Alexandra Dubinin
Respiratory infections in infancy are known to increase the risk of developing asthma in later life. One possible explanation is that viral infections during vulnerable periods of development alter immune cell establishment leading to lifelong changes favoring asthma. My research involves tracking the developmental pattern of a particular immune cell, ILC2, with the hope of identifying targets to mitigate viral-induced asthma predisposition. I will use fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry to define when the critical developmental window occurs and what cells and molecules are involved.
Elizabeth Juster
My research concerns El Lissitzky’s Proun artworks produced in the 1920s. Lissitzky was working in a very politically charged time amidst the Russian Revolution, and hoped to use art as the foundation for a new and better society. Purely geometric, evoking three-dimensionality, and in some instances architecture, the Proun artworks represent Lissitzky’s attempts to express new ideas, such as the fourth dimension and abstraction, through art. I hope to gain insight into Lissitzky’s own theoretical understandings of how space, time, and the viewer interact through the medium of artwork in […]
Kiana Schmitt
The Native Hawaiian word “hapa” has undergone an extraordinary rhetorical and linguistic evolution. From signifying half-foreigner” (colloquially, foreigner meaning “white, due to influx of white Europeans and Americans forcibly entering Hawaii since the late 18th century), to “part Hawaiian, part white,” then part Hawaiian,” to half-Asian or Pacific Islander (API) and half-White,” to simply “half-Asian or Pacific Islander (API).” While some see its current usage as a rhetorical site of API community building and empowerment, others feel that non-Native Hawaiian people do not have a right to use it. It […]
Chelsey Campillo Rodriguez
For decades, researchers have been experimenting with tools used for neural stimulation, modulation, and therapy. A greatly used and helpful tool includes optogenetics, which utilizes light waves to control cells expressing light-sensitive channels. While optogenetics is not an invasive recording technology, due to its dependence on visible light it cannot penetrate deep into the organisms tissue. The purpose of this project is to develop a wireless method similar to optogenetics which can overcome the issues optogenetics encounters. Rather than using light to manipulate neuronal behavior, an electromagnetic field will be […]
Amanda Dobrov
The Crisis of the Third Century (AD 235-284) nearly saw the complete collapse of the Roman Empire due to a combination of foreign invaders, plague, civil war, and economic depression. While there is a considerable amount of scholarship on the 3rd Century, I am hoping to re-examine this scholarship with an archaeological lens. I am focusing my research on the study of Roman trade amphoras. These ceramic vessels will give me a good picture of the consumption and trade patterns of Rome during the Late Empire. I am focusing my […]
Emily Duan
The activation of the adaptive immune system in host-tumor interaction mediates the efficiency and strength of the host anti-tumor response. Necroptosis, a form of programmed cell death, has the ability to moderate the development of antitumor tolerance versus immunity due to its pro-inflammatory properties. However, in what ways and to what extent do the products of necroptosis trigger the activation of the immune system is not well understood. I am interested in using a necroptotic tumor vaccine overexpressing RIP3, a cell death protein, to study the effect of necroptosis on […]
Kylie Li
My research focuses on investigating the conditions that give rise to the emotion of envy both within individuals and within social groups. I am interested in how perceived social competition plays a role in determining the level of envy produced in both cases. As envy is a social comparative emotion that lies at the core of social hierarchy, I want to explore its dynamic and interrelated relationship within social structure (e.g. social class) in terms of how and why it arises as well as its consequences to the individuals and […]
William Sandholtz
For the most part, individuals must break the law in order to escape paying U.S. individual income taxes. However, corporations can legally avoid (or at least defer indefinitely) paying U.S. corporate income taxes by taking advantage of loopholes in the tax laws of various countries. Major U.S. companies such as Google and Apple have made headlines with their intricate tax avoidance schemes, which cost the U.S. government billions of dollars in tax revenue. One major component of tax avoidance by large U.S. multinational corporations is the artificial shifting of profits […]
Andrew C. Lu
Many tandemly repeated histone gene clusters exist in the Drosophila Melanogaster genome and are subjected to complex regulation during the cell cycle. However, the exact mechanism of this regulation remains elusive. Using a variant of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we have developed a DNA-pulldown technique that, when coupled to mass-spectrometry, is capable of identifying bound proteins on a given promoter, enhancer, or any other regulatory DNA sequence. Applying this technique to the D. Melanogaster histone cluster, the pulldown samples interestingly showed an enrichment of a particular protein domain – LisH. Found […]
Emily Wang
Bai Juyi (aka Bo Juyi, ca. 8th9th century CE), one of the most renowned poets in Chinese history, was also a well-connected civil bureaucrat from a family based in the Tang capital. Past studies have focused principally on the deeds and accomplishments of the Tang aristocracy, but their social interactions remain largely unstudied. My project proposes to investigate the social network of the late Tang elites by conducting a social network analysis of Bai Juyi. The evidence for Bai Juyis social interactions can be assembled from a range of sources, […]