SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 - Bucknell University
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A VIRTUAL EVENT
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021INTRODUCTION SPRING 2021
Welcome to the twentieth annual Kalman Research Symposium.
An important central element of the Bucknell experience is to offer our students in all disciplines the opportunity to engage
in substantive out-of-the-classroom research and creative projects with faculty. As stated in the mission statement for
Bucknell’s Program for Undergraduate Research, these opportunities allow students and faculty to participate in collaborative
learning processes designed to dissolve the distinction between teaching and research, and to create a community of learners in
which scholarship serves as the basis for teaching and learning.
This symposium showcases the breadth and variety of undergraduate research taking place at Bucknell, as is evidenced by
the abstracts of the projects contained herein. Visitors are encouraged to visit the Kalman Symposium website, containing
students’ posters, slides and recorded presentations, and to attend virtually the live symposium on April 17, 2021 to observe
both the poster and oral presentations, as well as the poster sessions to interact with the student scholars and to learn more
about their work.
This symposium is named in honor of Ernest Kalman, who graduated from Bucknell in 1956. In addition to his service as a
University trustee, Ernie’s generosity to his alma mater has taken many forms, one of which was a significant gift in support
of undergraduate research.
The Kalman Research Symposium features projects sponsored or supported by the following:
n Bobko-Dennis Fund for Undergraduate Student Research
n California Healthcare Undergraduate Research
n Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholarship
n College of Engineering
n Culliton Family Fund for Undergraduate Research
n David Burpee Endowment
n Dean’s Fund for Summer Undergraduate Research in STEM
n Degenstein Foundation ‐ Susquehanna Watershed Aquatic Ecology Research
n Department of Biology
n Department of Biomedical Engineering
n Department of Chemistry
n Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
n Department of Geology & Environmental Geosciences
n Department of Geology & Environmental Geosciences Marchand Fund
n Diane Hymas Undergraduate Research
n Douglas K. Candland Undergraduate Research Fund
n Drs. Anthony and Joyce D. Kales Undergraduate Research Fund
n Emerging Scholars Program
n Fund for Undergraduate Research in Biological and Chemical Sciences
n G
ary A. and Sandra K. Sojka Fund for Research, Teaching and Scholarship in Developmental Disabilities,
Neuroscience & Human Health
n Graduate Summer Research Fellowship
n Grand Challenges Scholars Program
BU C K N E L L U N I VE R SIT Y 1The Kalman Research Symposium features projects sponsored or supported by the following: (continued)
n Harold W. Heine Undergraduate Research Fund in Chemistry
n Helen E. Royer Undergraduate Research Fund
n James L.D. and Rebecca Roser Research Fund
n Joann E. Walthour Undergraduate Research Fund
n John C. Hoover Undergraduate Math Research
n John M. Hustler Undergraduate Research Fund
n Juliet Shield-Taylor Fund for Undergraduate Research
n Kalman Fund for Biomedical Research Fellows
n Kalman Fund for Undergraduate Research in the Sciences
n Leanne Freas Trout Fund for Research and Teaching in French and Francophone Studies
n Manning Intern Botanical Science
n Mayfield and Johnson Scholarship
n Michael Baker Jr. Summer Research Program
n NASA Astrobiology Institute
n National Institutes of Health
n National Program for Playground Safety, University of Northern Iowa
n National Science Foundation Grant (NSF)
n (National Science Foundation) NSF ADVANCE
n Organic Syntheses Summer Research Grant
n PA Wild Resource Conservation Program
n P
IC Math, a Mathematical Association of America (MAA) program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
the National Security Agency (NSA)
n PPL Undergraduate Research Fund
n Presidential Fellowship
n PricewaterhouseCoopers Research Fund
n Program for Undergraduate Research
n Reed-Garman Award Fund for Engineering Entrepreneurship
n Robert P. Vidinghoff Memorial Summer Internship
n Schotz Family Fund
n Scott AE - Research Fund
n Senior Design and Research Sponsorship
n Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research
n Slonaker Fund
n STEM Scholars
n Stephen Glenn Hobar Memorial Research Award
n Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies
n Susquehanna River Research Program - Degenstein Foundation
n Tague Family Fund for Undergraduate Research in Biomedical, Biological and Biochemical Sciences
n The Katherine Mabis McKenna Environmental Internship Program
n The Tom Greaves Fund for Research and Curricular Development
n Thomas Spitzer Undergraduate Research Fund
n Undergraduate Research in Animal Behavior
2 KA LMA N RESEAR C H S Y M PO S I UMAkil Atkins ’22 Weiru Chen ’21 Caroline Eckert ’21, Amber Coleman
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Faculty Mentor: Professor Hava ’21, Alexis Faria ’22, Clara Han ’21,
Dancy, COMPUTER SCIENCE Turkakin, PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY Makenna Luzenski ’23, Lauren Shearer
Funding Source: National Science Funding Source: Undergraduate Research ’22 and Grace Wilder ’21
Foundation Grant (NSF) Advisory Council Faculty Mentor: Professor Chris
Catch The Pig! Understanding Investigations of Kelvin- Boyatzis, PSYCHOLOGY
the Interaction Between Helmholtz Instability (KHI) and Funding Source: Program for
People and AI Associated Magnetosonic Wave Undergraduate Research
Emission in the Solar Corona: Native Danish Mother’s
Genevieve Block ’22 New Impacts on Coronal Intersection Between
Faculty Mentor: Professor Shaunna Heating Parenting Approach and
Barnhart, GEOGRAPHY Religion
Funding Source: American Association of Ian Coates ’21
Geographers Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth Kyle Ferguson ’21
Homelessness Awareness and Mineart, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Faculty Mentor: Professor Thomas
Response in Shamokin, PA Funding Source: College of Engineering; Solomon, PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
National Science Foundation Grant (NSF) Funding Source: NSF Grant DMR-
Emily Brandes ’21 Assessing the Impact of Block- 1806355, NSF Grant CMMI-1825379
Faculty Mentor: Professor Scott Meinke, Selective Homopolymers Noise-Driven Aggregation of
POLITICAL SCIENCE on the Diffusion of Payload Swimmers in the Kolmogorov
Funding Source: Honors Thesis in Through Polymeric Organogels Flow
Political Science
Julian Cohen ’21
To Believe or Not to Believe: A Mackenzie Flynn and
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher
Closer Look at the Impact of Bree McCullough ’22
Daniel, GEOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL
Sexual Assault in Politics Faculty Mentor: Professor Ben
GEOSCIENCES Hayes, WATERSHED SCIENCES AND
Funding Source: Program for
Ryan Bremer ’22 ENGINEERING PROGRAM
Undergraduate Research
Faculty Mentor: Professor Ken Funding Source: United States Forest
Eisenstein, English - Film/Media Studies Determining the Metamorphic Service
Funding Source: Dalal Innovation and Conditions of ca 1.4 Ga Rocks Little Arnot Run: An Evaluation
Creativity Grant for Student-Faculty from the Sierra Estrella of Groundwater-Surface Water
Collaboration Mountains, Arizona USA: Interactions with Regard
Brakhage’s Adjacents An Application of Raman to Hyporheic Exchange and
Thermobarometry Temperature
Ella Carlander ‘22 and Michael Duncan ’23 Maya Freeman ’23
Michael Bolish ‘23 Faculty Mentor: Professor Douglas Faculty Mentor: Professor Cecilia Bove,
Faculty Mentor: Professor Katharina Collins, CHEMISTRY BIOLOGY
Vollmayr-Lee, PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY Funding Source: Presidential Fellowship Funding Source: Department of Biology
Funding Source: National Science Gas-Phase Chemical Ionization
Foundation Grant (NSF)
Fluoroquinolone-based
Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry Therapy and Onset of
Computer Simulations of
Granular Media Functional Gastrointestinal
Olivia Dyer ’22
Disorders in Human Subjects
Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin
Edward Chen ’22 Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Keith Grega ’21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Joshua Funding Source: The John P. & Mary Jane Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin
Stough, COMPUTER SCIENCE Swanson Professorship in Engineering & Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Funding Source: Ciffolillo Healthcare the Sciences Funding Source: Bucknell-Geisinger
Technology Inventors Program Visual and Mechanical Research Initiative
Assessing the Generalizability Characterization of the Muscle
of Temporally Coherent Impact of Screw Type on
to Aponeurosis Junction Torque During SCFE Screw
Echocardiography Video
Segmentation Removal
Gari Eberly ’21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Katherine Jacob Feuerstein ’22
Hays, ENGLISH; CREATIVE WRITING Faculty Mentor: N/A
Funding Source: N/A Funding Source: N/A
Synthesis The Choppy Purple Surf:
Understanding the 2020
Election in Rural Pennsylvania
BU C K N E L L U N I VE R SIT Y 3Emily Haas ’21 Ariel Kelly ’2022 Lainey Lavelle ’22
Faculty Mentor: Professor Faculty Mentor: Professor Mihai Faculty Mentor: Professor Lara Dick,
Ellen Chamberlin, GEOLOGY & Banciu, ANALYTICS & OPERATIONS MATHEMATICS
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCES MANAGEMENT Funding Source: James L.D. and
Funding Source: Kalman Fund for Funding Source: Program for Rebecca Roser Research Fund
Undergraduate Research in the Sciences
Undergraduate Research A Study of Teacherpreneurs
Evaluating the Impact
Does Global Trade Help or Who Create Elementary
of Stream Restoration
Techniques on Bank Erosion, Hinder Economic Inequality? Mathematics
Stream Morphology, and Curricular Resources
Soil Carbon at an Unnamed Taiba Khan ’22
Tributary of Pine Creek Faculty Mentor: Professor Benowitz-
Camillo Lazarczyk and Simon Behr ’21
near Woodward, central Fredericks, BIOLOGY
Faculty Mentor: Professor Vivienne
Pennsylvania Wildes, MANAGEMENT
Funding Source: Department of Biology
Funding Source: Senior Design and
Relationship between
Jeffrey Heim ’21 Research Sponsorship; Conducted within
aggression, body condition,
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher a class for the College of Management
and parental feeding in
Martine, BIOLOGY using Qualtrics and with the support
chicks of the seabird species
Funding Source: Department of Biology; of Vivienne Wildes of the College of
Black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa
Program for Undergraduate Research Management, and Agnes Jasinska of
tridactyla)
A Population Genomics Bertrand Library’s Research Help
Approach to Understanding
Shane Kozick ’23 Reducing Food Waste In
the Role of Indigenous
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Vanessa Troiani, The Restaurant Industry
Foragers in the Distribution
(ADMI lab director), NEUROSCIENCE
and Genetic Diversity of an
Funding Source: Summer Autism Jaden Lee ’22
Australian Wild Bush Tomato
and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin
(Solanum diversflorum)
Internship (SANDI) Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Measuring Concordance of Funding Source: John P and Mary Jane
Cameron Hong ’21
Subtype Sulcogyral Patterns Swanson Professorship in Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth
in Monozygotic and Dizygotic & the Sciences
Mineart, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Twin Pairs Using Finite Element
Funding Source: National Science
Klaudia Kulawska ’21
Modeling to Investigate the
Foundation Grant (NSF)
Effect of Mechanical Loading
Assessing Solvent Viscosity Faculty Mentor: Professor Judith Grisel,
on Muscle Extracellular
Impact on the Physical PSYCHOLOGY
Matrix Microstructure
Characteristics of Polymeric Funding Source: N/A
Organogels The Implications of Kaelyn Long ’21
Socioeconomic Status on Faculty Mentor: Professor Lara Dick,
April Hurlock ’23 Maternal Language Input and EDUCATION; MATHEMATICS
Faculty Mentor: Professor Douglas Child Language Outcomes Funding Source: Research was for
Collins, CHEMISTRY course credit
Funding Source: STEM Scholars; Alfred Wutt Hmone Thin Kyi ’22
My Experiences Re-immersing
P. Sloan Foundation - Chemistry of Faculty Mentor: Professor Karlo
into “Introduction to
Indoor Environments Malaga, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Mathematical Thought”
Effect of Self-Oxidation on Funding Source: Program for
Deposited Cigarette Smoke Undergraduate Research 2020
Catherine MacKay and
Composition and Third-Hand Effect of White Matter Brooke Echnat ’21
Smoke Stimulation on Clinical Faculty Mentor: Professor Anjalee
Outcomes in Thalamic Hutchinson; Professor Bryan
Valerie Justice ’21 Deep Brain Stimulation for Vandevender, THEATRE & DANCE
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Essential Tremor Funding Source: Bucknell Department
Daniel, GEOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL of Theatre and Dance
GEOSCIENCES The Show Must Go On!
Funding Source: Department of
Geology & Environmental Geosciences
U-Pb Isotope Dating of
Monazite in the Sierra Estrella
Mountains of Arizona: Evidence
for ca. 1.4 Ga Metamorphism
and Deformation
4 KA LMA N RESEAR C H S Y M PO S I UMMargaret Anne MacNeille ’21 Nicholas Passantino ’21 Ben Travis ’22
Faculty Mentor: Professor Lara Dick, Faculty Mentor: Professor Joshua Faculty Mentor: Professor Mark
MATHEMATICS Stough, COMPUTER SCIENCE Haussmann; Dr. James Greenberg,
Funding Source: Helen E. Royer Funding Source: Presidential Fellowship BIOLOGY; Chief of Gynecology, Brigham
Undergraduate Research Fund Domain Adaptation in Machine and Women’s Faulkner Hospital - Associate
What’s Out There? Learning for Medical Imaging Professor, Harvard Medical School
Investigating Online Teacher Funding Source: Bucknell Public Interest
Created Activities Lucas Rankin, Graduate Student Program Fund
Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth A Comparison of Estimated
Claire Marino ’23 Mineart, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING and Quantitative Blood Loss in
Faculty Mentors: Professor Christopher Funding Source: National Science Childbirth, and Investigation
Martine; Dr. Tanisha Williams, BIOLOGY Foundation Grant (NSF) of Risk Factors for Postpartum
Funding Source: David Burpee Establishing the Independent Hemorrhages
Endowment; Department of Biology Tunability of the Mechanical
Solanum “Deaf Adder” a New and Transport Properties of Emily Tully ’21
Bush Tomato Species from the Polymer Gels Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin
Australian Monsoon Tropics Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Coco Sachs ’21 and Lily Shorney ’22 Funding Source: Engineering Data
Thomas Matsumura ’22 Faculty Mentor: Professor Chris Generation Grant
Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin Boyatzis, PSYCHOLOGY Location Dependent
Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Funding Source: N/A Mechanical Behavior of
Funding Source: Bucknell-Geisinger The Psychological Impact of Aponeurosis Tissue Under
Research Initiative COVID-19 and Social Distancing Uniaxial Tensile Stretch
Measuring Lower Limb Muscle
Activity and Kinematics in Jake Schaefer ’24 Anurag Vaidya ’21
Variable Foot Strike Gaits Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin Faculty Mentor: Professor Joshua
Wheatley, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Stough; Professor Benjamin Wheatley,
John Mirsky ’23 Funding Source: John P and Mary Jane COMPUTER SCIENCE; MECHANICAL
Faculty Mentor: Professor David Rojas, Swanson Professorship in Engineering & ENGINEERING
LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES; SOCIOLOGY & the Sciences Funding Source: Presidential
ANTHROPOLOGY The Mechanical Properties of Fellowship
Funding Source: Douglas K. Ramming Animal Horn Shapes Perceptually Improved
Candland Undergraduate Research Medical Image Translations
Fund;Presidential Fellowship Bryan Scutari ’23 Using Conditional Generative
Housing Illness in a PA Faculty Mentor: Professor Tom Adversarial Networks
Mushroom Town Geurts, ACCOUNTING & FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT Ruoying Zhang ’21
Philip Onffroy ’22 Funding Source: IMA Research Faculty Mentor: Professor Jasmine
Faculty Mentor: Professor Katsuyuki Foundation Mena, PSYCHOLOGY
Wakabayashi, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING The Financial Impact of an Funding Source: Program for
Funding Source: College of Engineering; ISO14001 Certification Undergraduate Research
Presidential Fellowship Chinese International Students
Ray’cycle Initiative: Julia Tokish ’22
in the US: The Influence of
Characterizing Faculty Mentor: Professor Meenakshi
Discrimination, Acculturation
and Productizing Community- Ponnuswami, ENGLISH
and Coping on Psychological
Sourced Funding Source: Presidential Fellowship
Wellbeing
Plastic Waste Uncovering South Asian-
Diamanda Zizis ’23
Anthony Orlando ’24
American Playwrights
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher
Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth Martine, BIOLOGY
Tung Tran ’23
Mineart, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Funding Source: David Burpee
Faculty Mentor: Professor Joshua
Funding Source: Presidential Fellowship Endowment;Presidential Fellowship
Stough, COMPUTER SCIENCE
Mechanical Testing of Wax- What Happens When you Cross
Funding Source: HTIP
based Polymer Gels Plant Species with Two Distinct
Bayesian Optimization
for 2D Echocardiography Sexual Systems?: An Ex Situ
Segmentation Hybridization Approach
BU C K N E L L U N I VE R SIT Y 5Akil Atkins ’22 Emily Brandes ’21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Dancy, Faculty Mentor: Professor Scott Meinke, POLITICAL
COMPUTER SCIENCE SCIENCE
Funding Source: National Science Foundation Grant (NSF) Funding Source: Honors Thesis in Political Science
Catch The Pig! Understanding the To Believe or Not to Believe: A Closer Look
Interaction Between People and AI at the Impact of Sexual Assault in Politics
Our study sought to investigate the ways in which Since the viral 2017 #MeToo movement, public
people would interact with an AI Agent, based on opinion on cases of sexual misconduct have been
how the agent was racialized. To investigate this shaped by the mainstream media coverage of high
we modeled a game after the stag hunt task, where profile stories. A changed culture has allowed more
participants were tasked with gaining as many points victims to come forward and share their stories, many
as possible. Participants could gain points by either detailing harrowing events perpetrated by successful
cooperating with an AI agent to capture a pink game businessmen and politicians. Credible accusations
piece, which represented a pig or exiting the game continue to come forward, and while some end in legal
through the black squares on either side of the board. action, many do not, and perpetrators face little to no
The study was a true experiment in which participants consequences. I examined how individuals respond
were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. to issues of sexual misconduct and assault in politics,
Participants were either assigned to a condition and based on the severity of the accusation, how they
where the AI was racialized as Black, where the AI respond. Through my survey data research, I was able
was racialized as white, or a condition where the AI to isolate responses to see the influence that party
wasn’t racialized at all, which represented the control affiliation and gender have on individuals opinion
condition. After completing the game participants formation. The research reflects a consistent partisan
were asked three survey questions to assess how they difference between Republicans and Democrats in
perceived the AI’s strategy when playing the game. terms of reaction, with Democrats consistently being in
So far our results have shown that participants in the favor of harsher consequences, both when Democratic,
control condition were more likely to believe the AI was and Republican perpetrators are involved. These
working with them to capture the pig than participants responses indicate a strong partisan bias in individuals,
in both the Black and white treatment groups. and additionally I found that when a history of sexual
Moreover, the participants in the white treatment misconduct was present, individuals also reacted more
group were more likely than those in the Black harshly as opposed to politicians with no history.
treatment group to believe the AI agent was working
them to capture the pig. The results do suggest that
there is a relationship between the racialization of AI Ryan Bremer ’22
and how people interact with AI Agents. Faculty Mentor: Professor Ken Eisenstein, English -
Film/Media Studies
Funding Source: Dalal Innovation and Creativity Grant
Genevieve Block ’22 for Student-Faculty Collaboration
Faculty Mentor: Professor Shaunna Barnhart,
GEOGRAPHY Brakhage’s Adjacents
Funding Source: American Association of Geographers The goal of Brakhage’s Adjacents is to better
understand the working methods and aesthetic
Homelessness Awareness and Response
decision making of the avant-garde filmmaker Stan
in Shamokin, PA
Brakhage (1933-2003). By focusing upon his use of
This semester, I am participating in a research
montage (the complex way in which he combined
internship studying homelessness in Shamokin, PA. I
shots in his non-narrative and almost entirely silent
am working to understand the rise of homelessness
16mm films), we learn more about Brakhage’s editing
in the area and the resources that need to be created
habits as well as the messaging behind these very
to support this population. The research internship
challenging films. This is done by viewing splice-
will culminate in a list of suggestions to the local PA
adjacent frames on an actual film strip, showing
government with ideas to support homeless people
the literal cuts that were made when the films were
and help to alleviate poverty.
produced decades ago. Brakhage’s Adjacents draws
from wider histories of narrative filmic editing [notably
the advanced montage ideas of Sergei Eisenstein
(1898-1948)] while adapting these notions to the
under-realized realm of avant-garde cinema.
6 KA LMA N RESEAR C H S Y M PO S I UMElla Carlander ‘22 and Michael Bolish ‘23 only for left ventricle endocardium, this effort extends
Faculty Mentor: Professor Katharina Vollmayr-Lee, at little cost generalizable, multi-structure video
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY segmentation to a large clinical dataset.
Funding Source: National Science Foundation Grant (NSF)
Computer Simulations of Granular Media Weiru Chen ’21
We will summarize the research we conducted under Faculty Mentor: Professor Hava Turkakin, PHYSICS &
Katharina Vollmayr-Lee this past summer in the ASTRONOMY
field of Granular Media. We built, ran, and analyzed Funding Source: Undergraduate Research Advisory Council
molecular-dynamics simulations that modeled the
Investigations of Kelvin-Helmholtz
behavior of this compelling type of material. Our talk
Instability (KHI) and Associated
will give a brief definition of Granular Media, explain
Magnetosonic Wave Emission in the Solar
the tools we used to build our simulations, display
Corona: New Impacts on Coronal Heating
some results, and justify why research in this field is
Previous studies have observed that Kelvin-Helmholtz
relevant and important.
Instability (KHI) and Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
wave emissions along various shear flow boundaries
in Solar-Terrestrial environment may transport
Edward Chen ’22 energy between different regions of the sun. We
Faculty Mentor: Professor Joshua Stough, COMPUTER
expand upon these previous studies to investigate
SCIENCE
the nonlinear evolution of KHI and MHD waves along
Funding Source: Ciffolillo Healthcare Technology
the boundaries of coronal mass ejections (CMEs),
Inventors Program
large eruptions of the corona that have a significant
effect on satellites, earth’s power grids, and humans
Assessing the Generalizability of in space. We measure the strength of KHI growth and
Temporally Coherent Echocardiography MHD wave emission, and the efficiency of energy
Video Segmentation transportation by these MHD waves using 2-D/3-D
Existing deep-learning methods achieve state-of-art
magnetohydrodynamic modeling software in order
segmentation of multiple heart substructures from
to first, identify KHI growth, and second, calculate the
2D echocardiography videos, an important step in the
strength of the energy that these waves transport
diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease.
to the solar corona. The code we use is component-
However, these methods generally perform frame-
based parallel computer code written in Fortran90 and
level segmentation, ignoring the temporal coherence
C programming languages. Our preliminary results
in heart motion between frames, which is a useful
demonstrate KHI and wave emission development
signal in clinical protocols. In this work, we implement
along the boundary over time, showing that in real
temporally consistent video segmentation, which
life conditions along the CME boundary, KHI and MHD
has recently been shown to improve performance
emission is possible.
on the multi-structure annotated CAMUS dataset.
We show that data augmentation further improves
results, which are consistent with prior state-of-art Ian Coates ’21
works. Our 10-fold cross-validation shows that video Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth Mineart,
segmentation improves the automatic comparison to CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
clinical indices including smaller mean absolute errors Funding Source: College of Engineering; National Science
for left ventricular end-diastolic volume (8.7 mL vs Foundation Grant (NSF)
9.9 mL), end-systolic volume (6.3 mL vs 6.6 mL), and
ejection fraction (EF) (4.6% vs 5.3%). In segmenting key Assessing the Impact of Block-Selective
cardiac structures, video segmentation achieves mean Homopolymers on the Diffusion of
Dice overlap of 0.93 on left ventricular endocardium, Payload Through Polymeric Organogels
0.95 on left ventricular epicardium, and 0.88 on The goal of this project is to investigate the impact of
left atrium. To assess clinical generalizability, we a gel-miscible polymer additive on gel nanostructure,
further apply the CAMUS-trained video segmentation gel mechanical behavior, and sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)
models, without tuning, to a larger, recently published sulfosuccinate (AOT) release rate. Characterizing gels’
EchoNet-Dynamic clinical dataset. On 1274 patients in mechanical behavior and release of AOT through these
the test set, we obtain absolute errors of 6:3% ± 5:4 in gels will benefit future applications like transdermal
EF, confirming the reliability of this scheme. In that the drug delivery through informed structure-property
EchoNet-Dynamic videos contain limited annotation (i.e., nanostructure-diffusion) relationships. Previous
work in our group has shown that gel nanostructure
BU C K N E L L U N I VE R SIT Y 7is tuned by varying the amount of gel-forming SEBS
copolymer. The purpose of this project is to further Previously reported zircon ages for the area suggest
investigate methods of gel nanostructure tuning by partial melting near 1.4 Ga (Meijer, 2019). The
identifying the impact of a discrete phase-selective timing and P-T conditions of metamorphism in the
polymer on organogel properties. Specifically, the Sierra Estrella mountains are similar to high-grade
impact of additive polymer concentration of gel metamorphic rocks in northern New Mexico and
nanostructure, mechanical response, and diffusivity southern Colorado; these rocks likely represent the
will be studied. The current work uses Fourier- southwestern extension of the Picuris orogenic belt
transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to track
changes in gel AOT concentration over time for gels
with ranging homopolymer concentrations. The Jacob Feuerstein ’22
acquired data is modeled using Fick’s laws to yield Faculty Mentor: N/A
a diffusion coefficient for each gel formulation. We Funding Source: N/A
hypothesize that the aforementioned nanostructure
trends are the culprit for our observation that The Choppy Purple Surf: Understanding
diffusion of AOT decreases with increasing polystyrene the 2020 Election in Rural Pennsylvania
additive polymer concentration. Understanding these The 2020 election was a point of inflection for
relationships will provide key insight for biomedical Democratic candidates across the United States.
and agricultural payload delivery applications. Securing tossup states like Pennsylvania and Arizona
along with parts of the industrial Midwest, the
performance of Joe Biden and other down ballot
Julian Cohen ’21 candidates raises serious questions about the future
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Daniel, of the Democratic Party. In particular, the geographic
GEOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCES distribution of voters in the 2020 election surprised
Funding Source: Program for Undergraduate Research many in election-watching circles.
Determining the Metamorphic Conditions While many have analyzed Biden’s over-performance
of ca 1.4 Ga Rocks from the Sierra Estrella in suburbia and underperformance with Hispanics
Mountains, Arizona USA: An Application of in Texas and Florida, few have attempted to break
Raman Thermobarometry down the results of the election in rural Pennsylvania.
Meijer (2019) reported what is likely the first known Because it is at such a unique intersection of the class,
occurrence of Mesoproterozoic granulite facies rocks race, and conservative-liberal divide, understanding
in Arizona. However, the temperatures and pressures the rural election results is crucial to developing
of metamorphism are unknown. To better constrain strategies for improving Democratic performance in
the conditions of metamorphism, metapelitic rocks the Midwest and South.
were collected from the north end of the Sierra
Estrella mountain range and are characterized by As the Campaign Manager for a Democrat in 85th
Grt-Bt-Pl-Qtz-Ky-Sil with significant retrograde Ms- District of Pennsylvania (Lewisburg, Selinsgrove,
Chl-Ep, and Grt-Bt-Pl-Qtz-Ky-Sil-Kfs with very little Mifflinburg), I had the opportunity to interact with
retrograde overprint. Preliminary thermodynamic thousands of voters and develop strategies to improve
modeling of these two samples was performed with outcomes in a R +32 district. The statewide data tells
Theriak- Domino and the H&P-98 data set. The Sil us that the 2020 election in Pennsylvania was, as
inclusions within Grt suggest Sil growth possibly local organizer Jordi Comas coined, an example of the
during subsolidus St-breakdown or Ms-melting in “choppy purple surf.” In other words, the Republican
both samples. The presence of Ky bearing melt turnout was unusually large, but slightly over-crested
textures in both samples may reflect prograde growth by Democratic voter turnout.
of Ky from Ms- or Bt-melting suggesting minimum
PT conditions > 7.5 kbar and > 700 °C. A significant I will review the results of the election for my campaign
amount of retrograde Ms in sample implies in-situ in both a historical and geographical context and
melt crystallization during retrograde cooling. answer the question, “How did the ‘choppy purple surf’
To further constrain pressures of metamorphism, play out in the the 85th District and other parts of rural
Raman spectroscopy was employed to measure peak Pennsylvania?”
positions of quartz inclusions in garnet (QuiG). The
results of this work show peak shifts ranging from 0 to
-0.1 cm-1. This equates to metamorphic pressures of
8-9 kbar at about 750-800 °C.
8 KA LMA N RESEAR C H S Y M PO S I UMMichael Duncan ’23 tendon and muscle fibers interact with one another
Faculty Mentor: Professor Douglas Collins, CHEMISTRY in the transition zone. It has been observed that there
Funding Source: Presidential Fellowship is a non-uniform strain placed on the aponeurosis,
and so imaging of the tissue will reveal how force
Gas-Phase Chemical Ionization Orbitrap affects the alignment of the collagen fibers found
Mass Spectrometry in aponeurosis tissue. Examining how the waviness
The most common method of analysis for trace gases of collagen fibers changes as the tissue is placed
in air employs chemical ionization time of flight mass under force will allow for better understanding of the
spectrometry (CI-TOF-MS). Transportable CI-TOF- material and structural properties of aponeurosis
MS instruments have relatively low mass resolving tissue. Evaluating these characteristics will help us
power (m/Δm < 10,000), meaning it is difficult to better understand how damages to the tissues occur,
distinguish molecules with the same integer mass, how those damages can be repaired and rehabilitated,
but with different elemental composition. Orbitrap and how to properly develop computer models of the
mass spectrometry, however, can routinely achieve musculoskeletal system. Sample images using the SEM
resolving powers > 50,000, allowing for the exact have been taken to develop a general understanding
monoisotopic mass to be determined. However, of aponeurosis morphology.
Orbitrap instruments are most commonly designed
to analyze sprayed liquid samples. Atmospheric
chemists commonly need to analyze the molecular
Gari Eberly ’21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Katherine Hays, ENGLISH;
composition of gases that include a variety of large
CREATIVE WRITING
organic molecules that have similar mass to charge
Funding Source: N/A
ratios as one another, making it difficult to accurately
identify them using a CI-TOF-MS. This project set
out to design an chemical ionization apparatus for
Synthesis
Synthesis is a collection of poetry that explores how
Orbitrap mass spectrometry and allow for the analysis
gender relations and race amalgamate to impact
of gaseous samples. The design has been focused
the maturation of an individual. These poems are
around low costs, modularity, and adaptability, all in
scientifically-aware and influenced by my concurrent
order to keep the horizon of users and use cases as
education in both Creative Writing and Biomedical
broad as possible. Analyte ions will be formed by ion-
Engineering. For the past four years, I have sought
molecule reactions within a cone-shaped flow reactor.
to bridge the gap between my two academic
Reagent ions will be supplied to the ion-molecule
commitments: poetry and science. Both poetry and
reactor using a continuous soft x-ray photoionization
science exist as a means to ask and answer questions
process. Computer-aided design in Solidworks along
about the messy interactions that shape personalities
with rapid prototyping with 3D-printing has allowed
and relations with the broader world. To be successful,
for conceptualization, realization, and testing of key
both tools require dedication to detail, creativity, and
components before fabrication. The first machined
exploration. On the page, poets mold language to reveal
prototype is the next major step which will provide the
startling truths about how we engage with the world.
opportunity to test the concept.
In a lab, engineers leverage scientific theories to build
technological innovations. Despite these similarities,
Olivia Dyer ’22 I have noticed that interactions between poetry and
Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin Wheatley, science remain faint: a missed connection at the train
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING station, an asymptote that never opens its mouth.
Funding Source: The John P. & Mary Jane Swanson Through this collection, I instead seek to converge these
Professorship in Engineering & the Sciences two disciplines at a single point by melding personal
experience with scientific observations, as explored
Visual and Mechanical Characterization of through a variety of poetic forms.
the Muscle to Aponeurosis Junction
Aponeurosis is a tendinous sheath-like tissue found
in many muscle-tendon units, and the muscle-
aponeurosis junction is poorly understood. We want to
determine the structure of the transition from muscle
to aponeurosis and how it may be similar or different
from the myotendinous junction. Imaging and visually
characterizing the muscle-aponeurosis junction using
SEM imaging of tissue samples will show how the
BU C K N E L L U N I VE R SIT Y 9Caroline Eckert ’21, Amber Coleman ’21, Alexis swimmer aggregation in low-shear regions of the flow
Faria ’22, Clara Han ’21, Makenna Luzenski ’23, to aggregation in high-shear regions as the parameters
Lauren Shearer ’22 and Grace Wilder ’21 are varied. We find that rotational diffusion tends to
Faculty Mentor: Professor Chris Boyatzis, drive swimmers into certain parts of phase space.
PSYCHOLOGY We characterize the dependence of this noise-driven
Funding Source: Program for Undergraduate Research phase-space aggregation on a swimmer’s speed,
aspect ratio, and rotational diffusivity. The properties
Native Danish Mother’s Intersection of the swimmer trajectories with noise explain the
Between Parenting Approach and Religion transition from high-shear to low-shear aggregation. (KS
This study investigated Danish mothers’ beliefs about Ferguson, SA Berman, KA Mitchell, TS Solomon, 2020)
parenting and the role of religion in family practices
and discussions. Denmark is famous as one of the
most secular nations in the world (Zuckerman, 2008), Mackenzie Flynn and Bree McCullough ’22
yet religion is, perhaps surprisingly, a component of Faculty Mentor: Professor Ben Hayes, WATERSHED
family discussion, especially about death and morality SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING PROGRAM
(Zajac & Boyatzis, 2020). In this study, 15 native Funding Source: United States Forest Service
Danish mothers, all fluent in English with at least one
child between ages of 4 and 14, were interviewed Little Arnot Run: An Evaluation of
about mothers’ religious beliefs and how they were Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions
incorporated into family discourse and practices, with Regard to Hyporheic Exchange and
especially on issues of morality, religious holidays, Temperature
death, and the afterlife. Transcripts are being coded Little Arnot Run is a second-order stream in the
by a team creating a coding system using inductive Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania that has
and deductive thematic analysis. Team members been historically altered by logging and oil and
individually analyzed transcripts and then met to natural gas wells. In many areas, the stream was
work toward a shared coding system for interpreting dredged, straightened, and converted to a narrow,
themes in the mothers’ views. Coding is in progress, deep, single-thread channel, which continues to be
with these preliminary themes: mothers’ respect disconnected from the floodplain. This project is part
for children’s autonomous beliefs (i.e., reluctance to of a larger stream restoration study by the United
impose their own beliefs), promotion of the child’s States Forest Service (USFS) and Bucknell University
character, tolerance for diverse religions (and mothers’ currently underway working to characterize the factors
lack of strong commitment to any one faith), mothers’ controlling geomorphic processes operating within the
ongoing reflection and growth, and concern for watershed in order to direct restoration activities set
children’s age-appropriate exposure. Preliminary to take place later in the year. Our preliminary analysis
analyses suggest Danish mothers have a distinctive of groundwater piezometers, stream temperature
orientation to the role of religion in the family, one gauge station data, and weather station data suggests
quite disparate from most American families (Boyatzis significant hyporheic exchange to the channel. We are
et al., 2015). currently assessing both shallow and alluvial aquifers
as well as in deeper sections of the stream in order
to quantify groundwater-surface water exchange and
Kyle Ferguson ’21 potential for reconnecting abandoned side channels
Faculty Mentor: Professor Thomas Solomon, PHYSICS and vernal pools on the floodplain. We will be using
& ASTRONOMY precipitation to look at the rate and direction of the
Funding Source: NSF Grant DMR-1806355, NSF Grant hydrostatic driven hyporheic exchange caused, in part,
CMMI-1825379 by changes in the ground and surface water elevation
and analyzing variations in temperature throughout
Noise-Driven Aggregation of Swimmers in the system.
the Kolmogorov Flow
We investigate theoretically the dynamics of ellipsoidal
microswimmers in an externally imposed, laminar
Kolmogorov flow. Through a phase-space analysis of
the dynamics without noise, we find that swimmers
favor either cross-stream or rotational drift, depending
on their swimming speed and aspect ratio. When
including noise, i.e. rotational diffusion, Langevin
simulations of our model show a transition from
10 KALMAN RE S EA R C H S Y M PO S I UMMaya Freeman ’23 prevent further deformity during adolescence. The
Faculty Mentor: Professor Cecilia Bove, BIOLOGY topic of screw removal is quite controversial. If the
Funding Source: Department of Biology screws are left in the patient, there is the potential that
fractures may occur later in life due to stress risers, yet
Fluoroquinolone-based Therapy and screw removal requires a second surgical operation. In
Onset of Functional Gastrointestinal addition, there is no standard screw that is used for the
Disorders in Human Subjects procedure. Different physicians prefer various types of
Fluoroquinolones (FQs) are a broad class of antibiotics screws including titanium vs. non-titanium, cannulated
typically prescribed for several infectious diseases, vs. non-cannulated and threaded vs. partially-threaded.
including common infections for which the use of FQs Therefore, the purpose of this research project is to
is discouraged. Indeed, the FDA has proposed the determine the amount of torque required to remove
existence of a permanent disability (Fluoroquinolone various types of orthopaedic screws after closure of the
Associated Disability; FQAD), which, despite being physis. This analysis will quantify how various screws
fairly common after FQs use, has yet to be formally perform during screw removal and provide insight into
recognized by healthcare professionals worldwide. tissue damage that may occur due to screw removal.
Previous studies suggest that FQs act as selective The ultimate goal of this study is to determine the
inhibitors of GABAA receptors, preventing the binding optimal screw to use during the procedure that will
of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the central cause the least amount of damage after bone growth
nervous system. GABA is a key regulator of the neural has occurred around the screw.
circuit regulating gastrointestinal function. In order to
assess whether there is a correlation between the use
of FQs and the onset of functional gastrointestinal (GI) Emily Haas ’21
disorders, a questionnaire was sent to 367 individuals Faculty Mentor: Professor Ellen Chamberlin, GEOLOGY
who were prescribed FQs addressing their gut health & ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCES
in the last year. Survey participants were divided Funding Source: Kalman Fund for Undergraduate
into three groups based on the type of FQ they were Research in the Sciences
prescribed. Chi-square analysis revealed that while all
participants had a significant degree of functional GI Evaluating the Impact of Stream
disorder, certain FQs are associated with more severe Restoration Techniques on Bank Erosion,
and more frequent gastric pain, difficulty producing Stream Morphology, and Soil Carbon at
a bowel movement and harder stools. Lastly, a an Unnamed Tributary of Pine Creek near
significant portion of respondents also reported Woodward, central Pennsylvania
frequent swelling or bloating. In conclusion, these Live staking is a stream restoration technique in
data indicated that permanent functional GI disorders which live cuttings and stems taken from native
may present after FQs administration, and that certain species of trees and shrubs are placed into stream
FQs produce more severe symptoms than others. Our banks, eventually growing into new plants which aids
study highlights the need to revisit current guidelines in riverbank protection by increasing soil cohesion.
for the administration of FQs for individuals already Because of the growing use of live staking in stream
potentially at risk to develop functional GI disorders. restorations, there is a growing need for research
on the link between live staking and geomorphic
resiliency. Here we investigate the impact of live
staking on bank erosion, stream morphology, and soil
Keith Grega ’21 carbon (SC) at an unnamed tributary of Pine Creek
Faculty Mentor: Professor Benjamin Wheatley, near Woodward, Pennsylvania.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Funding Source: Bucknell-Geisinger Research Initiative In this study, we collected baseline data for a long-
term study of the impact of live stakes on the
Impact of Screw Type on Torque During floodplain and channel geomorphology, and we
SCFE Screw Removal investigated the baseline SC distribution. Preliminary
Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) is a disorder results from stream channel surveying indicate
that occurs in adolescents in which the femoral head undercut banks, channelization, very low stream
slips with respect to the femoral neck. SCFE can lead velocity, and silt and clay on the stream bed.
to abnormal hip mechanics which may result in the Throughout the field site, the soils are silty loams
need for realignment of the femoral head through with thin O-horizons and some local variability within
surgery. Percutaneous in situ fixation is the most transects. SC analysis shows carbon values between
common treatment for SCFE, where the femoral head 0.36% and 3.32%, which is low for the expected
is realigned on the neck through screw insertion to
BU C K N E L L U N IVE R SIT Y 11range of SC for degraded floodplain soils in this Cameron Hong ’21
environment. We predict that in future years, as the Faculty Mentor: Professor Kenneth Mineart,
live stakes vegetate the stream banks at this site, there CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
will be an increase in soil carbon, changes in stream Funding Source: National Science Foundation Grant (NSF)
bed character and channel sinuosity, and more soil
variability. Assessing Solvent Viscosity Impact
on the Physical Characteristics of
Polymeric Organogels
Jeffrey Heim ’21 Traditionally, studies of polymeric organogels focus on
Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Martine, the impact of polymer factors on the gels’ mechanical
BIOLOGY and transport properties. Alternatively, this study
Funding Source: Department of Biology; Program for seeks to assess the impact of altering solvent viscosity,
Undergraduate Research while holding polymer factors constant. The gels
in this study were composed of styrene-ethylene-
A Population Genomics Approach to butylene-styrene (SEBS) triblock copolymer, oleic acid
Understanding the Role of Indigenous (OA), and mineral oil. Samples were formulated at
Foragers in the Distribution and Genetic 10, 20, and 30 wt% SEBS copolymer for each mineral
Diversity of an Australian Wild Bush oil, varying in viscosity from ~30 mPa*s to ~500
Tomato (Solanum diversflorum) mPa*s. Uniaxial mechanical testing was performed to
The Indigenous foragers of Australia’s Western Desert, determine Gc, the contributions of physical crosslinks,
known as the Martu people, have a rich and deep i.e., micelles, to stress, and Ge, the contributions of
connection to the landscape that is evident through chain entanglements to stress. Modeling the data
their culturally significant pathways of movement. from these experiments showed that Gc and Ge only
In creating this connection, we wonder how these varied with polymer concentration. In a separate set of
pathways have shaped the distribution, abundance, experiments, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
and dispersal of wild plants, specifically the (FTIR) was used to track the diffusion of OA out of
economically significant bush tomatoes of the genus the gel. Through modeling the release of OA with
Solanum (including Solanum diversiflorum, known time using a Fickian diffusion model, the diffusion
locally as wamula). Currently, herbarium and field coefficients for formulations at varying solvent
collected specimens have been sampled from across viscosities were determined. Notably, the results of the
the range of Solanum diversiflorum. These samples FTIR experiments conform to behavior predicted by
are being used to understand genetic connectivity, the Stokes-Einstein equation. The results from these
as well as the potential impact of Indigenous users two sets of experiments allows for a higher degree of
on S. diversiflorum’s population structure. DNA has tunability than previously available. The results from
been extracted from each specimen using FastDNA this study will be of particular use in development of
kits and stored for future quality testing. We expect transdermal drug delivery devices.
to find a correlation between the movement of the
Indigenous people and the dispersal of the species
along pathways of movement, as well as patterns Valerie Justice ’21
that align with the historical distributions of language Faculty Mentor: Professor Christopher Daniel,
groups. This would imply that the activities of the GEOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCES
Indigenous people profoundly shaped the distribution Funding Source: Department of Geology &
of the species and can give conservationists as well Environmental Geosciences
as anthropologists new insights on the relationship
between the biogeography of plants in the Western U-Pb Isotope Dating of Monazite in the
Desert and the people who have lived there for Sierra Estrella Mountains of Arizona:
thousands of years. Evidence for ca. 1.4 Ga Metamorphism
and Deformation
U-Pb isotope dating of monazite from the Sierra
Estrella mountains near Phoenix, Arizona, yield
metamorphic ages between about 1.42 and 1.40 billion
years ago (b.y.a). The timing is important to determine
if the metamorphic rocks formed as part of the ca.
1.45 billion year old (b.y.o.) Picuris Orogeny. Multiple
samples were collected from the Sierra Estrella
mountains. Four of these samples were selected for
12 KALMAN RE S EA R C H S Y M PO S I UMmonazite U-Pb analyses. Laser Ablation-Inductively Taiba Khan ’22
Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was Faculty Mentor: Professor Benowitz-Fredericks,
used to measure U-Pb isotope ratios, which was done BIOLOGY
in a lab at the University of New Brunswick. The four Funding Source: Department of Biology
samples are named CD20-14b, CD20-09, CD20-07Bb,
and CD20-03Ba. Concordia plots for CD20-14b yield Relationship between aggression, body
ages of monazite growth of 1420 +/- 6 Ma (MSWD condition, and parental feeding in chicks
= 0.18). Concordia plots for CD20-09 yield ages of of the seabird species Black-legged
1410 +/- 10 Ma (MSWD = 0.74). Concordia plots for kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)
CD20-07Bb yield ages of 1410 +/- 4 Ma (MSWD = Black-legged kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla, are small
0.25). Concordia plots for CD20-03Ba yield ages of gulls that exhibit biparental care and typically brood
1400 +/- 5 Ma (MSWD = 0.13). All measured ages are 1-2 chicks. First hatched chicks (A chicks) commonly
near concordant, with MSWD values demonstrating display aggressive behavior towards the second
degree of concordance. Samples CD20-03Ba and hatched chicks (B chicks), sometimes resulting in
CD20-07Bb are located in the northern part, and CD20- the death of the B chick. Food availability may be a
09 and CD20-14b are located in the southern part. driving factor of chick aggression but questions remain
Metamorphism youngs northward with ages spanning regarding the relationships among chick behavior,
about 20 million years across the range from north to growth and parental feeding. In this study, we test
south. Our measured U-Pb ages are similar to 1424- three competing hypotheses: H1) Stronger chicks
1409 Ma ages previously reported in the northern Taos display more aggressive behavior to monopolize more
Range in New Mexico, which suggests formation during food. H2) Weaker chicks display more aggressive
the same Picuris orogenic event (1450-1400 Ma). behavior because they need to obtain more food. H3)
There is no relationship between aggressive behavior
and body condition. To test these hypotheses, we
Ariel Kelly ’2022 used video footage to observe the behavior of 29
Faculty Mentor: Professor Mihai Banciu, ANALYTICS & five day old A chicks. At half of the nests (fed nests),
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT parents were provided with supplemental fish, while
Funding Source: Program for Undergraduate Research the remaining half (unfed nests) had to rely on natural
means of foraging. ‘A’ chick aggression towards the
Does Global Trade Help or Hinder B chick was categorized by pecking and squeezing or
Economic Inequality? twisting of the neck; an attack series with pauses of
The issue of globalization and its perceived winners less than five seconds counted as one demonstration
and losers has recently come to the forefront of of aggression. If H1 is true, we will see a positive
international conversation. In this project, we seek correlation between aggression and body condition,
to answer the following question: has global trade and higher aggression rates in the fed group (chicks
helped decrease economic inequality? To address with more food availability). If H2 is true, there will be
this problem, we created a tool that could be used to a negative correlation between aggression and body
quantify the effect of global trade over time. Using a condition, and higher aggression rates in chicks in
graph-theoretical approach, we adapt the Page Rank the unfed group (chicks that are not provided with
algorithm to account for a country’s importance in supplemental food).
the trade network when considering financial flows
that go in both directions, that is, both exports and
imports. We then use the relative importance scores
to quantify the economic inequality by computing the Shane Kozick ’23
Gini coefficient of the world’s economy, as well as the Faculty Mentor: Dr. Vanessa Troiani, (ADMI lab
associated Lorenz curve. By measuring the evolution of director), NEUROSCIENCE
the Gini coefficient over time, we can estimate whether Funding Source: Summer Autism and
international trade helped or hindered addressing Neurodevelopmental Disorders Internship (SANDI)
economic inequality among the participants in the
global trade network.
Measuring Concordance of Subtype
Sulcogyral Patterns in Monozygotic and
Dizygotic Twin Pairs
The brain’s surface is made up of sulci (grooves) and
gyri (ridges) that together create the distinct folded
(sulcogryal) appearance of the brain. It is known that
individual differences in the sulcogyral pattern of the
orbital frontal cortex (OFC) can lead to variation in
BU C K N E L L U N IVE R SIT Y 13social behaviors and psychiatric pathology. Recent instructions of increasing syntactic complexity. Results
research has focused on the sulcogyral folding pattern revealed that maternal education was the strongest
variations in individuals, specifically within the OFC. predictor of both maternal linguistic input and child
Four pattern types have been identified based on the receptive language outcomes. Syntactic complexity
continuity of four distinct sulci, and subtypes within of input was the only measure that mediated the
each pattern type have been defined that offer more relationship between maternal education and child
fine-grained characterization of OFC structure. To receptive language skills. These findings critically
date, there have been no analyses of OFC sulcogyral identify which early environmental factors are
patterns (or subpatterns) and genetic associations. The mechanistically related to SES disparities in children’s
goal of this project is to categorize the OFC pattern language development, and provide implications for
subtypes of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) reducing these disparities.
twin pairs to explore whether the development of
OFC pattern types have a strong genetic component.
The study is accomplished using a publicly available Wutt Hmone Thin Kyi ’22
structural MRI data set from the Human Connectome Faculty Mentor: Professor Karlo Malaga, BIOMEDICAL
Project (HCP). We used neuroimaging software to ENGINEERING
individually subtype 570 subjects in the data set Funding Source: Program for Undergraduate Research 2020
and we are currently investigating the association
Effect of White Matter Stimulation on
with genetics. MZ twin pairs are expected to have
Clinical Outcomes in Thalamic Deep Brain
more similar subtypes (increased concordance)
Stimulation for Essential Tremor
than DZ twin pairs. The results of this project will lay
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure
the groundwork as the first study of the genetics of
where electrodes are implanted in the brain before
OFC sulcogyral patterns and may contribute to the
stimulating the tissue with electricity. DBS of the
early identification of preliminary markers of brain
ventral intermediate (VIM) nucleus of the thalamus
disorders.
and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) are established
treatments for the motor symptoms of essential
Klaudia Kulawska ’21 tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD), respectively.
Faculty Mentor: Professor Judith Grisel, PSYCHOLOGY Motor outcomes, such as tremor, rigidity, and
Funding Source: N/A bradykinesia, after VIM and STN DBS can vary
considerably across patients and strongly depend
The Implications of Socioeconomic Status on the location of stimulation relative to the surgical
on Maternal Language Input and Child target. Previous research suggests that stimulation
Language Outcomes of the white matter (WM) tracts lateral to the VIM,
Early language development is associated with the gray matter (GM) target, results in better DBS
children’s socioeconomic status (SES). Specifically, outcomes. The objective of this retrospective study
children from lower SES backgrounds, on average, is to determine how the spread of stimulation to
exhibit slower language development compared WM during VIM DBS relates to therapeutic and non-
to their peers from higher-SES backgrounds. Even therapeutic outcomes in ET patients. For the first
though SES is a multidimensional construct, research phase of this research, a MATLAB algorithm that can
often relies on a single dimension or a composite differentiate brain tissues, such as WM, GM, and
measure when studying child language development. cerebrospinal fluid, from medical imaging based on
In this article, I investigate four dimensions of SES, tissue anisotropy was developed. Patient-specific
including maternal education, income-to-needs ratio, tissue anisotropy was derived from diffusion tensor
financial security, and neighborhood SES. I examine imaging data acquired for individual patients who
relationships amongst these different dimensions of received DBS (n = 22). To evaluate the performance of
SES, the quantity and quality of maternal linguistic the algorithm, it has been trained and tested across
input, and child receptive language skills. Mothers both ET and PD patient data sets. This algorithm can
and their 36-40 months old children (n=267 dyads) be used to differentiate brain tissues in any region
were video recorded during a 15-minute free play of interest. The modeling framework utilized in this
session. Three measures of maternal linguistic input study could be used to identify optimal stimulation
were derived from verbatim transcripts, including one sites on an individual basis, thereby improving clinical
quantitative measure (number of words spoken) and outcomes.
two qualitative measures (lexical diversity and syntactic
complexity). Children’s concurrent receptive language
skills were measured by a standardized measure of
children’s ability to receive, process, and execute oral
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