2020 SRP Conference

A collage of student researchers presenting in the 2020 Summer Research Conference

The Undergraduate Research Center welcomes you to the 2020 Summer Research Program Conference, our first ever virtual summer conference.

Even under the current circumstances caused by this pandemic, our remote summer program was still able to go forward due to the perseverance of the faculty mentors and student researchers. Congratulations to you all for making it happen!

Students were encouraged students, mentors and other interested guests to stop by the conference and view the presentations and then interact with the other attendees via Zoom! Special thanks to those students, mentors and guests that participated in our live Zoom events hosted by Prof. Carmel Levitan of Cognitive Science, Prof. Andrew Jalil of Economics and Acting URC Director Ron Buckmire.

Summer research participants are required to complete the SRP 2020 Conference: Virtual Attendance form  by August 7th.

Arts & Humanities
Sciences
Social Sciences

Arts & Humanities

Austin Bitterman (Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture): Digital Capitalism

James Burwick (Urban & Environmental Policy): The Unique Power of Used Bookstores: Los Angeles

Isobel Dickson (Religious Studies): Myth and Memorial: The Precarity of Jewish Remembrance in Post-War Austria

Jackson Eddy (Group Languages): Measuring Voice Onset Time in Spanish and English: Establishing the parameters for future codeswitching research

Liz Frissell (Philosophy, Cognitive Science): Seneca in 2020: Applying Stoicism to the Modern World

Nora Fujita-Yuhas (Politics): Foundations for Solidarity: An Exploration of Art, Race, and Theory

Cassandra Gutierrez (joint w/ Lahiri) (Undeclared): Medicine, Health, and Healing in Greece and Rome (500BCE - 500CE)

Brenda Jackson (Music, Urban & Environmental Policy): Spanglish Music and Latinx-American Identity

Emmaline Jeansonne (Cognitive Science, Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture): The Historical Relationship between Morality and Literacy

Eric Johnson (Media Arts & Culture): Script: Homelessness in Los Angeles

Harrison Kallner (Art & Art History): Oppressive Algorithms and Digital Surveillance: The New Age Censorship of Queer Artists

Lia Kane (Art & Art History): The Eames House: How Mid-Century Modernism Has Permeated Los Angeles’s Cultural Landscape

Brendan Kim (History, Music Theory): Yang the Time Traveler: Constructing Myth and Nationalism through K-pop

Gahan Lahiri (joint w/ Gutierrez) (Undeclared): Medicine, Health, and Healing in Greece and Rome (500BCE – 500CE)

Will Lanstone (Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture): These words inefficient and metaphorical: an exploration of poetic language in the divide between world and earth

Amber Lee (English): Tell Me Again (한번 더): a short story collection

Kayla Lim (Critical Theory & Social Justice): No Students Left Behind?: Technological Interventions during the COVID-19 School Shut Down

Mate Major (Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture): Orality, Literacy and the Language of Poetry

Naomi Miyamoto (Media Arts & Culture): Re-imagining Public Television with KCET

Sandy Nguyen (Critical Theory & Social Justice, Theater): No Mud, No Lotus

Serena Pelenghian (Critical Theory & Social Justice): Memory, Trauma and Identity: How the Armenian Genocide continues to shape gender identity in the Armenian Diaspora

Mia Recio (Critical Theory & Social Justice): Punk Zines as a Medium of Resistance for Queer, Trans, People of Color in Los Angeles

Leslie Torres (Media Arts & Culture, Critical Theory & Social Justice): Behind the Thick Eyeliner: A retelling of intergenerational Chola culture

Michael Turner (Comparative Studies in Literature & Culture): Political Theory Without Mirrors: Rorty, Hermeneutics, and the "New Pragmatism"

Yoshi Wainwright (Media Arts & Culture): All Our Ancestors Before Us

Hannah Wakefield (Philosophy): Aesthetics of the Body: Beauty and Value

Patrick Walsh (Philosophy): Evaluating Kant's Duty to Develop One's Talents

Sciences

Matthew Aleksey (Geology): Magmatic Evolution of Northern Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia and Southeast Alaska

Peter Bird (Philosophy, Cognitive Science): The Eternal Recurrence: Understanding Fine-tuning and Cyclical Universes through Nietzsche

Amelia Blankenau (Psychology): Examining Reasons for Loneliness Among Gender and Sexual Minority Emerging Adults in College

Bryce Boyle (Computer Science): Exploring Models of Feeling of Knowing in Memory Retrieval

Anthony Correa (Undeclared): Identifying Star Clusters in Merging Dwarf Galaxies and What It Could Mean for Minor/Major Mergers

Jacqueline Dall (Geology): Estimation and evaluation of the thermodynamic properties of Cr-silicate minerals

Caleb Deutsch (Psychology): Investigating Workplace Experiences

Katherine Dews (Psychology): Eating Behavior of Rats: How Macronutrient Self-Selection Relates to Emotionality

Harjas Dhillon (Biology): Characterization of Neural Phenotypes of ubc-1(R7Q) and ubc-1 (R11Q) mutants in C. elegans

Peter Elia (Physics, Mathematics): Blue Straggler Stars in the Globular Cluster Omega Centauri

JP Flores (Biology): Straight from the Sequence, Synthetic Peptides from Fish-hunting Cone Snails

Joelle Floyd (Cognitive Science): Individual Differences in Multisensory Illusory Perception

Mia Forsline (Biology): Thermal Variation in Urban Salamander Microhabitats

Caroline Fuller (Physics): Extracting Solar Energy from Regional Metered Power Data

Isabella Funes (Biology): Understanding the Cancer Needs of the LGBTQI+ Latinx Communities

Adriana Fung (Biology): Comparing leaf heat tolerance within plant species native to southern California

Gabe Gregory (Physics): Minority Carriers; what are they?

Tehreem Hai (Physics): Star Clusters in Interacting Galaxies: a Study of Dwarf Merger 1529

Sohan Kshirsagar (Physics, Computer Science): Finding Blue Stragglers

Alexandra Lang (Cognitive Science): Individual Differences in Multisensory Illusory Perception

Miaja Lemieux (Psychology): Deprivation-Induced Hyperactivity: Understanding a Common Symptom of Anorexia Nervosa

Jack Leonard (Chemistry): Imaging Proton Diffusion During the Electromechanical Reshaping of Cartilage

Alex Marlott (Biochemistry): Adaptive Immune Response in Equine Pigeon Fever

Nicole McGee (Biology): Comparing fish populations at sites dominated by native and invasive algae species in the Southern California Bight

Amanda Medina Segura (Psychology): Mother-Daughter/Child Conversations on Women’s Wellness Exams

Lara Minassians (Psychology): Safe sex knowledge retained through “the talk”

Amelia Muscott (Geology): Reconstructing Past Climate and Glacier Changes in the Teton Range, WY from Lake Sediments

Jonathon Novick (Biology): Native Versus Tropical Milkweed Facilitation of Monarch Butterfly OE Parasite

Alexander Orebic (Chemistry): A Computational Investigation into the Diastereoselectivity of Auxiliary-directed Aldol Reactions

Janet Orozco (Biology): Wellness Program of Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND)

Marvin Osorio (Geology): Microporous minerals: A comparative analysis of mineral structures and contaminant uptake potential

Siddharth Sannapareddy (Biochemistry): Uncovering cryptic species using the Moore Lab collection; a study of Orange-fronted Parakeets

Sophie Schaefer (Computer Science): Surface Roughness of the Arabian Peninsula in the Very High Frequency (VHF) Band

Ruth Schlosser (Computer Science, Economics): Modeling Feeling of Knowing

Maeve Secor (Biology): How's the Weather Up There? Elevation-driven Niche Divergence in a Bird Ranging from Mexico to Panama

Joseph Shiina (Biology): The leaf heat tolerance of epiphytic bromeliads

David Simpson-Heil (Physics): Star Formation in a Dwarf Galaxy Merger

Annie Souders (Psychology): Chestfeeding during COVID-19

Adriana Tatum (Biology): Redesigning Community-based Diabetes Prevention for Women with Gestational Diabetes in the Age of Covid-19

Izzy Thomas (Mathematics):"Social Medium Influencers: Star Cluster Formation in Interacting Dwarf Galaxy Pair DM1449+36"

Maya Ushijima (Biochemistry): Potential interactions between transcription factors that control axon outgrowth of serotonergic neurons in C. elegans

Sophia (Yujin) Yang (Chemistry, Computer Science): Computational Investigation into the Mechanism of Hetero-Cope Rearrangements

Shanna Yeh (Biology, Public Health (minor)):Investigating the molecular targets of conus venom peptides on isolated zebrafish neurons

Joanne Yi (Biology): Evidence for Chemical Communication in E. coli and B. bacteriovorus model biofilms by Direct Analysis in Real Time Mass Spectrometry

Rachel Zhang (Chemistry): Computational investigation into the diastereoselectivity of photoredox hydroalkylation reaction

Social Sciences

Mary Ambriz (Politics, Critical Theory & Social Justice): It Took a Pandemic to ____________: How COVID-19 Propelled Social Change in East Yard Communities

Spruce Bohen (Urban & Environmental Policy): Urban Agriculture Summer Internship Presentation: Urban Homestead

Sofia Buchler (Urban & Environmental Policy): Urban Agriculture Summer Internship Presentation: The Growing Experience

Kaufman Butler (Politics): The Electoral College: The Founders' Concession to Slave States

Jacqueline Cao (Group Language (Spanish & French)): Nonprofit Digital Marketing: A Case Study on Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement

Brenda Duran-Jimenez (Latina/o & Latin American Studies): Educational Inequalities for Non-U.S. Citizen Students

Dafna Erana (Biology): Assessing the community health and resource needs in the San Gabriel Valley before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Ruby Ferehawk (Mathematics): Do California LIHTC housing residents have access to quality schools?

Charles Finnerty (Diplomacy & World Affairs): Iranian Cultural Identity and State Strength

Lauren Fleming (Politics): Shaping Housing Policy in California: the SCANPH Model

Bella Gallegos (Undeclared): Pacoima Beautiful Community Empowerment

Jesus Gonzalez-Saucedo (Politics): The Legalization of Street Vending in Los Angeles: How Regulation (Dis)empowers Street Vendors

Mia Hernandez (Politics): Miguel the Criminal, Jimena the Refugee: How an Immigrant’s Gender and Reasons for Migrating Affect Public Opinion on Immigration

Kayla Hreczuck (Economics): Clear Creek Evaluation: The Outcomes of Experiential Education on Primary School Students

Hannah Huang (History, Psychology): The Baodiao Movement and Diasporic Chinese Nationalism in the 1970s

Grace Hut (Urban & Environmental Policy): The Fight for Tenant Rights: Reflecting on the Coalition for Economic Survival's Role in the Los Angeles Housing Justice Movement

Kaye Jenkins (Urban & Environmental Policy): Urban Agriculture Summer Internship: Cottonwood Urban Farm

Zoobia Jilani (Diplomacy & World Affairs): Measuring Residential Segregation's Impact on German Refugee Integration

Teagan Langseth-DePaolis (Politics): What Makes Decisions Legitimate? Exploring Perceptions and Attitudes of Everyday Citizens

Eva Ma (Economics):  Evaluating the Socio-Emotional Effects of Outdoor Learning: Gender Differentials

Andrea Marquez (Latina/o & Latin American Studies): Substance Use Prevention Through Community-Based Interventions

Collin Mazeika (Politics & Philosophy): The Impact of the Nation-State, Ethno-Centrism, and the Banality of Evil on Israel’s Developing Statehood

Cassidy McIntyre (Politics): The Application and Impact of Free Public Transportation in Los Angeles County

Peter Merry (Urban & Environmental Policy): Tenant Rights in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ina Morton (Urban & Environmental Policy): ACCE: Organizing for Housing Justice During a Pandemic

Mariah Rutiaga (Biology): Battling food insecurity in South LA: A closer look into Alma Backyard Farms

Corrine Schmaedeke (Politics): Social Media and Faith-Based Non-Profits: A Case Study of LA Voice

McKenna Sims (Biochemistry): Understanding the Cancer Needs of the LGBTQI+ Latinx Community

Olivia Sweeney Vesty (Sociology): The Presentation of Statehood in 4th Grade Textbooks: How Political Attitudes Towards Immigrants are Formed and Differ in California and Arizona

Luca Van der Meer (Economics): Investigating European Regime Shifts in the 1920's

Genesis Vergara (Critical Theory & Social Justice): Community Narratives: A Case Study of Esperanza Community Housing Corporation

Bethany Widen (History): Young White Southern Womanhood: Identity and Change During the American Civil War

Miya Woo (Urban & Environmental Policy): LACAN - Wellness, Accessibility, and Community Building

Alexandria Yawata (Urban & Environmental Policy): Nikkei Progressives's Efforts on Solidarity as Community Development

Zhichao Yu (Economics): How Covid-19 Affects Supply Chain in the U.S.

Emily Zepeda (Politics): Political Socialization in Education: A Content Analysis of New Mexico & Texas 7th Grade Textbooks

Nancy Zhou (Diplomacy & World Affairs): Deconstructing the Institutional Challenges and Environmental Politics of the International Trash Trade