Category: Oral Presentation

Chemoreceptor Zinc-Binding Protein Domains Sense Hypochlorous Acid

Presenter(s): Dan Tudorica

Faculty Mentor(s): Arden Perkins

Oral Session 3 M

The Chemoreceptor Zinc-Binding domain (CZB) is a protein module common in host-associated bacteria that seems to regulate bacterial chemoreceptors that control motility. The ligand these protein domains sense remains uncertain, however CZB domains contain a cysteine that binds to zinc, a chemical moiety that is known to be reactive with bleach (HOCl). Thus, my hypothesis is that CZBs are responsible for sensing HOCl, which is a prevalent antibacterial agent synthesized by human neutrophils to combat infections. Using the fluorescence of a sample of purified CZB, my data indicate the protein’s structure changes in response to physiologically-relevant concentrations of HOCl, consistent with a mechanism for signal transduction. Furthermore, by examining the circular dichroism spectrum of CZB under increasing concentrations of HOCl, I identified this structural change as a loss of alpha-helicity.

I also examined the hardiness of CZB-possessing bacteria in vivo in the presence of varying concentrations of HOCl. I found that the bacterial pathogens Salmonella and Helicobacter pylori, which possess CZB-regulated chemoreceptors, can tolerate acute treatments of HOCl and remain motile, and were more resistant than Escherichia coli, which has a CZB-regulated diguanylate cyclase but lacks a CZB-regulated chemoreceptor. E. coli, however, proved to be more tolerant of surviving high levels of HOCl over 6-12 hours. In summary, my research suggests CZB domains have the surprising capability to sense HOCl, the strongest oxidant generated by the human immune system, and that bacteria that colonize humans may use these sensors for different purposes in their colonization strategies.

Women Ball Too: Changing the Culture Around Women in Sports and Defining Women Excellence

Presenter(s): Corinne Togiai

Co Presenter(s): Donovan Neal

Faculty Mentor(s): Donovan Neal

Oral Session 2 O

Women Ball Too (WBT) is a social movement and business bringing awareness, advocating for recognition, and pushing towards equality for women excellence in sports. Thus, our central questions concern: how WBT can change the culture around women’s sports? What does changing the culture of women’s sports mean and look like? With that said, Women Ball Too’s mission is to change and cultivate a culture of excellence around women in sports that takes ownership and partnership. By recognizing and continually growing attention around women in sports through products, programs, and perspectives this will build a platform for an increase in women’s viewership, salaries and businesses.

In this project, we work through three main methodological approaches to enact the change we want to see: products, programs, and perspectives/community. Therefore, WBT current products sold include apparel from t-shirts, long sleeves, and hoodies. This is used to measure the level of engagement people are investing financially and socially via their purchase. For programs, we initiate teams to help host WBT events held before major women’s sporting events, collaborations with school departments and local businesses to host dances, sports camps, and other community activities to use as a platform to foster awareness about women in sports. Lastly, social media is one of our largest outlets to post current events regarding women in sports, to connect with major athletes and social influencers, and to encourage individuals to stand behind the WBT social movement and business to empower and respect women on and off the court.

Effects of Alisertib in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia NSG Mouse Models

Presenter(s): Corinne Togiai

Faculty Mentor(s): Bill Chang

Oral Session 3 M

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is a common cause for disease-related mortality in children and adolescents. As we have made great strides in curing ALL we have identified subsets of diseases that continue to have a poor prognosis. To develop novel targeted therapies in hopes to advance the treatment of these diseases, our lab initiated the use of rapid, state-of-the-art genetic and functional assays to identify aberrant activated pathways from primary patient leukemic samples. Results through collaborative research with the Knight Cancer Institute Leukemia Research Group, have identified significant hypersensitivity to different cellular pathway inhibition. Our current proposal builds on these findings. We have identified a unique hypersensitivity of certain subsets of leukemic cells to inhibition of the Aurora class of cell cycle kinases. Aurora kinases are members of serine/threonine kinases that play pivotal roles for the cell to faithfully undergo mitosis. Studies have shown that certain cancers are heavily dependent on the activity of these kinases beyond mitosis and that these kinases can be targeted by specific small molecule drugs. Our preliminary data is the first to identify subsets of ALL that are hypersensitive to aurora kinase inhibition. What remains unknown is the mechanism of hypersensitivity in subsets of ALL as well as in vivo validation.

Other future directions in parallel aim towards determining the mechanism of hypersensitivity to Aurora kinase inhibitors in subsets of ALL, and developing in vivo models testing single agent and combination therapy specifically targeting these pathways.

Defamiliarizing the Horror Genre

Presenter(s): Jess Thompson

Faculty Mentor(s): Angela Bogart-Montieth

Oral Session 1 DL

This project explores the method behind the fear-inducing works of fiction created by two of the most famous masterminds of literary horror, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. The research delves into close readings of both King and Poe’s work, and analyzes the tactic known as “defamiliarizing the familiar,” a strategy that turns a variety of recognizable components—from characters to setting to even stylistic choices—into something strange in order to disorient and scare the reader. As an aspiring horror fiction writer, my goal is to put the work of these two authors in conversation with each other in order to borrow tools from them and further improve my own writing.

Greener Fields

Presenter(s): Andrew Tesoriero

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 4 DL

“Greener Fields” is a story of unrequited love in a dystopian future. The ambiguity of the narrator—who has no name or gender—explores questions of identity and conveys the mutability of the story’s theme across genres. The narrator shares this sense of unknown identity and inner turmoil with the story’s setting: a future defined by corporate servitude and an endless war. As the narrator visits their childhood friend Aaron, now a veteran, in a strange facility, they are forced to confront their history with Aaron and their future without him. When writing this story, I considered how science fiction can explore themes of unrequited love in new ways. I wanted the larger world to be ambiguous as to focus the story on the two characters, and found through revision which details of the outside world are important to defining the worlds of the characters. “Greener Fields” confronts love and loss amidst the uncertainty of the future—while exploring how this future is painfully tethered to the past.

Revealing the Reveal: How and Why Authors Build to and Execute Plot Twist

Presenter(s): Andrew Tesoriero

Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Hennion

Oral Session 1 DL

Authors evoke narrative surprise to catch the audience off-balance. While plot twists are often associated with film, fiction also employs foreshadowing to build towards their reveals. However, fiction is a different medium than film. Film is often seen from outside its characters whereas fiction often puts the reader in a character’s mind or over their shoulder in the third person. Thus, interiority can make a plot twist more satisfying. When inside a character’s head, a reveal that they are not what they seem is more impactful than if viewed from the outside. Authors such as O. Henry, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree Jr., Seth Dickinson and Kazuo Ishiguro have used plot twists and narrative surprise to catch the reader off-balance. The meaning and emotional impact of each of their works is enhanced by the plot twist, but all in different ways that suit their disparate genres and tones. These authors’ varying works demonstrate multiple ways of executing plot twists: some feature dramatic reveal moments, others never acknowledge the twist and wait for the reader to figure out what is going on, but each of them use narrative surprise to support the tone and meaning of the piece.

Admissions Without Acquittal: The Effect of “Ban the Box” on College Admissions

Presenter(s): Hannah Solheim

Faculty Mentor(s): Ben Hansen

Oral Session 3 RA

In February of 2018, Oregon State University President Edward J. Ray decided to “ban the box” on the university’s application. Ray’s decision eliminated any questions about an applicant’s criminal history from the Oregon State University application. Officially, President Ray’s policy was designed to protect black and Hispanic men, who are more likely to have felony convictions. Many other institutions are also making the contentious decision to “ban the box” (BTB). However, does implementing a “ban the box” policy actually have a net positive effect on college enrollment for minorities and ex-offenders? Or, will admissions committees find other ways to keep ex-offenders off their campuses? Because the push to remove criminal history information from the college admissions process is so recent, little academic research has been done on it. However, economists have studied the analogous “ban the box” policies in the labor market. They found that BTB policies had a net negative effect on employment for young black and Hispanic men. Without criminal history information, employers may try to guess who has a criminal record, and avoid interviewing low-skilled black and Hispanic men as a result. Perhaps we will see the same phenomenon in the college admissions setting: after BTB goes into effect, admissions committees will be extra wary of admitting black and Hispanic applicants. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), I use a two-way fixed effects regression model to estimate the effect of adding criminal history questions to college applications. Preliminary results show that adding criminal history questions decreases enrollment for both male and female Hispanic students. Furthermore, using the synthetic control method, preliminary results show that BTB policies may cause statistical discrimination against Hispanic students. Further investigation is needed because it is imperative to understand any unintended consequences of BTB policies.

Automating Dev Ops with Docker Application Technology Shell Scripts

Presenter(s): Franklin Smith

Faculty Mentor(s): Ramakrishnan Durairajan 

Oral Session 2 C

With an emerging rise of Dev Ops technology like Docker and other application containers comes an underlying challenge that has been plaguing the computer industry for years, how to efficiently learn and use the technology in a timely manner. Most users are tired of long and meaningless online tutorials and videos which shove irrelevant information down the throat of the consumer. I have solved this problem by programming a shell script that automates the dev ops process with docker while allowing the user to interact and choose where, what, and how they would like to learn about the technology. With a computer execution run time of 2-3 minutes, one can now learn to: set up their docker environment; build an image and run as one container; scale their application to run multiple containers; distribute their application across a cluster; stack their services by adding a back end database; and deploy their application to production.

From Massacre to Genocide: Redefining the Sook Ching

Presenter(s): Lauralei Singsank

Faculty Mentor(s): Tuong Vu

Oral Session 4 M

Sook Ching is a Chinese term meaning “purge through cleansing.” Operation Sook Ching took place in Singapore from February 21 to March 4, 1942. The Sook Ching was a military operation carried out by the Japanese with the intent of executing anti-Japanese Chinese men between the ages of 18 and 50. Ultimately, it is impossible to know exactly how many people were killed; the Japanese official figure is 5,000, while unofficial estimates reach as high as 50,000. These men were called into screening centers, where it was decided if they were anti-Japanese.These determinations have been said to be extremely disorganized. The legacy of the Sook Ching lives on to today as one of the greatest tragedies in Singaporean history.
The intent of this paper is to argue for a redefinition of the Sook Ching as a genocide rather than a massacre. The United Nations’ definitions and qualifications of genocide, as well as contemporary sources discussing the event, act as the cornerstones of the research. This research is important because it sets a precedent of accountability, as well as acknowledging the wrongs that the Japanese committed during the second World War. This presentation will discuss the Sook Ching, its legacy, and the steps required to address the incident and right the wrongs that occurred. It will also examine the racial and political environment that set the stage for the tragedy, as well as the scars it left behind.

The Unofficial Story and the People Who Paint It: An Investigation of Urban Art’s Mobilizing Power in Oaxaca and Mexico City

Presenter(s): Kendra Siebert

Oral Session 1 SW

Although parietal writing – the act of writing on walls – has existed for thousands of years, its contemporary archetype, urban art, emerged much more recently. An umbrella term for the many kinds of art that occupy public spaces – graffiti, murals, stencils, etc. – urban art can be accessed by whoever chooses to look at it, and has roots in the Mexican muralism movement that began in Mexico City and spread to other states like Oaxaca.

Over the course of three years, I have been developing my undergraduate thesis, which looks into the Mexican Revolution and the origins of the Mexican muralism movement, before narrowing in on the function of urban art – specifically in times of unrest. In both 1968 and 2006, two points in Mexico’s recent history that birthed national social movements, urban art emerged as a visual form of testimony when other outlets like public radio became restricted and censored. Today, it continues to take on new forms and meanings, reflects culture from a different perspective than that of the government, leaders, corporations, etc.: that of the people.

I first traveled to Mexico City and Oaxaca for three weeks in August 2017 to investigate this topic, and returned on a follow-up trip this past winter term. My objective has remained the same since I first started exploring this topic: to bring the voices and unique perspectives of contemporary Mexican artists to people in other parts of the world. To accomplish this, I conducted one-on-one interviews with more than 25 urban artists in Oaxaca and Mexico City and asked questions ranging from “What do you think is the function of urban art” to “Is all art in the public space inherently political?” I also dove deeply into the existing body of relevant literature, toured museums and national monuments, and embedded myself in the artistic community as best as I could.

Additionally, I created a digital archive of photographs from 2017 and 2019 that highlight the changes I myself have witnessed on walls in Oaxaca and Mexico City. Through the various methodological approaches I have used in this project, I have identified four functions urban art can, and has served, in Oaxaca and Mexico City: 1) It can act as a form of identity affirmation – one that reflects everyday people, regardless of status or affiliation; 2) It places cultural testimony in public spaces; 3) When combined with other approaches, it can lead to social mobilization; 4) in the aftermath of a movement, it can preserve the collective memory, rather than a dominant hegemonic narrative.

My objective is to challenge common perceptions surrounding urban art and encourage people to go see these works for themselves. It was made possible thanks to support from UROP and HURF.