Undergraduate Exposition Poster Presentations 

Anthropology & Sociology

Keeping Promises: A Recommitment to Donors within the JAW Collection
Student Presenter: Isabelle Alves
Faculty Sponsor: Rebecca George

Assessing Potential for Individual Variation in Maxillary Sinuses and Mastoid Air Cells: Metric Size Components
Student Presenter: Taylor Franklin
Faculty Sponsors: Kaleigh Best

Biology

Creation of a Fluorescently Tagged Olfactory Receptor for Use in Protein Dynamic Studies
Student Presenters: Alaina Goins and Sayumi De Silva
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Youker

Scale-Dependent Effects of Spawning Strategy on Morphology Across Surgeonfishes and Their Relatives (Acanthuriformes)
Student Presenter: Amber Robbins
Faculty Sponsor: Olivier Larouche

Exploring the effects of stress on transcription of  β-amylase 9 in Arabidopsis thaliana
Student Presenter: Ben Ryan
Faculty Sponsor: Amanda Storm

Examining the Effects of a Parasitoid Wasp on the Consumption Rate of Its Seed-Feeding Host and Indirect Effects on Host Plant Fitness.
Student Presenters: Erik Colliander and Johnny Brawley
Faculty Sponsor: Jacob Heiling

Quantitative Analysis of CFTR Protein Half-Life in N1303K and Double Mutant Variants Using Cycloheximide Chase Assay
Student Presenter: Faith Dolin
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Youker

Keratin as a Modulator of Wound Healing Pace in HEK293 Cells
Student Presenters: Gail Pate and Rachel Ball
Faculty Sponsor: Heather Coan

Investigation of the Solubility of CFTR-N1303K single and Double Mutants
Student Presenter: Hannah Caruso
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Youker

Expansion Microscopy protocol development for micro-structural Analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster germarium
Student Presenter: Isaac Douglas
Faculty Sponsor: Subhshri Sahu

Optimization of Isolation Protocols for Plasmid LC3 Using the Invitrogen Mini-Prep Kit
Student Presenter: Kiera Grandell
Faculty Sponsor: Heather Coan

Genetic Modification of the CFTR plasmids to allow for the Creation of Stable Cell Lines
Student Presenter: Mary Ann Garren and Kerwin Yost
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Youker

Synteny and Multiple Sequence Alignment of the microtubule star gene (mts) in Drosophila Species
Student Presenter: Sacha Maia Sandill and Erica Franke
Faculty Sponsor: Indi Bose

Characterization of Arabidopsis ß-Amylase
Student Presenter: Savannah Neuman
Faculty Sponsor: Amanda Storm

Methods in Bioinformatics for Comparing Cotton Genomes
Student Presenter: Zoe Lamberth
Faculty Sponsor: Amanda Storm

 

Chemistry & Physics

Role of Amphipathic Organic Ligands in the Synthesis of Inorganic Nanoparticles and Characterization Using DOSY-NMR
Student Presenter: Alaina Johncour
Faculty Sponsor: Brian Dinkelmeyer and Curtis Beimborn

Screening of Ancient DNA Samples for Endogenous Human aDNA Content
Student Presenter: Allyson Focht
Faculty Sponsor: Frankie West

Comparison of Genetic Analysis Methodologies on Spermatozoa DNA  Recovered from the Orifices of Burned Human Remains
Student Presenter: Andrew Brown
Faculty Sponsor: Brittania Bintz

Rheological evaluation of guar gum viscosity reduction using α-galactosidase and β-mannanase encapsulated polymer nanoparticles for hydraulic fracturing applications
Student Presenters: Cole Swade, Daniel Metz, and Jacob Given
Faculty Sponsor: Rangika Hikkaduwa Koralege

Synthesis and Computational Study of the Butadiene Derivative Fulgenic Acid in the Solid State
Student Presenter: Daniel Felcoski
Faculty Sponsor: Brian Dinkelmeyer and Channa De Silva

Microcrystalline Tests for the Detection of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS)
Student Presenters: Grace Pavel and Ruby Allen
Faculty Sponsor: Kimiko Ferguson

Synthesis and Characterization of Insulin Degrading Enzyme (IDE) Encapsulated Polymer Nanoparticles as a Novel Therapeutic Delivery Approach for Alzheimer’s Dementia
Student Presenters: Jacob Given
Faculty Sponsor: Rangika Hikkaduwa Koralege

Host range analysis of previously known GJ bacteriophages and newly classified bacteriophage Doedicurus
Student Presenter: Joseph Mens and Simon Cable
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Gainey

Evaluation of redox-responsive release of L-asparaginase (L-ASNase) and glucose oxidase (GOx) proteins from nanoparticles to mimic efficient therapeutic delivery in cancer tissues.
Student Presenter: Kyra Everette, Anthony Allred, Brian Duke, and Katherine Trimble
Faculty Sponsor: Rangika Hikkaduwa Koralege

Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography for Separation of Illicit Drugs Utilizing Water-Rich Mobile Phases
Student Presenter: Logan Martin
Faculty Sponsor: Nuwan Perera

Analysis of biogenic amines in vitreous humor using HPLC-MS/MS for the estimation of postmortem interval
Student Presenter: Nicole Mushinski
Faculty Sponsor: Nuwan Perera

Host Range and Genetic Characterization of Microbacteriophage JrWilcox
Student Presenters: Kelly Scarlett and Natalia Salazar Reyes
Faculty Sponsors: Maria Gainey

Characterization of Mutant TipsytheTRex Anti-Repressor Proteins
Student Presenters: T Schou
Faculty Sponsor: Maria Gainey and Jamie Wallen

 

Communication

Voices of Resilience: Documenting the Human Impact of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina
Student Presenters: Megan Baker, Jacob Pendergraph, and Frankie Gonzalez -Nicolas
Faculty Sponsor: Mindy Weathers, Matt Binford, and Mark Poff

 

English Studies

Usability in the Nonprofit Sector: Improving the User Experience and Online Presence of a Rural Nonprofit
Student Presenter: Spencer Davis
Faculty Sponsor: Drew Virtue

 

Geosciences and Natural Resource Management

Assessing the Cooling Rates of 15485,5 and 15595,39; An Apollo 15 Basalt with Crystal Size Distributions
Student Presenter: Dulaney Boonsue
Faculty Sponsor: Amy Fagan

Stream habitat and biotic assessment of Waynesville Watershed after Hurricane Helene
Student Presenter: Hunter Gibbs
Faculty Sponsor: Keith Gibbs

Using a hydrologic model to analyze how stream responses in Western North Carolina to Tropical Storm Helene may have been worse with different antecedent conditions.
Student Presenters: Hunter Gibbs and Lucas Solomon
Faculty Sponsors: Mark Lord and Katie Schneider

Exploring How Canopy Cover and Land Use Affects Flying Insects in the City
Student Presenters: Isaac Jackson, Michael Morris, Yalile Pineda, and Harlan Chapman
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Parsons

Microbiological diversity in areas of groundwater seepage and surface water infiltration in Southern Appalachian headwater streams.
Student Presenters: Liberty Maddle and Austin Hutchinson
Faculty Sponsors: Mark Lord and Sean O’Connell

Modeling Rainfall Runoff Responses Under Climate and Land Cover Scenarios in the Cullowhee  Creek Basin to Support Flood Prediction and Preparedness
Student Presenters: Lucas Solomon and Hunter Gibbs
Faculty Sponsors: Katie Schneider and Mark Lord

History

There Ain’t No Queer in Cowboy: Challenging Conservative, Heteronormative Perceptions of Cowboys in American Popular Culture
Student Presenter: Kaz Brannon
Faculty Sponsor: Rob Ferguson

The Ballad of Artist and Veterans against the Vietnam War
Student Presenter: Zechariah Hoppes
Faculty Sponsor: Gael Graham

 

Mathematics & Computer Science

Developing a Cost-Effective Scalable Contextual AI System
Student Presenter: Clay Morton and Gregory Ecklund
Faculty Sponsors: Mark Holliday

Reconstructing Weighted Directed Graphs from Dynamical System Data
Student Presenter: Donnell Wilkins and Mason Parlier
Faculty Sponsors: Soheyl Abdi Anbouhi

A Homomesy on a Family of Posets
Student Presenter: Sam Morrison
Faculty Sponsors: Adam Gregory

 

Political Science & Public Affairs

How Much has Partisanship Changed in the Senate: Comparing the 103rd to the 118th
Student Presenter: Kenny Beacham
Faculty Sponsor: Veronica Judson

Benefits of Enhancing Undergraduate Education by Studying Abroad
Student Presenter: Lydia Dean
Faculty Sponsor: Charles Fagan

From Rankin to Grijalva: How the Ideological Switch Influenced Women in Congress
Student Presenter: Samantha Greene
Faculty Sponsor: Veronica Judson