SPARK! Poster Exhibition & Creative Flash Talks
Graduate research and creative work take center stage at SPARK! (Showcase of Projects, Art, Research, and Knowledge), uniting the community around projects ranging from prose and code to social science inquiry, scientific discovery, and artistic expression. More details about this reimagined Research Week are coming soon.
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About the 2026 Poster Exhibition & Creative Flash Talks
In the videos below, Assistant Dean Mitch Larson explains the two presentation formats that make up SPARK! (Showcase of Projects, Art, Research, and Knowledge) – the Graduate Poster Exhibition and the Graduate Creative Flash Talks – including what each involves, how to participate, and what to expect on the day of the event. This year’s SPARK! will also highlight student creative work on Tuesday, April 14, from 12:45 to 1:45 pm in the Black Box Theater – for more details and to participate, please complete the application.
Continued Celebration of Research & Creativity
Revisit 2024, a pivotal year in Rutgers–Camden’s research story. Vice Chancellor for Research Dr. Thomas Risch reflects on the continued evolution of Research Week and the momentum that made it the largest event since 2020. The conversation is led by a Ojobo Agbo Eje, a Data Science M.S. alumnus, now working in Dr. Risch’s office, connecting the student experience to the work behind the scenes.
SPARK! 2026 Poster Exhibition Timeline
Present your research and creative work to the Rutgers–Camden community through the SPARK! Graduate Poster Exhibition and Creative Flash Talks. The Creative Flash Talks will be held on Tuesday, April 14, from 12:45 to 1:45 PM in the Black Box Theater, followed by the Graduate Poster Exhibition from 4:00 to 6:00 PM in the Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room.
Application Deadline
Deadline Extended
Notification of Acceptance
Deadline Extended
Delivery Deadline
Poster & Multimedia – Fri, Apr 10 at 6:00 PM
SPARK! 2026 Poster Exhibition Abstracts
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Acculturation, Acculturative Stress and Psychological Wellbeing Among Black Immigrants
Author: Samrawit Gebretensay | Psychological Sciences Abstract: The acculturation process significantly impacts the mental health of Black immigrant college students. Yet, limited research explores the interplay between acculturation strategies, acculturative stress, and psychological well-being in this population. In 2022, 46.2 million people living in the United States were born outside the country, including 4.6 million……
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Aesthetics of Resonance in the “Afterlife of Slavery”: Filmic Representations of Black Girl/Hood(s)
Author: Courtney Cook | Childhood StudiesAbstract: How can Black girl/hood(s) become disentangled from images of hurt, violence, suffering, and deficit? In the afterlife of slavery, a phrase conceived by notable author Saidiya Hartman, images of Blackness vacillate between pain and criminalization, so much so that Blackness becomes visually abutted with death as a production of……
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AI Integration in Healthcare Professional Training: A University- Based Case Study
Author: Kazi Tanzina Begum | Mathematical SciencesAbstract: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly used in higher education, including healthcare training programs. While awareness and adoption of AI tools are growing among students and faculty, questions remain about preparedness, training needs, and the challenges associated with their effective and responsible use in healthcare education.This study……
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Between Opportunity and Constraint: Digital Freelancing and Graduate Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Daniel Assamah | Public Affairs Abstract: The rapid growth of the digital gig economy is reshaping labor markets in developing countries, raising new questions about employment, inequality, and development. Optimistic accounts present online freelancing as a pathway to income and inclusion, while critical perspectives emphasize precarity and the reproduction of global hierarchies. These tensions……
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Blessed or Biased? Religious Identity, Sexism, and Contraceptive Access
Author: Alexis Richeson | Prevention SciencePublic conversations about birth control are often framed as medical or political, yet they are shaped by culture, religion, and gender ideology. Religious teachings and interpretations of sacred texts have historically influenced how individuals understand women’s bodies, sexuality, and gender roles. Sexism continues to shape reproductive attitudes. A 2025 meta-analysis……
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Building Community Resilience through Community Capital: A Puerto Rican Case Study of CBOs
Author: Oluwasegun Oluwole | Public Affairs Abstract: This study takes an exploratory dive into how community-based organizations (CBOs) mobilize and convert local assets or resources within communities into capital to reduce dependency on centralized government interventions and enhance community resilience against natural disasters. With Puerto Rico’s recurring experience with natural hazards and infrastructural vulnerabilities, as……
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Cannabis Sales in Your Backyard? Dispensary Location Preferences Among a Representative Sample of N.J. Residents
Author: Kristina Cagle | Criminal JusticeAbstract: Adult-use cannabis is increasingly gaining public acceptance for both medicinal and recreational uses, fueling a wave of legalization and decriminalization across the nation. Despite this, comparatively little is known about public perceptions surrounding each state’s actualization of cannabis policies. State and local legislatures are tasked with creating rules on……
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Changing the Properties of Commercial Water Wash resin with Natural Materials
Author: Arturo Ramos Ochoa | Chemistry & Molecular TechnologyAbstract: The demand for sustainable alternatives in additive manufacturing has driven interest in modifying photopolymer resins with natural-based materials to improve mechanical performance without compromising printability. This research investigates the incorporation of natural additives, specifically glycerol and silk fibroin (SF), into commercial water-washable photopolymer resins to enhance……
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Child Care Instability in Law Enforcement: An Overlooked Police Resiliency Issue
Author: Kiersten Westley Henson | Prevention SciencePolice officers face intense stress not only on the job but also at home, especially when reliable child care is difficult to secure. This literature review examines child care instability as a structural contributor to work–family conflict, burnout, and reduced resiliency among police officers. While police wellness initiatives increasingly……
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Clay-Silk Composites: Towards a New Paradigm in Sustainable Leather-liked Material
Author: Rituba Jhala | Chemistry & Molecular TechnologyAbstract: The increasing demand for sustainable and biodegradable materials has motivated the search for alternatives to conventional leather. In this work, we explore a composite system based on clay, hydroxyethyl cellulose, glycerol, and silk fibroin as a potential leather-like material. The goal was to understand how varying the……
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Clustering the ensemble of an intrinsically disordered protein by regions of contiguous hydrophobicity reveals distinguishable conformational states
Author: Lindsey Riggs | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) sample a broad distribution of conformational states rather than adopting a single conformation, representing the conformational ensemble. The lack of a defined structure makes it challenging to interpret how a missense mutation in the sequence of an IDP affects its ensemble. Current methods……
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Designing an HPV-specific compartmental epidemiological model to examine HPV transmission, disease progression, and cancer outcomes across New Jersey counties.
Author: Zion Harris | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a leading cause of cervical and other anogenital cancers in the United States, with persistent disparities in incidence and mortality across socioeconomic, racial, and geographic groups. Unequal access to vaccination, screening, and preventive care contributes to sustained HPV-related cancer burden, particularly in……
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Deterministic Verification of CNN Stability Via the Bivariate Z-Transform
Author: Avery Ang | Mathematical SciencesAbstract: Convolutional neural networks achieve state-of-the-art accuracy yet remain formally unverified: their learned weights are optimized by stochastic gradient descent with no guarantee of spectral integrity. For safety-critical applications such as autonomous systems, medical imaging, industrial inspection statistical accuracy alone is insufficient. This thesis advances a deterministic, per-kernel auditing framework……
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Developing a Martini gold model for use in biological contexts
Author: Jahmal Ennis | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: The success of the Martini force field is largely due to its ability toreproduce experimental phenomena, its extensive library of biologicalmolecules, and the abundance of tools available to further developmodels of small molecules. However, many inorganic materialscannot be investigated in Martini because they have no directcorrespondence to……
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DNA-mediated plasmonic nanoparticle tethering to render macromolecular assemblies photosensitive to pulsed laser irradiation
Author: Regina Salzer | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: The ability to control macromolecular assemblies with light would be transformative for a number of applications such as nanocarriers and drug delivery. Light, specifically pulsed laser irradiation, is an ideal stimulus due to its biocompatibility and high spatiotemporal control. Plasmonic nanoparticles (PNPs), such as gold nanoparticles (AuNPs),……
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Do People Bind Action and Outcomes in an Extended, Goal-Directed Movement Paradigm?
Author: Jason Nguyen | Psychological Sciences Abstract: When people act, they tend to feel in control of their actions and associated consequences. For example, when we flip a light switch and the light turns on, we feel that our action caused the light to turn on. The sense of agency (SoA), the feeling of control……
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Do the nurse cells play any role in determining the anterior fate of the follicle cells during Drosophila Oogenesis?
Author: Sohail Shaik | BiologyAbstract: Axis formation in Drosophila melanogaster is orchestrated through germline–soma interactions during oogenesis. Each egg chamber comprises 15 nurse cells, one oocyte, and a surrounding epithelium of follicle cells (FCs). Signalling pathways including EGFR, BMP/Dpp, and JAK/STAT coordinate anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral patterning across 14 developmental stages. At stage 9, around 55……
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Economic Connectedness and Health Insurance in U.S. Counties
Author: Athena Dobles | Prevention ScienceHealth insurance coverage remains a key determinant of access to healthcare and preventive services in the United States. Emerging research suggests that social capital – particularly cross-class ties – may shape access to institutional resources, yet its relationship to insurance coverage remains under-examined. This study examines whether county-level social capital……
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Erasmian Anti-Binarism: Anglo-French Conflict in Shakespeare’s Henry V
Author: Qiuhong Nie | English & Media StudiesAbstract: When it comes to French image in Shakespeare’s Henry V, many critics tend to construe France as a lackluster background, against which the English obtain a sense of national pride, or as a clearly negative in opposition to English national identity. Feminist critics, however, conceptualize French Princess……
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Evidentiary Evaluation of Single Cells with EESCIt
Author: Julianna Jimenez | Forensic ScienceAbstract: Common forensic queries that guide interpretation of DNA evidence are: i) how many donors contributed to the biological evidence?; ii) whether a particular individual (i.e., who) donated?; and iii) by what mechanism (i.e., how) was that level of DNA deposited and recovered? In bulk treatments, where the DNA is……
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Examining Sex/Gender Differences in the Associations Between Intimate Partner Violence and Lifetime Mental Health Problems Among Sexual Minority Adults
Author: Reese Mabolis | Psychological Sciences Abstract: Background: Sexual minorities are disproportionately affected by mental health problems and intimate partner violence (IPV). However, little is known about sex/gender differences in the associations between IPV and mental health problems in this population. This study examined sex/gender differences in the associations between IPV and mental health problems……
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Explainable Al-Based Network Data Security Framework for Healthcare 4.0
Author: Nemi Patel | Data ScienceAbstract: Remote patient monitoring aspect of Healthcare 4.0 has revolutionized the way we pursue medical treatment. Integration of Medical Internet of Things (MIoT), patient centric healthcare devices and remote robotic equipment has vanished the separative line between physical onsite monitoring and remote monitoring. Secure use of available network to handle……
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Friending Bias and the Link Between Upward Exposure and Adult Depression
Author: Andrea Santalla Escobar | Prevention ScienceBackground: Social determinants of health shape population-level mental wellbeing, yet evidence is mixed on whether childhood exposure to higher-socioeconomic status (SES) peers predicts more favorable adult mental health outcomes. Although cross-class interactions are theorized to increase social capital, expand access to opportunity, and foster psychological benefit, upward exposure alone……
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Gender and Sexual Orientation in Humor Perception Across Superlative and Typical Personally Known Individuals
Author: Mercy Mutunga | Psychological Sciences Abstract: Research on gender and humor has long asked whether men and women are perceived as equally funny, yet prior findings remain mixed and may depend on who is judging, which target is judged, and how the judgment is made. The present study examined whether humor judgments vary as……
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Have Thine Eyes Seen the Glory? Psychological, Religious, and Ideological Predictors of Christian Nationalism
Author: Katie McQuaid | Psychological Sciences Abstract: Christian Nationalism (CN) is a political ideology that fuses Christian identity with American civic life and has been linked to authoritarianism and political violence. Although prior research has examined its association with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and religious fundamentalism (RF), less work has explored the psychological mechanisms that are……
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Health Symptoms, Social Support Experiences, and Unmet Support Needs Among Camden, New Jersey Residents
Author: Nicholaos G. Kokolis | Prevention ScienceIntroduction: Access to supportive relationships may be constrained in low-income communities facing limited resources (Brown et al., 2020). Although most research has focused on how support from family and friends predicts health outcomes, far less is known about how existing health experiences (e.g., pain and other physical symptoms) predict……
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Help-Seeking Attitudes and Intention Among Black Women: The Moderating Role of Self-Alienation
Author: Kuteara Jamison | Psychological Sciences Abstract: In a nationally representative study of college students, about half of Black college students reported clinically significant mental health symptoms during 2020–2021, but only 30% received mental health treatment (Lipson et al., 2022). Overall, Black college students are less likely to use mental health services, in part because……
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How Spiders Attach their Webs to Water.
Author: Ravi Schwartz | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: A common orb web is designed to capture prey with precariously slender elements of extremely strong material. Its function is likewise dependent on the quality of its anchoring the radial dragline ends to external objects, which take the form of “attachment disks” of slenderer threads painted with……
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If The Phone Rings: Answer It
Author: Jillina Harken | Emerging Media | Digital StudiesAbstract: If The Phone Rings: Answer It is a narrative exploration game set in a world where modern communication infrastructure has failed. Without mobile phones, wireless networks, or constant digital connectivity, players must rely on payphones, face-to-face interactions, and other analog forms of communication to navigate a……
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Implementing a Large Language Model From Scratch
Author: Kirill Dragunov | Data ScienceAbstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) have transformed not only modern artificial intelligence, but also many aspects of professional and academic life. Today, they are widely used by students to prepare for classes, exams, and projects, as well as by practicing professionals, who use LLMs to increase their productivity by assisting……
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Incarcerated Individuals used as slave labor
Author: Karema Griffin | Criminal JusticeAbstract: The use of incarcerated people as low- or unpaid labor contributes to economic gain while disproportionately keeping Black individuals in jails and prisons for longer periods. The Thirteenth Amendment permits the use of incarcerated people for labor, even though many argue the focus should instead be on rehabilitation and……
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Interpretation and Validation of Single and Mixed Sperm Electropherograms with EESCIt
Author: Anu J Khandelwal | Forensic ScienceAbstract: Classical, bulk DNA extraction methods extract DNA while the cells are still mixed. In so doing, classical data generating techniques prohibit DNA reports about sperm and, thus, only speak to, who did (not) contribute to the DNA. Single-cell pipelines address this gap by imaging or tagging each cell,……
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Mechanistic Studies on the Intramolecular Proton-Electron Relay for the Reduction of a Vanadium–Oxo (V=O) Fragment
Author: Yash Tripathi | Chemistry & Molecular TechnologyAbstract: This work focuses on understanding how protons are transferred within catalytic systems that are essential for energy conversion. In many chemical and biological processes, efficient proton delivery to metal centers is a key step that determines reaction performance, yet the underlying mechanism remains unclear.In this study, a……
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Neighborhood Violent Crime as a Developmental Stressor: Within-Adolescent Evidence from a National Longitudinal Cohort
Author: Joseph Abbas | Prevention ScienceAdolescents in economically disadvantaged U.S. communities are disproportionately exposed to persistent neighborhood violent crime rooted in structurally segregated environments. Although community violence is consistently linked to youth distress, most studies compare different youth or neighborhoods rather than examining how changes in violence exposure affect the same adolescents over time. Guided……
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Pandemic, Policy, and Persistence: Teachers’ Perceptions of Working Conditions and Retention in Camden, New Jersey
Author: Giovanna Romero Sarubbi | Public Affairs Abstract: This study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped teachers’ perceptions of their working conditions and influenced their intentions to remain in the profession, with a focus on public school districts in Camden, New Jersey. It asks two central questions: (1) How has the pandemic influenced teachers’……
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Prediction of Binding Affinity for Protein–Peptide Systems Using SE(3)-Equivariant Neural Networks
Author: Aditya Birla | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Accurate prediction of binding free energy (ΔG) for protein–peptide complexes remains a challenging problem due to the high dimensionality and geometric complexity of molecular interactions. We propose an energy-based framework leveraging SE(3) equivariance to ensure rotational and translational consistency in learned representations. Protein (receptor) and peptide (ligand)……
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Queer Identities and Humor Perception
Author: Nicholas Hanson | Psychological Sciences Abstract: This project seeks to examine the characteristics underlying participants’ perception of various popular comedians, and to assess whether there exists a relationship among queer participants and the traits they prefer in humorists. We surveyed over 600 participants on comedians with whom they are familiar, offering a list which……
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Reclaiming the Narrative
Author: Angel J Perez | Emerging Media | Digital StudiesAbstract: Reclaiming the Narrative is a digital storytelling and reflective practice project that examines how marginalized individuals and communities can challenge deficit-based narratives through self-authored stories. Centering identity, voice, and ethical representation, this work uses storytelling as a tool for agency, belonging, and resistance. Through classroom……
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Salem County Community Co-Design and Response to Rural Colorectal Cancer Prevention Messaging
Author: Kiersten Westley Henson | Prevention ScienceColorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in the United States, despite strong evidence that early detection through screening substantially reduces disease burden. Persistent disparities in CRC incidence, mortality, and screening uptake disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), rural residents, and……
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School Connectedness and Adolescent Mental Health in the Context of Frequent Social Media Use
Author: Morenike Alugo | Prevention ScienceAdolescent mental health and social media use remain central public health concerns. Although frequent social media use has been linked to poor mental health, less is known about whether protective social environments, particularly at school and at home, are associated with adolescent well-being in this context. This study examined the……
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Short Can Also Be Sweet: Student Success from a Condensed Summer Bridge Program
Author: Jasmaine Allen | Prevention ScienceThis mixed-methods study examined student success outcomes from a condensed Summer Bridge pilot program implemented in Fall 2024 at Rutgers–Camden, with a focus on first-generation college students. Given that first-generation students comprise over half of college enrollees yet experience lower retention and graduation rates, this study explored whether a shorter……
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Silence as Relational Practice in Contemporary Children’s Picture books
Author: Zubin Miller | Childhood StudiesAbstract: Silence in childhood is often read as absence, deficit, or communicative failure – a space adults rush to interpret, fill, or correct. Drawing on contemporary children’s picturebooks, this paper challenges such deficit-based readings by approaching “silence” as a relational and embodied mode of meaning-making. Focusing on Talking Is Not……
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Split Aptamer Catalytic Sensor for Detecting Viral Nucleic Acids
Author: Nishat Jahan | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Hemin/DNA aptamers can catalyze the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated oxidation of various chemical compounds. For instance, hemin/G-quadruplex (G4) complexes convert Amplex Red into fluorescent product resorufin, enabling fluorescence-based detection. Due to their high catalytic efficiency, hemin-binding DNA aptamers have been extensively explored for biosensing applications, particularly in the……
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Switchable Nucleic Acids Nanoparticles for Enhancing Cell Uptake and Drug Delivery
Author: Qiaochu Zhang | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Efficient and safe delivery of CRISPR components into hard-to-transfect cells remains a major challenge in gene therapy. We developed programmable tetrahedral DNA nanoparticles (TDN) as carriers for sgRNA/Cas9 complexes to enable intracellular genome editing. Including TDN–sgRNA complexes achieved targeted gene knockout and TDN-delivered Cas9 showed limited activity due……
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The “Acting White Accusation” and Its Impact on Asian College Students
Author: Amy Senanayake | Psychological Sciences Abstract: Social identity theory suggests that racial or ethnic identity and a sense of belonging are central to self-concept (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Threats to one’s social identity, such as cultural invalidation, are experiences in which an individual’s racial identity is denied or questioned and may be associated with……
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Threading the Needle: Assessing the Genomic Health of the Critically Endangered Silver Boa
Author: L. Caden Comsa | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: The past century has been marked by the increasing effects of anthropogenic change, causing multiple threats to global biodiversity such as via reductions in many species’ population sizes and genetic health. As populations are driven to ever smaller sizes, the accumulation of genetic defects due to……
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Troubling the Canonical Waters: Interrogating the Importance of Classic Children’s Literature
Author: Nicholas Markellos | Childhood StudiesAbstract: Over the last fifty years, much research has been conducted indicating the importance of reading to childhood development. Studies have shown that exposure to reading and children’s literature aids with childhood success in early education, as well as social and cultural development. In addition, it has been argued that……
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Uncovering Photoperiodic Regulation Mechanisms in Neurospora crassa
Author: Aleece Siner | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Organisms adapt to seasonal changes driven by Earth’s rotation around the sun, with photoperiod influencing their biological rhythms. While photoperiodism has been more extensively studied in plants, the mechanisms underlying seasonal responses in fungi remain largely unexplored. This study explores novel mechanisms and identifies genetic components involved……
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Understanding DNA Probe Translocation in Solid-State Nanopores
Author: Rahmah Mohammed Imthiyas | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: Solid-state nanopores provide a powerful platform for single-molecule sensing by detecting transient disruptions in ionic current as molecules translocate through nanoscale pores. In this study, we investigate the translocation behavior of a single-stranded DNA probe in a solid-state nanopore system and evaluate how key experimental parameters……
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What Doesn’t Kill Us, Hurts Us Longer: Gun Violence Exposure and Pain in the United States
Author: Les Engels | Prevention ScienceGun violence exposure (GVE) is widely acknowledged as a contributor to psychological harm, but chronic pain has received far less attention despite being a common and serious consequence. This study examines how direct exposures (such as being shot or threatened with a firearm) and indirect exposures (such as hearing gunshots……
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When Clay Curves: Examining Naturally Bending Clay–Agarose Composites
Author: Creston Singer | Computational and Integrative BiologyAbstract: In the field of material design, there is a growing need to develop natural-based materials with enhanced properties such as self-morphing capabilities, commonly dubbed as smart materials. These materials respond to external stimuli by actuating and changing their shape or properties in a predetermined manner. This ability……
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Who Gets the Laugh? Sexual Orientation and Gender Differences in Humor Preferences
Author: Martina Lewis | Psychological Sciences Abstract: Humor plays an important role in social interaction, attraction, and communication, yet relatively little research has examined how sexual orientation may influence humor preferences. Previous studies suggest that individuals tend to show stronger preferences for humor produced by men; however, these findings appear to be largely driven by……
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For questions, contact Assistant Dean Mitch Larson. To learn more, attend the virtual information session or watch this space for a link to the recording if you can’t join live.