All Presenters & Abstracts
Investigation of DOM at Arcata Wastewater Treatment Facility & Arcata Marsh
Presentation Year:2026
Spencer
Hoyt,
Undergraduate Student,
Chemistry
The Arcata Wastewater Treatment Facility uses constructed wetlands to treat municipal wastewater. In this study, we examined how dissolved carbon and nitrogen were removed, degraded, and transformed within the Arcata Wastewater Treatment Facility over the course of a year. It was found that dissolved carbon was removed by the treatment system, and the biological activity transformed it into a form that had less impact on Humboldt Bay, while dissolved nitrogen was removed effectively, except in winter and spring months. Overall, the study provides a better understanding of the temporal variation of dissolved carbon and nitrogen in the constructed wetlands system, which will help the City of Arcata better manage the wastewater discharged to Humboldt Bay.
Isolation and Extraction of a Vacuolar Transmembrane protein Two-Pore Channel 1 (TPC1) from the Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
Presentation Year:2026
Cadence
Duckett,
Undergraduate Student,
Chemistry
In the plant kingdom, movement is a basic physiological characteristic that is essential for plants to adapt and respond to their environment. The Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, utilizes movement to capture its prey. This movement is reliant on the functioning TPC1. Two-Pore Channel 1 (TPC1) is a non-selective voltage-dependent and calcium-regulated potassium channel that is localized to plant vacuolar membranes. Our study was the first to isolate and identify the TPC1 protein in venus flytrap vacuolar membranes. We performed this extraction via sucrose gradient, ultracentrifugation, ion exchange chromatography, and protein assays. Although the venus flytrap TPC1 is used for rapid response to environmental stimuli, all plants rely on TPC1 to actively adapt to changes in light, metabolism, and pH. The further study of TPC1 can have a wide variety of environmental, agricultural, and pathologic applications as it is expressed in animal and fungal cells as well.
Kayak & Water Safety Workshop
Presentation Year:2026
Mike
Sanchez,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Applied Health
Many youth face barriers to safe water recreation due to cost, equipment, transportation, and limited instruction. This project creates a turnkey program for a beginner friendly Kayak and Water Safety Day for Boys and Girls Club youth. The final product is a complete implementation packet with safety protocols, inclusion strategies, staffing plan, communications, budget scenarios, and evaluation tools, designed to reduce barriers and improve water safety knowledge. A land based workshop version is included as a pilot and backup delivery option.
Lightning-Driven Wildfire Risk and Forest Loss in Six Rivers National Forest
Presentation Year:2026
Jonathan David
Juarez,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
Forest ecosystems support biodiversity, stabilize soils, and regulate water but face increasing threats from wildfire and drought under climate change. Six Rivers National Forest in Humboldt County, California, is vulnerable due to dense biomass, dry summers, and dominant species like coastal redwood, Douglas fir, and tanoak. This study combines CAL FIRE wildfire records (1950-2025) with remote sensing (2014-2024) to assess wildfire-forest loss relationships. Hansen Global Forest Change and MODIS data, along with NDVI and PDSI, show strong overlap between wildfire and forest loss, with rising lightning-caused ignitions after 2000, suggesting climate-driven fire dynamics.
Lipidomic Analysis of Anabaena 7120 using 2D Aqueous Polymer Fractionation and LCMS Analysis
Presentation Year:2026
Miles
Guillot,
Undergraduate Student,
Chemistry
Anabaena PCC 7120 is a species of cyanobacteria containing a light sensing membrane protein, Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin (ASR) which is under investigation in our nanobiotechnology lab. Lipids greatly affect the activity of membrane proteins, but the native lipids of Anabaena are largely unknown. Here we sought to determine the composition of these membrane lipids to enable future studies into ASR. In this study we seek to identify the specific lipidome of the thylakoid and plasma membrane of Anabaena using a 2D aqueous polymer to density gradient extraction, followed by analysis with liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry.
Macroinvertebrates as an Indicator of Water Quality at a Constructed Marsh
Presentation Year:2026
Amelia
Jensen,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
My project is to test to see if macroinvertebrates are a good indicator of water quality. I will need to sample at each 2 marshes, West Pond and Brackish Pond, for macroinvertebrates using a D-Frame net and a bucket. At each location, I will collect 8 macroinvertebrate samples, with 4 taken to the right of my starting point and then 4 to the left. In addition to macroinvertebrates, I will also be collecting pH, dissolved oxygen, and salinity from the water as well. To be able to classify the macroinvertebrates I will be using shallow bins to place the invertebrates into for better viewing of individuals.
Manipulation of Attention and Expectancy Within an Open-Label Placebo Treatment for Experimental Pain
Presentation Year:2026
Arianna
Nevis ,
Undergraduate Student,
Psychology
Open-label, or honestly prescribed placebos, offer an ethical alternative to deceptive placebos. Results reported here are a part of a larger study where expectancy and attention were experimentally manipulated within a 2 (expectancy: high/low) x 2 (attention: high/low) between-subjects design with a no-treatment comparison group. Pain was experimentally induced in all five experimental groups using the well-established cold pressor task. Participants self-reported expectancy and researchers utilized a behavioral measure of attention to assess the effectiveness of these manipulations. Overall, expectancy scores were sensitive to manipulations, but the attention manipulation failed. Future research should explore new methods of both measuring and manipulating attention.
Methods for Degradation of PLA-Quinoa composites
Presentation Year:2026
Rafael
Bernard,
Undergraduate Student,
Chemistry
Polylactic acid (PLA) composites were created by integrating quinoa chaff that had been refluxed in a toluene and ethanol solution, with differing ratios of the chaff. These composites underwent testing such as bomb calorimetry, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, water uptake, water contact angle & degredation, antioxidant assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A cellulase enzyme was also purified from E-Coli bacteria for use in degradation studies. Current tests indicate that the refluxing of raw chaff increases homogeniztion of composites, which in turn allows for the increase of certain physical properties as well as increased degredation. This gives promising results concerning the future of biodegradable materials as they are able to keep favorable properties as well as decrease overall waste.
Methods for Mapping Europa’s Bands through Time
Presentation Year:2026
Liam
Hodgson,
Undergraduate Student,
Geology
Of the Galilean moons circling Jupiter, Europa is the second closest and the smallest. It has attracted some interest from the scientific community, due to its subsurface ocean which is one of the most likely places to find life in our solar system, and its geologically young surface of ~100Myr. We use stratigraphic relationships as a means to understand the evolution of Europa’s ice shell surface over time. Tectonic motion drives changes in surface morphologies, divergence of the plate creates dilational features like bands and ridges, and convergence may cause subduction-like processes. We use ArcGIS to map and categorize surface features on Europa. We are able to place features in time steps and assign them morphologies that help understand spatial and temporal changes in stress state.
Microbial Worlds Within: SEM of Darlingtonia Pitchers
Presentation Year:2026
Sierra
Vasinthascha,
Graduate Student,
Biological Sciences
Darlingtonia californica relies on microbes within its pitcher fluid to break down captured prey into usable nutrients. This process is typically attributed to bacteria; however, fungi, are also found in the fluid, and their role remains largely unknown.
For this project, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to directly visualize microorganisms in pitcher fluid and on pitcher tissue. Cultured bacterial and fungal isolates from Darlingtonia’s fluid provided morphological references for identification. Tissues from the hood and lower pitcher were then processed and examined for comparison. Both bacteria and yeast-like fungi were observed in each region. The abundance of fungi found means that they are likely integral to the digestive system. These results indicate that yeasts may be overlooked contributors to prey decomposition and nutrient cycling, pointing to a more complex digestive network within Darlingtonia that warrants further study.
Modeling Murders: Following the Yorkshire Ripper
Presentation Year:2026
Alexis
Garcia,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
When working to identify active serial killers, police collect data on the killer’s behavioral patterns to predict their activity. Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper, started killing in the 1900s and primarily targeted women from red-light districts. This project uses an agent-based modeling approach that incorporates the behavioral choices of Sutcliffe to predict the home location of a killer with similar traits. The accuracy of our model was measured by calculating the distance between the predicted and the true house location of the killer. This model shows the effectiveness of using an agent-based model to simulate a serial killer’s activity.
Modeling Spectral Degeneracy and Structure in Graphs
Presentation Year:2026
Sophia
Bauer,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
Graph spectrum is not canonized under isomorphism. Finding an algorithm that rates whether a graph is spectrally determined is currently unsolvable in polynomial time. A total classification for spectrally-determined graphs is necessary to address complex networking and ranking problems. Heat map visualization and matrix computation algorithms were utilized to detect obscure structural variations. Evidently, cases of cospectral matches depend on lapses in complete bipartite spectral degeneracy. Results support Haemers’ conjecture that almost all graphs are spectrally determined. Future research may utilize alternative matrix representations to encode complex structural properties.
Modeling the Effect of Changing Snowmelt Timing on the Spring Phenology of Giant Sequoias
Presentation Year:2026
Tully
Leonard,
Undergraduate Student,
Computer Science
Rising temperatures due to climate change are causing a shift in seasonal timing of snowpack melt and forest carbon cycling in the Southern Sierras. Few forecasting models focus on how changes in snowmelt timing affect the spring “green-up” of the Giant Sequoia. Predicting this can help in understanding tree species' resilience to climate change. Spatiotemporal data was used to model the relationship between ecological variables and snowmelt to demonstrate how snowmelt timing affects the green-up timing in sequoia groves over a 20 year period. We found the snowmelt is occurring earlier in the year, leading to a longer growing season, which has implications for forest carbon dynamics.
Modern Consumption: Digital Media and Food Intake in Young Adults
Presentation Year:2026
Norah
Mieloch,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Applied Health
This poster explores how digital media influences food engagement in terms of what we eat and why, how hormonal hunger and satiety cues may be impacted by screens during mealtime, how media content targets certain food behaviors (intentional and not), and meal appreciation. In learning about the impacts of digital media consumption alongside food consumption, the audience will understand the effects on their health and how screens change their brain chemistry - hopefully allowing them to make an educated decision of whether or not to engage in media while eating.
Monitoring the Usage of Manmade Coverboards by Terrestrial Salamanders in Already Ample Habitat
Presentation Year:2026
Nicacio
Tucker,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
This study examined whether artificial coverboards influence terrestrial salamander refugia use relative to natural cover objects in forest habitat. Surveys conducted twice weekly recorded salamander presence, abundance, species identity, and the microhabitat conditions. Abundance and occupancy were modeled against cover type and environmental variables. Salamanders were more frequently encountered under coverboards, suggesting that these structures provide stable, moist microclimates. Humidity and weather were significant predictors of abundance. The species Ensatina eschscholtzii and Batrachoseps attenuatus are the only two observed salamanders found in all cover types.
Morphological Analysis of Bands in E15 Region on Europa
Presentation Year:2026
Cade
Napierala,
Undergraduate Student,
Geology
This project is an analysis of Band Morphology on Europa, a moon of Jupiter.
Most Effective Methods for Educating Three Population Demographics at Risk of Large-Scale Lahars Originating from Mt. Rainier
Presentation Year:2026
Bodhi
Merrill,
Undergraduate Student,
Geology
In this study I focus on the most effective ways to communicate response plans for lahars originating from Mt. Rainier to three socioeconomic groups: residents, employees, and tourists. Wood and Soulard (2009) identified these three populations in the communities surrounding Mt. Rainier as largest and most at risk to a potential large-scale lahar. I will utilize lahar hazard maps published by the United States Geological Survey in combination with peer-reviewed journal articles focusing on the most successful methods of educating specific population demographics. This work will help guide emergency planners, management agencies, and individuals to better understand what measures still need to be taken in order to prevent loss of life.
Moving For Two: Understanding the Physiological Effects of Prenatal Exercise
Presentation Year:2026
Jasmine
Torres,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Applied Health
Exercise during pregnancy supports important cardiovascular, metabolic, and hormonal adaptations that promote maternal and fetal health. Despite evidence showing benefits such as improved cardiovascular function, better glucose regulation, healthy weight gain, and reduced risk of gestational diabetes and hypertension, most pregnant individuals do not meet exercise guidelines. Low participation is often due to misconceptions, safety concerns, and limited education. Promoting physical activity during pregnancy may serve as an effective strategy to improve maternal health outcomes and prevent pregnancy-related complications.
Multi-Axis Force Behavior in Inclined Bone Drilling
Presentation Year:2026
Mason
Cooper,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Engineering
This research investigates how drilling angle affects forces during surgical bone drilling to improve patient safety and procedure efficacy. This work addresses real surgical conditions where drilling is often non-perpendicular, frequently resulting in suboptimal or problematic outcomes. Tests on bovine bone at angles from 0° to 60° measured lateral and thrust forces. Results show lateral forces and instability increase with angle, raising likelihood of drill deflection and skidding, while thrust force stabilizes and builds more slowly. These findings provide quantitative insight to improve surgical orthopedic procedures.
Natural Resources Club: Building Community Through Service
Presentation Year:2026
Penny
DellaPelle,
Undergraduate Student,
College Corp
Through College Corps, I was supported in my work as president of the Cal Poly Humboldt Natural Resources Club, where we “Restore Ecosystems, One Saturday at a Time.” We volunteer at local environmental stewardship events every week, doing a wide range of tasks, including invasive species removal, trash pickup, and native plantings. In the 2025-26 academic year, nearly 200 students have participated in our volunteer days, contributing over 1,800 volunteer hours to local projects and forging connections between students and the larger community. Under my leadership, we’ve also created more professional development and community-building opportunities for members, with great success.