Staff Reports
The IUPUC Office of Student Research (OSR) has invited students, faculty, staff, and the public to campus for the past nine years for an exhibition of student research projects. The OSR Director, Dr. Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, had hoped for a special celebration of the 10th anniversary, but the COVID-19 outbreak necessitated a change of plans.
“Ten years is a wonderful milestone for the Office of Student Research. The OSR has found ways to elevate, sustain, and disseminate student research at IUPUC and has transformed campus culture in the process. As a result, students, staff, faculty, and community members look forward to celebrating OSR projects at our annual showcase,” said Goodspeed-Chadwick. “But like so much that has changed this spring, we changed and adapted, and we now are delighted to share our virtual exhibition.”
In past years, students created posters to display their research data and presented that information in a small-group format to attendees. This year, Goodspeed-Chadwick asked the students to record their presentations to be displayed alongside their posters on a web page.
This year’s online exhibition features the work of 22 students and 15 faculty mentors on a total of 15 research projects. Each student-faculty team received a grant from the Office of Student Research to fund their project. To earn a grant, students submitted detailed project proposals, passed a rigorous vetting process by a review committee, and then completed their projects with direction and guidance from a faculty mentor.
Descriptions of the funded projects include:
Cytotoxicity of Chitin from Diverse Sources: Mouse fibroblast cells were grown and sub-cultured. Different sources and concentrations of chitin were applied to the cells to test cellular effects. Using a hemocytometer and automated cell counter, the number of cells were counted after chitin incubation. These numbers were compared to the control plates to look for changes in cell viability after introduction of chitin. — Nicole Bodi (Bargersville)
Comparing Cockroach Species’ Efficiency at Food Recycling: Food scraps, like fruits and vegetables, were collected and distributed evenly among the cockroach species. Food waste was weighed and recorded before entering the cockroach habitats, each species received an equal amount of food. Later, mass of produce consumed was calculated by removing uneaten food or collecting cockroach waste. — Nicole Bodi (Bargersville)
Experiences of Teachers Teaching in a Dual-Language Immersion School: This study examines the perspectives of teachers working in immersion schools. It seeks to surface cultural and linguistic knowledge and insights the teachers are gaining in their roles, as well as their views on what students and families are gaining from their participation in an immersion school. — Sari Brodey (Columbus)
Social Judgments of Point-Light Displays: The high prevalence rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) warrants research on the development of social perception in typical and atypical populations. Participants from IUPUC’s campus first completed two questionnaires examining their potential place on the autism spectrum, and then they watched a series of 75 videos displaying several emotions and body movements and made social judgments of emotionality, personality, and gender for each video. The impact of this study will influence future research examining the development of social perception in children with and without ASD, or at risk of developing ASD. — Victoria Ewing (Seymour)
Bending Stress Analysis of a Wooden Beam with the Construction of the Mohr’s Circle: This project seeks to analyze and demonstrate bending stress in a wooden beam of uniform cross-section and to relate those stresses to principal stresses using Mohr’s Circle. — Ryan Gahimer (Columbus), Zachary Groves (Dillsboro) and Spencer Stephens (Columbus)
Fourth Graders’ Historical Understanding of Diverse Civil War Narratives: This project seeks to better understand children’s ability to engage in interpreting sources in a “journey box” and children’s literature for historical understanding. — Sydney Grieger (Elizabethtown)
Importance of Social Media in Marketing for Businesses: This project highlights the importance and impact of the use of social media for marketing. — Alyssa Henning (Columbus)
Characterization of a Key Acinetobacter baumannii Iron Scavenging Protein: The purpose of this Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) approved project is to characterize the EntA protein from A. baumannii. This will provide a greater understanding of A. baumanniii’s ability to scavenge iron and to assess the potential of targeting the EntA protein with antibiotics. — Ciara Phares (Columbus)
Social Perceptions in Hiring Ex-Offenders: The study explores societal perceptions of redeemability and how they affect the willingness to hire ex-offenders looking for employment. — Shana Pierson (Franklin)
Mechanically robust and conductive fiber material and conductive fiver material based on chitin: This project uses the electrospinner in the chemistry lab to create a flexible electroconductive polymer material. The electrospinner uses high voltages to draw out tiny fibers and produce a matting of these tiny fibers. Cicadas collected by the biology department are used to extract chitin. — Adrienne Shea (Columbus)
Engaging Paper and Digital Children’s Books to Support Student Understanding: This project explores how first grade students comprehended digital and paper texts. — Maycie Asher (Edinburgh), Payten Ewing (Greensurg) and Kayla Pride (Brownstown)
Concept Mapping Ted Hughes’s Birthday Letters: This presentation is the result of a culminating assignment in a unit on Ted Hughes’s poetry collection Birthday Letters in an undergraduate capstone English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies seminar. — Sydney Berman (Seymour), Hanna Hodnett (Columbus), Jessica Hurley (Columbus), Natasha Kever (Columbus), Madeline Robb (Indianapolis)
Qualitative Analysis Healthcare Facilitation in Diagnosed Joint Disease Patients: This project understands that communities around the globe have healthcare facilities that offer various services. This project will be published on OthoIndy’s website blog. — McKenna Whipker (Columbus)
Does the Medicalization of Childbirth and Pregnancy Impact Women’s Experiences?: This research focuses on the research question “Does the medicalization of childbirth and pregnancy impact what women expected to occur and what actually occurred during childbirth and pregnancy?” One-on-one interviews were used to collect women’s narratives and identify primary themes. — Logyn Naylor (Columbus)
Never Settling: A Digital Memoir of the Peripatetic History of Volga Germans in America: Digital memoirist Stevie Jarrett explores her deep legacy as a descendant of Volga Germans living in the United States in the 21st century. She unpacks cultural and historical secrets that have affected her life as an artist, grandchild, and citizen of the world. She captures the stories of a family of multicultural vagabonds, artists, writers, and entrepreneurs. Her poster informs readers of ethnic American ideas beyond the hyphenated German-American. — Stevie Jarrett (Whiteland)
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To learn more about the IUPUC Office of Student Research, and to view this year’s presentations, go to https://iupuc.edu/academics/research/student-research.
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