SURCA digital abstract booklet 2026

Summer Undergraduat e Research and Creat ive Act ivit ies Program Abstract Booklet 2026

The Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA) program offers a high- impact experience through faculty- mentored undergraduate research, collaborative engagement, and a student- faculty learning community. Students and faculty from all colleges and schools at Widener University participated in this program and presented their projects.

SURCA Symposium Friday, Sept ember 25, 2026 Universit y Cent er At rium

SEPTEMBER 25, 2026 Dear SURCA Symposium Att endee, Welcome to t he 17t h Annual SURCA Symposium! The Widener SURCA communit y had anot her w onderf ul summer! The w eekly lunches w ere abuzz w it h int erdisciplinary chatter and suppor t . We had experiences t hat f ocused on prof essional and personal development , relat ionships, and our f irst ever SURCA Game Day and SURCA Beach t rip! The SURCA program cont inues t o make t he campus vibrant and energet ic t hroughout t he summer! This symposium is evidence of t he pow er of t he SURCA program and t he Widener communit y. Every project you see t oday is a t est ament t o t his. Each summer, w e w elcome an impressive group of committ ed student s and f acult y t hat shine a light on t he impor t ance of f acult y-student project s, int erdisciplinary w ork, and high-impact pract ices in educat ion. We t hank t he Widener Administ rat ion f or t heir suppor t of t he program. We had anot her summer w it h over 120 t ot al SURCA par t icipant s bet w een student and f acult y mentors. We had represent at ives f rom t he College of Ar t s & Sciences, School of Engineering, College of Healt h and Human Services, School of Business Administ rat ion, and t he Dw yer School of Nursing par t icipat ing in SURCA t his summer. This ef f or t result ed in 70 poster present at ions t his evening, w hich nearly mat ches our all-t ime high. Our summer program host s event s int ended t o creat e last ing connect ions and w orking relat ionships amongst our f acult y and student s. Our par t icipant s had t he oppor tunit y to hear f rom Widener communit y members on t opics of how t o navigat e t he ever -changing professional w orld and had t he oppor tunit y t o hear f rom alumni and t heir peers in dif ferent disciplines. Our group spanned all colleges and schools at t he undergraduate level at Widener. Our engaging event s t ook a holist ic approach, f ocusing on scholarly and professional development in equal measure as personal development . We engaged in act ivit ies t hat f ost ered cross-disciplinary discussions and collaborat ions by highlight ing project s and t he connect ions bet w een t hem. Ot her act ivit ies included St ars and S?mores, a t alk w it h President St acey Robinson about how invaluable relat ionships are, a career development session, a game day, and a group t rip t o Wildw ood, NJ. We also w ant to t hank t he f acult y. They t ake t ime f rom t heir summer t o play a large & act ive role in SURCA. They ment or, t hey lead discussions, and t hey help f acilit at e t he program. Wit hout t hem, t his program w ould not exist ; t hey are t he backbone. We are gratef ul for t heir suppor t and t heir cont ribut ions t o t heir student s and t he Widener communit y. We hope you t horoughly enjoy learning more about t he program and t he project s f rom t his summer! Wit h sincerit y and w armt h, Drs. M ike Corcoran and Rob M ishur, SURCA Program Co-direct ors

Widener University Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

SYM POSI UM SCHEDULE Opening Remarks: 3-3:15 pm SESSI ON A: 3:15-4:15 pm SESSI ON B: 4:30-5:30 pm Aw ards Ceremony: 6 pm

STUDEN T PRESEN TATI ON SCHEDULE SESSI ON A BI OCHEM I STRY/ M OLECULAR BI OLOGY/ BI OM EDI CAL ENGI N EERI NG Edmonds 1 Francis/Garcia 19 Penn 31 BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI ENCE A Adeleke 2 Ashby 4 Blyt he 10 Rodgers 33 Sammons/Warren-Rolax 34

ENGI N EERI NG Alet or 3 Georges 14 Killen 24 Lot f i 26 M ATH/ COM PUTER SCI ENCE A Balde 7 Brutus/M itchell/M or ishit a 12 Dinh 17 Pat el 30

BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI ENCE B Bukovalli/Landau 13 Hackney 22

M ATH/ COM PUTER SCI ENCE B M argies 27 Lucif ero 28 Ojukw u 29

BUSI N ESS/ HUM AN I TI ES Bhatt a 9 Chery 15 Cur t is 16

SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI ENCE A Ayadi/Flores 6 Gordon 21 Perry 32

CHEM I STRY/ CHEM I CAL ENGI N EERI NG Beam 8 Brow n L. 11 Franzo 20 Campbell 23

SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI ENCE B Edwards 1 Shaw 35 Smit h E. 36

Widener University Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

SYM POSI UM SCHEDULE STUDEN T PRESEN TATI ON SCHEDULE SESSI ON B BI OCHEM I STRY/ M OLECULAR BI OLOGY/ BI OM EDI CAL ENGI N EERI NG Harper 12 Jarrett 13 Salahi 27 Tolassi 33 Kpuyuf , Vargas 35 BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI ENCE A Birundu 4 Brow n J. 5 Sluzalis 28 BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI ENCE B Kraut hauser 15 Ritter 26 Small 29 BUSI N ESS/ HUM AN I TI ES Das 7 Kaur/Eckman 14 M acI ntosh 21 Ogbonna 24 Wall 34 CHEM I STRY/ CHEM I CAL ENGI N EERI NG Hegar t y 6 Dean 8 Obfenda 23

ENGI N EERI NG Bhaireddy 3 Campagna 10 Mur ray 22 Szymanik 32 M ATH/ COM PUTER SCI ENCE A Flores Chavez 9 Kuepouo 16 Ranieri 25 M ATH/ COM PUTER SCI ENCE B Lesko 18 Lew is 19 Nef f 20 Smit h T. 30 SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI ENCE A Bangoura-Challoub 1 Banner/Cat agnus 2 Ayadi 36 SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI ENCE B Gray 11 Kut lus/Seherlis 17 Suggs 31

Widener University Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

2025 SURCA Symposium Winner s BI OCHEM I STRY/ M OLECULAR BI OLOGY/ BI OM EDI CAL ENGI N EERI NG A

Luke Bordarrampe (Advisor: Dr. M ichael Tonef f ) The Influence of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Cell Number on MC F10A Cell Proliferation BI OCHEM I STRY/ M OLECULAR BI OLOGY/ BI OM EDI CAL ENGI N EERI NG B

Jacob Grossman and M att hew D'A ngelo (Advisor: Dr. LiKang Chin) Sustainable Biomaterials from Food Waste

EN GI N EERI N G A

Boston Blake (Advisor : Dr. Babak Eslami) In Situ Fused Deposition Model (FDM) Electroplating: An Expansion of 4D Printing EN GI N EERI N G B

M akia Salient Faust a (Advisor : Dr. Xiaomu Song) Integrating Autonomous Driving Technology into Electric-Powered Wheelchairs for Enhanced Mobility M ATH/ PHYSI CS/ COM PUTER SCI ENCE

Amine Lot f i (Advisor : Dr. Xin Du)

BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI EN CE A

Jaheara Brow n (Advisor: Dr. Dr. Kate Goodrich)

Exploring Glassy Relaxation with the Random Energy Model

Mapping scent chemotypes of floral mimic Symplocarpus foetidus using GCMS and PRIMER-e

SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI EN CE A

BI OLOGY/ EN VI RON M EN TAL SCI EN CE B

The Power of Language and Influence Within U.S Politics: A Look into The Trump Administration

Tyler Harper (Advisor : Dr. Br uce W. Grant ) Ecological consequences of post-tornado salvage logging in Ridley Creek State Park: Invasive species outcompete native recovery

Jasmine Ayadi (Advisor : Dr. J. Wesley Leckrone)

SOCI OLOGY/ SOCI AL SCI EN CE B

Ryan Holland (Advisor : Dr. Robin Goldberg-Glen)

Revisiting Trauma: COVID-19's Impact on LGBTQ+ Older Adults Who Survived the AIDS David Young (Advisor: Dr. Dipendu Saha) Epidemic CHEM I STRY/ CHEM I CAL EN GI N EERI N G

Recovery of Electrochemical-Grade Graphite from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries HUM AN I TI ES/ BUSI N ESS

Jada Allen (Advisor : Prof . Jayne Thompson) Understanding Motivation in Creative Writing Widener University Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program

ABSTRACTS Ecological r est or at ion of nat ive t r out lilies v ia plot based r emov al of inv asive species at Tay lor Ar bor et um Jeremiah Adeleke Research Advisor: Bruce W. Grant The Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) is a vit al nat ive spring ephemeral t hat suppor t s t he early-season w oodland ecosystems of Nor t h America. How ever, in f ragmented urban and suburban green spaces like Taylor Arboretum, t hese nat ive populat ions are increasingly t hreatened by t he aggressive proliferat ion of Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna). Over t he last t w o decades, F. verna has est ablished dense, carpet -like monocultures t hat outcompete nat ive f lora for soil nut rient s and disrupt local pollinator net w orks, leading to a signif icant decline in Trout Lily densit y. This project evaluates t he ef f icacy of various management st rategies to suppress F. verna and f acilit ate nat ive recovery. Previous attempt s over t he last six years including mechanical "stomping", soil scraping, and localized f laming -- show ed negligible progress due to insuf f icient removal of t he t iny subterranean bulbs and tubers. I n 2026, w e implemented a new protocol focused on precision manual excavat ion. Using specialized hand tools (big soup spoons) to reach deeper soil horizons, w e aimed to remove t he ent ire root st ructure and prevent regrow t h, and w e sif ted all of t he soil before returning it to t he plot . Our study compares t he ef f iciency of t his intensive manual removal against earlier surf ace-level met hods. By ref ining t hese management techniques, w e aim to ident if y scalable restorat ion pract ices t hat protect urban w oodlands and ensure t he resilience of nat ive spring ephemeral habit at s in an increasingly invaded landscape.

surf aces w here t radit ional w heeled robot s may experience limit at ions. he design w as inspired by t racked milit ary vehicles, using mult iple t racks to provide increased cont act w it h t he ter rain and improved st abilit y dur ing movement . A vir tual model of t he robot w as developed to evaluat e it s mechanical and elect rical component s prior to physical const r uct ion. The simulat ion allow ed t he overall st r ucture, t rack syst em, motors, elect rical component s, and mechanical connect ions to be examined and adjusted dur ing t he design process. Dif ferent locomot ion concept s w ere also invest igated, including a quadrupedal conf igurat ion intended to provide addit ional mobilit y and adapt abilit y across various ter rains. Alt hough t he quadrupedal design did not perf orm as ef fect ively as t he t racked conf igurat ion, evaluat ing t he alt ernat ive design provided insight into t he advant ages and limit at ions of dif ferent robot ic locomot ion systems. The vir tual simulat ion process helped ident if y potent ial mechanical and elect rical challenges before entering t he physical building phase, reducing t he need for ext ensive modif icat ions dur ing const r uct ion. Future w ork w ill f ocus on ref ining t he t racked design, const r uct ing t he physical prot ot ype, and test ing it s perf ormance across mult iple ter rain t ypes. The completed plat form could ser ve as a foundat ion for f uture applicat ions requir ing mobile robot s capable of operat ing in diverse environment s. Scent of t he show y or chid Galearis spectabilis, day and night Julianna Ashby Research Advisor: Dr. Kate Goodrich

Design and v ir t ual simulat ion of a mult i-t er r ain r obot ic plat f or m Kelly Aletor Research Advisor: Dr. Xiaomeng Shi This research f ocuses on t he design and vir tual simulat ion of a mult i-t errain robot ic plat form capable of navigat ing dif ferent sur f ace condit ions using a t racked locomot ion syst em. The goal of t he project w as to develop a versat ile robot ic plat f or m t hat could maint ain mobilit y across

Flow ers use scent to att ract t he insect s t hat pollinat e t hem, and t he chemicals t hey release act as a signal adver t ising t he f low er f rom a dist ance. M any plant s release scent on a schedule, giving of f t he most f ragrance w hen t heir pollinat ors are act ive, w hich is w hy some f low ers smell st rongest dur ing t he day. The show y orchid, a spr ing w ildf low er of eastern w oodlands, has never had it s scent studied. Our goal w as to ident if y t he chemicals in it s scent and to compare w hat it releases dur ing t he day w it h w hat it releases af ter dark. Working w it h conservat ion st af f at

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ABSTRACTS M t . Cuba Cent er, w e enclosed f low ers in bags to collect t he air around t hem, t hen separated and ident if ied t he chemicals in t hat air using gas chromatography mass spect romet ry. We sampled t he same plant s at night and again t he next af t er noon, and included a non-f low ering plant and an empt y bag to rule out background sources. The scent is built almost ent irely f rom compounds called monot er penes, w it h t hree appear ing in t he largest amount s. The balance among t hese compounds appeared to shif t bet w een night and day. This is t he f irst chemical descript ion of scent in t his species and a st ar t ing point for ident if ying it s pollinat ors. Unit ing t o disunit e: I nt r a-et hnic mobilizat ion and t he Ber ber s of Alger ia Katia Hadjeb, Jasmine Ayadi Research Advisor: Dr. Jeremy Backstrom I nt ra-et hnic mobilizat ion is an understudied area in et hnopolit ics t hat essent ially focuses on conf lict and division bet w een members w ho belong to t he same et hnic group. Previous studies highlight f actors such as et hnopar t ies, violence and repression, and greed and grievances as key component s to underst anding mobilizat ion. This research project , w hich w as f irst created by for mer Widener Universit y student Kat ia Hadjeb, aims to explain w hy cer t ain sub-et hnic groups choose to mobilize and w hat exact ly inf luences or impact s t hat decision, using Alger ia and more specif ically t he Berber populat ion and it s sub-et hnic groups as a case study. Novel dat a was collect ed f rom 1989 to 2016 measuring several f actors t hat might inf luence mobilizat ion including: government repression, presence of ext ract ive indust ries, educat ion, st at e legit imacy, populat ion size and densit y, and how r ural t he group is f rom t he capitol. We use a Fir t h logist ic regression model to test our hypot heses and deter mine w hich f actors best predict subet hnic group mobilizat ion. M ixed result s w ere found w it h educat ion level being one of t he st rongest st at ist ical f indings. The ult imat e t akeaway f rom t he result s w as t hat oppor tunit ies and local condit ions matter more t han st ate repression and grievances, and t hat not all sub-et hnic groups behave t he same way polit ically. M ore research is needed to f ully underst and t he reason behind w hy cer t ain sub-et hnic

groups become polit ically act ive w hile ot hers do not , and my goal as a current student at Widener is to f inish w hat Kat ia has st ar ted and publish her w ork to cont r ibute t o t he f ield of underst anding et hnopolit ics and int ra-group dif ferences. Hist or ical mar ker s and civ il r ight s sight s in DELCO: A Widener Univer sit y pr oject Jasmine Ayadi, Madison Flores Research Advisor: Dr. J. Wesley Leckrone Hist orical markers and sight s are impor t ant element s of preservat ion and commemorat ion t hat ser ve to educate t he public and honor signif icant people and event s t hat occurred in communit ies. Wit h Widener Universit y?s M ain Campus being in Chester, Delaw are Count y, our object ive is to educat e Widener student s about t heir cit y and count y, par t icularly event s related to civil right s. We did so by t ravelling to dif ferent areas across t he count y and recording 1?2-minut e videos highlight ing historical markers in t he areas. We t hen created a w ebsite t hat w ill be att ached to t he Widener Polit ical Science page w here student s can easily access t he mini vlogs. Given t he impor t ance of Delaw are Count y polit ical history, our hope is t hat t his project be passed on to f uture Widener student s w ho w ill eventually document t he ent ire count y, and could one day go even f ur t her. Ev aluat ing t he ef f ect s of r esampling t echniques f or f r aud det ect ion Falilou Balde Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon M achine learning models are used to f inding f raudulent t ransact ions, but t hey run into an issue w hen f raud is rare. I n a dat aset t hat has 1 False t ransact ion out of 100, t he model can get a 99% accuracy simply by guessing True every single t ime, w it hout actually learning w hat t he f raud looks like. There are mult iple w ays to combat t his. Undersampling w here one low ers t he Tr ue to match t he False, Oversampling w here one increases t he True t o mat ch t he False, and SM OTE (Synt het ic M inorit y Over -Sampling) w here one does bot h are some of t he est ablished met hods of correct ing t his issue in machine learning models.

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ABSTRACTS This project evaluat es Undersampling, Oversampling, and SM OTE in order t o deter mine w hich met hod is best at detect ing f raud in imbalance dat aset s. The resampling techniques are implement ed in Pyt hon using Scikit -Learn and I mbalanced-Learn, t hen used on public f inancial dat aset s f rom Kaggle. They are t hen test ed on t heir precision in f inding False t ransact ions.

t herapy. How ever, programs t hat of fer non-judgment al and af fordable care, along w it h suppor t f rom t he communit y, have been show n to increase par t icipat ion.

All 3 met hods have over 95% accuracy but t his is misleading since machine lear ning models can get high accuracy w it hout lear ning w hat t he f raud is. SM OTE performed t he best , w hen you look at how many of t he dat a it f lagged as f raud w ere cor rect , unlike t he ot her 2 w ho managed to f ind slight ly more but only because t hey f lagged much more dat a as f raud. Finding w hich resampling techniques w orks best can help f inancial inst itut ions build bett er f raud detect ion systems t hat can st ay accurat e even on new dat a rat her t han just t he dat a it was t rained on. Why black men ar e less lik ely t o seek t her apy and how communit ies can change t hat ! Jawad-Guillaume Bangoura-Challoub Research Advisor: Justin Johnson Black men in t he United St at es f ace serious ment al healt h challenges, yet many do not seek t herapy, making t his a top priorit y healt h concer n. I n communit ies like Chest er, Delaware, and Philadelphia, w here t he average cit izen goes t hrough so much daily, ment al healt h care should be rout ine. M any people already recognize t hat st igma and cultural expect at ions play a role, as seeking help is of t en seen as w eakness rat her t han st rengt h. The purpose of t his project w as to underst and, me; w hy black men are less likely to seek t herapy and explore w ays communit ies can improve engagement . To do t his, I analyzed exist ing research and focused on local condit ions in Chester and Philadelphia, looking at common bar riers w hile also analyzing local programs and communit y spaces t hat are w orking t o make t herapy more accessible and culturally relevant .

These result s are signif icant because t hey point to w orkable remedies or solut ions. Communit ies can help black men f eel more at ease gett ing t he help t hey need to enhance t heir general w ell-being by expanding access, normalize discussions about ment al healt h, and being better w ell represented. I nk & ident it y : The psy chology behind t at t oos and pier cings Ashley Banner, Ryleigh Catagnus Research Advisor: Dr. Mike Corcoran Tattoos and piercings have become increasingly common forms of body modif icat ion, specif ically for young adult s. While historically, body modif icat ions have been associated w it h st igmat ized stereot ypes, contemporary psychological perspect ives view modif icat ions as forms of self -expression and a w ay to represent ident it y. Current research suggest s t hat individuals engage in body modif icat ions for a var iet y of reasons. This includes memorializat ion of a loved one, personal expression, and creat ing a more conf ident self -image. Building on t hese f indings, t his proposed study aims to evaluate t he psychological ef fect s of t attoos and piercings by examining how t hey shape self -ident it y and how ot hers perceive t hem. This research seeks to explore societ al stereot ypes, biases, and st igmas toward t hose w ho have modif icat ions. Fur t hermore, underst anding t hese psychological and societ al connect ions may help provide enhanced insight into cer t ain body modif icat ions and t he ef fect s on self -percept ion; social f actors may help demonst rate common misconcept ions and t he negat ivit y behind body modif icat ions, as w ell as t he links bet w een st igmat izing att itudes and stereot ypes for individuals w ho have t attoos and piercings.

The result s of my study show t hat st igma, t radit ional masculinit y nor ms, f inancial limit at ions, and mist rust of t he healt hcare syst em are t he main reason t hat black men avoid

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ABSTRACTS Lit hium-I on Capacit or (LI C): The nex t gener at ion of por t able ener gy st or age dev ice?

dif ferent materials. The goal of t his project is to design and build a pair of teleoperat ion modules capable of perf orming t he hapt ic feedback and integrated to t he current robot ic hand.

Carley Beam Research Advisor: Dr. Dipendu Saha Lit hium-ion batt eries, LI Bs, have many diverse uses in t he w orld and are used f or t heir high energy densit y; unfor tunat ely, t hey have slow charging and discharging rates. An alt ernat ive t o batter ies is energy st orage devices w it h rapid charge/discharge rat es, such as supercapacitors. How ever, supercapacitors generally st ore less energy t han LI Bs. Lit hium-ion Capacit ors, LI Cs, combine charact erist ics of bot h LI Bs and supercapacitors, making t hem a potent ial solut ion t o bridge t he gap for applicat ions w here high energy st orage and rapid charge/discharge are required. The object ive of t his project w as to invest igat e t he elect rochemical behavior and performance of a lit hium-ion capacit or. The f irst st ep in complet ing t his goal w as t o design and manuf acture a glove box to perfor m t he lit hiat ion in an iner t at mosphere. Then t he anode (negat ive elect rode) and cat hode (posit ive elect rode) w ere const ruct ed. The anode underw ent lit hiat ion and t he capacit or was const r ucted and test ed via cyclic volt ammet r y (CV), galvanic charge-discharge (GCD), and open circuit volt ammet ry (OCV). Preliminary result s indicat e t he LI C demonst rat es bot h capacit ive (f ast charge/discharge) and f aradaic (high energy densit y) behavior. The result s also indicate t hat t he device?s charging and discharging behavior w as more complex t han t hat of a t radit ional capacitor, t hus, f ur t her test ing is encouraged. These f indings provide a st ar t ing point for f ur t her improvement s to t he device and addit ional test ing of it s energy-st orage capabilit ies. Teleoper at ion modules w it h hapt ic f eedback Srijan Bhaireddy Research Advisor: Dr. Xiaomeng Shi Hapt ic Feedback is inevit able in precision teleoperat ion of manipulat ors. For example, a robot arm could subst itute for a missing limb, and w it h cer t ain adjust ment s such as adding sensory f eatures, a mechanical arm could become usef ul f or various t asks. These enhancement s w ould allow it to read pressure, detect temperature, or help study

Wit h t he help of t he sof t w are I nventor, w e designed a f inger sensor holder for a mechanical ar m to att ach a small f inger sensor capable of sensing pressure t hrough physical touch. Along w it h t hat , w e incorporated a motor and a temperature sensor for a human arm to create a resemblance of t he feeling of vibrat ion caused by pressure and temperature. The measurement s for all holders w ere t aken by caref ully building a 3D-print ed arm w it h dimensions similar to a human arm. All t he par t s w ere print ed by using a liquid 3D print er to produce object s w it h f ine det ails and really smoot h surf aces. I n conclusion, t his project demonst rates t hat mechanical design, sensor technology, and 3D modeling can be used in unison to simulate t he proper t ies of t he human sense of touch and f inger movement . By creat ing accurate holders, integrat ing pressure and temperature sensors, and using 3D print ing met hods, w e w ere able to build component s t hat closely resemble t he f unct ion and feel of a human arm. This w ork highlight s t he potent ial of engineered prost het ic systems to provide bot h pract ical f unct ionalit y and meaningf ul sensory feedback. Displacement , not disappear ance: Assessing t he economic impact of st r eet vendor r emov al policies in Kat hmandu, Nepal Indwija Bhatta Research Advisor: Dr. Maria Luiza Pinho St reet vending has long been an impor t ant par t of Kat hmandu, Nepal?s infor mal economy, providing livelihoods and accessible pat hways to ent repreneurship for individuals and f amilies. This study examines how Kat hmandu M et ropolit an Cit y?s st reet -vendor removal policies af fect vendors, ent repreneurship, and t he broader local economy. Building on research init iated in 2024, t he study primarily uses secondary dat a, including academic research, government document s, cour t decisions, new s repor t s, and available economic st at ist ics. The research explores t he concept of ?displacement , not disappearance,?

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ABSTRACTS examining w het her removing vendors eliminates economic act ivit y or inst ead shif t s it to ot her locat ions and forms. I t also considers ef f ect s on household income, consumer access, local businesses, suppliers, employment , and t he circulat ion of money w it hin Kat hmandu?s inf ormal economy. Ult imat ely, t he study examines w het her current policies ef f ect ively balance urban development and public-space management w it h sust ainable ent repreneurship and economic act ivit y. .

previously paired w it h t he sugar rew ard. These f indings demonst rat e t hat t hird-inst ar Drosophila lar vae can acquire associat ive memories t hrough odor -rew ard condit ioning and suppor t t he use of t he model for invest igat ing t he behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying lear ning and memory. Ecological r hy t hms of t he hear t : How Rober t M ay ?s chaos t heor y decodes car diac ar r hy t hmias Keenan Blythe

Appet it ive chemost imulat ion t o inv est igat e shor t -t er m memor y in 3r d inst ar Drosophila lar v ae

Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant?

Mercy Birundu, Karr Small Research Advisor: Dr. Loretta Williams Lear ning and memor y enable organisms to adapt t heir behavior by f or ming associat ions bet w een environment al cues and rewarding experiences. I n t his study, t hird-inst ar Drosophila melanogaster larvae w ere t rained using a Pavlovian odor -t aste associat ive learning assay to invest igat e odor -rew ard learning. Et hyl acet at e (EA) and 3-oct anol (OCT) served as odor cues in a reciprocal t raining design in w hich one odor w as paired w it h f ructose as a reward w hile t he alt er nat e odor w as paired w it h plain agar lacking a reward. Reciprocal t raining w as used to minimize innat e odor bias by reversing t he odor -rew ard pairing bet w een exper iment al groups. Follow ing t raining, larvae w ere t est ed in a t w o-choice assay bet w een t he t w o odors. Odor pref erence was quant if ied using t he Pref erence I ndex (PREF), w hich measured att ract ion tow ard t he condit ioned odor, w hile associat ive learning w as assessed using t he Lear ning I ndex (LI ), calculat ed f rom t he reciprocal t raining groups t o dist inguish learnt responses f rom innat e odor preferences. Across six days of experiment at ion, f ive of t he six t r ials produced posit ive Learning I ndex values, result ing in an overall mean LI of 0.097 and a median LI of 0.069. Alt hough one t r ial produced a slight ly negat ive Learning I ndex (-0.007), t he overall posit ive t rend demonst rated a successf ul odor -rew ard associat ion. Pref erence I ndex analysis f ur t her suppor t ed t hese f indings, w it h larvae t rained using t he EA+ condit ion exhibit ing a higher mean Preference I ndex (0.269) t han t hose in t he reciprocal OCT+ condit ion (0.0074). This dif ference w as st at ist ically signif icant (one-sided M ann-Whit ney U test , p = 0.046), indicat ing t hat larvae pref erent ially responded to t he odor

To make sense of complex biological net w orks, w e must det ermine w het her natural systems behave predict ably or unpredict ably. Finding universal mat hemat ical rules t hat govern how living syst ems respond to disrupt ion can reveal surprising connect ions bet w een w hole ecosystems and human physiology. Biologist s historically assumed t hat errat ic f luctuat ions in animal populat ions w ere dr iven by random environment al noise. How ever, Rober t M ay?s seminal 1976 Nature paper demonst rated t hat simple, det erminist ic logist ic dif ference equat ions: xt+1= r * xt* (1 -xt) could int r insically generate complex bif urcat ions and det erminist ic chaos w it hout any random ext ernal input . This project demonst rat es how Rober t M ay?s nonlinear populat ion equat ions can be adapted to model elect r ical pattern t ransit ions in human cardiac elect rophysiology. I applied classic densit y-dependent populat ion models t o t ime-series dat a of cardiac elect rical signals. By t reat ing ionic volt age oscillat ions like interact ing individuals in an ecosystem, I analyzed how slight variat ions in int r insic pacing rates t rigger sudden shif t s bet w een orderly conduct ion and errat ic behavior. The model show s t hat t he onset of cardiac arrhyt hmias mir rors t he period-doubling bif urcat ion cascade classic to M ay's logist ic map. Er rat ic hear t beat rhyt hms t hat init ially resemble random noise actually follow st ructured, det erminist ic pat hways dr iven by inter nal nonlinear feedback rat her t han unpredict able ext ernal disturbances. Translat ing M ay?s ecological chaos into cardiology of fers a comput at ionally ef f icient f ramew ork for ant icipat ing and diagnosing life-t hreat ening ar rhyt hmias before t hey escalate. M ore broadly, it underscores how t he mat hemat ics of nonlinear dynamics unif ies processes across disciplines, f rom w ildlife crashes t o hear t disease.

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ABSTRACTS Revealing t he chemical scent pr of ile of Orontium aquaticum in r elat ion t o odor ous r elat iv e Symplocarpus foetidus using GC-M S

plat inum, represent one class of next -generat ion plat inum drugs w it h promising t herapeut ic potent ial, w it h t he lead candidat e, PT-112, current ly undergoing Phase I /I I clinical t rials.

Jaheara Brown Research Advisor: Dr. Kate Goodrich Wit hin t he Araecea (ar um) f amily, many species have adapt ed a w ide range of phenot ypes and pollinat ion st rategies. I n plant sexual reproduct ion, scent plays a crucial role in att ract ing pollinators to f acilit ate t he spread of genet ic inf or mat ion. This summer, for t he f irst t ime ever w e have invest igat ed t he f ull chemical scent prof ile of Orontium aquaticum (common name Golden Club or Float ing Ar um) using gas chromatography-mas spect romet ry (GCM S). O.aquaticum is nat ive to East ern Nor t h America, residing t ypically in temperate w et lands (marshes, ponds, lakes). These f low ers have a slender candle-like appearance housing a mild odor resembling f reshly cut asparagus. By ident if ying and analyzing t he complet e list of t he chemical compounds emitt ed f rom t his species, w e w ere able to compare O.aquaticum to it s f unky f loral mimicking relat ive Symplocarpus foetidus using a previous 2022-2025 dat aset . S.foetidus is a w inter -f low ering f ly-pollinated species t hat is suspected to mimic carr ion, yeast , and ot her decomposing subst rates using unique chemicals. This summer?s w ork has demonst rated t hat w hile evolut ionar y close in lineage, O.aquaticum and S.foetidus have st r ikingly dif ferent morphological charact er ist ics and var ied scent prof iles. Sy nt hesis & char act er izat ion of mixed ox idat ion st at e phosphaplat ins Lanise Brown Research Advisor: Dr. Robert J. Mishur Cisplat in is a chemot herapy drug t hat is used w idely t hroughout t he w orld to t reat a var iet y of cancers like ovarian, t est icular, and blader cancer. While cisplat in is highly ef f ect ive in t reat ing cancer, it inf lict s many harsh sides ef f ect s on it s users including hair loss, t innitus, and kidney t oxicit y, w hich can limit it s use. By altering t he ligands on cisplat in, t he biological act ivit y, select ivit y, and t herapeut ic index may be edited. Phosphaplat ins, def ined by cont aining a bident at e pyrophosphat e group bound to

I n t his study, a new phosphaplat in, bypyrimidine dihydrogenpyrophosphat oplat inum(I I ) (bpm-2) was synt hesized and characterized by 13C-N M R, 31P-N M R, 1H-N M R and elect rospray ionizat ion mass spect romet ry (ESI -M S). How ever, N M R analysis revealed t he presence of one or more impurit ies, and t his compound w as not st able in aqueous solut ion at basic pH, w it h new species appearing in t he 31P N M R spect rum w it hin 24 hours. Att empt s to oxidize t his compound to a Pt (I V) pro-dr ug resulted in incomplete oxidat ion, and met hods to isolat e t he Pt (I V) complex cont aining t he bipyridine ligand w ere unsuccessf ul. We f ur t her attempted to synt hesize dinuclear phosphaplat ins using t he tet radent ate ligand 2,2?-bipyrimidine as a bridging group, but t hese synt heses w ere unsuccessf ul. Att empt ed synt het ic procedures w ill be show n and discussed. M at h out r each t hr ough social media Leandra Brutus, Bradley Mitchell, Sarah Morishita Research Advisor: Dr. Samantha M. Pezzimenti M at hemat ics is one of t he most hated subject s in school, yet it is also one of t he most f undament al to underst anding t he w orld. Finding a met hod of learning t hat w orks best for you personally can signif icant ly increase progress in various subject s. When student s already dislike a topic, t hey are less likely to w ant to study or even engage w it h it in class. M at h, specif ically, has been found to be one of t he subject s t hat is consistent ly disliked by student s. The purpose of our project is to make mat h more approachable and accessible to a w ide audience, specif ically for middle and high school student s. This was done by w r it ing, f ilming, edit ing, and post ing f un, light hear ted videos explaining mat h topics on social media plat forms like TikTok, I nst agram, and YouTube. I n t w o t o t hree minut es, an advanced mat h topic w ould be broken dow n into simpler ter ms using engaging visuals or physical object s to demonst rate t he concept . Result s f rom t he limit ed number of videos posted so f ar show an overall posit ive response to t he content . View ers across all t hree

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ABSTRACTS plat f or ms appear t o enjoy t he videos and engage w it h t hem in t he comment s sect ion or by liking t he post . Cont inued w ork on t his project w ill include post ing pre-f ilmed videos in hopes of grow ing our audience. Broadly speaking, by cont inuing to post , our hope is t hat our videos w ill help people feel less af raid of mat h and make it a f un subject .

in order to keep t he object grounded, keep vibrat ions t o a minimum, and to t ake aw ay any unwanted movement in object s.

When t he Cur e Becomes t he Cause: M ay apples, I nv asiv es, and M ismanagement Mevlana Bukovalli, Madison Landau Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant At Taylor Arboretum w e found some Japan honeysuckle w hich is an invasive vine t hat is crow ding out t he nat ive mayapples in t he shaded forest pat ches. Past research t here has show n t hat mayapples count jump f rom 406 to 575 to 932 plant s af t er t he honeysuckle removal. This w as like cleaning w eeds so t he decided plant s can spread. Our goal was t o t est w het her removing honeysuckle f rom t he mayapple pat ches w ould let t he mayapples grow back and spread around. We t ested t his by marking t he plot s of honeysuckle and mayapples. Hand pulling t he vines and root s t hen leaving t he plot s for f uture monit oring. One of our plot s has 2 mayapples and t he ot her had 12. Since t he mayapples spread t hrough underground root s, removing t he vines likely gave t hem some room to grow and matching t he earlier studies' f indings. This suggest s t hat t he invasive removal could help t he mayapples recover and cont inue monit or ing plus t he act ive management . I t w ill t ake someone being dedicated to car ing for t he arboretum as bef ore t o help t hese species come back. Elast omer ic Damper s Salvatore Campagna

Elastomeric dampers play more of a role in our everyday lives t han you t hink. A lot of machines and cars all around t he w orld have elast omeric dampers in t hem to keep us safe day to day. One large piece of w ork t hat w as done w it h elast omeric dampers w as done by Christ ian R. Brackbill, as w ell as a couple of ot hers, w here t hey designed an analyt ical model included t he nonlinear behavior of an elast omeric damper and invest igated how t he damper af fected helicopt er rotor st abilit y. For my project t his summer, I w as assessed w it h re-designing Christ ian R. Brackbill?s model and seeing how it w orked in order to f ully underst and his t hesis, and t hen build f rom it . M ost of t his project w as done t hrough M ATLab, a coding sof t ware. When I st ar ted of f w it h t his project , a lot of my t ime w as spent learning M ATLab inside and out . I spent many days going t hrough online courses of M ATLab so t hat I could f ully underst and w hat I w as doing w it h Brackbill?s code. Once I became more ef f icient , Dr. M arr gave me a small assignment to make sure t hat my w ork w as suf f icient enough and t hat I f ully grasped t he material w e w ere w orking w it h. Af ter all of t his, I was able to redesign Brackbill?s model using M ATLab code. Wit h t he M ATLab code, I w as able to have M ATLab spit out graphs to me t hat depicted cer t ain t ypes of movement s, velocit ies, and ot her t hings to me. I n t he code I am able t o change variable numbers to give dif ferent graphs to underst and w hat t hey mean and how t he elast omer ic damper t ruly w orks. These f indings are very impor t ant t o t he f uture of my research, and really help me st ar t digging t hat pat h towards more signif icant f indings. Recy cling of LFP bat t er ies

Research Advisor: Dr. Conor Marr My topic began w it h Christ ian R. Brackbill, a professor at Penn St ate Universit y w ho did research on elastomer ic dampers w it hin helicopt ers. Elast omeric dampers are st rong pieces of r ubber or plast ic t hat st retches large amount s. These pieces are called elastomers and t hey have ver y st rong elast icit y. For context , a damper is a tool t hat slow s somet hing dow n. These pieces are put into machines

Lily Campbell Research Advisor: Dr. Dipendu Saha The increasing demand for LFP batt eries present s bot h an oppor tunit y for cleaner energy storage and a challenge: f inding sust ainable w ays to recover t heir valuable materials. his study invest igates a t her mochemical recycling approach for recovering valuable met als f rom

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ABSTRACTS lit hium iron phosphat e (LFP) batter ies. The LFP cat hode material was t hermally t reated to obt ain t he cat hode pow der, w hich was t hen chemically t reated and f ilt ered to recover t he met al component s. Lit hium w as subsequent ly recovered f rom t he f ilt rate t hrough pH adjust ment and precipit at ion. The result ing mat erial w as t hen analyzed to deter mine purit y and t he recycling process ef f iciency.

Financial and Tax St r at egies t hat I mpr ove Long-Ter m Success f or M inor it y -Ow ned Beaut y Businesses Rae?Vyn Curtis Research Advisor: Prof. Vaughn Hopkins

Respect ing lif e or r espect ing choice? A philosophical analy sis of abor t ion & aut onomy Jordy Chery Research Advisor: Dr. Thomas M. Wilk Abor t ion over t he last few years remains a cont roversial discussion t opic t hat is alw ays being debated, w het her it 's about moralit y, polit ical view s, and even one's religious st anding. I n t oday?s t imes t his discussion alw ays comes dow n t o t w o f inal sides pro-life being t he side t hat agrees abor t ion is murder should be illegal or pro-choice w ho believe it isn?t murder and it should up to t he individual. Alt hough one t hing societ y agrees upon is t hat human life is valuable, w hat seems to be t he issue is w hat respect ing t hat value requires. ?Should government of f icials and policy makers enforce one moral interpret at ion or prot ect an individual?s f reedom to decide??. This research w ill examine t he philosophical conf lict bet w een t he value of human lif e, individual aut onomy, and even abor t ion accessibilit y. Using t he f irst six chapt ers of Ronald Dw orkin?s Lif e?s Dominion as t he main philosophical foundat ion, I w ill inspect his argument about how t he abor t ion debat e is less about if human life is valuable but more so t he dif f erent w ays people believe t hat value should be respect ed. I w ill also be using Judit h Jar vis Thomson?s ?A defense of Abor t ion?to f ully delve into bodily autonomy. Ult imat ely t his research asks When societ y agrees, human lif e is valuable but disagrees on w hat respect ing t hat value requires. Should government of f icials and policy makers enforce one moral interpret at ion or protect an individual?s f reedom to decide? test involved a st orage medium composed solely of

Running a successf ul business is about more t han just great product s or ser vices; it 's about st aying on top of t he money side of t hings. For minorit y-ow ned beaut y businesses, mastering f inancial planning and t ax st rategies is of ten t he dif ference bet w een t hriving for years and closing. This project explores how t hese essent ial money-management skills help salon ow ners and beaut y ent repreneurs st ay prof it able, avoid common pit f alls, and keep t heir businesses in good st anding for t he long r un. By underst anding t hese f undament als, business ow ners can turn t heir passion into a sust ainable, last ing success. Over t he course of my research on t his topic to attempt t o f ind t he best solut ion, I decided to use several dif f erent met hods. I f irst began researching t he basic f inances of minorit y-ow ned beaut y businesses t hat may be on t he verge of shutt ing dow n or t hat have already shut dow n and w hy and w here t hey have gone w rong. I t hen research beaut y salons t hat are doing w ell w it h t heir f inances and w eighed out t he dif ferences bet w een t he t w o. I also researched st rat egies t hat ?ll assist w it h t heir f inancials and t axes and w hat could make t heir f inancials better. Last ly, I decided to interview 3 people w ho are in t he beaut y indust ry to get insight on w hat t heir hardships are and w hat advice t hey may have for ot hers. The primary t hemes t hat emerged f rom inter view s w it h t hree indust ry prof essionals highlight t hat long-term business success relies heavily on t ransit ioning f rom sole proprietorships to formal st ructures like S-Cor porat ions, maint aining separated personal and business cash f low s, and consistent ly ut ilizing specialized t ax deduct ions. Across all t hree inter view s, par t icipant s st ressed t hat adopt ing proact ive f inancial management early on, such as leveraging beaut y-specif ic equipment w r ite-of f s and f iling for of f icial minorit y-ow ned business cer t if icat ions, proved f ar more ef fect ive for sust ainable grow t h t han relying solely on client volume.

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ABSTRACTS These f indings of fer a pract ical roadmap for minorit y beaut y ent repreneurs, show ing how st ructured f inancial planning and t arget ed t ax st rategies can direct ly accelerate long-term w ealt h building and business sur vival. By providing act ionable insight s into t ax opt imizat ion and capit al grow t h, t his research lays out t he groundw ork for f uture educat ional init iat ives and policy suppor t aimed at closing t he economic equit y gap in t he beaut y indust ry. Bey ond t he major, int o t he f ut ur e: Connect ing DM I and Communicat ions t o r eal-w or ld car eer s Anmona Das Research Advisor: Dr. Angie Corbo Choosing a college major comes w it h a big quest ion,??What can I ?actually do?w it h t his degree??Wit h ar t if icial intelligence changing how w e w ork, it is more impor t ant t han ever f or student s and f amilies to see how Communicat ion Studies (COM S) and Digit al M edia I nfor mat ics (DM I ) connect to real careers. Skills in communicat ion, digit al literacy, creat ive product ion, and technology can lead to many dif ferent career pat hs, but t he name of a major alone does not alw ays make t hose possibilit ies clear. The goal of t his project is to help current and prospect ive student s, f amilies, and ot hers bett er underst and t he career oppor tunit ies available t hrough COM S and DM I . We explored career pat hs in cont ent creat ion, market ing, social media, public relat ions, digit al design, communicat ions, human resources, dat a analyt ics, and relat ed prof essional roles. Widener alumni w orking in t hese areas are also being featured t hrough Career Prof iles t hat highlight t heir responsibilit ies, career preparat ion, changes in t heir indust ries including, AI and technology, and advice f or student s. This inf ormat ion is being turned into a visual I nst agram carousel series for Widener?s COM S/DM I social media. Through real career examples and alumni exper iences, t he project show s t he many direct ions a COM S or DM I educat ion can lead. By turning career inf ormat ion into accessible social media content , t his project helps student s picture t heir f utures w hile suppor t ing out reach and great er awareness of COM S and DM I career possibilit ies.

Design of gr eener sy nt het ic r out es t o 2,2?-bipy r imidine Serenity Dean Research Advisor: Dr. Robert J. Mishur 2,2?-Bypyrimidine is a tet radent ate organic compound t hat can be used as a bridging group to create dinuclear met al complexes. Not ably, it has been used in t he preparat ion of dinuclear rut henium species, w hich have applicat ions in phot odynamic cancer t herapy. Tradit ional synt het ic procedures for t he preparat ion of bipyrimidine eit her result in low yields or incorporate hazardous reagent s such as chlorof orm (carcinogenic), pot assium cyanide (toxic), and hydroiodic acid (caust ic). Fur t her, w hile t his compound is available commercially, it t ypically cost s upwards of $250 per gram. I n t his project w e aimed to design greener synt het ic rout es to 2,2?-bypyrimidine. We f irst t ried to make to produce t he t arget molecule by t he coupling of 2-chloropyrimidine according to t he met hod of Nasielski. Green chemist r y modif icat ions included sw itching f rom argon to nit rogen gas for an iner t at mosphere and sw itching f rom chloroform t o diet hyl et her for t he ext ract ion. TLC analysis follow ing our init ial attempt at t his react ion indicat ed t hat w e synt hesized 2,2?-bipyrimidine, how ever, it also show ed t hat most of t he st ar t ing material remained unreacted. Addit ional attempt s using t his met hod w ere unsuccessf ul. We also attempted to synt hesize t his molecule using t he met hod of Vlád and Horvát h. This met hod begins w it h t ransf or ming 2-chloropyrimidine to 2-iodopyrimidine using hydroiodic acid. We attempted to achieve t his t ransf or mat ion by replacing t he hazardous hydroiodic acid w it h pot assium iodide, to no success. Addit ional att empt s involved t he addit ion of a small amount of acid t o t he react ion mixture, but t his w as also unsuccessf ul. Our next step is to synt hesize t he 2-iodopyr imidine using HI , and t hen attempt an Ullman coupling. The procedure for t his involves addit ion of cyanide to remove t he f inal product f rom t he copper cat alyst . We w ill attempt to do t his using less hazardous t riphenylphosphine, w hich also t ight ly binds t o met al centers.

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ABSTRACTS M ak ing a r hy t hm game in Py t hon Adam Dinh Research Advisors: Dr. Dr. Yana Kortsarts, Dr. Edwin Dauber A rhyt hm game is a t ype of game w here t he player w ould use var ious input met hods and play or hit notes to t he rhyt hm of t he music. These met hods could be many t hings such as t apping on a screen, using keys on a keyboard, or using equipment specif ic to t he game. My goal for t he project was t o make a rhyt hm game in Pyt hon. Pyt hon is commonly used as a backend coding language, so tools and libraries like t he Pygame librar y need to be impor ted for user int er f ace. Once t he game st ar t s, music st aves are show n w it h not es moving across t he screen. The current protot ype uses keyboard input s and gives feedback based on how accurat ely t he player hit s t he notes, and t he number of t imes notes are hit consecut ively. Future plans include using musical inst rument sounds as input , improving not e t iming and f unct ionalit y, playing audio in t he background, and making an end screen to show overall accuracy. CRI SPR/ Cas9 mediat ed mut at ions in Glucose-6-Phosphat e-Dehy dr ogenase (G6PD) show incr eased r esist ance t o st ar v at ion in Drosophila Kimberly Edmonds, Tyler Harper, Joseph Penn Research Advisor: Dr. Alexis Nagengast Glucose-6-Phosphat e-Dehydrogenase (G6PD) is t he most common enzyme def iciency in humans, af f ect ing over 400 million people, and cat alyzes t he rat e limit ing st ep of t he pentose phosphate pat hw ay (PPP). PPP is one of t w o major met abolic pat hw ays in red blood cells, w it h t he ot her being glycolysis, and provides NADPH required for lipid biosynt hesis in high nut rient condit ions. CRI SPR/Cas9 w as used t o generat e mut at ions in Zw, t he Drosophila melanogast er G6PD or t holog, to bett er underst and it s f unct ion. Mut ant f ly lines w ere invest igat ed for resist ance to oxidat ive st ress and nut rient deprivat ion using paraquat resist ance and st arvat ion sur vival assays. Survival was assessed across dif f erent genet ic backgrounds and bet w een male and f emale f lies to deter mine w het her resist ance is inf luenced by mut at ions or sex. Genet ic background did not signif icant ly af f ect resist ance to

paraquat , as all lines demonst rat ed similar levels of survival. How ever, a sex-specif ic dif ference w as obser ved, w it h males show ing greater resist ance to paraquat t han females. Several mut ant lines also demonst rated increased survival dur ing st arvat ion compared w it h t he cont rol line. These f indings suggest t hat mut at ions af fect ing Zw may inf luence met abolic responses to nut rient depr ivat ion. Future studies should measure t riglycer ide levels and direct ly assess NADPH product ion to det ermine w het her alt ered energy storage or PPP act ivit y cont r ibutes to increased st arvat ion resist ance. Cr ime hot spot s at Widener Univer sit y : Pat t er ns of r epor t ed cr ime and st udent impact Hanna Edwards Research Advisor: Prof. Gabrielle DiGiambattista Crime on college campuses is not alw ays evenly dist r ibut ed across campus, w it h cer t ain locat ions experiencing higher concent rat ions of repor t ed incident s. Mult iple crimes can occur in a singular spot , creat ing a crime hot spot . A crime hot spot is an area w here more crimes are repor t ed t han t he average number of crimes repor t ed in ot her areas. Areas w here crime occurs but are below average are not considered hot spot s. The purpose of t his project is t o analyze w here t he crime hot spot s are on campus, and if student s are af fected by t he crime t hat occurs. To complete t his research, 2025 campus crime repor t s w ere analyzed, crime locat ions w ere mapped to ident if y areas w it h t he highest number of repor t ed incident s, an inter view was conducted w it h t he Direct or of Campus Safet y, and an anonymous survey w as administ ered to Widener Universit y student s. Cer t ain f reshman year residence halls turned out to be t he main crime hot spot s on campus. Hanna Hall had t he most crimes repor t ed w it h 17 crimes, and How ell Hall had t he low est number of repor t ed incident s among t he ident if ied hot spot s, w it h 12. The most common crimes w ere Larceny, Vandalism, and Liquor of fenses. An anonymous student survey w as conduct ed t o det ermine w het her crime impacted student s?daily lives. M ost par t icipat ing student s repor t ed t hat crime did not impact t heir daily lives. I dent if ying crime hot spot s may help Campus Safet y, Residence Life, and ot her universit y depar t ment s det ermine w here addit ional attent ion and resources may be benef icial.

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ABSTRACTS Assessing campus nut r it ional accessibilit y and schedule-based inequalit ies Leonardo Flores Chavez Research Advisor: Dr. Yana Kortsarts, Dr. Edwin G. Dauber College dining halls are t he pr imar y food source for many student s, making t heir nut rit ional qualit y essent ial for long-t er m healt h. How ever, mass-cater ing sett ings of ten st ruggle t o balance high volume w it h opt imal nut rit ion. While f ederal guidelines set clear benchmarks for a healt hy diet , it is of ten unclear how w ell campus menus align w it h t hese st andards. This project evaluates a campus dining menu against t hese guidelines. A cust om w eb scraper w as used t o ext ract nut r it ional dat a f rom t he universit y?s online menu across mult iple meal periods. To improve analyt ical accuracy, t he original dat aset of 498 items w as f iltered t o exclude items under 50 calor ies, result ing in a f inal dat aset of 370 menu items. The menu?s overall energy dist ribut ion was evaluated against Accept able M acronut rient Dist ribut ion Ranges (AM DR). Temporal dat a (Lunch vs. Dinner) w as also analyzed to determine any scheduling discrepancies. The analysis found t hat t he menu was generally high in f at and low in carbohydrat es and f iber compared w it h recommended guidelines, w hile sodium, saturat ed f at , and added sugar remained w it hin t he benchmarks used. Addit ionally, w hile protein accounted f or an accept able percent age of overall calories, t he absolut e protein mass provided per meal w as generally def icient . Ult imat ely, t he menu f ails to provide t he nut r ient -dense, w hole-f ood component s required for a balanced diet , but it successf ully rest r ict s har mf ul addit ives. No signif icant dif ferences w ere found bet w een lunch and dinner. I nv est igat ing t he ef f ect s of aged liver secr et ed f act or s on healt hy hear t muscle cells Jah-Vanah Francis, Shaina Garcia Research Advisor: Dr. Aylin Acun Cardiovascular disease is st rongly inf luenced by aging, yet t he cellular mechanisms driving age-relat ed cardiac dysf unct ion remain incompletely understood. As w e age, changes occur not only in our individual cells, but also in t he way t he organs like t he hear t and liver communicat e.

This study invest igates how t he aged liver secret ions af fect t he aging and f unct ion of hear t t issues. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocyt es (iCM s) and HepG2 cell lines w ere used to develop t he human-origin hear t and liver t issues, respect ively. Human iPSCs w ere expanded and dif ferent iated into iCM s by caref ully modulat ing t he Wnt signaling pat hway w it h CHI R and I WP2. By day 12 of dif ferent iat ion, t he iCM s began to beat spont aneously. The iCM s w ere allow ed t o mature unt il day 30 of dif ferent iat ion. Next , t he iCM s and HepG2 cells w ere bot h aged in vit ro using exposure t o 200 µM hydrogen peroxide for 7 days. The result ing iCM s w ere later used to const r uct t he aged t issues w hile cont rol iCM s w ere used for young t issue const ruct ion. Next , t he iCM s w ere encapsulat ed in GelM A to const r uct t he 3D young and aged hear t t issues. The hear t t issues t hen received (i) aged liver condit ioned media, (ii) young liver condit ioned media, and (iii) t radit ional culture media as a cont rol. Af ter culture in t he respect ive media for 48 hours, changes in beat per minut e and senescence in hear t t issues w ere det ermined. The t reated iCM s show ed a low er average beat rate t han cont rol iCM s dur ing t he seven day again per iod. The aged hear t t issues exposed to aged liver condit ioned media had t he highest senescence response. Overall, aged liver secret ions may cont r ibute to cardiac aging, par t icularly in aged hear t t issue, suppor t ing f ur t her invest igat ion of liver hear t communicat ion dur ing aging. Gr eener sy nt hesis of isoxazoles t hr ough solv ent subst it ut ion and mat er ial r educt ion Josef Franzo Research Advisor: Dr. Loyd Bastin I soxazoles are molecules t hat are used as pharmaceut icals for a w ide variet y of applicat ions. Ranging f rom ant i-bacterial and ant i-microbial to ant i-inf lammat ory and ant i-tumor, isoxazoles have great versat ilit y. How ever, t he process of making t hese molecules is harmf ul to t he environment and laboratory w orkers. Previous research at Widener developed a met hod t hat uses less hazardous chemicals and better met hods to create t he desired compounds. This summer focused on t he brominat ion of chalcones w here et hyl acet ate w as tested as an alt er nat ive solvent and reducing t he amount of oxidizer w as t ested. Experiment s w ere perf ormed using mult iple chalcones

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ABSTRACTS and alkenes. Et hyl acet ate w as found not to be a better solvent t han t he current solvent , CPM E, but , t he amount of oxidizer was successf ully reduced. Reducing w aste is one of t he best ways t o reduce t he environment al impact of a process and t his research could be used to improve t he ef f iciency of t he creat ion of mult iple pharmaceut icals. Design and simulat ion of an I C-t imer -based saw t oot h volt age-cont r olled oscillat or Dylan Georges Research Advisor: Dr. John Suarez Volt age-cont rolled oscillat ors (VCOs) produce signals w hose f requency can be changed by an input volt age. They are impor t ant in communicat ion syst ems, phase-locked loops, radar, and ot her syst ems t hat require an adjust able f requency. I nt egrat ed-circuit (I C) t imers are commonly used t o creat e t iming signals by cont rolling t he charging and discharging of a capacitor. The goal of t his project w as to design an oscillat or using an I C t imer t hat produces a saw t oot h wavef orm f rom 0 to 5 V, w it h a f requency bet w een 300 and 900 Hz. To examine how an I C t imer w orks, it s t ransistor -level schemat ic was manually recreated in Mult isim. I nstead of analyzing each t ransistor individually, t he reconst ructed circuit was t est ed as a complet e syst em in monost able operat ion using values f rom a t ypical I C-t imer dat asheet . This t est was per f or med to deter mine w het her t he t ransist or schemat ic produced t he expect ed behavior of an I C t imer. The t imer w as t hen combined w it h a t ransist or -cont rolled adjust able current , t iming capacitor, and op-amp buf f er t o creat e t he saw t oot h oscillator. The reconst ructed I C t imer produced t he expect ed out put pulse and capacit or w avef orm during t he monost able test . The complet ed oscillator simulat ion produced a repeat ing saw t oot h t hat rose f rom approximat ely 0 V to 5.02 V bef ore quickly discharging. Adjust ing t he t ransistor?s charging cur rent changed how quickly t he capacit or discharged, w hich in turn changed t he out put f requency. This project demonst rat es how an I C t imer can be used to creat e an adjust able w avefor m generator and provides a foundat ion f or underst anding oscillators used in larger elect ronic and communicat ion systems.

M oder n social t hemes in cont empor ar y hor r or f ilms Sha?Mareah Gordon Research Advisors: Dr. Amy Franzini Cont emporary horror f ilms of ten use dark, super natural, and horr if ic techniques and met a-narrat ives in order t o ref lect social issues beyond w hat w e perceive to be as t he ?fear?. This project examines how select ed contemporar y horror f ilms represent issues such as female bodily autonomy, voyeurism, and racism, and gent rif icat ion. Through a qualit at ive analysis of Toget her, Jennifer?s Body, I t follow s, Get out , The Cabin in t he Woods, Obsession, The Subst ance, and Barbarian, t he study considered recurr ing t hemes, character experiences, visual and narrat ive patterns, and t he social anxiet ies represented t hrough horror. The analysis found t hat many contemporary horror f ilms use techniques t hat are able to ref lect modern societ al issues t hat are relevant in our societ y. Across t he f ilms, horror f unct ions not only as enter t ainment but also as a w ay of making broader cultural fears and tensions visible. How public v isibilit y shapes ment al healt h acr oss media indust r ies Allana Gray Research Advisor: Prof. Dana Ryan Public visibility is an important part of working in the media industry, where individuals are often expected to maintain a public image while navigating constant attention from audiences, media outlets, and social media platforms. This research will examine how public visibility may shape mental health across different media industries, including entertainment, journalism, social media, and f ilm. The study will explore how factors such as public criticism, social media engagement, pressure to maintain a certain image, and lack of privacy can contribute to stress, anxiety, burnout, and other mental health challenges. At the same time, the research will consider whether public visibility can have positive effects, such as creating opportunities, increasing professional recognition, and allowing individuals to build supportive communities. Using a communication-focused perspective, this study will examine the relationship between media exposure, audience perceptions, and the mental well-being of individuals

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ABSTRACTS w orking in highly visible roles. The goal of t his research is to bett er underst and t he psychological ef fect s of public visibilit y and ident if y w ays media indust ries can suppor t healt hier relat ionships bet w een public exposure and ment al healt h. At her oscler osis & cor onar y ar t er y disease Christopher Hackney Research Advisor: Dr. Rhonda Hazell The hear t is an impor t ant organ t hat pumps blood t hroughout t he body. The ar t eries help to t ransfer oxygen rich blood f rom t he hear t to t he rest of t he cells and t issues in t he body. The veins help to t ransf er oxygen poor blood f rom t he cells and t issues in t he body back to t he hear t , w here t he blood t hen goes to t he lungs for reperf usion. The ar ter ies and veins bot h have endot helium w hich is t he inner lining t hat helps blood to move smoot hly t hroughout t he body. The hear t has coronary ar t eries w hich supply blood t o t he hear t muscle it self . Over t ime, t he endot helium st ar t s to develop micro-damaged areas. This allow s plaque t o build up on t he damaged endot helium. This is know n as at herosclerosis. At herosclerosis in t he coronary ar ter ies is know n as Coronary Ar t ery Disease (CAD). CAD can cause complicat ions such as a myocardial inf arct ion or angina. Cardiac cat heterizat ion can be done to diminish t he plaque format ion in t he coronary ar t er ies. There are also medicat ions, know n as st at ins, t hat can help to t reat CAD bef ore it becomes too severe. I f t hat does not solve t he blood f low problem, t hen open hear t surgery may be t he next opt ion. M ut at ions in Zw / G6PD show par aquat and st ar v at ion r esist ance phenot y pes in Drosophila melanogaster Tyler Harper, Kimberly Edmonds, Joseph Penn Research Advisor: Dr. Alexis Nagengast Glucose-6-phosphat e dehydrogenase (G6PD) def iciency is t he most f requent ly occurring inher ited enzyme def iciency in humans and can increase suscept ibilit y to oxidat ive st ress. The or t holog in Drosophila melanogaster, Zw (Zwischenferment), is subject to alternat ive splicing w hich result s in t he product ion of several isoforms, but t he f unct ions of t hese isoforms are not very w ell understood. To invest igate t he f unct ional impor t ance of t he individual

isoforms, CRI SPR/Cas9 w as used to create mut at ions in Zw t hat af fect t he longer isoform. PCR amplif icat ion follow ed by Sanger sequencing revealed four mut ant lines t hat had inser t ion or delet ion mut at ions expected to lead to f rameshif t s and t he appearance of premature stop codons, w hile one line (2A1C) displayed no det ect able mut at ion. The ef fect s of t hese mut at ions w ere assessed by means of paraquat and st arvat ion survival assays. I n t he paraquat assay, t w o mut ant lines show ed signif icant ly reduced survival compared w it h t he cont rol. I n t he st arvat ion assay, several mut ant lines survived signif icant ly longer t han t he cont rol. Taken toget her, t hese result s indicat e t hat t he Zw isoforms play a role in survival under condit ions of oxidat ive st ress and dur ing nut rient depr ivat ion. Fur t her studies w ill involve examining isoform-specif ic expression by means of qPCR and measuring G6PD enzyme act ivit y in order to better def ine t he roles of t he Zw isoforms. Absor bance of met al ions based on elect r on hole scavenger t y pe Thomas Hegarty Research Advisor: Dr. Domhnall J. Oshaughnessy Biochemical indust ries require t hin f ilms of met al on t it anium dioxide subst rates to produce f ine sensors t o measure pollut ant s in w ater. For inst ance, a solut ion cont aining silver ions w ill be dissolved in a 50% met hanol by volume solut ion, a t ype of elect ron hole scavenger, exposed to a subst rate, and exposed to UV light to apply t he met al onto t he subst rate. We invest igated how t he elect ron hole scavenger used in dissolving an ionic compound could af fect t he amount of met al deposited onto t he subst rate. Prior research has show n t hat t he amount of met al deposit ed onto t it anium dioxide subst rates could vary based on t he elect ron hole scavenger used. We dissolved met al ions in elect ron hole scavengers to det ermine w hich scavenger w as most ef fect ive at enabling phot odeposit ion. An analysis of t he UV-Vis absorbance of t he plate show ed t hat t he most ef fect ive elect ron scavenger dif fered for each solute, as t he cit r ic acid solut ion had t he highest absorbance for t he silver nit rate w hile t he EDTA solut ion had t he highest absorbance for t he copper (I I ) nit rate solut ion. What t his suggest s is t hat dif ferent met als are phot odeposit ed most

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ABSTRACTS ef f icient ly w it h dif f erent elect ron hole scavengers, w hich w ould mean t hat cer t ain hole scavengers are less ef f ect ive w it h cer t ain met als t han ot hers, w hich must be found systemat ically. Future research w ill focus on t rying to f ind t he most ef f ect ive elect ron hole scavenger for each met al.

The r elat ionship bet w een r emot e w or k and mot her hood penalt ies in t he moder n labor mar ket

Ef f ect of subst r at e st if f ness on localizat ion of Yes-associat ed pr ot ein (YAP) in adipocy t es

This study examines w het her t he labor market out comes of mot hers w it h children under age six changed follow ing t he COVI D-19 pandemic and w het her t he expansion of telew ork cont r ibuted to t hese changes. Using dat a f rom t he Current Populat ion Survey (CPS), a Dif ference-in-Dif f erences (DI D) f ramew ork is employed t o compare labor market outcomes bet w een a pre-pandemic period (2015-2018) and a post -pandemic period (2022-2024). M ot hers w it h young children are compared to w omen w it hout young children to evaluate changes in employment and earnings outcomes associated w it h t he mot herhood penalt y.

Rayanna Jarrett Research Advisor: Dr. LiKang Chin Obesit y is a r ising epidemic w it h nearly half of all adult Amer icans diagnosed as obese. Obesit y has signif icant healt h ef f ect s, prompt ing t he need for a deeper underst anding of adipocyt e (f at cell) f unct ion. An emerging area of study is mechanobiology ? t he study of how cells recognize and respond to t heir mechanical environment , in par t icular t he st if f ness of t heir underlying subst rat e, w hich has been show n to af f ect t he amount and dist ribut ion of t he mechanosensit ive Yes-associated protein (YAP). This protein regulates cell division, dif ferent iat ion, proliferat ion, as w ell as many ot her processes, and can respond to changes in subst rat e st if f ness. To study t he localizat ion of YAP as a f unct ion of subst rat e st if f ness, polyacrylamide hydrogels of tunable st if f ness w ere prepared to mimic normal lean adipose t issue and st if f obese adipose t issue. Next , previously f ixed cells w ere st ained f or YAP using immunocytochemist ry techniques t o visualize protein localizat ion in t he nucleus or in t he cyt oplasm. The result s show ed t hat t here w as no dif ference in t he rat io of YAP in/out of t he nucleus bet w een adipocyt es t reated w it h t he f att y acid oleat e versus cont rols, w hen seeded on glass. Addit ionally, f att y acid t reat ment did not af f ect nuclear area. The dat a suggest s t hat subst rate st if f ness deter mines YAP localizat ion, more so t han f att y acid t reat ment , and an inf init ely st if f subst rate like glass shutt les t he protein into t he nucleus. This experiment lays t he foundat ion for f uture analysis of t he mechanosensing abilit ies of adipocyt es.

Samantha Eckman, Tanveer Kaur Research Advisor: Dr. Afrouz Jahromi

The result s indicat e a signif icant reduct ion in t he mot herhood penalt y follow ing t he pandemic. M ot hers w it h children under age six experienced a 3.7 percent age-point increase in employment relat ive t o t he comparison group, suggest ing st ronger labor force att achment in t he post -COVI D labor market . Earnings outcomes also improved. M ot hers experienced approximately 6.6% higher annual earnings and 2.5% higher w eekly earnings relat ive to w omen w it hout young children. How ever, no st at ist ically signif icant change was observed in hourly w ages, indicat ing t hat improvement s in earnings w ere driven primarily by increased employment and w orkforce par t icipat ion rat her t han higher hourly w age rates. The analysis f ur t her explores t he role of telew ork t hrough interact ion models t hat incorporate occupat ional t elew ork feasibilit y. The f indings suggest t hat telew ork signif icant ly inf luences post -pandemic labor market outcomes, alt hough it s ef fect s vary across employment and earnings measures. Overall, t he result s provide evidence t hat labor market condit ions for mot hers improved af ter COVI D-19, cont ribut ing to a par t ial reduct ion in t he mot herhood penalt y. Never t heless, t he persistence of limit ed hourly w age gains suggest s t hat st ructural barr iers to gender equalit y remain. These f indings highlight t he impor t ance of w orkplace f lexibilit y w hile underscor ing t he cont inued

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ABSTRACTS need f or suppor t ive policies such as expanded childcare access and f amily-f r iendly employment pract ices. M ax imizing bond st r engt h w it h beam int er lock ing: Fused deposit ion modeling (FDM ) Logan Killen Research Advisor: Dr. Babak Eslami Beam int erlocking is a sof t w are-enabled addit ive manuf actur ing st rategy t hat mechanically integrates dissimilar mat er ials or colors by creat ing interw oven st ructures at t heir interf ace. This approach has t he potent ial t o improve t he st rengt h of mult i-material component s, w hich are of t en limited by poor interf acial adhesion. This study aimed to ident if y t he process-paramet er conf igurat ion t hat maximizes t he bond st rengt h bet w een dif f erent PLA mat erials. A design of exper iment s was conduct ed using 27 conf igurat ions involving f ive beam-interlocking paramet ers evaluated at low, int ermediat e, and high levels. Three specimens w ere f abricat ed f or each conf igurat ion and subject ed to tensile test ing under progressively applied loading. The result s demonst rat ed t hat beam interlocking can successf ully st rengt hen mult i-material PLA interf aces. Among t he paramet ers invest igated, interlocking dept h relat ive t o t he component ?s ext er ior boundary and beam orient at ion had t he great est inf luence on interf acial st rengt h. These f indings provide a f oundat ion for developing a sof t ware-based opt imizat ion tool capable of recommending beam-int erlocking paramet ers based on component geomet ry and design requirement s. Development of a Senescence-Based Liv er Aging M odel Using Doxor ubicin Kohlen Kpuyuf, Yanai Vargas, Kaila Barnes Research Advisor: Dr. Aylin Acun Liver disease?has?emerged?as?a major global healt h problem,?as it ?is responsible for?t w o million deat hs?per?year.? Liver complicat ions such as cirrhosis and liver cancer of ten develop silent ly and are diagnosed only at advanced st ages. Our research f ocuses on?creat ing a?physiologically relevant liver aging model f or disease modeling. We induced aging in HepG2 cells by exposing t hem to doxorubicin, a chemot herapy drug know n to cause cellular st ress. By

varying t he t reat ment durat ion, w e?ident if ied?dif f erent ? levels?of ?cellular senescence and evaluated?cell mor phology over t ime. To model cellular aging, cultures w ere t reat ed w it h?Doxorubicin?for?varying exposure durat ions, ranging f rom 16 hours at higher concent rat ions (2500?nM ) to?14 days? at low er concent rat ions (25?nM ), w hile cont rol cultures?did not receive t he?drug. Follow ing t reat ment , cells w ere f ixed using 4% paraformaldehyde, t hen?w ere st ained?using Sudan Black B?to?det ermine?cells posit ive for lipof uscin w aste accumulat ion. Senescence-associated B-galactosidase?assay w as used?to?det ermine?senescent cell percent age.?High-resolut ion images w ere captured, and cell populat ions w ere counted?using I mageJ?to?quant if y wast e accumulat ion and?senescence.?From our dat a, w e found t hat groups 2 and 4 had st ronger and more consist ent responses to doxorubicin, as t hey had t he highest increase in senescence and w aste accumulat ion. I n t he f uture, w e look to increase t he dosage of doxorubicin used in t reat ment groups to achieve t he t arget senescence range, as w ell as applying more characterizat ion to ensure t hat our f indings are reliable. Fow l play : For ensic ent omology of av ian decomposit ion at Tay lor Ar bor et um Milo Krauthauser Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant Forensic science uses a variet y of dif ferent science divisions in order to ident if y a body and it s nature of deat h. One of t hose divisions is entomology; t he study of insect s and t heir relat ion to humans. Forensic entomology uses t he colonizat ion of insect s to assist in det ermining t ime and locat ion of deat h. Necrophelic insect colonizat ion is af fected by temperature, humidit y, and locat ion . The object ive w as to analyze and compare t he rate of decomposit ion bet w een t he t w o research sites, as w ell as t o ident if y t he t ypes of insect s found in each locat ion during t he process. Using fow l such as duck and chickens, t hey w ere placed in t w o areas of t he w est arboretum, one on dr y land and one near w ater, to w atch t he decomposit ion of t he animals over t he span of 6 w eeks. They w ere placed in cages to avoid disturbance, and rout inely checked t hem 2-3 t imes per w eek to check progress and collect beet le and bug specimens located in and near t he bodies.

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ABSTRACTS I t was f ound t hat decomposit ion occurred at a f aster rate near wat er sources, w it h a larger var iet y of specimens found on t he dry sit e. I n bot h areas, t he genus of insect s found w ere similar, w it h slight var iat ion on species depending on locat ion.The signif icance of t he f indings can potent ially be used t o conf ir m locat ion and st age of deat h even w it hin shor t dist ances of pot ent ial forensic sit es. The st or ies dat a can t ell Leslie Kuepouo Research Advisor: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon Dat a can reveal patt er ns in everyday life t hat w e don?t not ice r ight away. I n t his project , I explored how dif ferent analyt ical met hods uncover dif ferent ?stor ies?inside f inancial behavior. People of t en assume dat a is just numbers, but t he way w e analyze it changes w hat w e see and how w e underst and it . People already underst and t hat clust ering met hods group similar behaviors, but dif ferent algor it hms highlight dif f erent patt er ns in t he same dat aset . This project builds on t hat idea by compar ing how t w o met hods int erpret f inancial records. The goal was t o examine how K?M eans and DBSCAN tell dif ferent st or ies f rom t he same dat a. I creat ed and cleaned mult iple f inancial dat aset s, st andardized t he values, and applied bot h clust ering met hods. K?M eans produced clear groups t hat ref lected spending patt er ns, w hile DBSCAN revealed w hen no natural clust ers exist ed and ident if ied out lier mont hs. These result s show t hat dat a does not speak for it self , but rat her t he met hod shapes t he meaning. Underst anding t his helps people choose t he right approach for budget ing, analysis, or decision?making. Future w ork could explore how t hese insight s apply to larger or real?t ime f inancial dat aset s. Developing a manuscr ipt on ghost ing and r econnect ion: Examining ghost er s?per cept ions Kadie Kutlus, Georgia Seherlis

consequences for bot h par t ies, like guilt , regret , or sadness. Previous research examined t he ghost er?s and ghost ee?s perspect ives regarding disconnect ion and reconnect ion as independent phenomena. We aimed to address t his gap by examining reconnect ion as a possible ext ension of t he ghost ing process. We examined w hy ghost ers decide t o ghost and w hy t hey may later consider reconnect ing. We used a survey w it h open- and closed-ended quest ions t o underst and par t icipant s' relat ionships, reasons for ghost ing, and emot ions towards t he experience. Themat ic analysis w as used to ident if y recurring ideas and about par t icipant s' experiences and att itudes, w hich w ere lat er put into t hemes. Conduct ing research show ed how det ailed and t ime-consuming t he research process is. How ever, w orking in a team allow ed for communicat ion t hroughout each research step. Once research w as complete, t here w ere challenges w r it ing about t he process and ar t iculat ing it prof essionally. This research did not come w it hout limit at ions. Self -repor t bias and recall errors may have impacted t he accuracy of par t icipant s?repor t s of t heir emot ions because of t he lengt h of t ime t hat had passed since t heir experience. There w as also a volunteer bias, w it h most par t icipant s ident if ying as female. This limit ed comparisons bet w een dif ferent gender exper iences. Studying ghost ing and reconnect ing among platonic and romant ic relat ionships show cases t he signif icance of personal percept ions and experiences dur ing relat ionship dissolut ion and highlight s t he unique experiences of ghost ers versus ghost ees I s gener at ive AI r eplacing or r eshaping sof t w ar e dev eloper s? Kostya Lesko Research Advisor: Dr. Tongyang Yang Generat ive AI is changing how sof t ware get s built , but w het her it is replacing developers or making t hem more product ive remains an unresolved quest ion. This proposal draw s on t hree t ypes of evidence to analyze t hat quest ion for U.S. sof t ware developers, rest rict ing it s claims to sources t hat could be independent ly verif ied.

Research Advisor: Dr. Maureen A. Coyle Ghost ing is an indirect means of dissolving a relat ionship t hat avoids conf lict but not negat ive emot ional

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ABSTRACTS Dat a mining Brian Lewis Research Advisor: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon Dat a mining represent s an approach t hat involves t he discovery of patt erns cont ained in complicated set s of dat a. Based on t he sources given t hrough my research advisor, dat a mining can be def ined as "t he process of discovering potent ially usef ul, interest ing, and previously unknow n patter ns f rom a large collect ion of dat a." This research project t alks about moder n dat a mining techniques t hat help turn unorganized and unst ructured inf ormat ion into know ledge f or decision-making in any f ield. The research w ill f ocus on such aspect s of dat a mining as classif icat ion, clust ering, regression and associat ion rule learning. All of t hese dat a mining techniques belong t o t he Know ledge Discovery in Dat abases (KDD) t hat includes such phases as dat a cleaning, dat a integrat ion, dat a select ion, dat a t ransf ormat ion and evaluat ion. Var ious decision t ree algor it hms, K-means clust ering, neural net w orks and associat ion rules w ill be analyzed in terms of t heir ef f iciency and pract icalit y. I t can be st at ed t hat dif ferent t ypes of algorit hms help discover dif f erent patterns f rom dat a. For inst ance, clust ering helps discover naturally occurr ing groups w it hin dat a; classif icat ion can predict f uture act ions and event s; and associat ion rules help ident if y co-occurrences of items or event s t hat could be applied to solve such problems as f raud det ect ion and market basket analysis. I BM and Oracle provide some illust rat ions of how businesses use such t echniques as clust ering, decision t rees and associat ion r ules. The f ur t her research w ill include more complicat ed machine learning models and better dat a preprocessing t echniques. Robust spar se ar r ay w ideband beamf or ming under gaussian noise using lear ned cov ar iance mat r ix r est or at ion Amine Lotfi Research Advisor: Dr. Sayed Ali Hamza Deep learning has long been deployed to generate opt imum conf igurat ions for sparse array radar systems.

How ever, classif iers t rained on clean covariance measurement s can experience subst ant ial perf ormance degradat ion in t he presence of corrupted input s. Noise leads to corrupt ion in t he correlat ion bet w een t he antenna ent ries in t he covariance mat rix, w hich can subst ant ially degrade classif icat ion. This w ork proposes t he applicat ion of supervised reconst ruct ion technique to reconst r uct t he covariance mat rix in case of degradat ion. The f indings demonst rate t hat , using a U-Net -based autoencoder, t he corrupted covariance mat rices can be successf ully reconst ructed. The f indings demonst rate t hat even at high gaussian noise, t he U-net w as able to reconst ruct t he covariance mat rix and yield perf ormance accuracy t hat remained bet w een 98.78% w hen no noise w as applied and 95.13% at maximum noise. How ever, ResNet 50 by it self ranged f rom 97.63% at no noise to 8.96% at maximum noise. M oreover, t he SI N R invest igat ion show s t hat for U-net , even at maximum noise, 100% of t he predict ion w ere w it hin 0.1dB of t he opt imum conf igurat ion, w hich f rom a beamforming proposit ion means all predict ions opt imal beamforming decisions . Er r or analy sis of Space-Object Tr ack ing Numer ical M et hods Anthony Lucifero Research Advisor: Dr. Kalpa Thudewaththage I n many real-w orld problems, w e are not given an analyt ical f unct ion to descr ibe t he st ate of a physical system. What w e do have are dif ferent ial equat ions obt ained f rom t he applicat ion of physical law s. One such problem is space-object t racking or asteroid cat aloguing, w here observat ion dat a is scarce and is not renew ed f or long t ime inter vals, so w e need to accurately calculate t he t rajectory of object s bet w een observat ions. This project discusses t w o met hods for calculat ing t rajectories of space-object s. Naturally, calculat ing t rajectories comes w it h discrepancies f rom realit y. The classical Runge-Kutt a met hod is commonly used in applicat ion; how ever, t he Lie group Crouch-Grossman met hod f ixes an underlying issue. Classical met hods do not inherent ly preserve unit lengt h of object orient at ions as t he Lie group met hods do. The primary focus of t his research is examining t he error result ing f rom t he Runge-Kutt a and Crouch-Grossman met hods. Addit ionally, a renormalized version of

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ABSTRACTS Runge-Kutt a t hat f orces t he unit lengt h back to one each step is compared. The algorit hms w ere coded to model a gener ic object in f ree space. The unit lengt h and accuracy of t he algor it hms using t ime st ep sizes 100 seconds, 10 seconds, 1 second, 0.1seconds, 0.001 seconds, 0.0001seconds w ere compared t o an exact model. The result s show t hat t he Crouch-Grossman met hod generally preserves t he quater nion unit nor m bett er t han t he classical Runge-Kutt a met hod, par t icularly for larger t ime st eps. For t ime st eps less t han 0.1s considered t he Crouch-Grossman error grow s propor t ionalit y to t he square root of t he number of st eps. Simulat ed k now ledge: Under st anding LLM epist emology t o impr ov e human use of AI t ools Kennedy MacIntosh Research Advisor: Dr. Thomas M. Wilk As Large Language M odels (LLM s) cont inue to advance and become f ur t her int egrat ed into our daily lives, it is vit al t hat w e as users underst and t he t rue nature of t heir out put s and lear n ways to use t hese LLM s in t he most responsible way possible. I n epist emology, know ledge is def ined as having a Just if ied True Belief (JTB). But can LLM s f ulf ill t hese requirement s and possess know ledge in t he same sense t hat humans can? When asked a quest ion, LLM s are t rained t o review dat a and create a probabilist ic out put based on said dat a. Thus, t hey can create t rue st atement s and just if y t hose st atement s w it h evidence. How ever, LLM s do not have t he capacit y to believe. I n t his case, a belief is def ined as a persistent commit ment t hat af fect s dow nst ream behaviors. LLM s are opt imized, in par t , t o produce responses t hat users f ind appealing, w hich heightens ret ent ion and incent ivizes creat ing agreeable st atement s over f actual ones. Because LLM s are unable to f ulf ill t he belief condit ion of JTB, t hey cannot be t ruly said to possess know ledge. Even w hen t heir st atement s are t rue and w ell-suppor ted, t his gap has direct consequences for how users should underst and and ut ilize t hese tools. This research proposes guidelines for using LLM s responsibly.

I mplement ing dy namic music in v ideo games t o impr ov e game f eel Alex Margies Research Advisor: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon I n t he past few years, as video games have become more advanced, t he concept of adapt ive music has emerged as a unique w ay of increasing immersion. Adapt ive music, also know n as dynamic music, refers to music seamlessly integrated w it h t he gameplay in such a w ay t hat it react s to t he player?s behavior. Not able uses of dynamic music include Celeste, w hose music organically escalates as t he player reaches more dif f icult areas, Devil May Cry 5, w hose music adds layers t he longer t he player maint ains a combo chain, and Hades, w hich features several versions of each of it s songs t hat can t ransit ion depending on exact ly w hen t he song appears. I n t his project , our goals w ere to lear n about t he met hods of composing and implement ing dynamic music w it h t he goal of building a foundat ion f or f uture project s. We f irst invest igated previous research on t his topic and found t hat t he indust ry st andard for t his kind of w ork is a program called FM OD Studio. We also discovered t hat t he developers of Celeste have generously made t he game?s FM OD project public as an educat ional tool, w hich w as a huge help. For t his project , w e f irst created a simple proof of concept featuring clickable buttons t hat added and removed inst r ument s f rom t he t rack, t hen a recreat ion of Pong in w hich t he music get s more involved t he longer t he rally cont inues; bot h project s w ere made in t he Godot game engine, w it h t he music composed in REAPER. We w ere successf ul in recreat ing Pong and implement ing a mult ilayered adapt ive music t rack. We t ried several iterat ions of t he song before sett ling on t he f inal version t hat best matches t he rhyt hm of a game of Pong. The f inal product exist s as an ef fect ive int roduct ion to dynamic music in games, for anyone unf amiliar w it h t his novel use of sound design.

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ABSTRACTS Ex per iment al ev aluat ion of r adial and annular f in conf igur at ions f or enhanced lat ent heat t her mal ener gy st or age

geomet ry and dist ribut ion on PCM heat t ransf er and show t hat appropriat ely designed f ins can subst ant ially improve bot h t her mal energy storage and recovery rat es in LHTES syst ems.

Grace Murray

Cr oss r ealit y r et ail

Research Advisor: Dr. Saeed Tiari Latent heat t hermal energy st orage (LHTES) systems of fer a promising approach for improving energy ut ilizat ion in applicat ions charact erized by a mismat ch bet w een t hermal energy supply and demand such as solar t hermal systems. The high energy st orage densit y and nearly isot hermal phase-change behavior of phase change materials (PCM s) make t hem par t icularly att ract ive f or compact t hermal st orage. How ever, t he low t hermal conduct ivit y of PCM s limit s heat t ransf er w it hin t he storage medium, result ing in prolonged charging and discharging per iods. I ncorporat ing highly conduct ive f ins into t he PCM domain provides a passive means of addressing t his limit at ion by increasing t he ef f ect ive heat t ransf er area and improving t hermal penet rat ion t hroughout t he st orage medium. I n t his exper iment al study, t he ef fect s of radial and annular f in ar rangement s on t he charging and discharging per f or mance of a cylindr ical LHTES unit w ere invest igat ed. Rubit her m RT-55 w as used as t he PCM , w hile water circulat ed t hrough a cent ral copper tube as t he heat t ransf er f luid. Three conf igurat ions consist ing of four radial f ins, eight radial f ins, and ten annular f ins w ere exper iment ally evaluated and compared w it h an unf inned benchmark requir ing 47.87 h for charging and 42.50 h for discharging. The f our -radial-f in conf igurat ion completed charging and discharging in 8.19 h and 10.08 h, reducing t he respect ive process t imes by 82.9% and 76.3%. I ncreasing t he number of radial f ins to eight reduced t he charging and discharging t imes to 6.02 h and 6.16 h, corresponding t o reduct ions of 87.4% and 85.5%, respect ively. The t en-annular -f in conf igurat ion required 6.77 h f or charging and 11.67 h for discharging, represent ing reduct ions of 85.9% and 72.5%. Among t he invest igated designs, t he eight -radial-f in conf igurat ion exhibit ed t he best overall t hermal perf ormance, complet ing t he combined charging?discharging cycle in 12.18 h, compared w it h 18.27 h f or f our radial f ins and 18.44 h for ten annular f ins. The f indings demonst rat e t he st rong inf luence of f in

Zachariah Neff Research Advisors: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon This project researches and implement s w ays to improve ret ail store ef f iciency. The idea w as to develop sof t ware on cross realit y glasses t hat allow you to put a user interf ace over a real-life scene. The goal of t he sof t w are is to detect object s w hen you are looking at t hem and t hen apply a green marker to a mini map to show t he user w here t o f ind t he item in t he store. The approach t hat has been t aken so f ar is running small test s in a living room or dor m room, but t he hope is to increase t he scale to make t he sof t ware w ork in a grocery store, depar t ment store, or hardware store. Tr ials w ill eventually be run to prove t he increase in ef f iciency t hat t his sof t ware w ill bring compared to current shopping technologies. This project has already show n to help people underst and t heir environment quicker. AI enabled mining of FDA appr ov ed dr ugs f or discover y of Alzheimer ?s t her apeut ics Olivia Obfenda Research Advisor: Dr. Sachin Patil Alzheimer?s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerat ive disease characterized by extensive neurodegenerat ion and consequent severe memor y loss. The most signif icant genet ic risk f actor for AD is Apolipoprot ein E4 (ApoE4). St abilizing t he ApoE4 st ructure has appeared as a possible t herapeut ic st rategy for mit igat ing t he ef fect s of AD. I n 2019, AbbVie Pharmaceuticals discovered drugs w it h a binding const ant of 5 µM to ApoE4. Not ably in 2025, our NanoBio Laborat or y at Widener Universit y (w w w.SachinPat il.org) discovered t he most potent ApoE4 st ructure correct or (I sobavachin, a natural medicinal compound) w it h a binding const ant of just 0.5 µM , t hus making it 10X st ronger compared to t he previously published AbbVie molecules. I n t he present study, w e screened all t he

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ABSTRACTS approved and invest igat ional drugs f rom t he var ious jur isdict ions w orldw ide including t he US FDA against t his challenging AD t arget , ApoE4. Through our novel comput at ional screening met hodology, w e have successf ully discovered several of t hese drugs w it h t he potent ial t o st rongly bind to t he ApoE4 protein pocket and potent ially cor rect it s st ructure similar to t he neut ral or protect ive ApoE2/ApoE3 isoforms. The molecular dynamics simulat ion w ork is underw ay to f ur t her determine t he binding st abilit y of our new ly discovered drugs. We f ur t her aim to t est 5-10 of our t op comput at ional hit s using t he Sur f ace Plasmon Resonance (SPR) to determine t heir exper iment al binding const ant s to ApoE4. Cur rent ly t here are no approved drugs for ApoE4 and t hus our novel ApoE4 st ructure cor rectors may provide an immediate clinical potent ial against AD considering t heir approved or invest igat ional st atus against a var iet y of ot her human diseases. I n summary, our current project has t he pot ent ial to discover t he much-needed, ?disease-modif ying?drugs against t his devast at ing disease. Reaching soccer f ans in t he U.S.: Recr uit ment mapping a mult i-count r y st udy of w omen?s and men?s nat ional soccer t eams Jane Ogbonna Research Advisors: Dr. Maria Luiza Pinho This study examines t he comparat ive analysis of f ans regarding w omen?s and men?s nat ional teams t hrough t heir psychological involvement and deter mining w het her t here is signif icant or grow ing interest f rom soccer f ans. This research is a cont inuat ion of an internat ional study t hat was previously conducted in Brazil, Germany, and Aust ralia. Pr ior t o dat a collect ion, recr uit ment mapping was done t o gat her a responsive t arget market t hat w ould par t icipat e in t he comprehensive sur vey and monitored t hroughout t he dat a collect ion to ensure st eady inf low of respondent s. Ut ilizing t his comprehensive quest ionnaire, t he sur vey measured t he mult iple f acet s of psychological involvement including f an att itudes, cultural relevance, and economic engagement , such as att ending mat ches t hat align w it h t hose preferences. Current ly, t he study has generat ed more t han 330 respondent s in and across t he United St at es t o examine t hese charact erist ics. As dat a analysis is ongoing, it is expect ed to cont ribute to spor t s

market ing research by clarif ying t he collect ive percept ion of w omen?s and men?s nat ional soccer teams and how t hat shapes market value and pressure in t he business and cultural phenomenon of inter nat ional soccer. Future research w ill include focus groups to f ur t her analyze t he cultural and psychological impor t ance of soccer bet w een w omen?s and men?s soccer in t he Unit ed St ates. Ar t if icial int elligence analy sis: Dev elopment and applicat ion of convolut ional neur al net w or k in agr icult ur e Chizolu Ojukwu Research Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Rufinus Ar t if icial I ntelligence has become a ubiquitous topic of discussion f rom it s usage in sett ings such as Educat ion, Cor porate Workplaces, M ilit ary, Automot ive I ndust ry, etc. I t has since sparked cont roversy and curiosit y ever since t he boom of Large Language M odels (LLM s) including Chat GPT, Claude, CoPilot , et c. The popularit y of LLM s made t he ter m ? A I ?colloquially refer to LLM s. While LLM s are a subset of deep learning, t here is also t he Convolut ional Neural Net w ork (CN N ) w hich has a larger range of applicat ions. CN Ns are deep learning models used for dat a classif icat ion, object recognit ion and object segment at ion. They provide a scalable approach t o image classif icat ion w hile leveraging concept s f rom linear algebra, primarily mat rix mult iplicat ion. Previous phase of t his project development involved creat ing basic Neural Net w ork M odels t rained on Handw ritt en Digit s to recognize user draw n digit s w hich ended up having a 98% accuracy on test evaluat ions. The new object ives derived f rom previous development s and experience w hich comprised of : Dat a I mage Collect ion of Healt hy and Diseased Crops, Dat a Unif ormit y, Dat a Cleaning, M odel Training, and Architectural Opt imizat ion. Over t he summer, large dat a set s w ere const r ucted and used to t rain an ever -evolving CN N model w it h cont inual t raining and evaluat ion w hich had show n regular improvement s, follow ed w it h necessary f ine-tuning. Next steps planned for t his project w ould involve expanding t he dat aset s to include common crop pest s and uploading t he model to a microcomputer to ut ilize live video for diseased crop det ect ion and pest det ect ion.

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ABSTRACTS The new object ives der ived f rom previous development s and exper ience w hich comprised of : Dat a I mage Collect ion of Healt hy and Diseased Crops, Dat a Uniformit y, Dat a Cleaning, M odel Training, and Archit ectural Opt imizat ion. Over t he summer, large dat a set s w ere const ructed and used to t rain an ever -evolving CN N model w it h cont inual t raining and evaluat ion w hich had show n regular improvement s, f ollow ed w it h necessary f ine-tuning. Next steps planned f or t his project w ould involve expanding t he dat aset s t o include common crop pest s and uploading t he model to a microcomputer to ut ilize live video for diseased crop det ect ion and pest detect ion. This project aims t o provide a foundat ion for f uture comput er scient ist s and AI researchers to learn about t he resources used t o develop an Agr icultural-focused CN N model and hopef ully ignites t he discovery of an opt imal or alternat ive approach t o t he goal of t his project . I t also provides a great oppor tunit y for businesses in t he agricultural sect or as an early w arning system, par t icularly t he smaller businesses w ho don?t have an adequat e amount of buf f er f or t he f inancial cost f rom diseased crops and pest infest at ions. An AI - pow er ed HR ser v ice desk assist ant Kalpan Patel Research Advisor: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon Human Resources (HR) service desks manage high volumes of repet it ive employee cases, yet limited visibilit y int o t icket t rends and slow, manual test aut horing delay system improvement s. This project developed a synt het ic HR Service Delivery (HRSD) intelligence plat form t hat integrat es business analysis, AI -assisted employee self -ser vice, QA t est generat ion, and HR t icket analyt ics into a single w orking w eb applicat ion. A seeded Pyt hon dat a generat or produced 820 synt het ic HR cases across ten categories (e.g payroll, benef it s, leave of absence, onboarding) w it h realist ic att r ibutes including pr iorit y, resolut ion t ime, SLA out comes, and sent iment scores. Three modules w ere t hen implement ed: an analyt ics dashboard visualizing KPI s and t rends a ret r ieval-based AI assist ant t hat answ ers policy quest ions, cit es t he source policy, and routes each case t o t he correct HRSD queue w it h a conf idence score and a requirement s to test case generat or

t hat conver t s business requirement s into st ructured posit ive, negat ive, and edge-case test s expor t able in qTest compat ible format . The system uses det erminist ic, rule-based ret rieval and rout ing by design, so HR w orkf low s f unct ion even w hen ext ernal AI ser vices are unavailable, a reliabilit y pattern a product ion deployment w ould layer a large language model upon. All dat a is synt het ic no real employee or employer dat a w as used. Det ect ion of incr eased st ar v at ion r esist ance and par aquat sur v iv al in CRI SPR induced mut at ions of Zw ischenf er ment , t he G6PD or t holog in Drosophila Joseph Penn, Kimberly Edmonds, Tyler Harpe Research Advisor: Dr. Alexis Nagengast Being t he most common human enzyme def iciency, Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase(D6PD) def iciency af fect s millions of people globally. G6PD, t he rate limit ing enzyme in t he Pent ose Phosphate Pat hway (PPP), is coded for by t he Zwischenferment (Zw) gene in Drosophila melanogaster. This gene is subject to alt ernat ive splicing w hich gives rise to t hree isoforms, isoforms A, B, and C, w it h isoform A result ing in a longer prot ein product . Previously, CRI PSR/Cas9 w as used to induce mut at ions in Zw in Drosophila to knockout isoform A, leaving only isof or ms B and C to be made. The goal of t his project is to discern t he f unct ions of isoforms A, B and C. The DNA of t hese mut ant f lies w as amplif ied using PCR and analyzed by Sanger sequencing to det ermine t he t ype of mut at ion t hat had occurred. I t w as found t hat t he DNA of mult iple f ly lines w as subject to base inser t ions or delet ions leading t o f rameshif t mut at ions and ult imat ely premature stop codons. St arvat ion resist ance and paraquat survival analyses w ere t hen perf ormed on mut ant f ly lines t o detect a phenot ype. Since several of t he mut ant f ly lines had increased resist ance to st arvat ion and t he oxidat ive st ress caused by paraquat , it can be concluded t hat isof orms B and C f unct ion dif ferent ly t han isoform A. To f ur t her discern t he ef fect s of t hese mut at ions on t he f lies, t he t riglycer ide and glycogen levels of t he f lies could be collected t o address st arvat ion resist ance; addit ionally, G6PD enzyme act ivit y could be measured in t he mut ant f ly lines to see how t he compare to a non-mut ant cont rol and discern t he dif ferences in f unct ion bet w een isoform A, and isof or ms B and C.

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ABSTRACTS The ef f ect s of k inship car egiv ing on older indiv iduals: Gr and Cent r al Jade Perry Research Advisor: Dr. Robin Goldberg-Glen M any older adult s' step into caregiving roles w hen grandchildren or ot her relat ives need a safe and st able home. While kinship caregiving helps children remain connected t o t heir f amilies and communit ies, it can also place addit ional responsibilit ies on older adult s. Research has show n t hat kinship caregivers of t en experience f inancial, emot ional, and healt h-related challenges w hile balancing t he needs of t he children in t heir care. The purpose of t his aut oet hnographic project is to explore t he ef f ect s of kinship caregiving on older individuals t hrough my summer experience at Grand Cent ral. During my int er nship, I int eract ed w it h kinship caregivers, obser ved suppor t programs, and researched t he organizat ion's mission and services. I ref lected on t hese exper iences t o better underst and t he challenges and st rengt hs of older adult s raising relat ives' children. My observat ions revealed t hat many caregivers f ace st ress related t o f inances, caregiving responsibilit ies, and navigat ing suppor t syst ems. At t he same t ime, I w it nessed st rong f amily commit ment , resilience, and a w illingness to seek suppor t . Grand Cent ral's resources, suppor t groups, educat ional programs, and advocacy services played an impor t ant role in helping caregivers access inf ormat ion and f eel connect ed t o a suppor t ive communit y. These f indings highlight t he value of organizat ions such as Grand Cent ral in improving t he w ell-being of kinship caregivers and t he f amilies t hey serve. A r eal-t ime sy st em f or r ecognizing Amer ican Sign Language f inger spellin Marcello Ranieri Research Advisor: Dr. Suk-Chung Yoon Communicat ion barr iers can make everyday interact ions ver y dif f icult f or people w ho use Amer ican Sign Language or ASL, especially w hen a vast majorit y of ot hers do not underst and it . I believe t hat accessible tools t hat interpret

f ingerspelling could help make communicat ion more inclusive. Previous project s have show n t hat comput er cameras can and w ill ident if y hand shapes and connect t hem w it h letters. How ever, changing hand posit ions int o legible w ords remains challenging because signs could be held repeatedly, or unclear. This project aims to develop a real-t ime syst em t hat conver t s ASL f ingerspelling captured by w ebcam into readable English text , f uture t ranslat ions st ill in w orks. This project used a camera-based applicat ion to locate 21key point s on t he hand and use t heir posit ioning to recognize alphabet hand shapes. Personal examples, including dat aset s found online, w ere collect ed and used for t raining a Random Forest machine-learning model, w hich combines t he predict ions of many decision t rees to ident if y t he most likely f ingerspelled letter. A t ot al of 1797 personal hand-shape samples w ere collected over 14 letters. During test ing development show ed t hat t iming and conf idence checks reduced repeated letters cause by holding a pose w hile an autocorrect system addressed some uncer t ain, missing, repeated, or t ransposed lett ers. This w ork provides a foundat ion for a more accessible f ingerspelling tool. Future development and test ing could expand t he program to accept mot ion recognit ion for letters such as J and Z, and eventually f ull ASL w ord spelling. Diamondback Ter r apin conser v at ion: Fieldw or k at t he Wet lands I nst it ut e Amanda Ritter Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant Diamondback Terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are an impor t ant w et lands species, current ly t hreat ened by urbanizat ion and road moralit y dur ing t heir summer nest ing season. These ter rapins are a key member of our coast ecosystem, making t heir prot ect ion ext remely impor t ant . The Wet lands I nst itute in St one Harbor w orks to limit ter rapin moralit y dur ing t he summer nest ing mont hs by monitoring, t agging and collect ing dat a on nest ing females. They also par t icipate in head st ar t ing w here deceased females egg are collected and inculpat ed, w here hatching is t hen raised unt il t hey have grow n t o a sizable lengt h and can be re released w it h a better chance at survival. The object ive of my summer research was t o

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ABSTRACTS cont ribut e t o Diamondback Ter rapin conser vat ion by minor ing, t agging and protect ing nest ing females. I par t icipat ed in f ieldw ork at t he Wet lands I nst itute in Stone Harbor by cat ching, t agging and recording dat a on nest ing females. Once a f emale terrapin w as caught , she w as immediat ely checked for eggs and a t ag, t hen given t his informat ion her dat a w as collected, and she w as released back int o t he w ild. I also cared for young and sick tur t les in t he Wet lands care, w here I w ould change w at er and feed t he terrapins. This research result ed in gaining hands on exper ience w it h Diamondback Ter rapins monitor ing and protect ion. I also developed a children's educat ional act ivit y int roducing Diamondback Ter rapins and t he impor t ant role t hey play in our coast al ecosystems. The exper ience demonst rat es how conser vat ion can combine f ieldw ork and educat ional programs to protect w ildlife. Cont ained w ork w it h t he Wet lands I nst itut e and Widener Universit y could lead to oppor tunit ies for Diamondback Terrapin conser vat ion for f uture student s. Under st anding scent pr ef er ences of f lies in Delaw ar e Count y and t heir implicat ions f or Symplocarpus foetidus and Asimina triloba pollinat ion Kealt Rodgers Research Advisor: Dr. Kate Goodrich Angiosper ms or f low ering plant s are t he most abundant and diverse land plant s on Ear t h, comprising 94% of all species know n t o science. At least 75% of t hese f low ering species require animal pollinat ion for reproduct ion. They have evolved a number of st rategies to att ract pollinat ors, using att ract ive scent s and colors, and of f ering rew ards such as pollen or nect ar. Some f low ers deceive pollinators by adver t ising a rew ard t hey don?t actually of f er. For example, some f low ers emit scent s associat ed w it h decomposit ion in order to att ract saprophagous f lies to serve as pollinators. The skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) or American paw paw (Asimina triloba) are t w o local such species w hich exhibit f loral mimicry of car rion and f erment ing subst rat es respect ively. This project compared t he f amilies of f lies caught on t raps using eit her carr ion or f erment at ion bait , in order to compare t he f ly species t o pollinat ors of t he decept ive f low ers named above. Six t raps, t hree of each bait , w ere set out in a t w o

row grid format ion out side Widener Universit y's Kirkbride Hall and collected af ter 4-5 hours. Underst anding t he local saprophagous f ly communit y and t heir preferences could illuminate w hat specif ic scent (s) f lies use to so quickly det ect and locate decomposing matter, and w hich scent s f rom t he f loral mimics successf ully att ract f lies. This project pairs w it h a sist er project t hat chemically analyzes t he volat ile organic compounds (VOCs) in Symplocarpus foetidus and Asimina triloba inf lorescences using GCM S techniques. Shared VOCs bet w een t he bait s and f low ers could indicat e t he impor t ant chemical f actors t hat att ract f lies. I I nvest igat ion of t he ef f ect s of br anched-chain ket o acids on Drosophila lif espan Ibrahim Salahi Research Advisors: Dr. Robert J. Mishur, Dr. Alexis Nagengast Alpha-ket oglut arat e is a naturally occurring met abolit e t hat has been show n to inf luence longevit y across mult iple organisms including Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, and Mus musculus by af fect ing met abolic pat hways involved in energy met abolism, oxygen response, and resist ance to cellular st ress. I nterest ingly, several branched-chain keto acids (BCKAs), w hich are st ructurally analogous to AKG, have also been demonst rated t o increase lifespan in C. elegans. These met abolic inter mediates are derived f rom branched-chain amino acids and include 3-met hyl-2-oxobut yrate (3M 2OB), 3-met hyl-2-oxovalerate (3M 2OV), and 4-met hyl-2-oxovalerat e (4M 2OV). How ever, it is unknow n if t hese compounds can extend lifespan in Drosophila. Previously, t he diet s of adult f lies w ere supplemented w it h various BCKAs by incorporat ing t hem direct ly into t heir food at concent rat ions of 10 mM and 1mM , and survival assays w ere perf ormed. No signif icant increase in overall lifespan w as observed. How ever, male f lies supplement ed w it h 10 mM 3M 2OV show ed a slow er decline in sur vival dur ing early and mid-life st ages, suggest ing a possible improvement in healt hspan. To f ur t her invest igate t he ef fect s of BCKAs, w e repeat ed t his experiment by supplement ing Drosophila w it h BCKAs

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ABSTRACTS during lar val development . Once t he f lies reached adult hood, t hey w ere t ransfer red to normal food w it hout BCKAs, and survival assays w ere performed. No signif icant increase in lif espan w as obser ved follow ing larval BCKA supplement at ion. At 1 mM , male f lies t reated w it h 3M 2OV and 4M 2OV show ed reduced sur vival compared to male cont rols, w hile 3M 2OB did not signif icant ly af f ect survival. I n females, none of t he BCKA t reat ment s show ed a signif icant dif f erence compared to cont rols. At 10 mM , 3M 2OV males show ed low er sur vival compared to several of t he ot her BCKA t reat ment groups. How ever, male f lies supplement ed w it h 10 mM 3M 2OV show ed a slow er decline in sur vival during early and mid-lif e st ages, suggest ing a possible improvement in healt hspan. I nv asiv e species assessment and bior est or at ion in t he West Field of Tay lor Ar bor et um Brianna Sammons, Destiny Warren-Rolax Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant Urban ecosyst ems are increasingly t hreatened by invasive species, habit at dest ruct ion and f ragment at ion, and neglect , yet t hey play a crit ical role in biodiversit y conser vat ion and human w ell-being. The Taylor Arboretum, a 33 acre green space w it hin urbanized sout heaster n, PA, provides ecosystem services such as air and wat er f ilt rat ion, f lood regulat ion, and pollinator suppor t . Biodiversit y research by Dr. Bruce Grant has been ongoing cont inuously in t he West Field since 1994, and w e cont inue w it h t his study by measur ing plant diversit y and ident if ying restorat ion pr iorit ies. Surveys conducted in June recorded plant species across sample plot s, w it h par t icular attent ion to invasive and non-nat ive species. Several invasive or aggressive t axa w ere ident if ied, including Spiraea japonica, Allium vineale, Taraxacum officinale, alongside nat ive but dominant species such as Vit is r iparia and Solidago rugosa. While no single invasive species dominat ed t he sit e, t he overall presence of non-nat ive plant s suggest s increasing invasive pressure compared t o previous years. The West Field serves as a valuable living laboratory for ecological educat ion about urban biodiversit y value and management by engaging student s in act ive restorat ion st rategies. These f indings highlight t he impor t ance of sust ained monitor ing and proact ive management to preserve ecosystem biodiversit y

and resilience. How ever, w it h Widener Universit y no longer having an on-site f ield manager at t he arboretum, t he site f aces f uture risks of neglect , reduced biodiversit y, and diminished educat ional oppor tunit ies. Cont inued invest ment in restorat ion and ecological stewardship w ould ensure t hat Taylor Arboretum remains bot h a model of urban conservat ion and a resource for t he surrounding communit y. Ex plor ing alt er egos and ident it y Dana Shaw Research Advisor: Dr. Mike Corcoran Alt er egos are of ten view ed as f ict ional characters or masks t hat people use to separate t hemselves f rom t heir t r ue ident it y. How ever, alt er egos may have a deeper psychological meaning and allow individuals to express par t s of t hemselves t hat t hey w ouldn?t t ypically show in t heir everyday lives. Professional w rest ling provides a unique example of t his. Wrest lers of ten develop a persona specif ically for w hen t hey are perf orming in t he ring. These characters are of ten signif icant ly dif ferent f rom individuals w e encount er in our day-t o-day lives, out side t he ring. This raises an interest ing quest ion, does adopt ing an alt er ego inf luence a person?s ident it y, conf idence, and self -expression? Do t hey eventually become par t of a person?s everyday ident it y, or can one keep t he t w o separate? What are t he psychological implicat ions? Previous research on ident it y, character development , and parasocial relat ionships suggest s t hat t he line bet w een a perf ormer and t heir character may be t hin. This study expands t hese ideas by focusing on prof essional w rest lers and t heir experiences w it h t he alt er egos t hey por t ray. Specif ically, w e are interested in underst anding w het her t hese personas inf luence conf idence, emot ional resilience, aut hent icit y, and t he w ay w rest lers view t hemselves. To better underst and t his, w e designed a set of interview quest ions for prof essional w rest lers t hat explore t he relat ionship bet w een t heir personal and perf ormance ident it ies. Wrest lers w ere asked about t he creat ion of t heir personas, w hat t hey experience ment ally and emot ionally w hen gett ing into character, how t heir alt er egos dif f er f rom t heir everyday selves, and w het her t he t w o ident it ies have inf luenced one anot her over t ime. I nit ial inter view s suggest t hat alt er egos can become more t han just

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ABSTRACTS charact ers used f or perf ormance and may inf luence how individuals express t hemselves in t heir everyday lives. Par t icipant s described w ays in w hich t heir personas brought out dif f erent qualit ies w it hin t hemselves, suggest ing t hat t he relat ionship bet w een a person and t heir alt er ego may become st ronger over t ime. St rong enough t o become one. This suggest s t hat alter egos may have a meaningf ul role in self -expression and personal grow t h rat her t han simply serving as a form of enter t ainment . Underst anding t his relat ionship could help expand f uture research on how adopt ing dif ferent personas may inf luence ident it y, conf idence, and t he w ay people underst and t hemselves.

severe secondary infect ions. Fur t hermore, local out reach materials in Chester rarely address t hese at ypical present at ions or w arn resident s about urban green spaces. These f indings show t hat t ick hazards are no longer limit ed to rural backcount ry or marked solely by text book rashes. Updat ing local healt h guidance to ref lect urban habit at risks and non-t radit ional sympt oms w ill help doctors diagnose infect ions sooner and keep cit y communit ies safer. Ex plor ing shor t -t er m memor y olf act or y r esponses in 3r d inst ar Drosophila apply ing odor -heat associat ion par adigm Karr Small, Mercy Birundu

Fr agment ed habit at s and at y pical host s: Shif t ing ur ban ecology and t ick ex pansion in Chest er, Pennsy lv ania

Research Advisor: Dr. Loretta Williams

Lauren Sluzalis Research Advisor: Dr. Bruce W. Grant Ticks in Pennsylvania t ransmit serious diseases such as like Lyme disease and Alpha-gal syndrome (w hich can t r igger severe allergies to red meat and dairy). As changing w eat her patt erns and overgrow n green spaces alter habit at s, underst anding urban t ick risks is vit al for protect ing cit y resident s. M ost public healt h campaigns focus on r ural w oods and w arn people to look only for a classic ?bullseye?rash. Because of t his, cit y dw ellers of ten believe t hey are saf e, and at ypical symptoms f requent ly go unrecognized. This project invest igat ed how f ragment ed green spaces, unmanaged local habit at s, and non-t radit ional symptoms increase t he healt h risks of t ick bites f or resident s in Chester, Pennsylvania. I compared PA St ate t ick sur veillance records w it h regional climate and w ildlif e patt erns t o ident if y w hat is driving localized t ick increases. Alongside t his ecological dat a, I documented a clinical case study of a personal t ick bite cont ract ed in an unmanaged campus green space, t racking a solid, non-bullseye rash t hat led to hospit alizat ion. Finally, I evaluat ed local public healt h educat ional resources t o ident if y out reach gaps in urban Chester. Surging t ick numbers cor respond w it h milder w inters and unmanaged urban f orest pat ches t hat br ing w ildlif e closer to resident ial f oot pat hs. The clinical case demonst rat ed t hat Lyme disease rashes can appear as solid red pat ches rat her t han rings, leading t o misdiagnosis, delayed t reat ment , and

Adult Drosophila melanogast er are w ell-est ablished models for learning and memory, but Drosophila lar vae are especially usef ul for classical condit ioning experiment s. Research has demonst rated t hat t he temporal w indow f or pairing an odor w it h heat -shock reinforcement in Drosophila lar vae is broader t han t hat previously repor ted for elect roshock condit ioning, w hich signif icant ly simplif ies t he experiment al procedure. Heat -shock was used as an aversive uncondit ioned st imulus and et hyl acet ate (EA) as t he condit ioned odor in a non-reciprocal condit ioning paradigm to test shor t -t erm associat ive memory in lar vae. Learning scores w ere calculated by comparing t he response index (RI ) for each st imulus alone w it h t he response to t he combined st imulus. The lear ning index (LI ) for t he uncondit ioned st imulus (heat ) was 0.36, signif icant ly higher t han for t he condit ioned st imulus (odor), w hich w as 0.14. Our preliminary f indings validat e t he ut ilit y of heat -shock condit ioning in Drosophila larvae, est ablishing a foundat ion for f ur t her invest igat ion int o t he mechanisms of shor t -t erm memory w it hin t his model. Per sonalit y t r ait v s. ment al healt h diagnosis at t r ibut ions: Examining dif f er ent ial per cept ions of 'bad' behav ior Ethan Smith Research Advisor: Dr. Mike Corcoran Consider for a moment : w hat does ?bad?behavior look like to you? How w ould a person exhibit ing t hat behavior make you feel? Everyone blames somet hing for t heir bad

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ABSTRACTS behavior. But are some excuses more valid t han ot hers? These are quest ions our study aims to shed light on!

histograms for examining f requency, variabilit y, and skew ness.

The aim of our study is to look at t he ef fect s of t w o variables relat ed t o percept ions of ?bad?behavior: personalit y t rait s or disorders, and ment al healt h diagnoses. For our study, w e ut ilized vignett es t hat present ed a scenario w here ?bad?behavior w as demonst rat ed. We t hen created var iat ions in t he st ory related t o t he character?s personalit y or ment al healt h st atus. Follow ing t his, w e searched for out come measurement s w hich w ill be used to assess t he react ions and personalit y t ypes of par t icipant s reading t hese vignett es. We w ill be rolling out t his experiment as an opt ion f or f irst -year Psychology student s to complet e t heir research requirement s, w hile also doing some sur veys and interview s ?on t he ground?on Widener?s campus. This study w ill provide insight into how percept ions of ?bad? behavior are shaped in societ y.

The project developed an underst anding of how dif f erent visualizat ion techniques can reveal patterns and characterist ics w it hin dat aset s. Examples using provided dat aset s, including automobile dat a, w ill demonst rate t he applicat ion of t hese techniques and how t he choice of visualizat ion can af fect t he inter pret at ion and communicat ion of dat a.

Developing dat a analy sis and v isualizat ion sk ills using Py t hon Tyler Smith Research Advisors: Dr. Yana Kortsarts, Dr. Edwin Dauber Dat a analysis and visualizat ion have become essent ial skills across scient if ic research, business, healt hcare, and technology. This project focused on developing pract ical exper ience in Pyt hon-based dat a analysis t hrough I BM 's Analyzing Data with Python and Visualizing Data with Python courses on edX. The object ive w as to learn how Pyt hon can be used t o organize, analyze, and communicate informat ion ef f ect ively using moder n dat a science tools. Coursew ork was completed in Jupyt er Not ebooks, an interact ive environment t hat integrat es execut able Pyt hon code, visualizat ions, and document at ion. Dat a explorat ion and visualizat ion t echniques w ere studied using libraries including Pandas, M at plot lib, Seabor n, Plot ly, Folium, and PyWaf f le. Dif f erent visualizat ion met hods w ere examined to underst and t heir appropriat e uses and t he t ypes of informat ion t hey can communicate. Line plot s w ere studied f or illust rat ing t rends and changes, bar char t s for compar ing cat egories, scatt er plot s for ident if ying relat ionships and pot ent ial out liers, box plot s for compar ing dist ribut ions and ident if ying out liers, and

Ex plor ing t he psy chological pat hw ay f r om int er per sonal desir e t o har mf ul behav ior Nevaeh J. Suggs Research Advisor: Dr. Mike Corcoran This project examines how an individual?s desire f or an inter personal connect ion can develop into an unhealt hy obsession and how t hat obsession can lead to harmf ul behavior. I deas f rom t heories like Att achment Theor y and Obsessive Relat ional I nt rusion Theory w ere used to hypot hesize t he dif ferent st ages t hat lead to t his harmf ul behavior. The beginning st ages of obsession-based relat ionships st ar t relat ively normal. A person can become emot ionally dependent dur ing t his t ime, w hich can lead t o t he st ar t of obsession. The middle st ages of t his t ype of relat ionship consist of an increase in bot h obsessive t hought s and behaviors, w hich can f uel an individual's pursuit and intensif y obsession. The f inal st ages of obsession include an escalat ion of obsession t hat can tur n dangerous depending on t he t ype of harm being displayed. Current ly, I am planning to create a w orkshop t hat w ill help educat e my peers on unhealt hy obsession in relat ionships and t he w ays it can escalate. This is impor t ant because it can bring aw areness to t he signs t hat obsession is st ar t ing to develop in a relat ionship, as w ell as st ar t a conversat ion on w ays to safely handle t hat t ype of relat ionship. I mpr ov ing a v ibr at ion t able f or isolat or f at igue t est ing Alexander Szymanik, Boston Blake Research Advisor: Dr. Conor Marr Vibrat ions are everyw here, f rom cars driving on roads t o aircraf t f lying t hrough t he sky. Over t ime, repeated vibrat ions can cause materials and mechanical par t s t o

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ABSTRACTS w ear out or f ail. This problem makes it impor t ant to underst and how long t hese component s can safely operate. Engineers use vibrat ion test ing to study how dif ferent par t s respond t o repeated movement s and forces. A senior design project at Widener Universit y w as t asked w it h designing and building a low -cost vibrat ion f at igue t est ing t able to t est isolat ors. The completed t able w as designed to test dif f erent par t s under cont rolled vibrat ions w hile remaining compact and af f ordable. The object ive of t his SURCA project was t o cont inue improving t he vibrat ion t able by augment ing t he safet y syst em and ident if ying sensors t hat can accurately measure vibrat ion, and mot ion during t est ing. Over t he summer, I w orked on improving t he vibrat ion t able w hile developing and applying new engineering and manuf acturing skills. I learned how t o use a 3D pr inter t o create par t s needed for t he t able. To create t hese par t s, I also improved my CAD skills by designing dif ferent par t s and assemblies. When assembling t he safet y shield, I lear ned met alw orking techniques and how to use equipment such as a mill and drill press. These skills w ere used t o improve and const ruct t he safet y shield. I also researched and compared dif ferent acceleromet ers to ident if y sensors t hat could measure mot ion and vibrat ion during t est ing. The saf et y shield design w as improved and built t o provide addit ional protect ion around t he vibrat ion t able w hen r unning. Also, dif ferent 3D-pr int ed par t s w ere creat ed t o securely att ach t he safet y shield and obser vat ion shield. I n addit ion, several acceleromet er opt ions w ere ident if ied for f uture use in measuring mot ion and vibrat ion during t est ing. These improvement s helped prepare t he vibrat ion t able for cont inued f at igue test ing of isolat ors. The improved safet y syst em and f uture acceleromet ers w ill help make test ing safer w hile providing impor t ant infor mat ion about how t he t able is running and t he impact it has on t he isolators. I nv est igat ing t he ef f ect of cr eat ine and t ur mer ic in Drosophila melanogaster Gabriella Tolassi

inf lammat ion leads to disease progression, yet t here is current ly litt le to no progress in f inding a cure. My project uses Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism t o invest igate a w ay to low er inf lammat ion using t he af fordable supplement s Turmeric and Creat ine. These supplement s w ere tested on Oregon-R f lies by feeding t hem w it h a yeast mixture over -layed on t heir food. The f lies w ere t hen observed over t ime in order to t rack t he ef fect s of t he supplement s on development and lifespan. We found Creat ine and Turmeric have no signif icant ef fect on t he lifespan of a w ild t ype f ruit f ly, indicat ing t he supplement s can be used in an AD model w it hout causing increased damage. I n t he f uture w e plan to test t hese supplement s on an AD model, repeat ing t he experiment at 21 days old (equivalent to a middle aged human). We expect to f ind t hat t he supplement s low er inf lammat ion and slow t he disease progression. Per cept ions and cost s of compet it iv e y out h socce Kelly Wall Research Advisor: Dr. Maria Luiza Pinho Prior studies have examined t he Pay-to-Play model of yout h soccer w it hin t he Unit ed St at es by researching t he cost s of club soccer. Past studies have also found t hat due to t he high cost s of par t icipat ion, some children are limit ed to playing compet it ive yout h soccer. The purpose of t his study is to examine t he percept ion around t he cost s of compet it ive yout h soccer. To explore t his topic f ur t her, t he study adopt s a qualit at ive met hod using personal inter view s w it h yout h soccer ecosystems such as soccer club coaches and administ rat ors, as w ell as members of spor t -related nonprof it s. I nterview s are being done because it allow s t he topics to be explored in a conversat ional format . The study is being prepared f or I RB submission. The hope is for t he result s to show w het her compet it ive yout h soccer is view ed as accessible or exclusive. These f indings w ill help shape and refor m t he Pay-to-Play model in yout h soccer.

Research Advisor: Dr. Alexis Nagengast Alzheimer?s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerat ive disease t hat af f ect s one in nine adult s aged 65 and older in t he United St at es and t hat number is expect ed to increase as t he populat ion ages. Recent research suggest s t hat chronic

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Widener Universit y has a st rong inst itut ional commit ment t o t he SURCA program. We w ould like to t hank President St acey Rober t son, Provost M ark N icosia, For mer SURCA co-directors Drs. Angie Corbo & Loyd Bast in, Dr. Kr ishna Bhat , Associate Dean of Student s Cat her ine Feminella, Dean Lisa Gr imm and t he A&S Deans of f ice, Jessica List a, James Gulick, and Dr. Cynt hia Sar noski. We w ould also like t o extend a special t hank you to Dr. Angie Corbo for stepping in and assist ing w it h f acilit at ing several of t he lunches t his summer. We t hank our w eekly session f acilit ators: (1) Widener alumni speakers Grace Burrell, Fran DiPiet ro, and Zoe Sw eet ; (2) Dr. Har ry Augensen, Prof . John Conte, and M ar t y Schult z w ho hosted St ars and Smores; (3) Joi Dallas Shaw, Director of t he Of f ice of Student I nclusion and Belonging, w ho spoke w it h our student s and f acilit ated our beach t r ip; (4) Jamie O?Leary and WAVE on consent (5) Janet Long and Julie Abrams f rom Widener?s Career Design and Development Of f ice; (4) President Rober t son on t he value of social connect ions an relat ionships bot h personally and professionally; (5) RoseAnne Kalodner for f acilit at ing our SURCA spin class w it h t he suppor t of Cor ina Evans, Jennifer Scuderi, and t he rest of t he Pride Rec st af f . A special t hank you to N icole Car rera, M onica Connell, and Trudy Depew for t heir help planning t he SURCA Symposium! And f inally, a special t hank you to our judges for helping us w it h t he impossible t ask of select ing t he best posters f rom such an impressive group of posters. Wit h sincerit y and war mt h, Drs. M ike Corcoran and Rob M ishur, SURCA Program Co-direct ors

Widener University Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Program