Jennifer Su
Contrary to previous dogma that we are born with all the brain cells well ever have, adult neurogenesis continues to occur in the central nervous system of mammals, including humans. Neural precursor cells (NPCs) proliferate and differentiate into new neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes in response to the input from their cellular environment, termed the neurogenic niche. This niche contains astrocytes, cells that are essential players in neuronal development, synaptic physiology, and stem cell regulation. It has been discovered that the introduction of chronic stress and stress hormones, glucocorticoids (GC), cause […]
Elaina Marshalek
With a rapidly increasing amount of tropical forest threatened by logging and land conversion, there is growing concern about retaining species diversity, and in turn, ecosystem sustainability. My research uses methods from the Operations Research field to incorporate ecological considerations for strategic planning in multi-use tropical forest landscapes. While past research has primarily focused on identifying sites for placing permanent reserves, my research develops optimization tools to create algorithms that apply principles of ecological sensitivity to both reserve patterns and harvest scheduling at once.I am utilizing recent advances in numerical […]
Dayna Stimson
My research focuses on the growing recognition that the scientific study of consciousness is lacking in one crucial element: a rigorous methodology for examining the first-person, qualitative aspects of conscious states. While neuroimaging and computational cognition have greatly enhanced our knowledge of brain function, we are no closer to bridging the explanatory gap. That is, how does neuronal activity create the deeply complex, subjective, and personal world that each of us experiences? Though conventional scientific study does not currently recognize introspection as a valid method of inquiry, I will examine […]
Kaiji Gong
To judge whether an economic bubble would lead to a financial crash and to estimate the critical time of a crash are significant in financial areas. The Log-Periodic Power Law (LPPL) is an equation that describes how bubbles evolve and grow. By fitting the equation into a financial time series, it is possible to predict the event of a crash. The equation proves to be effective in predicting several financial crises, such as the one in 2008. My research will focus on extending the model to predict market behaviors after […]
Rotem Aboody
Why do children spend so much time engaged in pretend play, imagining fictional scenarios? Could children actually be learning new things through this process, exploring new possibilities inaccessible to them in daily life? My SURF project seeks to explore whether imagination can indeed enable children to learn about and successfully intervene on novel causal structures, even in the absence of a demonstration of the structures. Children will be introduced to a novel causal structure, and will be asked to choose one of three possible interventions on the structure to produce […]
Michelle Leu
In my research, I plan to investigate the role of vitamin A in obesity prevention. With obesity increasing at alarming rates in the United States in the past twenty years, it is imperative to gain a deeper understanding in the development of the condition. Obesity is influenced by many risk factors such as diet, lifestyle, and genetics. I will explore how vitamin A regulates adipose tissue, observing mice with the Rdh10 gene conditionally deleted in white adipose tissue, and comparing their weight gain to that of wild type control mice. […]
Rochelle Valdez
Since 2002 the Philippine government has labeled numerous leftist Filipino parties as terrorists, using the Global War on Terror (GWOT) as a political tool to delegitimize opposing parties. Despite imprisonment, torture and killings, Filipino activists continue their struggle for national democracy. This project, contributing to a Peace & Conflict honors thesis, examines their resiliency: how do Filipino activists strategize despite state intimidation? Using the framework of political legitimacy, I will compare the National Democratic Front of thePhilippines (NDFP) and BAYAN, two leftist organizations. The former operates through political exiles in […]
Nicolas Ames
My project is a reassessment of current archaeological interpretive techniques through comparing two main focuses of artifact analysis. I will be looking at site interpretive resolution of more standard heavy-fraction analysis (focusing on items > 4mm in size) in relation to microdebris analysis (focusing on items > 2mm in size) to find out which method provides 1) the highest resolution of site area use, 2) efficiency/cost of use of the techniques. My goal is to determine whether more specialized techniques, such as microdebris analysis, provide enough of an interpretive edge […]
Lisa Levin
Part creative writing, part auto-ethnography, part literary analysis — my project examines how war blurs distinctions between national and individual identity, the ways in which this complicates family bonds, and how both of these issues haunt future generations. My research focuses on the memoir as a genre of historical narrative, specifically of the Jewish diaspora and the Japanese experience in the Second World War and its aftermath. My goal is to relate these seemingly disparate stories to one another, and to ultimately bridge both sides of my own Jewish-American and […]
Amelia Weiss
While there have been relatively many studies of cave ecology in temperate regions, tropical cave ecology is vastly understudied. The purpose of my research is to identify some of the non-living environmental features that influence species distributions through Cueva Nibida, a large cave on an island off Panamas Caribbean coast. It is of growing importance that this ecosystem be understood so that conservation measures can be enacted to mitigate human impact brought upon by increasing tourism to the region. To accomplish this, I will map invertebrate distributions and abundances through […]