Category: ARC Session

Presenter(s): Emily Kraschel

Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel

Poster 188

Session: Global Engagement ARC

This project explores Venezuela’s oil based economy and how that exacerbates employment and poverty issues. In Venezuela, there have been many issues regarding trade, poverty, and hunger. Within Venezuela there is a high rate of poverty, with much of the population being under the poverty line. The economy relies almost fully on oil, lending itself easily to monopolization, which creates more poverty among working folks. The oil economy has an effect on the country as a whole. News sources and books on the structure of the Venezuelan economy were particularly useful in researching this topic. The high rates of poverty and suffering among the Venezuelan people is due to the unitary reliance of the Venezuelan economy on oil and the high level of political unrest and corruption. We find the Venezuelan situation particularly jarring because the path the Venezuelan economy and government took in the 20th century bears a striking resemblance to the path many Western economies are taking today, presenting reasonable fear that other prominent countries may fall victim to the same negative effects.

Presenter(s): Mason Klepp

Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel

Poster 187

Session: Global Engagement ARC

Japan has a rich history with the medium of tattoo that stretches back thousands of years, a history which has occupied a fascinatingly unique place in Japanese society. This traditional form of art has been and is currently going through vast changes, both in form and in social standing. We are using multiple media sources to research this topic; the book The Japanese Tattoo by Donald Richie and Ian Buruma as our main historical references, and multiple online sources for the contemporary aspect. The common thread throughout all of the literature around Japanese tattoo it that, for better or for worse, the art and economy of Japanese tattoo is changing faster now than it has ever has before. Tattoos are slowly losing their social stigma, “beauty tattoos” are appearing in the fashion industry, a new generation of skilled “neo-Japanese” style artists tattoo-seeking tourists are expanding the market and attracting foreign tattoo tourists, and the focus of the Japanese tattoo community is shifting away from traditional style, imagery, and method. Despite these changes, the form of art remains criminalized across Japan. The tides of this form of art are slowly shifting, but this changing tide is not yet a tsunami.

Presenter(s): Kevin Iriawan

Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel

Poster 185

Session: Global Engagement ARC

Teenage smoking in China as well as America has been a rising problem. With the evolution of e- cigarettes, smoking has become easier than ever before. Interestingly enough, the rise of tobacco through e-cigarettes has been spread and is used by many celebrities and influencers. In China, cigarettes are easily accessible to underage children and are primarily used by citizens in professional fields. In my project, I explore the smoking epidemic in China and interview three international students in order to shed light on the issue. Being a person who was previously addicted to nicotine products, I compare my experience to theirs and made connections and comparisons with the international students.

Presenter(s): Ramon Hernandez

Faculty Mentor(s): Matthias Vogel

Poster 184

Global Engagement ARC

For over decades, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been in combat and dominating the remote fighting tactics that militaries around the world use. Despite being effective and reliable, the question that will be analyzed under this research is the morality behind remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) in combat, public’s consensus on them, and the deadly effects drones have on countries and the targets they are being used on.

Within this research, different UAVs around the world will be examined and compared to Germany, which has recently joined countries like U.S., U.K., and Israel who currently use UAVs. From this approach, the research will take the angle of a country’s beginning stages of implementing combat drones. In this context, the research will analyze the countries that manufacture the equipment, the countries that use them and the legal hurdles they may have gone through, and the countries that participate in distributing the drones/ drone parts, though not in combat.
In part of doing this research, a clear hypothesis to the topic will be presented which will assist in future scholarly analysis of the subject moving forward as more countries begin to adopt UAVs as well help give a better understanding of how they will look like for the countries, its people, and the ethics of RPVs combat strategy.