May 3, 2024 | Digital Showcase | Humboldt Library
All Presenters & Abstracts
LEVEE STORIES UNEARTHED
Presentation Year: 2017
LEVEE STORIES UNEARTHED: FIELD AND MIXED METHODS IN SUPPORT FOR AN EXPEDITED RECONNAISSANCE STUDY
LEVEESTORIES.XYZ FOR AN EXPEDITED RECONNAISSANCE STUDY
Presentation Year: 2017
LEVEESTORIES.XYZ FOR AN EXPEDITED RECONNAISSANCE STUDY
Within the design and construction of the Redwood Creek Flood Control Project in Humboldt County, a mistake was made. The project, a substandard system of earthen levees, extended too far into the creek’s estuary. Poorly negotiated allowances of the levied wound left by the Corps into the transition zone caused the circulation of this vital water vein to be compromised in providing proper supportive nourishment to regional health ecology and economic components. Why hasn’t the miscalculated scar been corrected? Participant observation and historical archaeology helped to first understand the biological and cultural aspects involved.
Leveraging Applied Problems to Enhance the Undergraduate STEM Experience
Presentation Year: 2017
Strong analytical skills and the ability to develop and analyze mathematical models are highly sought-after skills, especially when they are paired with the auxiliary skill set of strong scientific writing, the ability to collaborate across disciplines and effective visualizations of quantitative information. We focus on the development of these auxiliary skills by (1) offering training to teams who participate in COMAP’S Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and (2) through the PIC Math course, a problem-solving course in which students work on problems provided by an industry client.
LGBTQ Risk & Protective Factors for Offending Over the Queer Life Course
Presentation Year: 2017
Prior research finds lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) individuals offending more than their heterosexual peers, due to differential experiences in social institutions like school and family. There are no qualitative studies of queer pathways into or away from crime, or research on the offending of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. We seek to fill this gap by analyzing life trajectories of LGBTQIA individuals with qualitative interviews. We explore pushes/pulls into/away from criminal behavior and respondents’ relationships with social institutions--including chosen families and political participation--to illuminate sites of intervention in the queer life course.
Making America Great Again: American Identity Uncertainty and White-American Bias
Presentation Year: 2017
Research collected from attendees of the RNC shows that White Americans who feel uncertain about their American identity and possess a bias toward viewing their country as “White” might be particularly likely to turn to a candidate who uses rhetoric which excludes ethnic minorities as a means of reducing their identity uncertainty. This work examines the moderating role of American identity uncertainty on the relationship between implicit bias and American identification. These results are important because they display the relationship between American identification and the extent of Americans’ implicit biases as moderated by the extent of their identity uncertainty.
Mapping the Sierra Nevada
Presentation Year: 2017
Mapping the Sierra Nevada
HSU advanced geospatial students map a variety of topics to accompany text in a forthcoming book about Environmental Issues in the Sierra Nevada.
Mapping Tibet
Presentation Year: 2017
This project aims to show two different styles of Cartography to represent the same geographic area, Tibet. The first map is paper map, a mapping project of Tibet and of Tibetan toponyms. The paper map focuses on the region rather than the geopolitics of the region and displays toponyms that reflect Tibetan culture. The second map uses a web based interactive platform to display the various routes that HSU students have taken between 2000 and 2014, while conducting research in Tibet. The web map hopes to consolidate the previous field studies conducted, into an interactive database for future research to reference.
Mazes and Memory: Does lifestyle affect spatial memory and ability?
Presentation Year: 2017
This study aims to address whether differences in spatial ability and memory will be found among those who have active lifestyles, inactive lifestyles, and those who play video games. Spatial ability was examined by having participants become familiarized and then tested on a 3-D computerized maze. Participants were tested on memory and spatial components when asked to recollect the spatial layout of the computerized map.
Mental Health Stigma and Help Seeking Among College Students
Presentation Year: 2017
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between mental health stigma and help-seeking intentions and behaviors at a rural university and explore differences in patterns of help seeking by race/ethnicity. We hypothesize higher levels of mental health stigma will be related to lower levels of help-seeking. Multiple regression will be used to examine predictors of mental health help-seeking.
We found that higher levels of stigma lead to a lower likelihood to seek help.
MICP Bio-cementation for Uniform Improvement of Heterogenous Sands
Presentation Year: 2017
Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is an environmentally-conscious bio-cementation ground improvement technology. In the process, microorganisms containing active urease enzymes are utilized to induce the precipitation of calcite on soil particle surfaces and contacts. MICP can be utilized for; strengthening soils to support structures, mitigation of earthquake-induced liquefaction, prevention of soil erosion, improvement of slope stability, and immobilization of divalent cation contaminants.
My Service Learning Experience with CalTrout
Presentation Year: 2017
My service learning project consisted of working with Mary Burke, Project Manager at CalTrout Arcata. Together we planned/coordinated special events for this year's Humboldt Steelhead Days celebration which included fun/educational activities, workshops, conferences, and engaging art experiences. We worked together with several local residents and organizations who all helped put these events together for a common goal of getting involved with the local community and helping educate them about CalTrout and other's work in watershed and salmon habitat restoration.
Nanodiscs stabilize Anabaena sensory rhodopsin trimers for regulatory binding studies
Presentation Year: 2017
Anabaena Sensory Rhodopsin (ASR), a photoactive membrane protein, undergoes light induced conformational change associated with release of a transducer protein, ASRT. This complex is proposed to control transcription. However, DNA binding to ASR has not been demonstrated. We prepared ASR in soluble nanodiscs. Our data show ASR nanodiscs had a retinal absorbance shift (≈548 - 537 nm). DLS of ASR nanodiscs, separated by SEC, displayed two populations (21.9 ± 6.3 and 31.1 ± 12.5 nm). These populations may represent varying oligomeric states. Preliminary data from crosslinking studies suggest ASR exist in a trimeric state. We conclude ASR is stabilized in the nanodiscs, enabling studies of ASR.
Nanoscale Modifications to the RsaA S-Layer Protein Enhance Lead binding in Whole Cells
Presentation Year: 2017
Heavy metal contamination of soils and waterways due to industrial processes, continues to be a problem in the United States. Recent reports indicate that microbial surface layers (S-layers) are able to bind and sequester heavy metals, thereby removing them from the environment. Our approach is to enhance this process for heavy metal bioremediation. Using a highly sensitive fluorescent dye, lead remediation was measured in the nanomolar range. Results show that upon exposure to 39.0 nM Pb solution engineered C. vibrioides strains Hcm 027,028, remediated the solution to, 9.6 ± 0.3 nM, 9.0 ± 0.2 nM respectively and 13.3 ± 0.1 nM for the wild type.
NCAA DoD Grand Alliance: Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium – Longitudinal Clinical Study Core
Presentation Year: 2017
Humboldt State University received a two-year grant from the NCAA and the U.S. Department of Defense to expand upon the existing study that investigates concussive and repetitive head impacts in NCAA student-athletes. This collaboration is to further understand the neurobiopsychosocial nature of concussive injury and recovery to enhance the safety and health of our collegiate student-athletes, service members, youth sports participants and the broader public. At Humboldt State, researchers have conducted baseline and post injury monitoring of neurocognitive, motor control, and behavioral data in 638 athletes from all sports. The poster will have current results from the CARE consortium.
Needs Assessment for Resource Compilation for Persons Experiencing Homelessness While Caring for a Companion Animal
Presentation Year: 2017
Individuals facing poverty and homelessness can be denied housing when care-taking for a companion animal. Sometimes a refusal of housing is caused by rules which prohibit companion animals in housing, so the preference is to remain homeless. My project provides a compilation of local, free, and low cost resources to help provide for the companion animal’s care. A needs assessment with persons facing long-term homelessness informed the list. The compilation will allow a person facing poverty to make informed choices among resources in the community that would facilitate a healthy human-companion animal relationship regardless of status of homelessness.
North Coast AIDS Project Needs Assessment
Presentation Year: 2017
I developed a needs assessment for DHHS, North Coast AIDS Project. This was used to evaluate the needs of our clients and evaluate the program services that we provide. This assessment also helps to acquire any future funding for these services offered to Humboldt County residents living with HIV/AIDS.
Outgroup Influence
Presentation Year: 2017
The research reveals the complex dynamics of intergroup context, particularly with the presence of extreme outgroups in comparison to moderate outgroups. Results supported the hypothesis that the presence of an extreme outgroup might pull perceivers’ perceptions more negative, possibly because it reminds them of the intergroup comparison process. In addition, results supported the hypothesis of lower perceptions of warmth than competence for relevant outgroups. The work has implications for many social and political situations where individuals may change their opinions of groups in a similar manner based on the presence of extreme outgroups in comparison to relevant and moderate outgroups.
Paleo Facial Reconstruction
Presentation Year: 2017
Facial reconstruction is a method whereby the likeness of a person is reconstructed from the cranial skeleton. This projects involved researching facial reconstruction techniques and applying them to casts of hominin fossil skulls in the anthropology teaching collection. Species/specimens chosen to reconstruct include: (1) a juvenile Australopithecus africanus (the “Taung Child”), a 2.5 million-year-old hominin from South Africa; (2) an adult Paranthropus boisei skull; (3) also an adult Homo neanderthalensis found at the La Chapelle Aux-Saint, in France. To complete the reconstructions, we used a combination of tissue depth markers for humans and chimpanzees.
Police Body Cameras
Presentation Year: 2017
This project is one I have been working on with my internship at the Humboldt Center for Constitutional Rights. The emphasis is on police body cameras and the protocols or standard practices that are required. I have looked into several police departments (including some of our own in Humboldt County) to see what procedures, if any, are taken when recording before and afterwards. The purpose of my research is to educate/inform all on the footage that is captured in public and what is normally done.
Prison Ecology Project
Presentation Year: 2017
The prison ecology project (PEP) maps the intersection of mass incarceration and environmental degradation by investigating the environmental impacts and human health problems created by the prison industrial complex. It is the first to study the myriad of environmental issues associated with prisons such as: water pollution from prison sewage and industrial waste; threats to listed species through the construction of prisons in remote, environmentally-sensitive rural areas; and, environmental justice concerns regarding prisoners, staff and surrounding communities concerning clean drinking water, exposure to coal ash dust and toxic waste.