DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN SOURCE PLATFORM FOR UNMANNED VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING AIRCRAFT RESEARCH
By: Nigel J.

Complex relationships between sensory input and motor output define the decision making process in simple organisms. As such, the ability to understand and characterize those relationships is immensely...

SPATIAL LEARNING IN AXOLOTLS BASED ON VISUAL CUES
By: Ellie O.

Axolotls a subspecies of salamander, differencing in their neoteny, meaning they retain juvenile characteristics. While they are common laboratory animals, not much is known about their learning capabilities...

FINDING THE CHEMOTACTIC INDEX, DIRECTIONALITY, AND VELOCITY IN PKCA INHIBITED CELLS IN DICTYOSTELIUM DISCOIDEUM 
By: Isabella J.

ANALYZING PEAK RUNOFF DATES AND MAIN DRIVERS BEHIND SNOW DROUGHT IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
By: Ian R.
In order to understand the signaling pathways of Protein Kinase C (PKC) in Dictyostelium discoideum , the chemotactic index, directionality, and velocity of cells in which Protein Kinase C-alpha (PkcA) has been...
The West Coast of the United States is an area that is currently under severe drought conditions due to lack of precipitation and snow drought within the mountain ranges throughout the region...

TRACKING MEMORY-INDUCED CHANGES IN THE CA1 REGION OF THE HIPPOCAMPAL NETWORK TO COMPARE THE EXTENT OF ITS ROLE ACROSS SPATIAL MEMORY TASKS
By: Hawthorne R.

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN: EXAMINING WALKING LEGS IN CRAYFISH (PROCAMBARUS CLARKII) IN CLIMBING DOWN UNIFORM STEPS 
By: Ned E.
The hippocampus is a region of the medial temporal lobe that is known to be essential for long-term memory operations, particularly encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of declarative memories...
Crayfish and other crustaceans are attractive organisms for the study of locomotion. While it has been established how a crayfish leg theoretically functions, much about how and to what degree...

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN SOURCE PLATFORM FOR UNMANNED VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING AIRCRAFT RESEARCH 
By: Jasper C.

Vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are unique in their flight capabilities and allow for a productive hybrid of the best aspects of rotorcraft (helicopters) and fixed wing craft (airplanes). Vertical takeoff and...
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EVALUATION OF CALPAIN INHIBITOR III AS A THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION FOR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
By: Will S.

Traumatic brain injury is a result of an impact of the brain, that accounts for 1.7 million cases each year. Clinical therapy for traumatic brain injury is currently limited to skull fracture repair and supportive treatment...

OVEREXPRESSION OF RANK IN INS1 CELLS USING ADENOVIRAL INFECTION 
By: Sarah D.

This specific experiment will utilize adenoviral infections to monitor the overexpression of the RANK gene in INS1 cells. The INS-1 cells would be coming from a cell line as opposed to directly from mice. Adenoviral...
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DETECTING MEMORY-ASSOCIATED MODIFICATIONS IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS
By: Victor A.

Memory, the process of the brain storing daily experiences, has been rigorously studied over the last half century, one major question still remains: where are declarative memory traces stored exactly?...
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DETERMINING SPECIFIC PROTEIN INVOLVEMENT IN THE B ACT TO B TRANSITION OF THE YEAST SPLICEOSOME
By: Ethan H.

The spliceosome is a critical component in the process of transcription. Specifically, spliceosomal activity within the cell plays a critical role in pre-mRNA splicing by removing non-coding introns and ligating...

ASSESSMENT OF CUMULATIVE WIND FORCES ON HIGH RISE BUILDINGS
By: Orlando C.

This project provides an outline for regulations based on advanced level wind design, and ties into the codes and laws that are followed or should be followed based on the surroundings and environment of high-rise...

OPTIMIZING AND IDENTIFYING LOSSES WITHIN TRANSFORMER TANKS
​By: Asher M.

Transformer losses are a source of electrical losses on a national and global level. Transformer losses consist of an estimated 40% of all non-generating public utility losses nationally, and produce an estimated...

AN ANALYSIS OF ANTI-ICING COATING LONGEVITY FOR USE ON AIRPLANES
By: Jojo A.

In this study, current methods of reducing ice adhesion on airplanes will be evaluated to determine which factors contribute to a successful solution. Then, new methods will be proposed, tested against the...

THE GUT BRAIN AXIS AND ITS RELATION TO ANXIETY-LIKE DISORDERS AND DEPRESSION
By: Shivam K.

In the twentieth century, neuroscientists believed in the idea of biological materialism, which fundamentally articulated that life could be reduced to only a physical dimension (Summerhays, 2010). The idea stated that...

DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF GLYCAN-UNMASKED STRAINS OF H5N1 AND H1N1 INFLUENZA A VIRUSES ON THE INDUCTION OF BROADLY NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES AGAINST DIVERGENT STRAINS
By: Blake M.

Throughout the course of human existence, the influenza A virus has affected a majority of individuals around the globe (5). The highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A virus has been specifically...

BIRDCAST ANALYSIS PROJECT
By: Connor M.

BirdCast is an organization that primarily is used by everyday birders to upload their observations onto an online database. Then, experts, such as my mentor Dr. Andrew Farnsworth, look and analyze this uploaded...
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DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF POTENTIAL PRADER-WILLI SYNDROME DRUG TREATMENTS ON PC1 GENE EXPRESSION IN NEURONAL-2A CELLS
By: Gabi H.

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder caused by a loss of paternally expressed genes in an imprinted region of chromosome 15q. Among the PWS phenotypes are hyperphagic obesity, central...

DETERMINING THE EFFECT OF CHOLINE SUPPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSING THE CORRELATION OF SEX ON MURINE FETAL DEVELOPMENT
By: Kali B.

Choline is an essential nutrient that lowers the risks of certain diseases such as cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and neurological disorders. Its ability to donate a methyl group...

APPLICATION OF ALUMINUM ALLOY SYNTACTIC FOAMS WITH SILICON CARBIDE MICROSPHERES IN COMMERCIAL TRACK SPIKES
By: Archibald L.

The goal of this project is to investigate the application of aluminum alloy syntactic foams with silicon carbide microspheres in commercial track spikes. Syntactic foams with aluminum or aluminum alloy matrixes...

GENDER’S EFFECT ON THE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OF DOMINANT ASTATOTILAPIA BURTONI GIVEN CHRONIC FLUOXETINE EXPOSURE
By: Audrey A.

The purpose of this project will to be to simultaneously examine gender, social status, and medication. Using Astatotilapia burtoni as a model system, the project will examine changed levels, as well as direction...

NOVEL APPROACH TO RECOGNIZE LIGHT SCATTERING PATTERNS FROM HOLOGRAPHIC VIDEO MICROSCOPY USING NEURAL NETWORKS
By: Aidan A.

Holographic video microscopy yields beautiful light scattering patterns of colloids that can be analyzed to extrapolate useful information about their position, radius and refractive index. The first step in this analysis is...

PHYLOGENETIC POSITION OF TAENIOLABIS TAOENSIS AND PANTOLESTES NATANS AND THEIR ROLES IN THE DIVERSIFICATION OF MAMMALS
By: Shivam K.

In this study, specimens of Pantolestes natans and Taeniolabis taoensis were analyzed and included in a phylogeny of mammals. The order Cimolesta serves as a place in which early Eutherian mammals that...

USING ROBOTICS TO MODEL SIMPLE ORGANISM BEHAVIOR IN RESPONSE TO STIMULI
By: Nigel Jaffe

Complex relationships between sensory input and motor output define the decision making process in simple organisms. As such, the ability to understand and characterize those relationships is immensely important...