – potent extracellular signalers – was seen in sonicated groups compared to controls. Ongoing work characterizing the secretome is rapidly progressing and, by determining affected pathways and immunological consequences, will lay the groundwork for a future where GBM will be a distant memory.

Oral Presentation Session 2

Panel 1

Optimizing Cranial Remolding Orthoses Therapy: A Longitudinal Study of Intercranial Pressure Distribution and Cranial Shape Correction

Lucas Miller / Clemson University / Biomedical Engineering
This study quantified the Head-Cranial Remolding Orthoses (CRO) interface pressures in infant patients undergoing cranial remolding treatment. Using pressure sensor instrumented orthoses and 3D laser scanning, this study tracked the intercranial pressure distribution and assessed cranial shape correction of 6 patients throughout their treatment. The results provide a better understanding of plagiocephaly, CRO-treatment, and the pressures that influence helmet-fitting practices and patient outcomes.

Decoding Morality: How Children Navigate Recursive Contexts and Evaluate Harm

Leah Kim / Duke University / Psychiatry and Law
While children tend to exhibit a strong aversion to harm, recent works suggest that children also endorse their free will in moral decision-making and have shown surprising flexibility with moral rules (Chernyak & Kushnir, 2014). The current work aims to explore this flexibility in children when making moral judgments about others in scenarios involving harm. In this pilot study, we ask (1) whether children can consider an exception to the idea that harm is wrong, and if so (2) are there limitations to the extent children can justify harm as being “less wrong.” We employed the concept of linguistic recursion, in which contextual information is layered, to devise two stories (single and double recursion) about superheroes in conflict. We asked 6- and 7-year-olds (N = 20) to make a judgment on whether a superhero is a “hero” or “villain” in response to each layer of added information. In both stories, children initially made a judgment based on appearance or prior knowledge. When new information was introduced, children then demonstrated the ability to use recursive reasoning and consider exceptions to the idea that harm is wrong (e.g., Electric Woman blasting a monkey is wrong, but if the monkey is bad, then Electric Woman becomes a hero). However, we found that children cannot use recursive reasoning to justify breaking certain moral rules, particularly those that are heavily reinforced as being “wrong” by society or through experience (e.g., stealing). An extended study will be conducted to further understand the extent of these limitations.

Magnetically Guided and Photoacoustic-Tracked Dual-Nanoparticle Stem Cell Delivery System for Enhanced Retention and Noninvasive In Vivo Monitoring

Brooke Chambliss / Georgia Institute of Technology / Biomedical Engineering

Panel 2

Structure-Reactivity Relationship of Sulfinamide Formation in the Reaction of Nitroxyl and Bacterial Thiols

Yang Zeng / Wake Forest University / Chemistry
Low molecular weight (LMW) thiols regulate the redox environment in biological systems, given their potent nucleophilic and reducing properties. Glutathione (GSH) is the major LMW thiol found in most organisms and protects cells from damage caused by reactive species and is involved in various critical processes. Some Gram-positive bacteria do not produce GSH but instead produce bacillithiol (BSH) and mycothiol (MSH). BSH and MSH are structurally similar and participate in redox hemostasis in their respective environments. Despite being lesser-known, the biochemical role of these thiol species are equally essential. Understanding their roles potentially aids the development of novel treatments for diseases caused by Gram-positive bacteria. Nitroxyl (HNO) is the one electron-reduced and protonated form of NO, possessing noteworthy redox and electrophilic properties. HNO can both donate and accept an electron, allowing it to participate in a range of redox reactions. HNO reacts with thiols to give disulfides or sulfinamides. Previous work by our group establishes distinct reactivity of HNO with GSH and BSH. HNO surprisingly reacts with BSH to predominantly form the sulfinamide of BSH while the GSH/HNO reaction gives disulfide/sulfinamide mixtures as expected. We describe further synthetic and analytical studies on BSH and MSH to better define the structural features that determine the formation of the disulfide or sulfinamide. Synthesis of the dimethyl ester, N-acetyl cysteine derivative, beta-bacillithiol and mycothiol will be described. Exposure of these compounds followed by MS analysis provides information on the mechanism of sulfinamide formation for thiol species.

How Molecules Wind Down: Knowledge Based Searching for Optimal Correlated Torsional Angles of Conformers

Colm Slevin / University of Pittsburgh / Chemistry     
Many biological functions are based on secondary properties, such as three dimensional conformation. Protein folding is a widely studied phenomenon, and is considered the foundation of protein function and malfunction. The same can be said about enzymes and drugs, as a molecule’s shape determines how it interacts with a binding site. The majority of molecular variations are small: bond length and bond angle only vary by minute amounts (a few tenths of an angstrom or a few degrees), whereas torsional angles can vary by large amounts (up to 180 degrees in some cases). Most conformer determination methods use crystallographic databases to determine molecular geometry, limiting them to molecules that are able to be synthesized and crystallized. In this work, torsional preferences are determined by comparing molecular substructures using knowledge based searching methods. This work is particularly concerned with correlated torsional angles, where changing one torsional angle impacts the stability of another. The goal of this project is to not only to build a predictive model for correlated torsional angles, but to build a model that works efficiently.

Comparative Analysis of Metastatic and Primary Tumor Variants in Canine Prostate Cancer

Carter Schrag / North Carolina State University / Biological Sciences
Prostate cancer (PC) killed approximately 34,700 men in the United States in 2023 and 1,414,259 men worldwide. It was deemed the most common cancer in men and the second most common cancer overall with an estimated 288,300 new cases in the United States in 2023. PC is an infrequent cancer in almost all animals besides humans and dogs. For this reason, dogs are the only viable non-human model in which to observe the events associated with the initiation and progression of prostate cancer. This project focused on comparing the range and distribution of somatic variants in primary and metastatic prostate tumors within the same individual. To identify somatic variants in each tumor sample, we analyzed previously generated whole exome sequencing data using the Genome Analysis Toolkit biostatistical pipeline. We compared the variants found in metastatic tumors to those found in the primary tumor to identify which variants were retained, which variants were lost, and which variants were specific to the metastasized cancer. We also specifically looked at whether the variants we validated via Sanger sequencing in the primary tumor were found in the metastatic tumor so that, in the future, we may put metastatic samples through the same validation process as the primary tumor to further validate the variant’s potential to be used as a biomarker. Identification of metastasis-specific tumor-associated variants could offer opportunities for earlier diagnosis for dogs with PC and may have the potential to aid similar studies in human patients with androgen-resistant PC.

Panel 3

A Novel, Computationally Derived Turbulence Metric Serves As a Noninvasive Biomarker for Diagnosing Coronary Artery Stenoses

Noah Esmail / University of Louisville / Chemical Engineering
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is among the most common causes of death in the world, killing approximately 18 million people per year. This is a chronic condition, characterized by the narrowing of coronary arteries (called a stenosis). Any damage due to narrowing is irreversible, so early detection and management of this disease is critical for saving lives. Despite advances in modern medicine, the early detection of CAD remains a challenge, as current diagnostic methods are invasive, expensive, and painful for patients. My research aims to address this gap by developing a noninvasive, cost-effective diagnostic alternative. Currently, the gold standard biomarker for CAD detection is Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR). FFR is defined as the ratio, 𝑃 between the pressure after the stenosis (distal 𝐷/𝑃𝑃 pressure 𝑃 ,) and the pressure before the stenosis (proximal pressure ) .This ratio can 𝐷 𝑃𝑃 only be obtained through an invasive procedure, where a physician inserts a pressure wire into a patient’s coronary artery through their arm or groin while the patient is awake. Lacking a textbook definition for the location of the distal and proximal pressures, the physician uses their judgement to measure 𝑃 and guided by medical imaging. This invasive procedure 𝐷 𝑃𝑃 poses significant risks, including chest pain, abnormal heart rate, bleeding, and even heart attack. In addition to the risks that it poses, it is also costly and time consuming. My research, guided by Dr. Berson of the Chemical Engineering Department, is aiming to diagnose this disease with data generated through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Utilizing 3D models reconstructed from angiograms obtained from cardiac catheterization labs, we simulate the blood flow of real patient arteries. Our objective is to observe trends in the simulation data and correlate them with the known FFR obtained from the catheterization labs. The ultimate goal is to observe correlations strong enough that simulation data could serve as a diagnostic measure, facilitating a more cost effective and painless experience for the patient. Clear differences in flow behavior have emerged between stenotic (FFR &lt; 0.80) and nonstenotic (FFR &gt; 0.80) arteries. We hypothesized that blood flow in stenotic arteries would exhibit higher turbulence (swirls, chaos, and mixing) due to the narrowing. However, there is no definitive way of quantifying turbulence. We examined Turbulence Kinetic Energy (TKE). However, 2 no clear trend between TKE and FFR was observed because the total kinetic energy of the system, driven by velocity magnitudes, significantly influenced TKE. Consequently, it was determined that normalizing TKE relative to the total kinetic energy in the system was necessary to account for this effect. 

Identifying Disassembly Units in Viral Capsids

Jose-Bernard Sedalo / University of Miami / Computer Science and Biology
Viral capsids, protective protein shells surrounding viral genomes, are essential to the viral lifecycle, including assembly, maturation, and disassembly. While capsid disassembly is a critical step for infection and a potential target for antiviral strategies, its molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood due to experimental limitations. This research aimed to establish a computational framework to predict disassembly-prone regions of viral capsids using the structural bioinformatics tool pyCapsid. The method analyzed capsids from seven viruses with experimentally characterized disassembly pathways. Capsid dynamics were modeled using an elastic network model (ENM), where amino acids were represented as point masses (nodes) connected by springs to capture interactions. Normal modes of the Hessian matrix were calculated and calibrated against experimental B-factors, reflecting amino acid fluctuations. A quasi-rigid clustering algorithm was applied to identify mechanically coherent regions within the capsids, hypothesized as likely initiation points for disassembly. Predictions identified disassembly units ranging from dimers to mega-pentamers, consistent with experimental observations. These results validated the quasi-rigid domain approach in accurately identifying structural vulnerabilities in diverse viral capsids. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of computational modeling in overcoming experimental challenges in virology.
 

Illuminating Blindness: An Ethnographic examination of social determinants of diabetic retinopathy treatment access in South India

Shriya Siddhartha / Southern Methodist University / Biochemistry
Drawing on one month of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Vishakhapatnam, India, this study seeks to determine how social determinants of health and attitudes about healthcare influence the ability of patients in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, to access testing and treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy (DR). Age and gender were found to play significant roles; elderly women faced the most significant impediments to accessing care due to a dependence on their children and families. Furthermore, the impact of the increased incidence of diabetes mellitus was explored, highlighting a shift in attitudes toward the acceptance of diabetes as a ‘daily disease’ at the expense of awareness about DR as a diabetic complication.

Panel 4

Origen, the Song of Songs, and the Grammarian-Exegete

Peter Fournier Mikulski / University of Notre Dame / Theology and Medieval Studies
Origen of Alexandria (185–254) is venerated for his trail-blazing work as both an exegete and a philologist. To Origen, however, hermeneutics and linguistics were not separate disciplines but rather two steps of one process. In his Commentary on the Song of Songs, the reader witnesses exegesis and philology collide. Origen devotes himself to unpacking the grammatical minutia of the text of the Canticle—e.g., issues of case, number, gender, syntax—and in the ensuing glosses, he imbues these tiny details with vast theological significance. Moreover, Origen does not reserve this mode of interpretation for his high-minded, systematic Commentary while withholding it from his digestible, catechetical Homilies on the Song of Songs—i.e., this sort of grammatical investigation is not intended as a plaything for intellectuals. At the pulpit, just as in the Commentary, Origen tackled grammatical technicalities—even going as far to compare the senses of the jussive subjunctive, the optative subjunctive, and the imperative moods! While non-philologist exegetes have sometimes used linguistics as an interpretive tool, the frequency and thoroughness with which Origen adduces grammatical arguments in his work is exceptional. This approach, joining exegesis with philology, follows from Origen’s linked notions of anthropology and of the Bible; in much the same way that a human’s body contains a soul and a spirit, he reasoned, the literal sense of Scripture sustains allegorical interpretations. Thus, examination of the manner in which Origen engages with the grammar of the Bible will illuminate his conception of the relationship between Scripture’s text (i.e., its body) and its meanings (i.e., its soul and spirit). The Song of Songs—with its unique form, hapax legomena, and bizarre idioms—presents an ideal opportunity for such a case-study on the parallel roles of exegesis and philology in Origen’s theology.

Capturing the Sound of SWVA: Investigating Rates of /ay/ Monophthongization Usage

Caleigh Hampton / Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University / Human Development
Appalachia is a unique region that has been considered linguistically distinct from both Mainstream US English and Southern American English (SAE) (Wolfram & Christian, 1976). One feature that appears to be shared between SAE and Appalachian English (AE) is /ay/ monophthongization, which is when the diphthong /ay/ loses its offglide (this may make a word like ‘ride’ sound like ‘rahd’). However, previous work has shown that within broader SAE, /ay/ monophthongization only occurs in pre-voiced consonant (e.g., ‘ride’) and open-syllable contexts (e.g., ‘rye’), while in AE it can occur across all environments, critically including pre-voiceless consonants (e.g., ‘right’) (Reed, 2016). In my work I’ve been looking at whether this pattern of following environment holds in Southwest Virginia (SWVA), a linguistically understudied part of Appalachia. In a pilot study using an existing corpus of recordings from 14 SWVA speakers (7M:7F), I found that while men displayed expected patterns, with monophthongization relatively stable in all environments (~77%), women changed rates depending on the following environment. However, unlike the common SAE pattern where the difference is based on voiced/open-vs.-voiceless following consonants, the SWVA women’s /ay/ pronunciation was impacted by whether the vowel was in an open or closed syllable (76% and ~61% respectively). These findings provide foundation for my current project, where I am currently collecting speech from older (&gt;50) SWVA speakers (current N=16) completing a short wordlist, word-guessing game, and interview. Final results are expected to show how small differences in pronunciation reveal sub-regional language variation. 

Unlocking New York

Nate Harrington / Syracuse University / Creative Writing and Magazine, News, and Digital Journalism
At the intersection of history, infrastructure, art, people, racism, and environmental degradation, sits the Erie Canal, celebrating 200 years since its completion. One of the largest public works projects in early America, the Erie Canal carved its name in history by carving a path west to expand the American empire; this project aims to capture that history, the stories that were trampled over in an effort to make the canal and related infrastructure projects, and the modern stories of the canal. “Unlocking New York,” a student-created multimedia journalism project and website, captures those intersections and more. A team of students are producing stories through researching archival records, interviewing locals and experts, creating 3D scans, and mapping the history and population. This presentation will focus on “Data Along the Canal”: a multimedia, data-centric story about the Erie Canal’s impact on the population of early New York, how the canal helped birth several New York and midwestern cities, and the interactive mapping used to help tell that story. This article tells the often-overlooked story of the Salt Belt and its fall from national dominance. This project is not only timely, but vital to expanding the reach of the nuanced, human stories of the Erie Canal. This project promotes innovative journalistic and multimedia methods, using new technologies in conjunction with student-led journalism to share new perspectives on the Erie Canal and its legacy.

Oral Presentation Session 3

Panel 1

Designing and building a low-cost micro- and nano-scale 3D printer by repurposing gaming console optical drives

Harry Watkins / Georgia Institute of Technology / Computer Engineering
Advancements in the field of nanoscale 3D printing are crucial for the future of electronics, offering large amounts of potential in fields such as nuclear fusion fuel cell fabrication, photonics, microfluidic chips, biomedical imaging, microscopic device manufacturing, and novel materials development. However, there are currently high costs associated with nanoscale 3D printers, which range from $500,000 to over a million dollars. This is primarily due to the expensive light sources required for such precision. Our project aims to reduce the cost of a nanoscale 3D printer to below $10,000, thus democratizing access to the technology. To achieve this, we repurposed an optical pickup unit (OPU) from a gaming console and constructed a custom 3D stage to enable precise control for single digit micro- and nano- scale printing. Significant challenges were encountered throughout the development process, including the design and construction of a finely controlled 3D stage, firmware development, hardware modification, and the development of suitable control electronics. Key accomplishments of the team include the characterization of the optical system, optimization of focal precision, hardware and software integration, and establishing repeatability of prints on the single digit microscale. This presentation will cover the methodologies employed in adapting consumer-grade hardware for high-precision applications and will focus on the technical hurdles overcome whilst improving the precision from 25 to 1 microns, as well as outlining the broader implications of reducing the cost barrier for nanoscale fabrication.
 

Developing an Agent-Based Model to Analyze the Tallahassee Clean Energy Plan

Alexis Staveski / Florida State University / Computational Science and Economics
Agent-based models (ABMs) simulate how individual agents interact with each other and their environment, revealing insights and patterns from collective behavior. Recent research has explored how Large Language Models can be leveraged to create generative AI agents representing people. These agents were able to predict, with an 85% normalized efficacy, how the individuals they represent would respond to the General Social Survey (Park et al. 6). According to a review paper by Castro et. al, agent-based modeling (ABM) became more prevalent in the field of climate mitigation in 2020, as these models account for agent heterogeneity, bounded rationality, and non-market interactions, combining policy analysis and behavioral economics in a microsimulation approach (1). Tallahassee, Florida has a robust Clean Energy Plan (CEP), with Goal Two of this plan focused on creating an additional 30 to 50 MW of distributed solar capacity in the community by 2030. The CEP names several potential policies to help reach this benchmark: rooftop leasing, community solar, incentive programs, information campaigns, etc. This plan aims to assist the city in reaching their goal of one hundred percent clean energy generation by 2050, while considering equity in this transition. This research will leverage the generative AI agent bank from Park et al.’s study to develop a linear model for simulating interventions outlined in the CEP to identify the most suitable policy mix for Tallahassee, considering prior research indicating that policy impacts vary across communities based on factors such as ethnic/racial demographics, technology seeding, and homeownership rates.

Exploring Cultural Reasoning Bias in Language Models Through Word Grouping Games

César Guerra-Solano / University of Pittsburgh / Computer Science and Computational Biology
Large language models (LLMs) can exhibit cultural bias, overlooking and misrepresenting cultural nuances. Most previous works evaluate this through question-answering (QA) tasks, focusing on recalling answers given a cultural context, neglecting the potential for bias in reasoning with cultural concepts. In this paper, we propose a task inspired by the New York Times Connections, Word Grouping Game (WGG), a pool-based word grouping task requiring the model to group seemingly unrelated words under a topic that may be cultural in origin, explicitly evaluating the model’s cultural knowledge and reasoning with cultural concepts. We constructed a game benchmark with three cultural backgrounds, Latinx/Hispanic, Chinese, and Western culture, in both the native language and an English translation for comparison. We also proposed game difficulty measurements, based on both game concepts such as potential overlap between groups, and properties of words, such as word embeddings, to evaluate models on games with similar difficulty. This enabled a more controlled comparison, accounting for potential differences in culture-based word groupings, aside from the potential cultural content. Through experimentation, we find biases towards Chinese and English culture-based groupings, low performance for Latinx/Hispanic culture-based groupings, as well as disparities in performance between open-source and closed-source models.

Panel 2

Betting on the future: Does the wisdom of the crowds apply to prediction markets?

Abigail Ryan Donahue / University of Notre Dame / Economics
Prediction markets, also known as information markets, are platforms where participants use financial stakes to forecast specific outcomes. These markets have gained significant traction in the United States over the past decade, leading to widespread claims about their potential for accurate forecasting. The basic economic theory behind prediction markets suggests they are a reliable tool for predicting future events. However, this theory has not been extensively tested in real-world settings. This paper delves into a fundamental principle in information aggregation known as the ""wisdom of the crowds,"" which claims that the accuracy of predictions improves as more individuals participate in the market. I investigate this theory by examining how an exogenous surge in trader activity on manifoldmarkets.com, triggered by large-scale U.S. political events, affects prediction accuracy of unrelated markets. Using a two-stage least squares regression analysis, I analyze two instances of such political shocks over the last two years. The findings show that increasing the number of traders improves the accuracy of market predictions at a statistically meaningful level only when the closing price is relatively moderate. This implies that the key “wisdom of the crowds” principle does not hold for prediction markets that close at a price extremely close to 0 or 1.

Exploring Standards, Regulations and Unintended Consequences of Financed Emissions Disclosures by U.S. Financial Institutions: Clear Progress or Cloudy Outcomes?

Katherine Huang / University of Notre Dame / Accounting and Economics
According to the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), financed emissions refer to greenhouse gas emissions generated by entities that receive debt or equity funding from financial institutions. Financial institutions play a critical role in achieving emissions-reduction goals because they fund business activities that produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases. Increasing demand for financed emissions disclosures from investors, regulators, and other stakeholders poses risk for firms that fail to disclose this information. These risks include higher cost of capital, litigation, reputational damage, and compliance issues, among others. Drawing on emerging standards and frameworks, as well as hand-collected data, this study analyzes financed emissions disclosures of publicly traded banks and investment firms in the S&P 500, as well as resulting unintended consequences (e.g. lawsuits, backlash leading some institutions to retract prior commitments). As regulators have begun considering (and in the state of California, requiring) emissions disclosure to hold businesses accountable for their environmental impact, it is important to understand stakeholder responses to this information. The findings from this study aim to guide financial institutions in refining their financed emissions disclosure policies to mitigate risks and align with evolving standards.

This Will Be Our Switzerland: Peace-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Danis Cammett / Syracuse University / International Relations and Political Science
In 1997, U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, delivered remarks dedicated to the reopening of the Brcko-Gunja bridge, a bridge connecting Bosnia to Croatia. In her speech, Secretary Albright made a metaphor of the bridge by stating that its opening served as, “a bridge out of the twentieth century,” and a “road to Europe.” The brutality of the war in Bosnia traumatized its population and led to the world's first post-cold war interventions. The Dayton Peace Accords (DPA), brokered by the Clinton administration, ended the war and began a unique experiment of nation building in Bosnia. 60,000 NATO soldiers deployed to Bosnia to enforce the peace, hundreds of international organizations established offices, and billions of dollars were invested in repairing the damages of war. The focus of this project will be a reflection of U.S. peacemaking efforts in Bosnia through the city of Brcko, where Secretary Albright gave her speech. Brcko was supervised by an American diplomat, patrolled by American troops, and funded by American tax dollars. Through the efforts of both local and international organizations Brcko attained a multiethnic police force, administration, and school system. More than thirty years since the DPA was signed, Bosnia has stagnated; citizens quip that it feels like the war ended yesterday, ethnic tensions remain, and the youth are escaping the country in record numbers. Through analysis of academic literature, U.S. Government reports, and interviews with Brcko youth, I argue that the system established by the DPA is inherently counterproductive and destructive to Bosnia’s future.

Panel 3

History Integrating into Sustainability: How Reuse Displays Identity and Shapes Community

Soup Russell / Syracuse University / Studio Arts
This creative project responds to the dominance of whiteness in capitalism that has stifled the creativity of diverse groups. The mainstream fashion industry focuses on producing items that conform to consumer expectations rather than fostering genuine expression and commitment to non-exploitative extraction of resources (natural, human, or otherwise). As a working-class Black individual in a large family, reusing old clothes is a way of life because it's a necessity for survival – but it also connects me with the material culture of my community. My sustainable fashion practices stem from my background, so my project is driven by identity and its relationship to reuse. I explore how reuse practices manifest when factoring in my intersecting identities (such as my Blackness and my queerness) into my approach. For my research, I took an item from the thrift store, a shower curtain, and transformed it into six new garments and accessories by deconstructing and reconstructing each new piece. Utilizing this process, I wanted to explore how creating my own garments would imbue my clothes with personality and story. This project demonstrates the beauty of giving a garment a second, third, or even fifth chance at life and the value of the history that comes with transformation. Furthermore, I demonstrate how identity can integrate into our own unique reuse practices and combat the limiting norms that perpetuate rampant consumerism. From my work, audiences will understand what people are capable of without corporate interference and envision how community can be created through this interconnected approach.

The Hands of the Maker

Kalina Namikas / Wake Forest University / Chemistry and Statistics
This summer, I explored the intersection of art and craft in order to make art as a craftsman. The first part of my project was to immerse myself in a place where craft is valued and important, and learn a new skill related to the fiber arts. This part of the project was about connecting with people who also value craft and seeing how it is a part of their life. To accomplish this, I spent a month volunteering on a farm where I could learn spinning from the woman I stayed with. I immersed myself in a traditional rural lifestyle where crafts like spinning are a normal part of life. While on the farm, I learned both wheel spinning and spinning on a drop spindle. After the time on the farm, I stayed in London to visit both museums and places of craft and observe how craft and art are exhibited. Once I returned to the US, I began creating art inspired by my experiences. My goal for the art was to use the rural lifestyle and craft I had experienced as inspiration for several pieces. I broke craft down into maker, material, and skill and I used these elements to guide my designs. I created pieces that took elements of both the rural landscape and the craft skills I had learned and I applied them in new ways. I was able to create pieces that speak to artistic expression while staying true to my craft inspiration.

Global Illiteracy in the World’s Most Powerful Country: Responding to the United States' Role in in the World through Critical Global Citizenship Education

Raaj Aggarwal / Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University / History and Social Science Education
Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is increasingly being recognized as important for U.S. education, especially social studies education, as the world continues to become more globally interconnected and face immense international challenges. However, the United States’ role in the world must be carefully considered for U.S. students seeking to develop ethical international relationships as global citizens, especially when considering the United States’ unjust role in exacerbating global crises like Yemen’s humanitarian crisis. As such, this chapter explores how U.S. global citizenship educators should teach students to be global citizens when accounting for how the United States has unjustly utilized its distinct powers and failed to meet its outsized obligations to the world. Utilizing Vanessa Andreotti’s Soft versus Critical GCE Framework, I analyze the United States role in Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, as well as broader conflicts in the Middle East and global climate change, as case studies to explore this question. From this analysis, I argue that solely “soft” approaches to global citizenship are problematic while critical approaches towards the United States’ position in the world are highly valuable and necessary. Contrary to the current state of GCE in the United States, which is significantly challenged by structural and cultural barriers and has a highly minimal presence of critical GCE, U.S. students seeking to build ethical global relationships must thoroughly engage with their country’s role in transnational harm, including the complicity of U.S. individuals. I conclude by offering some practical strategies for U.S. global citizenship educators seeking to use a critical approach. 

Panel 4

The Future of Monovalent Cation Energy Storage: Liquid Metal and Red P

Rex Colvard / North Carolina State University / Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
The demand for energy storage in applications such as electric vehicles, consumer electronics and grid storage is ever increasing. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the state-of-art in electrochemical energy storage and are extensively used in electric vehicles (EV’s) and consumer electronics. The annual EV Li-ion battery demand for sustainable development is projected to grow to up to .7 TWh per year by 2030, a 7x increase compared to the current demand projection of .1 TWh per year for 2025. In order to meet this energy demand, we propose to use EGaIn, a eutectic alloy of gallium and indium that is liquid at room temperature, as a “self-healing” agent for red phosphorous in anodes to achieve longer cycle lives and higher capacities. Red phosphorous (RP) has been the subject of extensive research due to its relatively low cost compared to other commonly used anode materials in LIB’s, stability in air, low toxicity, and extremely high theoretical capacity for Li+ ions at 2596 mAh g-1. Graphite, a currently commercially used anode material, has roughly a 7x lower capacity of 372 mAh g-1 compared to RP for Li+ ions. RP’s main drawback is that it has a volume expansion of up to 300% during charging. This can cause delamination of the RP from the anode, resulting in capacity fade due to the RP becoming electrically disconnected from the anode. To mitigate this delamination, we propose to use EGaIn to maintain electrical contact with delaminated red P particles and fill in defects formed from red P’s large volume expansion. EGaIn has been used as a “self-healing” agent for silicon, another high-capacity anode material in LIB’s, that also suffers from high volume expansion. In our work, we fabricate a composite film electrode comprising EGaIn and RP nanoparticles in a carbon polymer matrix. We perform material characterization of the electrode before and after electrochemical characterization of the electrode in a Li half-cell. This strategy of using EGaIn in combination with RP may help develop effective approaches for the integration of other high volume expansion active materials in anodes.

An Investigation of the Effect of Human Touch on the Taxonomic Composition of the Lettuce Leaf Microbiome

Thiviya Karuppasamy / Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University / Microbiology
Growing edible plants in public spaces, particularly school and university classrooms, could help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from buildings and combat food insecurity. However, growing plants in public settings puts them at risk of disease due to possible exposure to plant pathogens; additionally, publicly grown plants could present a health risk when consumed because of their possible contamination with food-borne pathogens by the people frequenting the public space where the plants are grown. To investigate these plant and human health risks, we grew lettuce plants hydroponically in a Virginia Tech classroom and created different levels of human interaction: students were asked to stay away from one set of plants, to touch a second set, and to approach but not touch a third set. A fourth set was grown in a separate room. Leaf-associated bacterial communities were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing over a period of 3 months. The plant microbiomes were expected to be minimally affected by humans in the absence of direct contact, intermediately affected by air droplets, and strongly affected by touch. However, we found no consistent differences in taxonomic composition between plants exposed at different levels to people. Alpha diversity values were additionally similar and not a single operational taxonomic unit was enriched in any set of plants. While these preliminary results suggest minimal risk of transmission of human-associated bacteria to plants, more controlled experiments are planned to confirm this conclusion and to investigate additional aspects of plant and human health when growing plants in public spaces.

The Racialized Nature of Advanced Placement in Minority White Schools

Brianna Freshwater / Southern Methodist University / Sociology
Research has found that Black, Hispanic, and low-income students pursue AP at lower rates than their peers. Further, inequitable rates by race/ethnicity and income level are especially notable in schools where White students are a minority group. Through multilevel modeling and interviews with thirteen professionals, including principals, assistant principals, counselors, and teachers, this study analyzes the relationship among student demographics, educational context, and AP outcomes. Overall, this study discusses how school context might contribute to AP outcomes and creates recommendations for schools to create systems that contribute to equitable outcomes.

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