Category: Oral Presentation

Delta Ponds Riparian Restoration Assessment

Presenter: Jessica Scott (Environmental Science)

Co-Presenter: Wayland Huynh

Mentor: Peg Boulay

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Habitats and Climate” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 3: 1:45-3:00pm

Facilitator: Drew Terhune

Wetlands play an important part in the provision of ecosystem services; they improve drinking water by filtering out various pollutants, can serve as temporary storage basins for rain and snowmelt, as well as reduce the amount of destruction that result from severe flooding. They also create temporary and permanent habitat for a variety of both endemic and endangered species. Located in Eugene, Delta Ponds is a 150-acre waterway site owned by the City of Eugene that borders the Willamette River. Once owned by Eugene Sand and Gravel, the site was largely unmanaged until restoration efforts began in 2004 and continued into 2012. One of the main objectives during that time was to improve in-stream and riparian habitat for a variety of species. Members of the Wetland Research team collected data on restored habitat of Western Pond Turtles, Northwestern Salamanders, Northern Pacific Chorus Frogs and various other species. We also monitored the growth and vigor of various riparian plantings. This data shows the results of previous restoration efforts, and will inform where improvements may be needed in the future. It will be an important aspect of assisting the City in the prioritization of management resources and can serve as a baseline for future restoration efforts.

Marine Mammal Monitoring on Guam

Presenter: Robert McNulty (Biology)

Mentor: Valerie Brown

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Habitats and Climate” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 3: 1:45-3:00pm

Facilitator: Drew Terhune

Data on marine mammals, specifically information on their stock numbers, seasonal migrations, population structure, habitat use, and behaviors is limited. This study of island associated resident pods of the long nosed spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) was conducted near the island of Guam, part of the Mariana Archipelago, south of Japan. These spinner dolphins may be negatively impacted by an increased United States military presence on Guam which leads to expanded training activity, population growth, coastal development and associated tourism. This study compiles historical and current data on marine mammal sightings and behaviors to study possible impact of US military presence. The long nosed spinner dolphins (S. longirostris) are of particular interest because of their proximity to shorelines, their habitat use, and their daily activity schedule. Current data was collected from interviews and sighting events. Standard photo documentation and field survey protocols developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) were used. This study created a preliminary marine mammal database for Guam and has expanded the limited information available. In addition, sighting information was used along with geographical information system (GIS) software to combine NOAA benthic habitat maps with multibeam bathymetry to gain a better understanding of the habitats occupied by documented species. Preliminary results suggest that S. longirostris populations in Guam have similar circadian and seasonal rhythms as Hawaiian S. longirostris populations. The results also demonstrate that Guam spinner dolphins show a preference for clear, relatively shallow open water bays with underlying, unconsolidated sediment (sandy bottoms). An increase in military use of shallow bays and dolphin-associated ecotourism could therefore negatively impact resident populations of the Guam spinner dolphins.

Evaluating Oregon White Oak Habitat Restoration Projects in the South Eugene Ridgeline

Presenter: Brooke Bilyeu (Environmental Studies)

Co-Presenter: Everett Baker

Mentor: Peg Boulay

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Habitats and Climate” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 3: 1:45-3:00pm

Facilitator: Drew Terhune

Over the past 150 years, fire suppression techniques and the encroachment of conifer forests have drastically reduced the area of historic Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) savanna. Recent restoration efforts have focused on removal of coniferous species to promote oak vigor and growth. Working with the City of Eugene as part of the Environmental Leadership Program, the goals of our study are to evaluate the success of past restoration project’s attempts to improve Oregon white oak canopy. We will do this through post-management monitoring as well as conducting baseline monitoring studies on oak savanna habitat along the South Eugene Ridgeline. We are re-visiting three study sites from 2010 monitoring efforts and completing tree inventory surveys for two sites newly acquired by the City of Eugene, as well as monitoring heritage trees, analyzing understory habitat, and attempting to ground-truth the City of Eugene’s GIS layers by using the latest GPS technology. With the implementation of this effectiveness monitoring, we hope to show that oak canopy release is a valid method for oak savannah habitat restoration, and provide baseline data for future oak release management and monitoring efforts.

Reframing the Human: An Introduction to the Human Geography of the Posthuman or Cyborg

Presenter: Sachiko Slomoff (Geography)

Mentor: Ernesto Martinez

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

In our current digital age, there has been a significant focus on how globalizing technologies are changing the spaces we live in, but as individuals living in the technologically-mediated landscape, are not we too similarly affected? What is the human impact? After spending some time in a Siberian prison, Dostoyevsky posited the human is the creature that can adapt to anything. Although the electronic age is not a prison in the same regard, how are humans then, adapting to the digitally restructured environment? In this thesis, I present a human geography of the posthuman, humans with an intimate relationship to the rearranged temporal, spatial, and corporal dimensions of technology.Over time, the human species has technologically altered itself so drastically that a new anthropological understanding of what it means to be human is necessary. Whether we are gradually becoming a hybrid of man and machine – an entanglement of genetics and design, and turning into what some theorists call posthumans or cyborgs, are questions I probe to clarify what the new framing of “human” will necessitate. Reframing the human as intimately integrated with technology will have direct influence on people of many spheres because to reframe the human is not an isolated process, it is a creative work that embodies how technology is a temporally, spatially, and corporeally intimate experience in the new digital age that is restructuring the very pillars of the human experience.

Nostalgia for Childhood & Its Importance to Adult Identity: A Creative Poetry Project

Presenter: Anna Tomlinson (English)

Mentor: Danny Anderson

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

As psychologists suggest, the process of nostalgia provides exploration of self and continuity of identity. This project investigates how nostalgia for childhood, and particularly remembrances that address the line between innocence and adulthood, remain in society’s consciousness and play an important part in individuals’ identity. Our modern conception of childhood and nostalgia arose in the nineteenth century when the industrial revolution halved infant mortality and children became increasingly valued as individuals. Around 1800, William Wordsworth wrote his foundational poetry that longs for childhood as a time of lost innocence and connection to the divine. The twentieth century poets Donald Justice, Elizabeth Bishop, Anthony Hecht, Seamus Heaney, and Andrew Hudgins continue this exploration of childhood, memory, and nostalgia, building upon and rebelling against Wordsworth’s foundation. Like Wordsworth, Heaney finds childhood wonder in natural landscapes, but also addresses decay and loss of innocence. Justice returns to nostalgia that longs to find belonging in memories but realizes this impossibility. Bishop details childhood confusion and fear when confronting adult realities. Hecht represents memory as nightmarish, as a darkness the speaker can never quite forget. And finally, Hudgins portrays childhood as a vulnerable, humiliating time and longs for adulthood and its allowances of power and pleasure. My own poems strive to enter these poets’ conversation about how childhood memory figures in adult life.

Thermal Comfort Study of Deady Hall; Discovering the Thermal Conditions Inside the Building, Determining Causes, and Suggesting Solutions

Presenter: Emily Smietana (Architecture)

Co-Presenters: Vesta Tsao and Yana Stannik

Mentor: Alison Kwok

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

Deady Hall, the oldest building at the University of Oregon, has been determined to be thermally uncomfortable. The radiant heating system is dysfunctional at maintaining a comfortable thermal interior environment as determined by ASHREA Standard 55. This is largely because the heaters have no (or a very poor) zoning system and the building lacks sufficient ventilation. This case study looks at the building’s thermal conditions, assessing the temperature differences across rooms and floors and the influential factors. Using HOBO U12 temperature data loggers, spot checks for relative humidity and temperature, interviews and surveys, we gathered information to build a thermal map of the building during winter months. We have determined that the classrooms on all three main floors of Deady Hall fall within the comfort zone an average of 42.3% of the week. A list of possibilities for addressing these thermal issues has been assembled, with energy conservation being a strong factor. This study is a launching point for further exploration; we hope that it will influence changes to the building that would make a positive difference to users and energy use.

‘A Hard Problem to Handle’; Sewage in New York Harbor and the Fight Against the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission

Presenter: Zeph Schafer (History, Economics)

Mentor: James Mohr

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

From 1905 to 1921, the states of New York and New Jersey fought over New Jersey’s right to build a modern sewage treatment facility close to the border between the two states. In New York, concerned state officials claimed that New Jersey’s sewage would overwhelm the already polluted New York harbor, while New Jersey contended that its modern treatment technology would make its sewage disposal unnoticeable. This research used official state and city documents, court records and contemporary newspaper reports to investigate the legal fight between the states. In conclusion, the research reveals how the interstate fight did not defend the public health at stake. Instead, the battle ignored the need to relieve New Yorkers of the sewage from their own city and postponed the introduction of an effective sewage treatment project in New Jersey by almost twenty years.

Praying for Freedom: Catholic Underground Resistance in Soviet Lithuania

Presenter: Claire Phillips (History)

Mentor: Julie Hessler

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

Lithuania, a small, Catholic nation in the Baltic region, has a long history of struggling for independence from greater nation powers. However, never was that struggle greater than during the period of Soviet control over the nation from 1944—1990. At the beginning of Soviet control, Lithuanians attempted to use guerrilla warfare against Soviet power, but were unsuccessful, and they soon switched over to passive resistance instead. An underground journal known as the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania emerged in the 1970’s as a powerful force of this passive resistance in Lithuania. The journal’s original mission was to call for greater religious freedom for Soviet Lithuania, but the journal later grew to encompass a greater mission of liberating Lithuania. This project analyzes the shifting messages of this important journal, and its role in the greater movement for Lithuanian freedom. In reading the text of the Chronicle and by comparing it to the analysis of Lithuanian and Soviet scholars, it is clear that the Chronicle played a pivotal role in the Lithuanian national movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s. The journal unified religious and non-religious Lithuanians in resistance against Soviet power, and kept the flame of resistance alive in a period when active resistance was dangerous and nearly impossible. Though the Chronicle was not explicitly involved in the liberation of Lithuania from the Soviet Union in 1990, it played a large role in ensuring the survival of dissent and resistance in the nation.

Parenting in Poverty: The Experiences of Fathers Who are Homeless

Presenter: Brenda Barrett-Rivera (Family and Human Services)

Mentor: Lauren Lindstrom

Oral Presentation

Panel C: “Human Environments” Coquille/Metolius Rooms

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Matt Nelson

Fathers who are homeless face unique barriers in parenting. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of fathers who are homeless in a Pacific Northwest city. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with four homeless fathers and staff members from a family shelter. Issues raised through the interviews included: (a) changes to the fathers’ relationships with children and others, (b) stress related to a lack of resources available to homeless fathers, and (c) the impact on the experience of parenting while homeless arising from external perceptions of fathers as primary caregivers and providers. By giving voice to this underrepresented segment of the population, this study provides information that may improve the delivery of services to homeless families.

Korean Honorifics and American Politeness

Presenter: Youngju Park (Linguistics)

Mentor: Patricia Pashby

Oral Presentation

Panel B: “Cultural Expressions” Oak Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Lou Vijayakar

What acts of politeness do you, the reader, expect to encounter throughout your day? Perhaps someone slows down for you while merging onto the highway, or a door is held open for you while entering a building. What polite speech acts do you expect to encounter? Is this a more difficult question to answer? The Korean language consists of a complex honorific system that requires that the speaker manipulate grammar and vocabulary according to the listener’s status, age, and title to a higher extent than in American English. This project serves to native English speakers who are studying Korean as a second or third language. This project goes further to make a larger claim for the importance of studying a foreign language because of the experience of relativity one can gain.