March 2, 2018

Welcome to all the student participants, faculty mentors, judges, and other guests who are attending the 26th Annual Cal State LA Symposium on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. This annual event allows both undergraduate and graduate students to present their research and scholarly work in a public forum similar to a professional research conference. The students’ work spans a wide range of disciplines and represents the dedicated efforts of the many individuals involved in ground-breaking and innovative research and scholarly activity on our campus. We think you will agree that the research and scholarly activities that will be shared today give evidence of the high standards and academic quality at our university.

This year’s symposium features 175 oral presentations and poster exhibits. We invite you, first, to choose from among the 12 groups of oral presenters. Then, you can explore the poster exhibits in the Golden Eagle Ballroom, where you can interact with the many student researchers who are exhibiting their work. After, you are welcome to join the Student-Scholar Professional Development Workshop that will provide students with an opportunity to learn skills that can enhance their current scholarly career. Last but not least, join us for the reception at Golden Eagle Ballrooms in the afternoon.

Each year, winners of the Cal State LA Symposium go on to represent our campus in a competition with representatives of other California State University campuses. We know our campus will excel again this year at the statewide competition that will be held at California State University, Sacramento on May 4th and 5th, 2018.

We are pleased that you have chosen to be part of this exciting day, and we hope that you enjoy, learn, and are suitably impressed by the many examples of student achievement. We wish each of the participants all the best, both academically and personally. To the faculty mentors and others who are attending this Symposium, please accept our sincere appreciation for being part of the process of ushering in our next generation of scientists, scholars, and creative individuals.

S. Jeffrey Underwood, Associate Vice President for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities

Jason Shiotsugu, Director of Research

Alma Sahagun, Executive Director, University Auxiliary Services, Inc.

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Symposium Schedule

ORAL PRESENTATIONS 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. University-Student Union, 3rd Floor

POSTER PRESENTATIONS 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor, Ballrooms

WORKSHOP 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. University-Student Union, 3rd Floor

RECEPTION 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor, Ballrooms

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Symposium ScheduleORAL PRESENTATIONS 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. University-Student Union, 3rd Floor

Group 1 – Behavioral and Social Sciences I – University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308B8:45 Lauren Hocker 9:00 Kelly Ebeling 9:15 Vanessa Escobar 9:30 Jennifer Jones Break 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Gloria Marquez and Vanessa Ramirez10:15 Carlos Letona and Jessica Mendoza 10:30 Jessica Mendoza and Carlos Letona 10:45 David Robles Break 11:00 – 11:1511:15 Edwin Rojas 11:30 Arlene Sagastume 11:45 Irene Hernandez 12:00 Marianne Lacsamana

Group 2 – Behavioral and Social Sciences II – University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308C8:45 Agustin Cabrera 9:00 Shenazar Esmundo 9:15 Karla Glasgow 9:30 Erika McMullin Break 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Sergio Maldonado 10:15 Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Anthony Robles, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy Melendez10:30 Alejandra Lemus 10:45 Stephanie Perez Break 11:00 – 11:1511:15 Anthony Robles, Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy Melendez11:30 Carolina Santillan 11:45 Aline Tavlian

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Group 3 – Biological Sciences I – University-Student Union – Alhambra Room 3058:45 Roger Berton 9:00 Alexander Meza 9:15 Megan Chang 9:30 Barkev MarntourianBreak 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Andy Chieng10:15 Jacob Parres-Gold10:30 Mario Pizarro RojasBreak 10:45 – 11:0011:00 Ekinadoese Salami and Paula Vanegas11:15 Tiffany Ybarra 11:45 Stephanie Wong Su

Group 4 – Biological Sciences II– University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308A9:15 Saida Coreas 9:30 Jameka Jefferson 9:45 Jasmin Masri and Violet Perez 10:00 Jesus Medina Break 10:15 – 10:3010:30 Melanie Medina 10:45 Joel Ramirez 11:00 Jose Munoz

Group 5 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences I– University-Student Union – Montebello Room 3099:00 Ricardo Guevara9:15 Shirell Klein9:30 Juan Leal DobladoBreak 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Juan Sanchez10:15 Brandon Liu10:30 Yasmeen SolanoBreak 10:45 – 11:0011:00 Katherine Nelms11:15 Kathryn Uchida11:30 Chely Tejeda

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Group 6 – Creative Projects– Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 2 9:00 Stephany Bravo 9:15 Anusha Manjappa and Nayana Brahmanahalli Venkataramanappa 9:30 Prasanna Nattuthurai, Maria Boldina, Tianyi Deng and Vrunda Shah9:45 Srihitha Reddy Sivannagari, Nishant Shristiraj and Himani Batra

Group 7 – Education – Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 1 9:00 Katherine Gilbreath 9:15 Paula Garcia Rodriguez and Sofia Rogers9:30 Raul Meneses Samperio 9:45 Anell Tercero

Group 8 – Engineering and Computer Sciences I– University-Student Union – El Monte Room 3119:15 Hector Cruz 9:30 Jose Hernandez and Edwin Martinez 9:45 Joseph Lucey Break 10:00 – 10:1510:15 Edwin Martinez10:30 Robin Sehler10:45 Hao Jun Jacky Weng

Group 9 – Engineering and Computer Sciences II– University-Student Union – Pasadena Room 3079:00 Danny Clemons9:15 Daniel Martinez9:30 Justin MoonBreak 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Rafael Machuca and David Garcia10:15 Kin Li

Group 10 – Engineering and Computer Sciences III– University-Student Union – Boardroom South Room 303A9:15 Eduardo Molina, Bryan Tan Nguyen and Byron Lara9:30 Amit Pal9:45 Francisco Moxo Galicia, Byron Lara, Bryan Tan Anh Nguyen and Jeovanny ReyesBreak 10:00 – 10:1510:15 Jeovanny Reyes10:30 Daniel Lopez10:45 Salvador Rojas and Francisco Moxo

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Group 11 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences II– Golden Eagle, 1st Floor – University Club9:00 Colin Bloomfield 9:15 Cynthia Ramirez, Manuel Davila and Gwen Ostergren 9:30 Jeannette Ramirez Break 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Alex Zhou 10:15 Brenda Tenorio and Elizabeth Metzler-Winslow

Group 12 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences III– University-Student Union – San Gabriel Room 3138:45 Samantha Burrola 9:00 Jayden Butler 9:15 Silverio Delgado9:30 Alexander KassBreak 9:45 – 10:0010:00 John DeVries10:15 Medhanie Estiphanos10:30 Samavarti Gallardo10:45 Michael Milovich-GoffBreak 11:00 – 11:1511:15 Andranik Mkrtchyan11:30 Greta O'Dea11:45 Morgan Shaner12:00 Seth Linker

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DR. RAYMOND GARCIA POSTER SESSION11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor, Ballrooms

Behavioral and Social Sciences

  1. Lauren Hocker    2. Yvette Servin, Diane Martinez, and Rosemary Giron  3. Cassie Huff, Daisy Arzate, Meghan MacGregor, and Melissa Ramirez  4. Nikita Dhanraj Marathe, Yuvasree Kalaiselvan, Rohit Tiwari, and Nikeeta Akbari 5. Hazina Cain-Houston

  6. Angela Navata and Christinalee Houseman  7. Nicole Benchequea and Tatev Sarkissyan  8. Maria A. Serpas and Qing Wang 9. Alysia Huang, Joshua Pono, and Leon Vaughn

Biological Sciences I

10. Jesse Duque, Timothy Bennett, and Edward Cardenas11. Shaanti Trikha and Sergio Iglesias-Jimenez12. Ricardo Ramirez II and Jesus Rodriguez-Morales13. Tracey Ng14. Jessica Romero15. Marcus Forsell and Alex McCombe16. Kayla Love

17. Benjamin Nittayo18. Ignacio Gonzalez and Kevin Quach19. Brent Beadell20. Ivan Ocegueda21. Joshua Lugo and Chely Tejeda22. Joshua Alvarado, Jessica Hsueh, and Sarah Madira23. Ryan Meraz and Ernesto Castellanos24. Carlos Gonzalez, Tracey Nguyen, and Amelia Abdullah

25. Mabel Bush26. Hugo Mora and Rogelio Flores27. LeeAnn Reinking and Alex Moreno28. Elvia Silva29. Yesica Viramontes and Peter Ewing30. Neil Poole31. Daniel Coello32. Jalen Langie

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Biological Sciences II

33. Josseline Gonzalez and Daniel Tellez34. Gigi Beas35. Courtney Eiley and Kenny Castro, Courtney Eiley, Kenny Castro, and Hugo Urrutia36. Hugo Urrutia and Abigail Aleman37. Steven Azurdia

38. Alexandra Garcia39. Beatriz Aguirre, Sasha Tyomkin, Myles Killpatrick, and Lamont Hayes40. Benson Truong41. Ryan Yang42. Frank Gutierrez43. Jermaine Bishop

Creative Activities

44. Damaris Garcia and Jose Sanchez45. Sade Meeks46. Bridget Garcia Vera, Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, and Anthony Robles

Engineering and Computer Science

47. Patrick Arguello48. Amadeo Candido49. Jason Ng and Jeanette Vong50. James Velasco and Kevin Monsalvo51. Jason Lin

52. Davis Louie, Adekola Togunloju, Patrick Flinner, Sudip Baral, Zolangi Ramirez, Andrew McLees, Hongsuk Choi, Johnson Truong, and Issac Cano

53. Raphael Rosas54. Gabriela Martinez55. Rachel Ibrahim-Watkins56. Simon Packman57. Isabel Escobar

58. Dandell Ilano, Jai-Wei Wang, Mauricio Velasco, and Edward Ramirez59. Sosy Dersarkissian, Atilio Chacon, Oscar Sanabria, Emmanuel Racela, and Yair De Jesus60. Ara Setrakian and Sosy Dersarkissian61. Michael Muhlmeyer62. Kevin Chaput, Dongling Li, and Salla Kim63. Jonathan Sahagun

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Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences

64. Angella Lee65. Veronica Buacharern66. Alma Araiza, Wendy Avila, Patricia Vargas, and Danny Covarrubias67. Nishant Shristiraj 68. Lisa Le69. Arsen Kaakijian70. Mabel De La Luz and Megha Tandel71. Cristina Hernandez, Diana Morales, and Marisela Rosales

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

72. Armond Khodagulyan73. Elizabeth Metzler-Winslow74. Lucas Velasquez

75. Anh Vo76. Angel Chavez77. Marcos Reyes78. Travis Hayes

79. Andrew Garcia80. Angelica Enriquez81. Neil Kohanski82. Brady Ross 83. Beatriz Aguilar Molina

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WORKSHOP 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. University-Student Union, Los Angeles Room 308C

Student-Scholar Professional Development Workshop

This workshop is intended to provide student presenters with the opportunity to learn skills that can enhance their current scholarly careers, and to consider future research possibilities at the doctoral level. Cal State LA alumni who are now postdoctoral fellows or are currently pursuing Ph.D.s in both STEM and social science fields will co-present with two Cal State LA faculty members, to share their educational stories and insight about their current research. The workshop will also present “Tips and Tools” for effective teaching as a TA or course instructor and developing strong writing strategies as a graduate student.

Arianna Brown (1st year Ph.D. student at UCI, Astrophysics)

Veronica Pedroza (2nd year Ph.D. student at UCLA/CSULA, Special Education

Uriel Serrano (2nd year Ph.D. student at UCSC, Sociology)

Dr. Christopher Gutierrez (postdoctoral researcher at University of British Columbia, Physics)

Dr. Valerie Wong (Lecturer, Biology)

Dr. Allison Mattheis (Assistant Professor, Applied and Advanced Studies in Education)

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Judges for Oral and Poster Presentations

Shweta Adur Sociology

Shaurya Agarwal Electrical and Computer Engineering

Konrad Aniol Physics and Astronomy

David Ardelia JLP

Luoman Bao Sociology

Gary Brookfield Mathematics

Arianna Brown Astrophysics (Ph.D. Student, UCI)

Yiting Cao Accounting

Joe Caveleri LASD Crime Lab

Meifang Chen Public Health

Susan Cohen Biological Sciences

Kristen Correa LASD Crime Lab

Katie Dingeman Sociology

Adele Dobry University Library

Elaine Draper Sociology

Edward Eivers Biological Sciences

Andre Ellis Geosciences and Environment

Joel Ellwanger Psychology

Mohsen Enshraghi Mechanical Engineering

Kirsten Fisher Biological Sciences

Krishna Foster Chemistry and Biochemistry

Steven Frenda Psychology

Gabriela Fried-Amivila Sociology

Dustin Garnet Art

Andrea Gutierrez Graduate Studies

Hichem Hajaiej Mathematics

Melisa Hendrata Mathematics

Kathleen Hinoki Nursing

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Travis Hu Mechanical Engineering

Dianlu Jiang Chemistry and Biochemistry

Cailine Kim Special Ed and Counseling

Christina Kimm Special Ed and Counseling

Kimberly Kisler Public Health

Michael Krebs Mathematics

Steve LaDochy Geosciences and Environment

Nathan Lanning Biological Sciences

Jingjing Li Geosciences and Environment

Ni Li Mechanical Engineering

Charles Liu Electrical and Computer Engineering

Daphne Liu Mathematics

Yangyang Liu Chemistry and Biochemistry

Errol Mathias Chemistry and Biochemistry

Sylke Meyer Television, Film, and Media Studies

Jessica Morales-Chicas Child and Family Studies

Steven Mulherin Geosciences and Environment

Robert Nissen Biological Sciences

Porschia Nkansa Accounting

Alexandra Park Psychology

Arman Pazouki Mechanical Engineering

John Petrie Civil Engineering

Jessica Pope Mayers Psychology

Edith Porter Biological Sciences

David Raymond Mechanical Engineering

Siyon Rhee Social Work

Anthony Roberts Sociology

Tyler Ryan Tyler Ryan Consulting

Melanie Sabado-Liwag Public Health

Susan Saul Anthropology12

Matthias Selke Chemistry and Biochemistry

Alyssa Selve ORSCA

Alina Seygalus Economics and Statistics

Adel Sharif Mechanical Engineering

Jason Shiotsugu ORSCA

Elizabeth Torres Biological Sciences

MarkTufenkjian Civil Engineering

Jan van Bergen Quantum Reference

Yixian Wang Chemistry and Biochemistry

Gail Washington Nursing

Xin Wen Chemistry and Biochemistry

MarkWild History

Deborah Won Electrical and Computer Engineering

Karen Wu Psychology

Howard Xu Biological Sciences

Hengchun Ye Geosciences and Environment

Zachary Zezima Art

Guo Meng Zhao Physics and Astronomy

This list was created on 02/27/2018; we apologize if you have been omitted.

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ORAL PRESENTATIONS 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. University-Student Union, 3rd FloorGroup 1 – Behavioral and Social Sciences I – University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308B

8:45 Lauren HockerM.A. PsychologyRelationship Motivations: Links with Relationship OutcomesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

9:00 Kelly EbelingM.A. PsychologyMedia Use: Sleep, Well-Being, School-Belonging and Academic PerformanceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kaveri Subrahmanyam

9:15 Vanessa EscobarB.A. SociologyThe Role of Family Structure on the Educational Outcomes of Undocumented StudentsFaculty Mentor: Dr. William Estuardo Rosales

9:30 Jennifer Jones B.A. Psychology, Minor Criminal JusticeThe Relationship between Openness and Eyewitness PerformanceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Mitchell Eisen

Break 10:00 – 10:15

10:15 Gloria Marquez and Vanessa RamirezB.A. PsychologyAttractiveness, Alcohol, and Social Media: The Effects of Offline Consumption to Online CravingsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Cody Weeks

10:30 Carlos Letona and Jessica MendozaMaster of Arts, PsychologyReligiosity and Impressions of Highly Sexual Women and MenFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

10:45 Jessica Mendoza and Carlos LetonaM.A. PsychologyThe Development of the Sexual Shame ScaleFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

11:00 David RoblesM.A. Psychology Interrelationships between Impulsiveness, Personality Disorder, and Substance Use Disorder in HIV +/- Adults Faculty Member: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Break 11:00 – 11:15

11:15 Edwin RojasB.A. SociologyThe Undocumented Achievement ParadoxFaculty Mentor: Dr. William Estuardo Rosales

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11:30 Arlene Sagastume and Christinalee HousemanM.A. PsychologyCultural Values Conflicts and Gender-Related Experiences of Latina Young AdultsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jessica Dennis

11:45 Irene Hernandez M.A. in Psychology Relationships between Apathy, Depression, and Psychosocial Factors in HIV+ Women. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

12:00 Marianne Lacsamana M.S. Forensic Psychology Social Support during Forensic Interviews with Children Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mitchell Eisen

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Group 2 – Behavioral and Social Sciences II – University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308C

8:45 Agustin Cabrera B.A. Latin American Studies“Al Frente”: Salvadoran Transgender Women Navigating Violence in a Neoliberal EraFaculty Advisor: Dr. Ericka Verba

9:00 Shenazar EsmundoB.S. Public HealthDrinking, smoking, and mental health among Chinese adolescentsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag

9:15 Karla GlasgowB.A. AnthropologyAnomalies of the Southwest: Reframing 14th Century Salado Culture at the Gila River FarmFaculty Mentor: Dr. René Vellanoweth

9:30 Erika McMullinM.A. Anthropology-BioarchaeologyExcavating at Isert Kelly Tower House in Co. Galway, IrelandFaculty Mentor: Dr. Christine Lee

Break 9:45 – 10:00

10:00 Sergio Maldonado M.A. History The Ostracized Movement: The Anarcho-syndicalism Experiment during the Mexican Revolution of 1910Faculty Mentor: Dr. Choi Chatterjee

10:15 Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Anthony Robles, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy MelendezB.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication Disorders, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx StudiesLxs Desaparecidxs: State Sanctioned Violence toward Migrating Brown BodiesFaculty Mentors: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal

10:30 Alejandra LemusB.A. Latin American StudiesThe Legacy of Central American Music as TestimonioFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ericka Verba

10:45 Stephanie PerezM.A. Interdisciplinary StudiesRestorative Justice for the Women of Sepur Zarco: From Testimonios to Reparations and BeyondFaculty Mentor: Dr. Dionne Espinoza

Break 11:00 – 11:15

11:15 Anthony Robles, Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy MelendezB.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication Disorders, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx StudiesCity of Monsters: State-sanctioned Death Zones and the Elimination of Demonized Populations in Los AngelesFaculty Mentors: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal

11:30 Carolina SantillánM.A. Latin American StudiesRosario Ibarra and Politicized Mothering during Mexico’s Dirty WarFaculty Mentor: Dr. Enrique Ochoa

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11:45 Aline TavlianM.A. HistoryWomen in Genocide Cinema: Victims or Heroines?  Faculty Mentors: Dr. Choi Chatterjee, Dr. Timothy Doran and Dr. Afshin Matin

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Group 3 – Biological Sciences I – University-Student Union – Alhambra Room 3058:45 Roger BertonM.S. Biological ScienceEffects of Antimicrobial Peptides against Mycobacterium smegmatisFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

9:00 Alexander MezaM.S. ChemistryInvestigating the interaction between arginine methylation and serine phosphorylation in myelin basic proteinFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

9:15 Megan ChangB.S. BiochemistryUsing Gold Nanoparticles as a Model System for Resistive Pulse Sensing of Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

9:30 Barkev MarntourianB.S. Public Health, Pre-Health Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Angiotensin 1-7: A Potential Remedy for Type 1 DiabetesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

Break 9:45 – 10:0010:00 Andy ChiengB.S. ChemistryCharacterization of Bacterial Cell Membrane Disruption induced by Antimicrobial Peptides and LiposomesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian WangCollaborators: Kevin R. Parducho and Dr. Edith Porter

10:15 Jacob Parres-GoldB. S. BiochemistryDetection of α-Syn-Induced Membrane Pore Formation via Transmembrane Current SensingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

10:30 Mario Pizarro RojasM.S. BiochemistryProspectus: The effect of arginine methylation on chaperone mediated autophagyFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

Break 10:45 – 11:0011:00 Ekinadoese Salami and Paula VanegasM.S. Nutritional Science: B.S. BiochemistrySolubility and Antioxidant Activities of Rice Bran Proteins Prepared from Three Extraction MethodsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jing Zhao

11:15 Tiffany K. YbarraB.S. MicrobiologyQuantification of ATP in Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Corroborate Differential action of the Antimicrobial Peptides Human Betadefensins HBD2 and HBD3 Faculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

11:45 Stephanie Wong SuB.S. Biology Real-time determination of disruption and pore formation of cell membranes by aggregated alpha-synuclein using scanning ion conductance microscopyFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

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Group 4 – Biological Sciences II– University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308A

9:15 Saida CoreasB.S. Public HealthLongitudinal Associations between Smoking Status And Social SupportFaculty Mentor: Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag

9:30 Jameka S. JeffersonM.S. BiologyCharacterization of microbial communities in the Mojave Desert biological soil crust and their association with Syntrichia caninervis in in hyper- and hypolithic habitatsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kirsten Fisher

9:45 Jasmin Masri and Violet PerezB.S. Food Science in TechnologyGrowth Rate and Antioxidant Activities of Mealworms Fed with Antioxidant-Supplemented DietsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jing Zhao

10:00 Jesus MedinaB.S. BiologyDiversity of bioluminescent signaling ostracod crustaceans in Puerto Rico coral reef habitats. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Torres

Break 10:15 – 10:30

10:30 Melanie MedinaM.S. BiologySelection on genital morphology as a driver of cryptic diversification in sea slugs proposed as biocontrol agents for CaulerpaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Patrick Krug

10:45 Joel RamirezM.S. Kinesiology Option in Exercise ScienceFeasibility and Effectiveness of using Electromyography to Track Physical Activity Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christine Dy

11:00 Jose David MunozB.S. BiologyInsight into the Life History and Development of the Bioluminescent Ostracod Crustacean Vargula tsujii at Santa Catalina Island Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Torres

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Group 5 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences I– University-Student Union – Montebello Room 309

9:00 Ricardo Guevara B.S. BiochemistryThread/Paper-Based Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

9:15 Shirell KleinB.S. in ChemistryThe Synthesis and Use of UiO-66 Analogue Metal-Organic Frameworks for Drug DeliveryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

9:30 Juan Leal DobladoM.S. PhysicsModeling the effects of structural changes on the biomechanics and function of pancreatic and cardiac tissueFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez and Dr. Andrea Armani

Break 9:45 – 10:00

10:00 Juan SanchezB.S. Mechanical EngineeringAn Optimized Microfluidic-Based Aluminum-Air BatteryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

10:15 Brandon M. LiuB.S. BiochemistryPEGylation of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Selective Drug DeliveryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

10:30 Yasmeen SolanoB.S. BiochemistryEffects of Antifreeze Protein on Mannitol Crystallization during Freeze-DryingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

Break 10:45 – 11:00

11:00 Katherine Nelms B.S. ChemistryEnzyme Encapsulation in Metal Organic Frameworks for Increased StabilityFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

11:15 Kathryn UchidaB.S. BiochemistryA Microfluidic Glucose Sensor Incorporating a Novel Thread-Based Electrode SystemFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

11:30 Chely TejedaM.S. BiochemistryEffects of Antifreeze Proteins on Temperature-Induced Enzymatic ActivityFaculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

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Group 6 – Creative Projects– Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 2

9:00 Stephany BravoM.A. Candidate Mexican-American StudiesComparative Landscapes in the Hub City: A Photo EssayFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ester Hernández

9:15 Anusha Manjappa and Nayana Brahmanahalli VenkataramanappaM.S. Information SystemsA Mobile App to Aid with Smoking Cessation: A Preliminary ExplorationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shilpa Balan

9:30 Prasanna Nattuthurai, Maria Boldina, Tianyi Deng and Vrunda ShahM.S. Computer Information Systems Developing an Internal Cryptocurrency system for CollegesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nanda Ganesan

9:45 Srihitha Reddy Sivannagari, Nishant Shristiraj and Himani BatraM.S. Information SystemsBig Data Analysis of Taxi Services in Chicago and in New YorkFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jongwook Woo

Group 7 – Education – Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 1

9:00 Katherine GilbreathM.A. in Education – Option in Educational FoundationsSingle Parent InvolvementFaculty Mentor: Allison Mattheis

9:15 Paula Garcia Rodriguez and Sofia RogersM.A. Communicative DisordersUsing questionnaires to screen multilingual children’s current language abilities: Comparing parent reports across studies.Faculty Mentors: Dr. Erica Ellis and Dr. Mary Kubalanza

9:30 Raul Meneses Samperio M.A. Educational Foundations UndocuQueer Latinos Navigating Higher EducationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Allison Mattheis

9:45 Anell TerceroM.A. Educational FoundationsDevelopment and Implementation of a 1:1 Chromebook Pilot in a Working-Class Middle SchoolFaculty Mentor: Dr. Allison Mattheis

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Group 8 – Engineering and Computer Sciences I– University-Student Union – El Monte Room 311

9:15 Hector CruzB.S. Civil EngineeringAssessment of Pollution Permeation Index Quantification of Health Burden and Estimated Transportation Factor in Los AngelesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arezoo Khodayari

9:30 Jose Hernandez and Edwin MartinezB.S. Civil Engineering; M.S. Civil EngineeringResilience of Underground Transportation Infrastructure in Coastal RegionsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez- Nikl

9:45 Joseph LuceyB.S. Civil EngineeringModeling surface water inundation using NASA remote sensing data productsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sonya Lopez

Break 10:00 – 10:15

10:15 Edwin MartinezM. S. Civil EngineeringRecent Research In Seismic and Blast Performance of Tunnel StructuresFaculty Mentor: Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl

10:30 Robin SehlerM.S. Environmental Science Assessing the Relationship between Soil Moisture and Precipitation Using Remote Sensing InformationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jingjing Li

10:45 Hao Jun Jacky WengBS Fire Protection Administration and TechnologyDisabled or Impaired Occupants In EvacuationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Lily Xiaolei Chen

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Group 9 – Engineering and Computer Sciences II– University-Student Union – Pasadena Room 307

9:00 Danny ClemonsM.S. Mechanical EngineeringNumerical Analysis of Fuel and Oxidant Flow in Paper-based Fuel CellsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

9:15 Daniel MartinezB.S. Mechanical EngineeringParametrizing the saturation of granular materials using a discrete element method formulation Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arman Pazouki

9:30 Justin MoonM.S. Mechanical EngineeringHeat Transfer Enhancement through Multi-harmonic Surfaces of Internal Flow in Micro-wavy Channels.Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

Break 9:45 – 10:00

10:00 Rafael Machuca and David GarciaB.S. Mechanical Engineering Active Control of a Dual-Wing Vertical Axis Wind TurbineFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

10:15 Kin LiM.S. Mechanical EngineeringApplications of Non-Integer Derivatives in Engineering SystemsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

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Group 10 – Engineering and Computer Sciences III– University-Student Union – Boardroom South Room 303A

9:15 Eduardo Molina, Bryan Tan Nguyen and Byron LaraB.S. Mechanical EngineeringDevelopment of a light-weight anthropomorphic robotic arm for a humanoidFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

9:30 Amit PalM.S. Electrical Engineering Multimodal wearable sensing for a mobile fitness monitoring and exergaming system for individuals with spinal cord injuryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah Won

9:45 Francisco Moxo Galicia, Byron Lara, Bryan Tan Anh Nguyen and Jeovanny ReyesB.S. Mechanical EngineeringControl of Robotic Arm via Adaptive InteractionFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

Break 10:00 – 10:1510:15 Jeovanny ReyesB.S. Electrical EngineeringMotion Learning Control for Robots with Differential Drive SystemsFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

10:30 Daniel LopezM.S. Mechanical Engineering Novel Wake Model for Studying Real-Time Wind Farm Production OptimizationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jim Kuo

10:45 Salvador Rojas and Francisco Moxo Galicia M.S. Mechanical EngineeringVision Stabilization through Postural Control of a Humanoid RobotFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

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Group 11 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences II– Golden Eagle, 1st Floor – University Club

9:00 Colin BloomfieldM.S. MathematicsThe Borsuk-Ulam Theorem and its Combinatorial AnalogsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

9:15 Cynthia Ramirez, Manuel Davila and Gwen OstergrenB.S. Applied Mathematics; B.S. Applied Mathematics; B.S. General MathematicsThe Chromatic Number of the PlaneFaculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Krebs

9:30 Jeannette Ramirez M.S. MathematicsRadio k-labeling for GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

Break 9:45 – 10:00

10:00 Alex Zhou B.S. PhysicsAn Interesting Operation on Binary BraceletsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

10:15 Brenda Torino and Elizabeth Metzler-WinslowB.S. Mathematics Pure Option; B.S. Mathematics General Option, Minor Physics.Radio k-labelings of Distance GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

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Group 12 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences III– University-Student Union – San Gabriel Room 313

8:45 Samantha BurrolaB.S. ChemistryAn Optimized Microfluidic Paper-Based NiOOH/Zn Alkaline BatteryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

9:00 Jayden ButlerM.S. PhysicsCreating a Monte Carlo Scattering Model of Class I Protostar TMC-1AFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

9:15 Silverio DelgadoM.S. PhysicsIntrinsic magnetic effects in LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 from magnetic susceptibility and with NMR measurementsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

9:30 Alexander KassM.S. PhysicsEffect of Pre-Stress on Stress Corrosion in Maraging Steel BladesFaculty Mentors: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo and Dr. Jose Rodriguez

Break 9:45 – 10:00

10:00 John DeVriesM.S. AstrophysicsUsing RADMC-3D to Model the Radiative Transfer of Spectral Lines in Protoplanetary Disks and EnvelopesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

10:15 Medhanie EstiphanosM.S. PhysicsMagnetic Properties of Carbon Doped with Nickel and Copper NanoparticlesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Armen Kocharian

10:30 Samavarti Gallardo B.S. PhysicsThe Use of the Time Average Visibility for Analyzing HERA-19 Commissioning DataFaculty Mentor: Dr. James Aguirre

10:45 Michael C. Milovich-GoffM.S. PhysicsMapping Scatterers in Dielectric CoatingsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo

Break 11:00 – 11:15

11:15 Andranik MkrtchyanM.S. PhysicsDetermining the Dynamical Mass of Protostars using ALMA DataFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

11:30 Greta O’DeaM.S. Physics“63Cu-NMR in pristine HKUST-1 MOF: effects of coupled Cu pairs in HKUST-1”Faculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

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11:45 Morgan ShanerM.S. Physics Measuring the dynamical mass of a protostarFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

12:00 Seth LinkerM.S. PhysicsMeasuring the Mechanical Quality Factors of Optical Coatings Deposited onto Silicon Nitride Membranes with the Goal of Increasing the Range and Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave DetectorsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo

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Abstracts of Oral Presentations

Group 1 – Behavioral and Social Sciences I – University-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308B

Lauren HockerM.A. PsychologyRelationship Motivations: Links with Relationship OutcomesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

Relationship scholars assert that individuals in intimate relationships depend on motivations to remain involved with partners (Rempel et al., 1985). Three types of motivation are intrinsic, instrumental, and extrinsic. These motivations are thought to be linked with relationship outcomes like satisfaction, conflict, and commitment. This study examines links between relationship motivations and outcomes in romantic relationships. Adults recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk completed anonymous online self-report measures, including the Investment Model Scale (Rusbult et al., 1998), a measure of relationship conflict (Peterson & Zill, 1986), and a measure of relationship motivations (Rempel et al., 1985). Participants also completed the Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1962). Partial correlations controlling for sex, age, SDS scores, and education level indicate strong significant correlations between all types of relationship motivation and relationship outcomes. Intrinsic and instrumental motivations are linked with similar patterns to satisfaction (rs = .78, .75), commitment (rs = .66, .65), investment (rs = .64, .61), desirability of alternative relationships (rs = -.35, -.36), and conflict (rs = -.32, -.34) (ps < .001). Extrinsic motivation is correlated with satisfaction and commitment (rs = .39) and with commitment (r = .18) (ps < .001), but not with conflict or desirability of alternatives.

Kelly EbelingM.A. PsychologyRelationships between Personality and Pain-related Limitations in HIV+ PersonsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Pain is prevalent in persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) (Uebelacker, 2015) and associated with diminished functioning (Ramírez-Maestre, 2017). While it is known that perceptions of pain-related impairment tend to be higher in individuals with certain personality styles (i.e. high neuroticism) (Raselli, 2007) and pathological personality patterns (Mun, 2016), virtually no studies have examined these

relationships among PLWHA.  This study examines relationships between pain-related limitations and normal and pathological personality in a community sample of PLWHA.  The RAND-36 indexed interference in normal activities due to bodily pain. Separate MANCOVAs were run using normal traits (FFM) (N=204) and pathological patterns (MCMI-III) (N=236) as outcome variables.  Endorsing no pain-interference (PI) was associated with lower neuroticism, avoidant, depressive, dependent, schizotypal, and borderline scores, compared to participants endorsing mild, moderate, or severe PI (p’s<.05), and endorsing no or mild PI was associated with lower schizoid and paranoid scores, relative to those endorsing moderate or severe PI (p’s<.01). Findings are consistent with research associating neuroticism and pathological personality patterns with somatic complaints (Black, 2010).  Such factors may translate into cognitions that exacerbate perceptions of pain.  Inclusion of personality measures in assessment of PLWHA may identify persons whose pain-related limitations might be mitigated through adjunctive cognitive interventions.

Vanessa EscobarB.A. SociologyThe Role of Family Structure on the Educational Outcomes of Undocumented StudentsFaculty Mentor: Dr. William Estuardo Rosales

Undocumented students face a unique set of challenges in higher education. They are more likely to be low-income, often face racial discrimination, and are also challenged with barriers associated with illegality (Baum and Flores 2011). Although research examines the experiences and hardships of undocumented young adults, few focus on the effects of family structure on their educational outcomes. Students with two-parent households are more likely to have a higher educational attainment and financial resources than those from single parent households (Barajas 2011). Many undocumented students must financially contribute to their family instead of receiving support from parents (Abrego 2011). They also face high employment hours and low parental education, which are considered higher risk factors in educational attainment (Perez et al. 2009). In this study, we have gathered data using 90 demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from a

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multi-campus study in California and Colorado, that looks at the experiences of undocumented university students and the barriers they face. I examine the relationship between family composition, time to degree, and GPAs. I hypothesize that larger family households have a larger effect on educational outcomes because of students’ financial contribution to their families.

Jennifer Jones B.A. Psychology, Minor Criminal JusticeThe Relationship between Openness and Eyewitness PerformanceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Mitchell Eisen

The current study was designed to examine the relationship between personality and eyewitness performance. Researchers analyzed data from three experiments (N= 752) designed to examine witness performance when presented with culprit present or absent live showups in a highly realistic field-simulation paradigm (Eisen, Smith, Olaguez, & Perta, 2017; Eisen, Perta, Jones, Owen, & Cedre, 2017). Participants witnessed a staged crime, then viewed a single suspect, either in custody of the authorities (field-simulation condition), or after being debriefed (lab condition). All participants also completed the NEO-PI-R. After controlling for variations across experimental procedures, analyses revealed a three-way interaction between culprit presence, confidence, and Openness. Overall, witnesses who scored low on Openness were more likely to identify the suspect, particularly in culprit absent conditions, and report high confidence (i.e., more likely to confidently give false identifications of innocent suspects). These results are consistent with previous research, which found that individuals with high traditionalism and acceptance of authority and lower intelligence proved more suggestible to leading questions, and scored poorly on perceptual tests, memory tasks, and facial recognition judgements. These findings will be discussed in the context of recent research examining individual differences in eyewitness memory

Gloria Marquez and Vanessa RamirezB.A. PsychologyAttractiveness, Alcohol, and Social Media: The Effects of Offline Consumption to Online CravingsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Cody Weeks

Research has shown that the majority of adults over the age of 18 admit to drinking alcohol and nearly 25% of these individuals indicated that they are binge-drinkers (NIAA, 2016). College students are additionally frequent users of social media (Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009). Freeman et al. (2010) suggests that viewing alcohol pictures promotes social

disinhibition. Additionally, the use of alcoholic beverages in movies is linked to an increase in both consuming alcohol and risky behavior among young individuals (Wills et al., 2009). Litt and Stock (2011) suggests that viewing alcohol content on social media leads to more liberal social media norms about alcohol and a greater likeliness to consume alcohol. The present study will examine whether presence of alcohol-related content and attractiveness of a social media poster will influence alcohol cravings. Participants viewed experimenter-manipulated social media posts, of an attractive or unattractive poster with or without alcohol. Preliminary analysis demonstrated that offline behavior in the form of alcohol consumption moderates online influence of alcohol cravings.

Carlos Letona and Jessica MendozaM. A. PsychologyReligiosity and Impressions of Highly Sexual Women and MenFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

Sexuality has important implications for impressions people form of each other, impressions which may vary depending on a person’s biological sex. This study examines how impression formation is affected by a target person’s sex and their sexual behavior. Using an online experiment, participants read a vignette about a person (female or male) and their sexual behavior (two or twelve sexual partners in one year), and then evaluated the target person on numerous qualities using semantic differentials (e.g., bad-good, immoral-moral, abnormal-normal, unhappy-happy, etc.). Results indicate main effects of target person sex (women are evaluated more favorably than men) and number of sexual partners, with the person having twelve partners judged as immoral, abnormal, unstable, and impure compared to the person having two partners. Interactions are also significant, with highly sexual men judged more harshly than highly sexual women or men and women with fewer sexual partners. Evaluations are also linked with participant religiosity, including judgments of deviance, happiness, popularity, morality, and purity. Results are discussed in terms of links between judgments of sexual morality and religious guidelines for sexuality.

Jessica Mendoza and Carlos LetonaM.A. PsychologyThe Development of the Sexual Shame ScaleFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi Riggio

The current research focuses on development of a self-report measure of sexual shame, including item generation, evaluation of the measure’s psychometric properties, and convergent validity with various

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measures of sexuality (satisfaction, sexual self-esteem, etc.). The authors generated an initial pool of 76 items (e.g., “I feel ashamed when I have sex;” “I think sex is sinful;” “Sex is humiliating”). Participants respond using a five-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Preliminary analyses indicate a coherent factor structure, with one overall factor representing sexual shame explaining 40% of variance in responses. Cronbach’s alpha reliability is .95 and inter-item correlations range from .51 to .73. There are negative correlations between sexual shame and age; sexual shame and total number of sexual partners; and shame and sexual excitability. There is a positive correlation between sexual shame and identification as a religious person. Sexual shame is negatively correlated with sexual self-esteem (satisfaction with one’s sexual activities, drive, and organs), but only for women. We think this measure will be a useful tool for researchers, and because of links between sexual shame and sexual dysfunction, for professionals working in applied clinical settings.

David RoblesM.A. Psychology Interrelationships between Impulsiveness, Personality Disorder, and Substance Use Disorder in HIV +/- Adults Faculty Member: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Traditionally, substance abuse has been in part associated with disruption in inhibitory processes (Mainz et al., 2012). However, personality has been implicated in substance abuse as well (Mainville et al., 2017). This study examines interrelationships between impulsiveness, personality, and substance use diagnosis (SUD) in a sample of 401 adults (189 HIV+, 212 HIV-). Personality was measured using the MCMI, impulsivity with the BIS, and SUD with the SCID-I. Results of MANCOVA reveal that the presence of compulsive personality traits was associated with lower impulsiveness, while higher passive, avoidant, depressive, dependent, aggressive, masochistic, borderline and paranoid traits were associated with higher impulsiveness (p’s < .05). An interaction between antisocial personality and HIV was observed, with HIV+ individuals with higher antisocial traits reporting higher impulsivity. Logistic regression indicated that the presence of avoidant personality was associated with a greater likelihood of SUD (p < .05). However, only the motor impulsiveness facet of impulsivity was associated with a greater likelihood of SUD (p < .05).  These results suggest that personality may be a more consistent predictor of SUD, and that impulsiveness may not represent a consistent mediator of the personality - SUD relationship.

Edwin RojasB.A. SociologyThe Undocumented Achievement ParadoxFaculty Mentor: Dr. William Estuardo Rosales

Mental health research has increasingly addressed the concerns of the undocumented population in the U.S. This research suggests that undocumented students experience acculturated stress due to: 1) fear of deportation, 2) difficulties associated with paying for college, 3) working part or full time to support themselves and family 4) single parent home (Coronado et al. 2010). What is the relationship between such stressors and undocumented students’ academic performance? To address this question, this project draws upon 30 demographic questionnaires and in-depth qualitative interviews with undocumented students enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles. I hypothesize that there exists an undocumented achievement paradox. For some students, stress linked to legal status negatively impact the following: student attendance, communication with professor, homework completion, GPA, and persistence toward degree. Conversely, acculturated stress linked with legal status drives some to excel and accomplish more in the areas mentioned above. Institutional resources can mitigate this negative relationship through the provision of an adequate orientation, counseling, support groups, tutoring, mentorship, and other resources to motivate students to perform, persist, and graduate. Regardless of undocumented students’ performance, universities need to provide safe spaces, resources, guidance, and support to maximize students’ educational experiences and academic potential.

Arlene Sagastume and Christinalee HousemanM.A. PsychologyCultural Values Conflicts and Gender-Related Experiences of Latina Young AdultsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jessica Dennis

Young adults who grew up in immigrant families may be faced discrepancies between the values and norms associated with their heritage culture and those of mainstream America. The topic of gender in particular can be a source of stress for young women who may perceive conflicting messages from parents, peers, and the media regarding expectations for gender-related roles (Shea et al., 2014). The present study examines the extent to which psychosocial adjustment and acculturation-related conflicts are associated with gender role conflicts among Latina young adults. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine predictors of gender role conflicts. In the first step, depression was a significant predictor of gender role conflict. In the second step, autonomy values conflicts

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and peer intragroup marginalization were also significant predictors of gender role conflict. These results contribute greatly to the scarce literature in order to more accurately understand the benefits and conflicts bicultural individuals’ experience.

Irene Hernandez M.A. Psychology Relationships between Apathy, Depression, and Psychosocial Factors in HIV+ Women. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Research examining apathy in HIV+ individuals has documented its detrimental effects on quality of life. While research has also revealed that apathy and depression are comorbid yet distinct constructs, apathy is often not assessed in mental health screening of persons living with HIV/AIDS. This study examined apathy, depression and psychosocial factors in women living with HIV. Correlational analyses examined relationships between apathy, stress, coping, social support, and depression. Apathy and depression were both consistently associated with the social support variables with lower apathy associated with higher social support, and higher depression associated with lower social support. Comparison of correlation coefficients revealed considerable variability in the strengths of association between social support and both depression and apathy, suggesting that depression and apathy may not similarly impact or be impacted by social support. Higher apathy and depression were associated with higher maladaptive coping, with no difference between the strength of these relationships. Findings indicated that depression and apathy are distinct constructs as no significant correlations were found between depression and apathy. Depressive symptoms were

strongly associated with stress, but apathy was not, suggesting that apathy may be a less reactive construct, and perhaps a more consistent manifestation of mood symptoms in women.

Marianne Lacsamana M.S. Forensic Psychology Social Support during Forensic Interviews with Children Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mitchell Eisen

Seventy-one 3-12-year-old children who were being assessed for allegation of abuse played a bean bag game and were questioned about this game after a 30-minute delay. The children were questioned by either a warm and personable interviewer (high support condition) or a cold and distant interviewer (low support condition). Thirty minutes later, the participants were interviewed about the event. The interview started with a free-recall prompt, followed by a series of open questions, and a number of misleading and non-misleading direct yes/no questions. Results showed that the preschool children (3-5-year olds) in the high support condition made more commission errors (i.e., saying yes to no-questions), suggesting that the high support condition enhanced a yay-saying bias in young children. In contrast, the school aged children (6-12-year olds) in the low support condition, made more omission errors (i.e., saying no to yes-questions), suggesting that the cold and intimidating interview conditions may have created a nay-saying bias in the older children. Results suggest that situational factors like interviewer demeanor can have a direct effect on response bias in young children.

Group 2– Behavioral and Social Sciences IIUniversity-Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308C

Agustin Cabrera B.A. Latin American Studies“Al Frente”: Salvadoran Transgender Women Navigating Violence in a Neoliberal EraFaculty Advisor: Dr. Ericka Verba

My research project’s focus is on the human rights violations inflicted on trans and queer people in Central America, and particularly El Salvador. These occur at a disproportionate rate in comparison to cis women and other working class people. Nonetheless, trans and queer people’s stories are often left in the margins of both public discourse and academic scholarship. My research asks what it means to be

trans in Central America, and what factors impel individuals to migrate based on their gender and sexual orientation. It finds that neoliberal apparatuses of disposability in the Americas, such as detention centers and militarized police forces, disproportionately leave transgender women more vulnerable to human rights violations. It is based on oral histories I collected and published reports by human rights organizations.

Shenazar EsmundoB.S. Public Health

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Drinking, smoking, and mental health among Chinese adolescentsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag

This study on secondary data was to identify dispositional characteristics (symptoms of depression, aggression, sensation seeking, perceived stress, hostility, urgency, perseverance, optimism, mindfulness, social self-efficacy, and self-control) and sociodemographic predictors specific to traditional and vocational high school students who identify as exclusive alcohol users (past 30-day and binge drinking), exclusive tobacco users, and comorbid users of alcohol and tobacco over time in Chengdu, China (N=3599). From 2008 to 2009, this longitudinal study explored the association of dispositional characteristics and demographic factors in order to predict substance use type (exclusive binge drinking, exclusive smoking, or comorbid use versus non-use). The results revealed that in past 30-day alcohol use and binge drinking, comorbid users experienced significant associations with dispositional characteristics; especially among vocational school students when compared to academic school students. When controlling for all dispositional characteristics, dispositional associations were not observed among exclusive binge drinkers (males and females), female comorbid users, and male exclusive smokers. The research offers insight into dispositional characteristics contributing to varying levels of substance use. The findings may also help to anticipate associated outcomes related to alcohol-related problems among Chinese adolescents and potential relationships between dispositional characteristics and substance use-types.

Karla GlasgowB.A. AnthropologyAnomalies of the Southwest: Reframing 14th Century Salado Culture at the Gila River FarmFaculty Mentor: Dr. René Vellanoweth

Anomalies and findings deemed unusual in the archaeological record may often be discounted. However, within my research, I utilize anomaly artifacts from the Upper Gila region to reposition 13th and 14th century social networks within the American Southwest, arguing that boundaries between groups are more fluid than previously recognized. Specifically, material uncovered at the Gila River Farm Site in Cliff, New Mexico during the 2017 University of Arizona Field School excavation includes a Hohokam game ball, an edge of a Hohokam bowl, and Zuni Glaze Ware sherd (Schollmeyer 2017). These finds support the notion that the site contains a heavier influx of second-wave Kayenta-Hohokam immigration, expanding on the defined hybrid Salado identity to include Hohokam technologies and exchange of ideas. I also discuss how the presence of the Zuni

Glaze Ware sherd highlights the possibility of trade networks expanding into Zuni country, though it has been proposed that these trade networks proceeded solely through Kayenta diaspora and shell trade networks from the Gulf of California (Clark et al. 2013). Lastly, I discuss how contemporary ethnographic evidence supports these material interpretations of artifacts found at the Gila River Farm and what implications this may have for future interpretations of archaeological anomalies.

Erika McMullinM.A. Anthropology-BioarchaeologyExcavating at Isert Kelly Tower House in Co. Galway, IrelandFaculty Mentor: Dr. Christine Lee

My research examines the excavation of a tower house (castle) during the Summer 2017 excavation. Isert Kelly is a late medieval tower house located in County Galway, Ireland. The tower house was the principal seat of the MacHubert Burke family sine the early 1400s. Isert Kelly is well preserved with an intact bawn wall. It is a three-story castle that was continuously updated until the late seventeenth century. Some of the post-medieval additions include a building in the courtyard within the bawn wall. Excavations have taken place continuously since 2014. Various archaeological techniques and methods were implemented to excavate Trench 4 and Trench 5 during the Summer 2017 field season. Trench 4 was uncovered to be a latrine pit and Trench 5 was the remains of the post-medieval building. Excavations of the site produce knowledge on the landscape of the tower house and to see how medieval castles were used during post-medieval occupation of the area. My paper will address the methods and techniques used during the excavation and post-excavation along with a discussion of the finds and the landscape uncovered.

Sergio Maldonado M.A. History The Ostracized Movement: The Anarcho-syndicalism Experiment during the Mexican Revolution of 1910Faculty Mentor: Dr. Choi Chatterjee

This talk will explore some of the key reasons why Anarchism failed to gain popular support during the 1910 Mexican Revolution. While Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata are the most widely known revolutionaries in the historical canon of modern Mexico, we know very little about the ideology and political work of the Anarchist, Ricardo Flores Magón. Magón, similarly to Villa, and Zapata, resisted the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz through various means. While Villa and Zapata wanted to replace the Díaz dictatorship with a democratic nation state, and a

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modern economic system that included labor rights, and land reform, Magón offered an alternative vision of a post-revolutionary Mexico. Magón -and others like him- believed that Anarcho-syndicalism held the potential to liberate the people of Mexico from capitalism and liberal democracy, and create genuine self-governing communities. By exploring Magón's life and Anarchism in Mexico, this talk will provide a scholarly analysis of the political philosophy of Anarcho-syndicalism and its relevance to twentieth century Mexico.

Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Anthony Robles, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy MelendezB.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication Disorders, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx StudiesLxs Desaparecidxs: State Sanctioned Violence toward Migrating Brown BodiesFaculty Mentors: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal

The presentation highlights state sanctioned violence as a method to disappear, both literally and figuratively, the undocumented community in Los Angeles County. Historically, immigrants have been used and exploited as expendable cheap labor, then disappeared via deportation once they are no longer useful. Using a Critical Race Theoretical lens, we reveal the interest convergence and material determinism which this country was founded upon. Our research team geocoded and mapped law enforcement lethal use of force incidents across the county, creating concentrations of “Death Zones”, then overlaid that with a map of immigration enforcement locations, revealing the close relationship between these targeted areas. Los Angeles deports the most individuals in the country, it has historically been a site of social and physical death for migrating brown bodies. Our findings demonstrate that these Death Zones are strategically deployed in predominately black and brown neighborhoods that historically have been systematically deprived of resources and targeted for elimination.

Alejandra LemusB.A. Latin American StudiesThe Legacy of Central American Music as TestimonioFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ericka Verba

For generations, the flute rhythms of the ancient Maya and Aztec, to the percussion of enslaved Africans who would influence the sounds of cumbia, salsa and punta, music has been essential to a unique Latin American History and cultural identity. Yet, scholarship about the use of music for Central

Americans, in particular, has been absent. Still, music has been an emblematic part of a history marked by war, repression and violence. To understand how it has served as a resilient form of testimonio for Centroamericanos, acting as a type oral history and resistance, it is essentially important to study the way that songs and musical cultural projects interact with the Central American experience. Drawing from songs of the era and studying the emergence of social media cultural projects today, we can analyze the way a new generation of Centroamericanos in Los Angeles are rediscovering and uplifting this music history and continuing to transmit this legacy more than 25 years after the end of the civil wars.

Stephanie PerezM.A. Interdisciplinary StudiesRestorative Justice for the Women of Sepur Zarco: From Testimonios to Reparations and BeyondFaculty Mentor: Dr. Dionne Espinoza

As the first case tried in a domestic tribunal against the administration of the infamous Guatemalan dictatorship of General Efraín Ríos Montt, who led the country between 1982-1988, the case of Sepur Zarco had the unprecedented outcome of bringing its perpetrators of sexual violence and genocide to justice, and was internationally recognized as the first case in the world to bring a semblance of transitional justice to indigenous Maya living in a post-dictatorship Guatemala by naming those actions crimes against humanity. This paper examines the methods of gaining restorative justice by the activism of Maya Q’eqchi’ women activists, who testified in open court against their assailants, in the face of racism, sexism, poverty, and discrimination in rural and urban Guatemala, as well as the limitations of such reparations at the hands of the state.

Anthony Robles, Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz, Vanessa Pineda and Rudy MelendezB.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communication Disorders, Minor in

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Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx StudiesCity of Monsters: State-sanctioned Death Zones and the Elimination of Demonized Populations in Los AngelesFaculty Mentors: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal

Our group will present a map we created using ArcGIS that contains incidents of law enforcement fatal use of force across Los Angeles County from 2000-2017. We found that there are concentrations of these incidents in black and brown neighborhoods resulting in what we call death zones. These death zones are localities of state intrusion whereby undesired populations are spatially sequestered, contained, and hyper-policed. We trace the origins of this type of state violence in Los Angeles by situating it in an historical context, exposing the practice of policing as a vital mechanism of settler colonialism’s logic of elimination. Our analysis demonstrates how the demonization of particular racial groups results in death zones, or “sites of demon-slaying,” and furthers the process of invasion that Los Angeles was founded on. From the lynching of bandidos and “savages” to the more recent “War on Drugs” and “War on Gangs,” our conclusion is that the demonization of dispossessed groups serves to justify eliminatory practices such as the unbridled killing of so-called “criminals,” “thugs,” “gang members,” and “bad hombres” by law enforcement.

Carolina SantillánM.A. Latin American StudiesRosario Ibarra and Politicized Mothering during Mexico’s Dirty WarFaculty Mentor: Dr. Enrique Ochoa

The period of the dirty war in Mexico, 1970s-1980s, saw a new generation of Marxist and communist student guerrilla movements that sought an end to the authoritarianism of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The response of the PRI was to suppress, torture, and disappear any students involved in these insurrectionary movements. On November 23, 1973, a nineteen year-old student and member of the Liga Comunista 23 de Septiembre, Jesús Piedra Ibarra, disappeared near his home in Monterrey, Mexico. His mother, Rosario Ibarra, began a frantic search for him, which triggered a politicization and movement of mothers of the detained and disappeared students. Led by Rosario Ibarra, this group of mothers came to be known as Comité Eureka. This paper examines

how the politicization of the mothers took place by historicizing the life and activism of Rosario Ibarra and the mothers of Comité Eureka and how they utilized various strategies, such as class status and their position and agency as mothers, to bring national and international attention to the human rights abuses of the PRI government during the dirty war.

Aline TavlianM.A. HistoryWomen in Genocide Cinema: Victims or Heroines?  Faculty Mentors: Dr. Choi Chatterjee, Dr. Timothy Doran and Dr. Afshin Matin

The objective of this paper presentation is to examine how female protagonist are portrayed in genocide and holocaust filmography; are they merely victims of their circumstances or do they embody heroism and triumph in the face of evil? As a female great-grandchild of genocide survivors, my perspective of other women who have survived the horrors of such mass atrocities is shaped through the inter-generational trauma and narrative experiences I have encountered throughout my life. I would like to explore the different roles that female characters are assigned in films about mass atrocities. I have chosen six films in chronological sequence to when the massacres occurred and when the film was produced. I begin with Ravished Armenia: The Story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl, Who Survived the Great Massacres (1919), then transition into covering the Holocaust with the films The Stranger (1946) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). Later, I cover the genocide of the Mayan Indigenous population in Guatemala and observe the film When the Mountains Tremble (1983), the massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo depicted in War Witch (2012), and conclude my paper with an analysis of female roles in the Armenian genocide documentary, The Other Side of Home  (2015).

Group 3 – Biological Sciences IUniversity-Student Union – Alhambra Room 305

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Roger BertonM.S. Biological ScienceEffects of Antimicrobial Peptides against Mycobacterium smegmatisFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the main infectious agent responsible for tuberculosis. Our laboratory is exploring how innate immune responses may be exploited in novel approaches to combat tuberculosis. Epithelial cells lining our body surfaces release both antimicrobial peptides and antimicrobial lipids (AMLs) suggesting that AMPs and AMLs act in synergism. Objective: In this study we wished to establish a metabolic assay to test bacterial viability and determine the effective antimycobacterial concentration of selected AMPs against M. smegmatis (Ms, a model microorganism for Mtb) for future synergism studies with AMLs. Methods: Ms was incubated in the presence and absence of AMPs (0.3125 to 5 microM final concentration or solvent control) for 48 h at 37 °C. Metabolic activity was assessed via resazurin reduction at 3 h intervals. Results: The AMPs HNP1 and HBD2 dose dependently inhibited Ms at all concentrations tested (p < 0.001), while other AMPs had no effects. L- and D-forms of HNP1 and HBD2 showed comparable activity suggesting that these AMPs cause unspecific membrane disruption. Synergism testing of AMPs and AMLs are now under way. Conclusion: This research may generate important preliminary data that could inform future novel vaccine and drug design against Mtb.

Alexander MezaM.S. ChemistryInvestigating the interaction between arginine methylation and serine phosphorylation in myelin basic proteinFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

Myelin basic protein (MBP) is important for the process of myelination of nerves in the nervous system and its degradation is implicated in multiple sclerosis. MBP is also highly post-translationally modified in order to maintain the integrity and stability of the myelin sheath. These modifications include phosphorylation and arginine methylation. Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) is an enzyme that adds methyl groups to the arginine residues of MBP. In particular, PRMT5 produces symmetrically dimethylated arginine at arginine residue 21. This mark is implicated in the degradation of the myelin sheath. We set out to investigate the effects of PRMT5 on MBP degradation. To do this, we will express PRMT5 in insect cells, and perform methylation reactions using MBP. We hypothesize that producing methylated arginine-21 hinders

deposition of nearby phosphorylation, thus leading to degradation. PRMT5 will be utilized for in vitro enzymatic reactions with modified and unmodified phosphorylated peptides based on MBP, to simulate interaction between methylated and phosphorylated MBP. The reactions will then be detected by reversed-phase HPLC. Studying crosstalk between arginine methylation and phosphorylation on MBP provides a deeper understanding of myelin degradation and can serve as a novel therapeutic target for multiple sclerosis.

Megan ChangB.S. BiochemistryUsing Gold Nanoparticles as a Model System for Resistive Pulse Sensing of Biomarkers in Neurodegenerative Diseases Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

Resistive pulse sensing (RPS) with nanopipettes is a sensing technique that follows the principles of the Coulter Counter technique, where particles translocating through a microscopic aperture create a difference in the effective resistance of the electric circuit and results in a significant change in the ion current. RPS has been applied to determine the size and surface charge of nanoparticles or large biomolecules. In this project, we used gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a model system to demonstrate the viability of using RPS for future applications in biomarker detection in neurodegenerative disorders. We have been able to determine the sizes of different AuNPs and extract surface charge information based on the resistive pulse wave shape associated with the movement. In the future, we will start developing protocols for qualitative and quantitative sensing of biomarkers such as aggregates of alpha-synuclein for diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders.

Barkev MarntourianB.S. Public Health, Pre-Health Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Angiotensin 1-7: A Potential Remedy for Type 1 DiabetesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

In the last decade, remarkable discoveries have been made with regards to the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) since the scientific world has gained a better understanding of its pivotal roles in maintaining homeostasis through extensive research. Although RAS is characterized by many enzymatic pathways that involve various mediators and receptors, the focus of this research is a tiny peptide known as

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Angiotensin 1-7 [Ang(1-7)] and its implications in type 1 Diabetes (T1D). Diabetes has been correlated with pulmonary fibrosis, while oxidative stress and inflammation represent the mechanisms involved. Studies have shown that Ang (1-7) decreases pulmonary fibrosis in T2D by decreasing oxidative stress and inflammation but conclusive results are yet to be found with respect to the correlation of Ang 1-7 and T1D. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine whether Ang 1-7 decreases pulmonary fibrosis by investigating the lungs of non-obese diabetic mice and to examine the mechanisms involved. This investigation will primarily focus on detecting collagen 1 and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) for fibrosis and inflammation respectively via Western Blots.

Andy ChiengB.S. ChemistryCharacterization of Bacterial Cell Membrane Disruption induced by Antimicrobial Peptides and LiposomesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian WangCollaborators: Kevin R. Parducho and Dr. Edith Porter

Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to modern medicine, with about 2 million people in the United States infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year. One alternative to antibiotics is the utilization of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) known to interfere with bacterial cell membranes and disrupt intracellular targets. It is hypothesized that liposomes may supplement AMPs antimicrobial activity by accumulating in bacteria cell membrane and damaging or disrupting the surface, thus facilitating AMPs ability to bind to the membrane. In a collaboration between the research teams led by Dr. Porter and Dr. Wang, preliminary data concerning alterations to the topography of bacterial cell surface induced by several combinations of phospholipid liposomes with and without cholesteryl linoleate and HBD-2 was collected through atomic force microscopy (AFM). We found changes in the height and shape of the cell surface that suggest dramatic cell membrane damage induced by cholesteryl ester liposomes and AMPs. In the future, we hope to be able to use AFM to characterize changes to the topography and stiffness of bacterial cell membrane, investigate the real-time interactions at bacterial surfaces, and observe structural changes at the single or sub-cellular level after treatment of different combinations of liposomes and AMPs.

Jacob Parres-GoldB. S. BiochemistryDetection of α-Syn-Induced Membrane Pore Formation via Transmembrane Current SensingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States, causing neuron death in the substantia nigra brain region. PD is known to greatly reduce dopamine production, hindering patients’ motor function. Although the pathology of Parkinson’s disease is currently unknown, the unnatural aggregation of α-synuclein—a protein typically found in presynaptic terminals of the CNS—has been strongly correlated to the development of PD. Our research aims to demonstrate the hypothesis that α-synuclein aggregates damage neurons by forming pores in neuronal membranes. In this project, pore formation at a lipid bilayer (assembled across the tip of a micropipette) was monitored by continuously measuring the transmembrane current between two electrodes placed inside and outside of the pipette. Using α-hemolysin (a pore-forming protein) as a positive control, we were able to observe distinct increases in the transmembrane current corresponding to membrane pores opening in the lipid bilayer. Our next step is to use live neurons to further demonstrate the validity of the experiment. If demonstrated, our data will be able to guide the development of drugs that can inhibit or reverse the aggregation of α-synuclein in PD patients, thus preventing the development of the disease.

Mario Pizarro RojasM.S. BiochemistryProspectus: The effect of arginine methylation on chaperone mediated autophagyFaculty Mentor: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez

Chaperone mediated autophagy (CMA) is a cellular pathway responsible for the degradation of a specific set of proteins containing an exposed KFERQ-like motif. The chaperone protein complex targets and translocate these proteins to the lysosome to complete autophagy. Defects in the chaperone mediated autophagy can lead to accumulation of proteins subsequently exacerbating cellular dysfunction. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) modify amino acid the side chains by the covalent addition of differently functional groups. These protein modifications can lead to a motif being altered affecting signal transduction pathways. Protein arginine methylation is a type of PTM generated by protein arginine methyltransferase(PRMTs), creating three possible methylated products (MMA, SDMA, ADMA). We hypothesize that methylation of arginine in KFERQ-like motifs hinders motif recognition by the chaperone complex in chaperone mediated autophagy. Addition of a methyl group may mask the motif unable to be recognized. Additionally, methylation may create steric hindrance preventing the complex from binding. Hexokinase 2 and EPS8 peptides, two known CMA substrates implicated in

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cancers, will be methylated and observed for lack of CMA activity. The results from this study will lead to an understanding of the molecular mechanism of CMA dysregulation and a possible therapeutic drug development of cancer.

Ekinadoese Salami and Paula VanegasM.S. Nutritional Science: B.S. BiochemistrySolubility and Antioxidant Activities of Rice Bran Proteins Prepared from Three Extraction MethodsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jing Zhao

The objective of this study was to investigate the solubility and antioxidant activities of rice bran proteins derived from three different extraction methods: alkaline extraction acid precipitation (AEAP), Alcalase-assisted extraction (AlcE), and amylase-assisted extraction (AmyE). The experiment was repeated three times. Results were statistically analyzed using a linear model and least significant difference for mean separation (P<0.05). Solubility of the extracted proteins exhibited a U-shaped curve with the lowest solubility at pH 4 and the highest solubility at pH 6 (AEAP and AmyE) or pH 7 (AlcE). AmyE (38.1%) and AlcE (32.8%) had significantly higher solubility than AEAP (6.9%) at pH 4. AmyE contained significantly more carbonyls (13.35 nmol/mg) than other samples (5.99-6.30 nmol/mg). FRAP ranged from 7.8 (AlcE) to 29.0 (AmyE) mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g. The ferrous chelating activities of AlcE and AmyE (48.9 and 46.0 mg EDTA equivalent/g, respectively) were significantly higher than that of AEAP (38.0 mg EDTA equivalent/g). The ABTS radical scavenging activity ranged from 63.5 to 79.1 mg Trolox equivalent/g with AmyE having the highest activity. Understanding the properties of the protein ingredients prepared from different extraction methods would help optimize the extraction process based on targeted applications.

Tiffany K. YbarraB.S. MicrobiologyQuantification of ATP in Pseudomonas aeruginosa to Corroborate Differential action of the Antimicrobial Peptides Human Betadefensins HBD2 and HBD3 Faculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

The innate immune system provides the first line of defense in part mediated by antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), such as human beta-defensins (hBDs). Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium equipped with the ability to produce biofilm, is a leading cause for health care associated infections. Recent data from our laboratory suggest that both hBD2 and hBD3

inhibit biofilm production in P. aeruginosa but hBD2 treated bacteria are still metabolically active in contrast to hBD3 treated bacteria. Objective: In this study we wish to establish ATP quantification as an indicator for viability to corroborate the differential action of hBD2 and hBD3 by quantification of bacterial ATP in the non-biofilm phase. Methods: Bacteria were exposed to various concentrations of hBD2 for 18 hours and ATP was quantified in non-biofilm associated planktonic bacteria using BacTiter Glo luminescence assay. Results: Preliminary data shows elevated ATP concentrations of non-biofilm associated planktonic bacteria in hBD2 treated compared to untreated bacteria. Conclusion: This data supports that hBD2 selectively inhibits biofilm production and our next experiments will extend to measure ATP in hBD3 treated bacteria as well. Understanding the mode of actions of antimicrobial peptides may lead to novel approaches to combat infectious diseases.

Stephanie Wong SuB.S. Biology Real-time determination of disruption and pore formation of cell membranes by aggregated alpha-synuclein using scanning ion conductance microscopyFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yixian Wang

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is recognized as the most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease and has affected 2% of the population above the age of 65. A large body of evidence has suggested that deposition of aggregated alpha-synuclein (α-Syn), an abundant brain protein near presynaptic termini, results in neuronal cell damage and ultimately contributes to the progression of PD. However, the exact mechanism is still unclear. One hypothesis is that α-Syn aggregates disrupt the cell membranes by forming pores that lead to permeabilization of lipid bilayers, eventually causing cell death. To demonstrate this, we have been using scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) to continuously monitor the morphological changes of SH-SY5Y cells in the presence of α-Syn aggregates. Dramatic disruption of the cell membranes has been observed in real time after adding α-Syn aggregates to the culturing media. The next step is to further improve the spatial resolution for monitoring possible pore formation on the membrane. If the pore-forming hypothesis involving oligomeric α-Syn is demonstrated, our data can help guide the development of drugs that inhibit or reverse α-Syn aggregation and thus prevent the progression of the disease. Such information will facilitate the ultimate development of the PD treatment modality.

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Group 4 – Biological Sciences IIUniversity Student Union – Los Angeles Room 308A

Saida CoreasB.S. Public HealthLongitudinal Associations between Smoking Status And Social SupportFaculty Mentor: Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag

Studies focused on social support for smoking cessation and maintenance. Less is known about social relationships of smokers. Data came from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), which follow cohort Black and White participants, ages 18-30, from four US cities in 1985-86. We created 7 categories to reflect stability (non-user, experimenter, former smoker, current smoker) and/or change (new experimenter, initiator, relapser, quitter) in smoking status from year-10 to year-15 (N= 3378). One-fifth (16%) of cohort changed their smoking status in five years. Stable experimenters reported receiving more social support than current smokers, new experimenters, relapsers, and quitters (ps<0.05). Former smokers reported more social support than current smokers (p<0.05). Conversely, current smokers, new experimenters, and relapsers reported receiving less social support than non-users (ps<0.05). Stable experimenters reported having fewer friends and relatives than former smokers, quitters, and non-users but reported having more friends and relatives than current smokers. Current smokers reported fewer friends and relatives than former smokers, quitters, and non-users (ps<0.05). Stable experimenters reported less social cohesion than stable former smokers (p<0.05). Smoking is associated with less perceived social support, social networks, and social cohesion, all of which are essential for psychological well-being.

Jameka S. JeffersonM.S. BiologyCharacterization of microbial communities in the Mojave Desert biological soil crust and their association with Syntrichia caninervis in in hyper- and hypolithic habitatsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kirsten Fisher

The Mojave Desert is home to a variety of organisms including microbes, lichens, and mosses. Together,

these organisms form a community known as Biological Soil Crust (BSC). Microbes and mosses are major components of the BSC, which can form on exposed soil surfaces as well as in microhabitats underneath semi-translucent quartz rocks in the Mojave Desert. The literature has characterized microbial diversity in Mojave Desert BSCs without moss. The Fisher lab has previously characterized moss community composition under quartz rocks and adjacent surface microsites; however, the other organisms that comprise BSCs werea not investigated. To better understand the degree to which mosses influence microbial community structure and function, we will use environmental sequencing of 16S rRNA to characterize microbial communities in four BSC microhabitats. Characterizing the influence of mosses on BSC microbial community composition, particularly in unique hypolithic microhabitats, will improve understanding of BSC community dynamics, with potential extensions to the search for biological communities in extra-terrestrial environments.

Jasmin Masri and Violet PerezB.S. Food Science in TechnologyGrowth Rate and Antioxidant Activities of Mealworms Fed with Antioxidant-Supplemented DietsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jing Zhao

Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) have favorable nutrient profiles and low environmental impacts compared to conventional livestock. Nutrient composition of mealworm is largely dependent on the diet. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of antioxidant-supplemented diets on the growth rate and antioxidant enrichment of mealworms. Mealworms were fed ad libitum for four weeks on the following diets: 1) wheat bran (WB, control), and WB with 2) carrot, 3) orange, or 4) red cabbage. The growth rate, color and antioxidant activities were determined each week. The experiment was repeated twice and statistical analyzed using one-way ANOVA and least significant difference test (P<0.05). Dry mass of the mealworms fed on WB increased 31.6% over four weeks. The increase was more than doubled when the diet was supplemented with carrot, orange, or red cabbage (P<0.05). Red cabbage resulted in a red color likely due to the presence of anthocyanin. Diets enriched with carrot, orange, and red cabbage significantly increased ferric reducing power and ABTS radical scavenging activity than the control diet (P<0.05). No ferrous chelating activity was detected. The findings would help optimize the diet formulation for edible insects.

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Jesus MedinaB.S. BiologyDiversity of bioluminescent signaling ostracod crustaceans in Puerto Rico coral reef habitats. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Torres

The ostracod family Cypridinidae contains approximately 100 bioluminescent species, of which males of about 80 Caribbean species produce species-specific luminescent mating displays. Ten putative species were collected during nightly displays in Puerto Rico. To estimate how many species were collected, we analyzed behavior, habitat, morphology, and 16S rRNA mitochondrial sequences. Behaviors were described by direction, intensity of pulses, and length of display. Habitat was categorized as sand, coral, or grassbed and deep or shallow. The length, height, length: height ratio of valves, eye size, and keel length were compared. DNA sequences were analyzed for seven of the eleven types. Two Kornickeria types did not overlap in characters, and are potentially two new species. The Photeros grassbed type is morphologically distinct from the others. Two H Group types that differed only in direction of display (up or down) are the same. From this preliminary analysis, we conclude that there are at least four species of signaling ostracods in the sample set but possibly as many as nine. Once data are analyzed for all eleven, they will be compared to known species from other Caribbean locations. Diversity and endemism are high in Caribbean cypridinids; we expect these species are new to science

Melanie MedinaM.S. BiologySelection on genital morphology as a driver of cryptic diversification in sea slugs proposed as biocontrol agents for CaulerpaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Patrick Krug

Molecular studies often reveal that a nominal species comprises a complex of cryptic species that occur in sympatry and occupy the same ecological niche. This can be challenging for classical models of allopatric speciation, where no sister taxa overlap is expected, and models of ecologically mediated divergence with gene flow. The role of selection on fast-evolving reproductive structures and mating behaviors has received little attention in marine systems, but may be an important driver of diversification in highly diverse groups like gastropods. Here, we resolve cryptic diversity in the Elysia tomentosa complex, a lineage of large-bodied sea slugs. Five described species in this complex feed on highly invasive species of “killer algae” Caulerpa spp., and some have been studied as

potential biocontrolers; however, different studies returned conflicting conclusions about the degree of host specificity and feeding rates of nominal “E. tomentosa” from the Pacific. Using sequence data for 186 specimens, quantitative species delimitation supported seven species in the tropical Pacific (at least 5 undescribed), and an undescribed Caribbean species. Morphological analysis indicates barb-like penial stylets rapidly diverged between sympatric pairs of sister species, suggesting either sexual selection contributed to speciation, or reinforcement caused reproductive character displacement during secondary contact.

Joel RamirezM.S. Kinesiology Option in Exercise ScienceFeasibility and Effectiveness of using Electromyography to Track Physical Activity Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christine Dy

Description of project: Activity tracking devices, such as Fitbit® and Apple Watch®, have become popular tools to promote physical activity. Common means of tracking physical activity, i.e., accelerometry and heart rate, may not be appropriate across exercise types or populations. For example, accelerometry may not detect differences in heavy versus lightweight resistance exercise, whereas heart rate may not be a suitable measure for upper extremity exercise or individuals with cardiopulmonary dysfunction. The aim of this study is to assess the utility of different methods of tracking exercise performed by individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). We recorded oxygen consumption, heart rate, accelerometry, and muscle activity in individuals with SCI as they performed upper extremity resistance exercise and arm ergometry. Oxygen consumption was treated as our standard to compare exercise intensity across devices. We hypothesize that muscle activity will be particularly effective for quantifying resistance exercise in this population. Preliminary data shows that muscle activity increases with exercise intensity, whereas accelerometry was not sensitive to changes in resistance. Heart rate appeared to underestimate or overestimate exercise intensity. We hope that developing this topic may increase efficacy and motivation; as well as decrease susceptibility to comorbidities and challenges in access in the SCI community.

Jose David MunozB.S. BiologyInsight into the Life History and Development of the Bioluminescent Ostracod Crustacean Vargula tsujii at Santa Catalina Island Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Torres

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Vargula tsujii is a bioluminescent cypridinid ostracod that is found along the Pacific Coast of North America and is being studied to understand the evolution of bioluminescence. To culture V. tsujii for physiological and genomics projects, we need to understand its life cycle. Traps baited with anchovy were set at night on Catalina Island to collect V. tsujii. Digital photographs of animals (n=186) were taken and measurements of valve length, valve height, ratio of valve length:height, keel width, eye width, and infold width were taken in Motic microscope imaging software. Six life history stages were found for V. tsujii. Adult females (F) were

found to be significantly larger than adult males (M) in length (avg length F= 1.79mm, avg length M= 1.64mm: p=.018) and height (avg. height F= 1.07mm, avg height M= .947: p=.007) confirming that there is sexual dimorphism in this species. Brooding females were isolated in culture dishes; one female released first instars after 21 days of embryonic development. Growth rates of ostracods cultured in fine and coarse sediments were not significantly different. These findings will improve our ability to culture the species for future studies on bioluminescence in ostracods.

Group 5 –Physical and Mathematical Sciences IUniversity-Student Union – Montebello Room 309

Ricardo Guevara B.S. BiochemistryThread/Paper-Based Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

A novel microfluidic thread/paper-based analytical device (µTPAD) to detect biotinylated goat anti-mouse IgG (system one) and rabbit IgG (system two) antibodies via colorimetric analysis is described. The µTPAD was fabricated from six pieces of nylon thread, three pieces of flannel, and three pieces of circular paper chromatography. The design of the µTPAD enables triplicate data collection. For system one, nitrocellulose (NC) was spotted on the detection sites followed by biotinylated goat anti-mouse IgG, a series of Tris-Tween washes, increasing streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase (Strep-ALP) concentrations, p-nitrophenyl phosphate (p-NPP), and stop p-NPP solution, realizing a yellow color at the detection sites. The detection sites are scanned, analyzed on Photoshop, and reported as inverse yellow intensity versus concentration of Strep-ALP. For system two, primary rabbit IgG antibody was spotted on the analysis sites, followed by a solution of Tween-BSA, ALP-conjugated secondary antibody, a series of PBS washes, and a solution of the colorimetric substrate for ALP-phosphatase, realizing a purple color at the detection sites. The platforms are also dried, scanned, and analyzed yielding a correlation between the purple color produced (analyzed as inverse blue intensity) and the concentration of rabbit IgG. The product is inexpensive and facilitates an ELISA. Shirell KleinB.S. in ChemistryThe Synthesis and Use of UiO-66 Analogue Metal-Organic Frameworks for Drug Delivery

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly tunable porous structures composed of metal clusters and organic linkers with a wide variety of applications including catalytic functions, gas storage, and enzyme encapsulation. We are studying the use of a zirconium based MOF, UiO-66, for targeted drug delivery of cancer medication. This is achieved using post-synthetic surface modification of the UiO-66 to create a pH sensitive MOF, i.e. a MOF which will only release the drug when in an acidic environment such as is created by cancerous cells. This allows selective drug delivery to cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. The first step in the process of making this targeting MOF is the addition of a carboxylate ligand, 4-azidomethyl benzoic acid (4-AMBA), to the MOF surface, followed by the attachment of the pH sensitive polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG). After synthesizing the UiO-66 and characterizing using Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), we have tested various procedures to attach the 4-AMBA ligand and compared their effectiveness using NMR. We will present results for this synthesis, which is a key step towards the preparation of MOFs for the next stage in pH-sensitizing modifications.

Juan Leal DobladoM.S. PhysicsModeling the effects of structural changes on the biomechanics and function of pancreatic and cardiac tissueFaculty Mentors: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez and Dr. Andrea Armani

Biomechanical changes are observed in a wide array of diseases, from pancreatic cancer to heart disease. However, understanding how structural changes affect tissue’s biomechanical behavior is impossible due to

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the limitations of current models. To overcome this challenge, I am working to create novel physical and computational models to determine how structural changes affect the biomechanics of tissues. Our method tracks the biomechanical behavior of both cardiac and pancreatic tissues to elucidate the complicated viscoelastic behavior of biological samples. Based on physiological parameters, determined from compressive testing, we design simple geometric structures designed in SolidWorks. Each structure was modified by removing a portion of the repeating unit, simulating the damage that occurs to the tissue with disease progression. The structures were imported to Abaqus, a finite element analysis software, to model the viscoelastic behavior that was observed in the pancreatic tissue samples. The same structures were then 3D printed and compressively tested. The method was repeated with heart tissue. The results from the physical and computational models were used to analyze the hysteresis and buckling behavior of tissue samples. Therefore, we demonstrated how specific modifications to the extracellular matrix structure affect tissue biomechanical response.

Juan SanchezB.S. Mechanical EngineeringAn Optimized Microfluidic-Based Aluminum-Air BatteryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

The design and optimization of an aluminum-air battery is described. Aluminum-air batteries are a viable source of alternative energy and are advantageous because they have a large theoretical specific energy, are low in cost, and environmentally friendly. The battery consists of a separator fabricated from agar, a biodegradable polymer from marine algae, doped with KOH. The air cathode consists of a nickel shim current collector painted with activated carbon. Aluminum mesh is used as the anode. The concentration of agar and the electrolyte used were varied to obtain the maximum potential and current. The maximum current and power densities observed were 67.6 mA/cm2 and 5.34 mW/cm2, respectively. Batteries were connected in series and powered portable electronic devices, including digital watches and LEDs. Current work is focused on further developing the aluminum-air battery technology and in expanding its applications.

Brandon M. LiuB.S. BiochemistryPEGylation of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Selective Drug Delivery

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

In pharmaceutics, drug carriers optimize biomedical treatments by facilitating controlled drug release and reducing undesired delivery. Drug carriers have demonstrated necessity in chemotherapy due to the high cytotoxicity of treatments. However, current-day drug carriers face challenges in loading capacity and controlled release. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a developing class of materials, have demonstrated potential as effective drug delivery vehicles. MOFs are hybrid organic-inorganic materials with high surface area and functionalizable surfaces, which may be modified to introduce additional properties. We have studied the effects of PEGylation, the surface adhesion of the acid-sensitive polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG), in pH-responsive drug release. PEGylation introduces enhanced therapeutic properties and controlled release to drug nanocarriers and is frequently employed on current-day drug carriers. By PEGylating loaded carrier MOFs, drug release is restricted until acidic conditions depolymerize surface PEG polymers. As cancer thrives in acidic conditions, pH-responsive drug carriers promote controlled drug release in intravenous administration. We report the drug encapsulation properties of modified drug carrier MOFs, correlating the effects of MOF structure and polymer length to drug encapsulation and pH-responsive drug release. We ultimately demonstrate the effectiveness of PEGylation on various MOF species to further show the potential of MOFs as selective drug carriers.

Yasmeen SolanoB.S. BiochemistryEffects of Antifreeze Protein on Mannitol Crystallization during Freeze-DryingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

Crystallization of excipients during freeze- drying is often undesirable, it could lead to distribution of water in the matrix of the freeze- dried product resulting in destabilization of the freeze-dried products. Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are found in many organisms including bacteria, fish, plants, and insects and are well-known for their ability to bind to ice crystals and inhibit ice growth. New roles for AFPs in controlling carbohydrate crystallization have been recently reported by Dr. Xin Wen’s lab at California State University, Los Angeles, where AFPs demonstrated ability to inhibit solute crystallization highly effectively. In this study, we investigated the effects of AFP’s on the crystallization of mannitol during freeze-drying and used powder X-ray diffractometer (PXRD) for results. The results suggest that the presence of AFPs at micro-molar alters the temperature of ice nucleation and inhibits the crystallization of mannitol during freeze-drying. In addition, the PXRD data suggests

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that AFPs inhibit the mannitol crystals and alters the forms of mannitol crystals. The effects of AFPs on mannitol crystallization during freeze-drying is concentration dependent and are more significant when there is an additional component in the system, such as lactate dehydrogenase. These studies are important to further understand the novel properties of AFPs and suggest potential applications for AFPs in freeze-drying process, eliminating deterioration due to crystallization excipients.

Katherine Nelms B.S. ChemistryEnzyme Encapsulation in Metal Organic Frameworks for Increased StabilityFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

Glucose oxidase (GOx) is an enzyme used to detect glucose activity by catalyzing the oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid. However, GOx is only stable at low temperatures and select solvents. The encapsulation of GOx in the iron-based metal-organic framework (MOF) Zr-PCN-222(Fe) was hypothesized to increase enzyme stability in a greater range of conditions. MOFs are high surface area, permanent porosity, crystalline materials composed of metal ions and organic linkers; Zr-PCN-222(Fe) was chosen for its large pore size (3.7 nm) and high thermal and chemical stability. GOx was successfully encapsulated by suspending Zr-PCN-222(Fe) in various concentrations of aqueous GOx solutions. It was found that enzyme encapsulation is proportional to the concentration of the solution used, with maximum loading capacity at 0.936 mg/mL solution of GOx. The maximum loading capacity of GOx within Zr-PCN-222(Fe) was shown to be 3.48% by weight using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). UV-vis data showed maximum GOx encapsulation was achieved after one hour. Future research will quantitatively examine the thermodynamic and chemical stability of encapsulated GOx, as well as investigate whether enzyme encapsulation using MOFs with pore sizes larger than 3.7nm will increase the observed maximum loading capacity. Kathryn UchidaB.S. BiochemistryA Microfluidic Glucose Sensor Incorporating a Novel Thread-Based Electrode SystemFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

An electrochemical sensor for the detection of glucose using thread-based electrodes and fabric is described. Three thread-based electrodes (reference, working, and counter) were first fabricated by painting pieces of nylon thread with either layered silver ink and carbon

ink or silver/silver chloride ink. The threads were then woven into a fabric chip with a beeswax barrier molded around the edges to hold solution which was dropped onto the chip. This solution was composed of potassium ferricyanide (K3[Fe(CN)6]), glucose oxidase (GOx), and increasing concentrations of glucose in buffer. The oxidation of glucose by GOx was measured to determine the concentration of glucose in the solution. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV) a scanning voltage of 0-0.35 V was applied. A graph of voltage applied (V) vs. current output (Amps) yielded oxidation and reduction peaks, and this voltage range was then used to run linear scans. The concentration of glucose in the samples was proportional to the current output and was observed as an increased peak height of the oxidation peak. A linear curve of glucose concentration vs. current output (run in triplicate) at 0.3V yielded an R2 value of 0.993. This device is simple to fabricate and may be used for multiple readings.

Chely TejedaM.S. BiochemistryEffects of Antifreeze Proteins on Temperature-Induced Enzymatic ActivityFaculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

This study investigates if Dendroides canadensis antifreeze protein 1 (DAFP-1) has protective characteristics against enzymes that are susceptible to denaturation and aggregation. Specifically, the enzymes that are under study are lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which are both commonly present in many organisms and important for metabolism. DAFP-1 is stable at elevated temperatures, while LDH and ADH readily denature and loose enzymatic activity when heat-treated. Results show that DAFP-1 can significantly protect the enzymatic activity of LDH and ADH at 40 °C and 46 °C, respectively, for about 21 minutes. The next steps for this study are to quantify the degree of protection and anti-aggregation that DAFP-1 has on LDH and ADH when heat-treated. Methods include aggregation assays, protein activity gels, and enzymatic activity assays. These methods will determine the amount of LDH and ADH heat-induced aggregation in the absence and presence of DAFP-1, as well as further verify that LDH and ADH retain their enzymatic activity after heat-treatments. If the results suggest that DAFP-1 does have anti-aggregation properties, then DAFP-1 could be beneficial to the medical field by aiding in the preservation and increasing the effectiveness of biotherapies.

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Group 6 – Creative Projects– Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 2

Stephany BravoM.A. Mexican-American StudiesComparative Landscapes in the Hub City: A Photo EssayFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ester Hernández

A photo essay that centers on the importance of social landscapes within the “re-collecting” of narratives based on the city of Compton. The photo essay analyzes how social landscapes in Compton can help in the understanding of Black and Latinx memory and history. In turn providing a narrative that contest that of the “mainstream” which often situates Black and Latinx relations as opposite and opposing of each other. The understanding of the social landscapes in Compton, will allow for the much needed decolonial and transdisciplinary approach required in a city that remains documented as “marginalized” and therefore “othered.” The photo essay engages with archival material including photographs, negatives, and ephemera found in the Compton Communicative Arts Academy Collection held at the California State University of Los Angeles; personal field research that is materialized through the photography of the landscapes of Compton between 2016 and 2018; and the work of scholars such as Judith Baca and Emma Pérez to construct a theoretical and methodological framework.

Anusha Manjappa and Nayana Brahmanahalli VenkataramanappaM.S. Information SystemsA Mobile App to Aid with Smoking Cessation: A Preliminary ExplorationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shilpa Balan

The use of mobile phones has now become very common. Mobile phones have proven effective in delivering healthcare solutions for various diseases. With the advancement of technology in medical care, mobile health (or mHealth) has transformed healthcare services. Nowadays, there is an increasing use of mobile phones for smoking cessation. Tobacco

smoking causes millions of deaths per year in the world. Smoking causes cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung diseases. By capitalizing on mobile technology, a mobile app is created in this research to aid a tobacco smoker to quit smoking. The App created in this research is designed to keep track of the health statistics of a tobacco smoker. The purpose of this research is to reach out to a wider population and to enable tobacco smokers to quit smoking. This research serves as the basis of foundation for further development of mHealth applications in smoking cessation programs.

Prasanna Nattuthurai, Maria Boldina, Tianyi Deng and Vrunda ShahM.S. Computer Information Systems Developing an Internal Cryptocurrency system for CollegesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nanda Ganesan

The purpose of this project is to create an Internal Cryptocurrency or token system for the colleges to have a transparency in rewarding faculty for their work and to have a distributed ledger system. We used Azure’s Block chain service for our backend and the browser extension Metamask for our backend process.

Srihitha Reddy Sivannagari, Nishant Shristiraj and Himani BatraM.S. Information SystemsBig Data Analysis of Taxi Services in Chicago and in New YorkFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jongwook Woo

With the increase in population and traffic, the usage of taxis has also increased in metropolitan cities like Chicago and New York. The data is collected from open source websites like Kaggle.com and Data.gov. Analysis is carried out by querying the data using Hive and Pig, and visualisations are made using Tableau and Excel. This paper carefully studies data about existing services and derives meaningful insights and relationships between the extent of taxis used in Chicago and New York. A linear regression algorithm has been applied for predictive analysis on both data sets which supports the conclusion that Chicago is better to start a new taxi business.

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Group 7 – Education – Golden Eagle, 3rd Floor – Ballroom 1

Katherine GilbreathM.A. Education – Option in Educational FoundationsSingle Parent InvolvementFaculty Mentor: Allison Mattheis

Parent involvement in education has been studied for many years and most research has concluded that parent involvement does impact a student emotionally and academically. Society has created a single image that should represent parent involvement. There are many families that do not fit into this image. This study focuses on one group of families, single parents, and the way they are involved. The purpose of this study was to gather information to better understand single parent involvement. Furthermore, by having a better understanding society and specifically educators can make academic changes to support the involvement of single parents. For this study, two single parents, one single mother and one single father, were surveyed and interviewed. After the survey and interview, the study showed that single parents are involved. In conclusion, their involvement may appear different in comparison to the image that society has created but nevertheless they find ways to be involved.

Paula Garcia Rodriguez and Sofia RogersM.A. Communicative DisordersUsing questionnaires to screen multilingual children’s current language abilities: Comparing parent reports across studies.Faculty Mentors: Dr. Erica Ellis, and Dr. Mary Kubalanza

In California there are approximately 1.392M bilingual children and over ⅓ of K-12 students in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are classified as English Language Learners (ELLs). While numbers continue to increase, a paucity of screening tools remains for early identification of language impairments for ELLs. With few resources available to accurately screen multilingual language learners for language impairments, parent reports often help guide decisions on assessment and early intervention. Paradis, Emmerzael, and Duncan (2010) developed the Alberta Language and Development Questionnaire (ALDeQ) to obtain information distinguishing ELL preschoolers with language impairment from typically developing peers. Previous research suggests that parent language reports help obtain valuable information on ELLs’ first language development, particularly when first language cannot be examined. As part of a larger project, this study examines outcomes of an established language questionnaire used with families in Los Angeles. Specifically, the ALDeQ, a parent report measure of early language abilities developed by Paradis, Emmerzael, and Duncan (2010) was used. Forty-three

parents/families from a University-based preschool program in Los Angeles completed questionnaires. Preliminary results and clinical implications pertaining to parent reports will be discussed and compared across studies.

Raul Meneses Samperio M.A. Educational Foundations UndocuQueer Latinos Navigating Higher EducationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Allison Mattheis

Research that examines the experiences of undocumented Latina/o students in the P-20 pipeline continues to grow amidst the highly anti-immigrant rhetoric of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Equally important is the continued growing research that examines the experiences of queer Latinas/os in the P-20 pipeline amidst oppressive anti-queer school environments. However, little has been researched about the experiences of undocumented gay Latinos in higher education. Employing elements drawn from Latina/o Critical (LatCrit) theory; transformational resistance and racist nativism, and key tenets (themes of educational scholarship) of queer of color critique, this study examines the lived experiences of undocumented gay (UndocuQueer) Latinos in higher education. The research question guiding this study is: How does identifying as an undocumented gay Latino impact higher education experience? The purpose of the study is to provide insights into the lived experiences and challenges UndocuQueer Latinos encounter in higher education institutions. The goal of the study is to offer implications to higher education institutions so they can better serve students with multiple intersectional identities.

Anell TerceroM.A. Educational FoundationsDevelopment and Implementation of a 1:1 Chromebook Pilot in a Working-Class Middle SchoolFaculty Mentor: Dr. Allison Mattheis

A growing number of K-12 schools throughout the United States are beginning to develop and implement one-to-one laptop programs within their classrooms in

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an effort to improve the quality of education by increasing access to technology, addressing the digital divide, and overcoming the academic achievement gap. Since many of these new initiatives are aimed at improving the educational experiences of marginalized or working-class students, it is important to examine and understand how one-to-one laptop programs will meet student needs and what learning processes are being cultivated. This case study explored how a one-to-one Chromebook pilot was developed and implemented in a working-class middle school. The research question guiding this study is:

How do teachers perceive the use of one-to-one Chromebooks in a working-class middle school? Three main themes were identified: (1) 21st century skills, (2) equity, and (3) logistics. Overall, the purpose of this study is to provide insight into the main challenges and/or concerns associated with developing and implementing one-to-one laptop programs within working-class schools so that future initiatives within similar contexts can be better prepared to meet student need.

Group 8 – Engineering and Computer Sciences I– University-Student Union – El Monte Room 311

Hector CruzB.S. Civil EngineeringAssessment of Pollution Permeation Index Quantification of Health Burden and Estimated Transportation Factor in Los AngelesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arezoo Khodayari

Although there are models that have been developed to assess the processes, sources, and impact of air pollution, they do not provide a simple and efficient method. The Pollution Permeation Index (PPI) provides a solution to this by implementing a simple calculation to evaluate the potential transportation of pollutants between neighboring cities. We evaluate the application of PPI as a method for quantifying the health burden of each city to neighboring cities. Observed pollutants include Ozone, Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), and Carbon Monoxide (CO). Traffic volume was determined for each city as a substitute for particulate matter. It was found that a combination of both ozone and particulate matter could be influencing levels of asthma. In addition, determining a factor that explains the mobile emission and meteorological impact for each monitoring station was calculated. Although future applicability of the calculated factor does not appear possible, results of analysis provides areas of interest to investigate for future studies.

Jose Hernandez and Edwin MartinezB.S. Civil Engineering; M.S. Civil EngineeringResilience of Underground Transportation Infrastructure in Coastal RegionsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl

Infrastructure in coastal areas is vulnerable to extreme weather events such as storms, high tides, flooding and severe precipitation. These could drastically affect transportation infrastructure, including underground structures, which would result in greater

construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation costs. Global climate change, especially increased precipitation, increased temperature, and sea level rise will further exacerbate the problem. Of these risks, sea level rise is the most important for coastal regions in the long- term. The projections of sea level rise for the next eighty years show a range of 0.8 ft. to 6.5 ft. Furthermore, the risk of sea level rise coupled with storm surge will increase the vulnerability of coastal transportation infrastructure including bridges, roads, tunnels, ports, and harbors. This paper reports on an assessment of the resilience of a representative set of underground transportation assets to extreme stressors in coastal regions. Sea level rise and storm surge scenarios were evaluated and the condition of underground transportation systems was assessed in each scenario using a vulnerability assessment tool. These reports are preliminary assessments of a sample of underground subway stations in New York, using the Climate Change & Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessment Framework proposed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA 2012).

Joseph LuceyB.S. Civil EngineeringModeling surface water inundation using NASA remote sensing data productsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sonya Lopez

Floods annually cause several weather-related fatalities and financial losses. According to NOAA and FEMA, there were 43 deaths and 18 billion dollars paid out in flood insurance policies during 2005. The goal of this work is to improve flood prediction and flood risk assessment by creating a general model of predictability of extreme runoff generation using various NASA products. Using satellite-based flood inundation observations, we can relate surface water formation processes to changes in other hydrological

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variables, such as precipitation and ground water storage, and understand how runoff generation response to these forcings is modulated by local topography and land cover. Using ground water storage observations (GRACE), precipitation (GPCP), land use (MODIS), topographic related variables (HYDRO1K) and surface inundation levels (SWAMPS), an assessment of geological and climate conditions can be performed for any location around the world. This project utilizes multiple linear regression analysis evaluating the relationship between surface water inundation, total water storage anomalies and precipitation values to determine their statistical relationships and influences on inundation data. This research demonstrates the potential benefits of using global data products for early flood prediction and will improve our understanding of runoff generation processes.

Edwin MartinezM.S. Civil EngineeringRecent Research In Seismic and Blast Performance of Tunnel StructuresFaculty Mentor: Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl

Underground infrastructure is vulnerable to a wide range of threats, including natural disasters, intentional attacks, and accidents. Tunnel structures generally move with the ground so it is assumed that earthquake motion may be neglected, while blast induced forces are relevant in few special cases. In recent research these vulnerabilities have been addressed and design methodologies have been made for both blast and earthquake induced forces. The focus of this talk is on the performance of underground transportation infrastructure during earthquake and blast induced motion, in recent research. The research reviewed covers post-earthquake damage assessments, shake table tests, and numerical analyses.

Robin SehlerM.S. Environmental Science Assessing the Relationship between Soil Moisture and Precipitation Using Remote Sensing InformationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jingjing Li

Soil moisture and precipitation are inherently related, as moderate to heavy precipitation typically causes an increase in soil moisture content, given an initial soil moisture content of less than 100%. Based on this relationship, the study will assess if satellite soil moisture estimates from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level 3, Version 4 dataset relate to precipitation data obtained from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), in a manner consistent with the hydrologic cycle over the contiguous United States. Although SMAP lost all active radar functionality 14 months following its May 2014 launch, SMAP’s passive radiometer remains fully operational, providing the Level 3, Version 4 soil moisture dataset with a spatial resolution of 36 km by 36 km and a temporal resolution of 1 day. Likewise, TRMM precipitation data has a temporal resolution of 1 day and is given in units of mm per day. Results of this study will create implications for the utility of a cross-validation approach (i.e. soil moisture data validated by precipitation data), in comparison to traditional validation approaches that solely utilize soil moisture data.

Hao Jun Jacky WengB.S. Fire Protection Administration and TechnologyDisabled or Impaired Occupants in EvacuationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Lily Xiaolei Chen

As a civilian, or a first responder like a firefighter, we usually tunneled vision that the evacuation of disabled or impaired building occupants will only occur in a fire associated with highrise buildings where large occupancies are assembled together. We tend to forget that there are other types of emergencies, occurring in various types of occupancies, when disabled or impaired population also need assistance in evacuation, such as in earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc. This presentation focuses on some of the most difficult tasks, we as first responders, are facing when evacuating people with disabilities, as well as approaches and technologies to evacuate the disabled population in emergencies of hurricane, flood/levee, and terrorist attack.

Group 9– Engineering and Computer Sciences IIUniversity-Student Union – Pasadena Room 307

Danny ClemonsM.S. Mechanical Engineering

Numerical Analysis of Fuel and Oxidant Flow in Paper-based Fuel CellsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

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Paper-based fuel cells have become a topic of interest because they are inexpensive, easy to produce, and they are environmentally safe to dispose. These energy conversion systems can be used in point-of-care diagnostics, where current densities – smaller than those produced by button batteries – are necessary. This study is the first step in developing a comprehensive mathematical model to describe the energy-conversion mechanisms of paper-based fuels. The focus here is the analysis of fuel and oxidant flow through paper by applying Darcy’s law. To this end, numerical simulations – based on finite elements – were first carried out for water flowing through a 2D rectangular paper strip, and then to a Y-shaped direct formate paper fuel cell. The fuel-cell system has a paper-width of 1.8 cm and a length of 4.5 cm, and operates with 5M potassium formate and hydrogen peroxide as fuel and oxidant, respectively. In both cases, the results accurately portrayed the flow structure within the system domain, as compared to recent experimental results from the literature.

Daniel MartinezB.S. Mechanical EngineeringParametrizing the saturation of granular materials using a discrete element method formulation Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arman Pazouki

The influence of particles cohesion and saturation on the granular flow dynamics has yet to be understood. As saturation of granular material changes, their flowrate varies. This correlation sometimes results in jamming to occur at the exit point halting the flow of granular material. To model this situation and define metrics of jamming onset, Project Chrono, an open-source physics engine, was used to create a benchmark granular hopper. Cohesion values, introduced as constant forces, were introduced in the granular flow of spherical particles to represent saturation. By relying on high-performance computing and modeling systems composed of up to 100 thousand particles, we observed a correlation between flowrate randomness and cohesion. However, we have not found any cases of jamming transition influenced by the cohesion.

Justin MoonM.S. Mechanical EngineeringHeat Transfer Enhancement through Multi-harmonic Surfaces of Internal Flow in Micro-wavy Channels.Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

In this study, numerical simulations are performed to investigate the heat transfer in the three-dimensional multi-harmonic microscale wavy channels. The focuses are on the analysis of the channel surface-topography, modeled as a sinusoidal wave of square

cross-sectional area, through which the cold water within the laminar regime flows, and on its influence on the enhancing mechanisms. A device of length of 20 mm, 16 mm of which are of sinusoidal shape, with 2 mm straight sections at the channel inlet and outlet, is used as baseline for comparison purposes. The channel is enclosed by a solid rectangular prism block, on which heat flux of 47 W/cm^2 acts at the bottom surface within the sinusoidal region. Using the performance factor (P F); i.e., the ratio of the Nusselt number to the pressure drop, as objective function, a parametric analysis is carried out for a set of inlet velocities (Re=50, 100 and 150), to investigate whether (and how) the addition of harmonic-waves for the channel geometry enhances the value of the PF in comparison to that of a single-wave device.

Rafael Machuca and David GarciaB.S. Mechanical Engineering Active Control of a Dual-Wing Vertical Axis Wind TurbineFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

It has been recognized that vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have many advantages over horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), such as their simplicity in design and maintenance; however, the dynamic stall and the generated vortices by the blades, compromise highly the optimum harvesting of the power. This paper presents an active control system design for a new class of high-efficient dual-wing vertical axis wind turbines. Herein, the fundamentals and its mechanism of energy-efficiency improvement of the design is described. Then, the control system framework is formulated followed by an active control system design. In addition, the effectiveness of control system is demonstrated in a simulated environment. The results show that the actively controlled dual-wing vertical wind turbines can significantly improve the energy efficiency of the turbine system.

Kin LiM.S. Mechanical EngineeringApplications of Non-Integer Derivatives in Engineering SystemsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Arturo Pacheco-Vega

In this study, we design a system identification model of fractional order using global regression analysis. The model linear fractional differential equation (linear FDE) is introduced with the following parameters: the order of the equation q, the linear factor p, and the derivative of the initial condition. The model finds the best values of parameters that minimize the error cost function. We perform tests to a number of problems from literature, including: analytical solution to heat transfer, one-dimensional heat equation, analytical problems, and finally heat exchanger data. The heat

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exchanger data is a shell-and-tube heat exchanger developed in existing literature. In effort to capture the physics of the problem, the search for the order of model is set in the range between 0 and 2, reflecting the heat equation. The derivative of the initial condition is set in the range of -2 to 2, since the literature suggests that a negative value is possible for

similar processes. The resulting model represents experimental data accurately with only three parameters. As opposed to a second order model with three parameters, the fractional order model provides better accuracy using the same numbers of parameters.

Group 10 – Engineering and Computer Sciences IIIUniversity-Student Union – Boardroom South Room 303A

Eduardo Molina, Bryan Tan Nguyen and Byron LaraB.S. Mechanical EngineeringDevelopment of a light-weight anthropomorphic robotic arm for a humanoidFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

Robotic arm is one of the most sophisticated component of a humanoid, due to its complexity in mutli-degree-of-freedom actuation and sensing, size and weight constraints, and requirement for object manipulation. A commercially available light-weight robot arm cost about 50,000 dollars. In this paper, the design and development of a low-cost, light-weight robotic manipulator that can achieve anthropomorphic movements is discussed. The 5 degree-of-freedom robotic arm has a fully extended length of 800 mm and weight of 3.2 Kg. The joints of the arm were fabricated using mainly 3D printed parts using Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Nylon, and linked with carbon fiber tubing. The arm is actuated by 2 servo motors at the distal joint and 3 brushless DC motors at the proximal joints. All joints of the arm perform at zero backlash through the utilization of a harmonic gear box, which allow for the proximal joints to use powerful brushless DC motors at a gear reduction of 900:1. The robotic arm has demonstrated a comparable performance to similar robotic arm on the market.

Amit PalM.S. Electrical Engineering Multimodal wearable sensing for a mobile fitness monitoring and exergaming system for individuals with spinal cord injuryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah Won

To combat the physical inactivity which has tended toward cardiovascular disease in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), we have developed a fitness

tracking and exergaming system to encourage these individuals to exercise. Fitness trackers today predominantly rely on heart rate or acceleration. Acceleration is imprecise and noisy and does not track energy expenditure well whereas heart rate monitors are very susceptible to motion artifact and autonomic dysreflexia which SCI individuals commonly experience. We investigated the benefit of including sensors which measure electrical activity from the muscle (EMG). We found that EMG is linearly correlated with caloric expenditure, the most commonly accepted gold standard metric for cardiovascular fitness. Multiple linear regression revealed that EMG activity contains non-redundant information that improves the coefficient of determination (R2) for caloric expenditure prediction over heart rate or acceleration alone. We tested a standalone wireless EMG sensor, the Flexdot, and found that it is not only as reliable as a high-end commercial EMG system but was suitably practical for our application. Thus, it is expected that incorporating multiple sensing modalities, including EMG obtained by Flexdot sensors, will increase the accuracy and reliability of the computation of caloric expenditure.

Francisco Moxo Galicia, Byron Lara, Bryan Tan Anh Nguyen and Jeovanny ReyesB.S. Mechanical EngineeringControl of Robotic Arm via Adaptive InteractionFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

High Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) is desirable for robotic manipulators to have the dexterity to accomplish complex tasks or anthropomorphic movements; however, high DOF results in significantly increased complexity in dynamics modeling and control and the situation can become worse when the prior knowledge of the manipulator’s dynamic property (e.g., friction, deformation) is limited. Thus, a unified control scheme that can handle the above-mentioned issues without introducing noticeable difficulties in implementation is needed. In this paper, a self-tuning

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control system for the robotic manipulator using adaptive interaction theory is developed and tested using a 5 DOF robotic manipulator developed at Cal State LA. The components in the control system are treated as “devices”, and linear interactions are modeled to adaptively change the control parameters. This proposed control algorithm disregards the necessity of obtaining accurate robot dynamics. Simulation results done using MATLAB/Simulink together with Peter Corke’s Robotic Toolbox show an improved performance over the control system currently used in industry.

Jeovanny ReyesB.S. Electrical EngineeringMotion Learning Control for Robots with Differential Drive SystemsFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

Motion control of mobile robots with differential drive systems is typically achieved through implementation of the common PID controller. A PID controller relies on three parameters (proportional gain, derivative gain, and integral gain) to achieve a desired position or velocity that would feed into a system model representation. A PID controller was implanted into our humanoid robot, Melo, for its motion control through the differential drive system. Tuning of the controller parameters can become a tedious task especially when the robot must adapt to an intermittent terrain. For the robot to adapt, an algorithm was created based on the iterative learning control method. The current architecture of the algorithm consists of an implemented discrete PID controller, a learning function based on history data of previous iterations, and a Q filter (low pass filter). Simulink was used to model our current system and analyze the results of each iteration and the overall algorithm.

Daniel LopezM.S. Mechanical Engineering Novel Wake Model for Studying Real-Time Wind Farm Production OptimizationFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jim Kuo

Wind energy is an important form of energy that continues to grow at a faster pace than the overall growth of energy demand. One of the current major challenges in wind energy is to maximize energy production while minimizing power fluctuations. One approach in this effort is through control of wind turbine wake interactions. These undesirable wake interactions can introduce additional mechanical stresses on turbines, leading to early failures, and reduce overall production of wind farms. Thus, further understanding of turbine wakes is necessary to allow wind farm engineers to reduce these undesirable

wake interactions. One promising method to control wake interactions, to maximize energy output and minimize power fluctuations, is through yaw and pitch control of turbine rotors. Developing such control over turbine rotors requires capability of predicting wake interactions within a wind farm. Numerous computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have been developed to simulate turbine wakes and their interactions. However, these models are computationally expensive and cannot be used to simulate wakes in real-time. In this work, a fast wake model for simulating turbine wakes under yawed conditions has been developed, with computational costs orders of magnitude lower than prior CFD models.

Salvador Rojas and Francisco Moxo Galicia M.S. Mechanical EngineeringVision Stabilization through Postural Control of a Humanoid RobotFaculty Mentor: Dr. He Shen

Vision stabilization is an important aspect in many robotic applications and is critical in localization, manipulation, and user decision making. Operators or robots rely on video from on-board cameras to make decisions. Without proper video stabilization this will degrade the overall performance and reliability of the robot. In this paper, a vision stabilization through controlling posture of a humanoid robot is proposed. The humanoid – Melo developed in the Robotics Laboratory at Cal State LA is used as the platform to test the proposed vision stabilization method. First, the dynamics of the humanoid robot is derived using the Lagrange’s method. Then, desired posture is derived and used as the reference signal for the control system. To mitigate the disturbance propagated from the moving platform, a robust controller is derived to maintain the stillness of the vision system using the sensors and actuation system at Melo's body joints. Both simulation and hardware testing are performed to show the effectiveness of vision stabilization method.

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Group 11 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences II– Golden Eagle, 1st Floor – University Club

Colin BloomfieldM.S. MathematicsThe Borsuk-Ulam Theorem and its Combinatorial AnalogsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

I will present the Borsuk-Ulam theorem and compare it with two equivalent statements, one using a combinatorial argument and the other using set coverings.

Cynthia Ramirez, Manuel Davila and Gwen OstergrenB.S. Applied Mathematics; B.S. Applied Mathematics; B.S. General MathematicsThe Chromatic Number of the PlaneFaculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Krebs

This work is based on the open problem, The Chromatic Number of the Plane. The problem is as follows, how many colors are needed to color a Euclidian Plane so that no two points that are one unit distance apart are of the same color. This research strives to improve the lower bound of The Chromatic Number of the Plane problem. We have created a discrete version of this problem using the set of points in the form a/n, where a is an integer and n is chosen. As n approaches infinity, the sets of points resemble planes of infinite points. We also introduce a very small positive number ε that can be manipulated in order to force the chromatic number to be a specific number. In this version of the problem, if the distance between two points is within 1 – ε and 1 + ε apart we define two points to be different colors. For each n chosen, we aim to find the smallest ε to force the chromatic number to be 5.

Jeannette Ramirez M.S. MathematicsRadio k-labeling for GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

My research is about using graphs as model to solve real world problems. I study a graph labeling problem called radio k-labeling that is motivated by the channel assignment problem. In the channel assignment problem we can represent radio stations and the

distance between radio stations as a graph. We represent stations as vertices and edges represent adjacent stations geographically. The goal is to assign each radio station to channel such that there is no interference. Mathematically we represent this problem by requiring that adjacent vertices have different integer labels; if they have the same integer label then this may cause inference. Since such a labeling always exists the challenge is to minimize the span (largest number) of the labeling. I will briefly cover my results on the radio k-chromatic number of cycle graphs where k is larger than the diameter of a graph.

Alex Zhou B.S. PhysicsAn Interesting Operation on Binary BraceletsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

We investigate the effects of rotation on the relationships of binary/2-ary necklaces ("discs"). Fixing one disc and rotating a copy of itself, we enumerate the number of alignments of ones found during a complete rotation, or alternatively, setting the amount of ones a distance k apart in the binary bracelet as the kth term, and classify the generated list a "key". We then discuss the failure of injectivity of the key operation. A computer program to find and display keys of an arbitrary length is provided. We discuss a formula for the construction of "n-keys" for arbitrary n, where n distinct binary bracelets share a key, and its relation to partitions, propose some conjectures on the existence and nature of "multi-keys", and encourage further analysis on non-binary codes (higher k-ary discs), 3 disc systems, and the decomposition of arbitrary keys. A SCAD file for rapid 3D modeling and printing physical discs as teaching tools is given.

Brenda Tenorio and Elizabeth Metzler-WinslowB.S. Mathematics Pure Option; B.S. Mathematics General Option, Minor Physics.Radio k-labelings of Distance GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

This project focuses on finding the smallest radio k-labelings of certain graphs in the pursuit of potential solutions to the channel assignment problem. We focus in particular on special families of infinite distance graphs, which have been studied in recent

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literature (we focus primarily on a 2013 published paper by Roman Cada et al.). We employ methods including circulant graphs and upper traceable numbers, as well as various labelings (and, ensuingly, methods of determining characteristics such as distance and iterative behavior) because they are effective in characterizing radio-k-labelings of these graphs. We are able to find and prove valid a new

labeling for one of these graphs that improves currently known results in a specific case. We continue to work towards an upper bound on the radio-k-labeling number of that graph by seeking out its upper traceable number.

Group 12 – Physical and Mathematical Sciences III– University-Student Union – San Gabriel Room 313

Samantha BurrolaB.S. ChemistryAn Optimized Microfluidic Paper-Based NiOOH/Zn Alkaline BatteryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Frank Gomez

An alkaline Nickel-Oxide/Zinc (NiOOH/Zn) battery featuring a cellulose matrix separator between electrodes is presented. The metallic electrodes and paper separator are inserted in a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly providing mechanical stability to the system resulting in a lightweight and easy-to-use device. The battery functions using a solution (150 μL) of 1.5 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) and was optimized for the amount of NiOOH-ink used at the cathode (11.11 mg/cm2) and thickness of the paper membrane separating the electrodes (260 μm). The battery was able to produce a maximum voltage, current density, and power density of 1.38 V, 11.02 mA/cm², and 0.57 mW/cm², respectively. The battery displayed a maximum current and power of 24.8 mA and 1.27 mW, respectively. Moreover, four batteries connected in series and in a stacked configuration were able to power a small flameless candle for 22 minutes. This work has potential in fulfilling the demands for short-term and lightweight power supplies.Jayden ButlerM.S. PhysicsCreating a Monte Carlo Scattering Model of Class I Protostar TMC-1AFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

A protostar is a contracting mass of gas that represents an early stage in the formation of a star. Protostars are surrounded by material, known as protoplanetary disks, which are rotationally supported, dusty, gaseous, flat rings that surround them. The class of a protostar indicates where the object is in its development and how close is it to forming a mature star. The main goal of this research project is to create an accurate and updated model of protostar Class I TMC-1A, which is found in one of the closest star-forming regions, Taurus Molecular Cloud. This gives us a good place to study because it is in the

disk-developing stage with half the mature star mass, which gives us an opportunity to investigate the formation of Keplerian disks around protostars. The method for modeling TMC-1A will be computing a Monte Carlo scattering model using Barbara Whitney’s HOCHUNK3D code. This model will then be compared with data (SEDs and photos) from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile.

Silverio DelgadoM.S. PhysicsIntrinsic magnetic effects in LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 from magnetic susceptibility and with NMR measurementsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

We present magnetic susceptibility and NMR data in LaO0.5F0.5BiS2 that suggest intrinsic magnetic effects in the normal state of this material. Magnetization measurements in temperatures from 2.7 K to 250 K and applied fields from -4 T to 4 T, and NMR experiments (carried out in similar temperature and field ranges) are compared to estimate the intrinsic magnetic contribution to the magnetic effects observed by both techniques. With the aid of Palladium (Pd) metal as a standard to assure that our equipment is operating accurately, our analysis of the data indicates that besides the expected contribution from paramagnetic impurities in the starting materials, there exists an intrinsic susceptibility whose origin is still not fully determined. The results clarify that we do observe an interesting magnetic phenomenon in LaO0.5F0.5BiS2, potentially related to a Rashba or a Dresselhaus effect that has been predicted for the parent compound.

Alexander KassM.S. PhysicsEffect of Pre-Stress on Stress Corrosion in Maraging Steel Blades

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Faculty Mentors: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo and Dr. Jose Rodriguez

Maraging Steel blades are used to suspend loads in seismic attenuation filters of gravitational wave detectors.  Over time several blades experienced catastrophic failure due to stress corrosion, costing observation time and money.  This presentation aims to discuss possible causes of breakage using X-Ray diffractometry and other physical methods to study the atomic structure of the steel before and after processing.  Results suggested that blades which did not break differed from those that did, by having undergone Cold Rolling.  This manufacturing process introduces a compressed layer near the surfaces which neutralize the tensional stress induced by the load.  The absence of surface tensional stress prevents micro-cracks from propagating and the stress corrosion process cannot initiate. Analysis shows that the presence of induced surface compressional pre-stress enables the Maraging Steel Blades to withstand the load without failures.  Potential cost-effective solutions are presented.

John DeVriesM.S. AstrophysicsUsing RADMC-3D to Model the Radiative Transfer of Spectral Lines in Protoplanetary Disks and EnvelopesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

Protoplanetary disks are the birthplaces of planets in our universe. Observations of these disks with radio telescopes like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) offer great insight into the star and planet formation process. Comparing theories of formation with observations requires tracing the energy transfer via electromagnetic radiation, known as radiative transfer. Existing code created by Whitney et al. was used previously to model the formation process. The goal of this research is to utilize RADMC-3D to handle the spectral line radiative transfer computations. An existing model of a rotating ring was expanded to include emission from the C18O isotopologue of carbon monoxide using data from the Leiden Atomic and Molecular Database (LAMBDA). ALMA is capable of measuring emission from the various forms of CO and therefore expanding the model enables analysis of more data. In addition to modeling gas in the protoplanetary disk, dust also plays an important role. The generic description of absorption and scattering for dust provided by RADMC-3D was changed in favor of a more physically-realistic description with OH5 grains. This description is more appropriate in high-density regions of the envelope around a protostar. Further improvements, consistent with reality, to the model will be made in the future.

Medhanie Estiphanos

M.S. PhysicsMagnetic Properties of Carbon Doped with Nickel and Copper NanoparticlesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Armen Kocharian

This talk describes carbon microspheres with unusual magnetic properties that have been prepared by method of solid-phase pyrolysis where metal-free phthalocyanine was used as a precursor. Magnetism in light elements has many important advantages: low density, biocompatibility, plasticity, transparency, etc. Among these elements carbon takes a specific place, especially after the discovery of its novel nanoscopic modifications such as graphene, fullerenes, nanotubes and nanocapsules, nanographene ribbons, etc. Moreover, unusual magnetic and electronic properties of nanographite and nanographene are also an attractive area for potential applications in electronics, spintronics, quantum information processing, etc. The morphology, structure and magnetic properties of prepared samples were investigated using electron microscopy, magnetometry and electron paramagnetic resonance. Carbon microspheres with a mean diameter d = 3.40±0.15 μm consist of graphitized nanocrystallites with a thickness of 5-15 graphene layers. The samples demonstrate a strong paramagnetism. In the temperature range of 5-100 K ferromagnetism was revealed with a maximum value of the saturation magnetization, Ms ≈ 0.03 emu/g at Т= 25К. The temperature-independent diamagnetism with susceptibility of χDia = -1∙10-6 emu/g∙Oe was also measured. Our objective is to develop these materials that exhibit strong magnetic prosperities at nano scale and room temperature.

Samavarti Gallardo B.S. PhysicsThe Use of the Time Average Visibility for Analyzing HERA-19 Commissioning DataFaculty Mentor: Dr. James Aguirre

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a radio telescope that will be observing large structure throughout the cosmic reionzation epoch. This will allow us to characterize the evolution of the 21 cm power spectrum to constrain the timing and morphology of reionization, the properties of the first galaxies, the evolution of large-scale structure, and the early sources of heating. We develop a simple and robust observable for the HERA-19 commissioning data, the Time Average Visibility (TAV). We compare both redundantly and absolutely calibrated visibilities to detailed instrument simulations and to analytical expectations, and explore the signal present in the TAV. The TAV has already been demonstrated as a method to reject poorly performing antennas, and may be improved with this work to allow a simple cross-check of the calibration solutions without imaging.

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Michael C. Milovich-GoffM.S. PhysicsMapping Scatterers in Dielectric CoatingsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo

Since the first detection of gravitational waves (GW) observed by LIGO, no effort was spared to reducing the noise that limits the sensitivity of GW. The performance of the mirrors used in the LIGO interferometric system is limited by thermal noise and light scattering that are a result of the manufacturing process. The study of these scatterers is fundamental to develop better mirrors. We attempt to measure the distribution of light scatterers within the layers of coating witness samples. Mapping them both depth-wise and laterally using microscopy and fitting procedures. This can be done with a few nm precision.We now try to identify the size and location of a scatterers inside real coatings, using CCD microscope camera, 3-axis stepper motor stage and advanced cleaning techniques. Here we try to determine if these scatterers are within a 3 micron coating determine their depth and amplitude distribution. If indeed they are its possible to determine if scatterers reside in the roughly 3μ thick deposition of a LIGO test mass or witness sample. If successful this may become a standard inspection technique to monitor and guide the development of lower scattering and thermal noise, leading to detection of GW deeper in the Universe.

Andranik MkrtchyanM.S. PhysicsDetermining the Dynamical Mass of Protostars using ALMA DataFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

Protostars are difficult to detect and observe and therefore is an issue that is currently being researched and documented. Using ALMA’s public archive data, it is possible to create moment maps and P-V (position-velocity) diagrams of observed protostars so that they may be analyzed. Observational data for protostars such as L1527 and BHR71 are available on ALMA in FITS file format and can be processed through a program called ADMIT (ALMA Data Mining Toolkit). Using this code and specifically coding parameters and conditions for each protostars, it is possible to create accurate graphs to understand large data files more compactly. After the graphs are made, they can then be analyzed and used to determine the dynamical mass of the protostar.

Greta O’DeaM.S. Physics“63Cu-NMR in pristine HKUST-1 MOF: effects of coupled Cu pairs in HKUST-1”Faculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal

NMR Spectroscopy is being used to explore magnetic properties of the Cu(II)-based metal-organic framework (MOF) HKUST-1 and the change in conductivity that occurs between pristine HKUST-1 and HKUST-1 with tetracyano-quinodimethane (TCNQ) infiltration. The pulse NMR technique allows for the examination of the interactions between the nuclei and the unpaired electrons in paramagnetic Cu(II) in pristine HKUST-1. This will allow for further understanding of the effect on the conductivity of the material when the pores of the MOF are occupied by TCNQ. Here we report on the 63Cu-NMR of pristine HKUST-1. We find that the 63Cu-NMR spectral linewidth in this system increases with decreasing temperature as would be expected for dipolar interactions of the paramagnetic Cu(II) ions with the nuclear moments. Surprisingly, we also find that the 63Cu line-shift with respect to a CuBr reference is very close to that of copper metal. To shed light on this intriguing experimental result, we will present preliminary measurements of line shape, spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times as functions of temperature and applied magnetic field in pristine HKUST-1.

Morgan ShanerM.S. Physics Measuring the dynamical mass of a protostarFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

Measuring the dynamical mass of a protostar provides astronomers information on the formation of stars. Furthermore, their properties can illuminate the final physical and chemical properties of the resulting solar system which is why star formation is a key interest in current astrophysical research. Protostars originate from giant clouds of gas and dust, as this dust accumulates it introduces a gravitational field causing the outer gas to collapse in on itself forming the central protostar. As the gas collapses it forms the final main sequence star. The mass of the protostar can be found by modeling the infalling and rotational motion of the gas envelope. Three important gasses used as tracers are C18O for the motion of the disk, CO for the outflow cavity, and SO as a shock tracer as the infalling envelop travels outward. Using ADMIT we can data-mine the ALMA archive to produce a PV diagrams and moment maps for protostars of interest. These diagrams are important tools used in the modelling of the infalling and rotational motion of these gasses. This project presents the results found for the outflow cavity.

Seth LinkerM.S. PhysicsMeasuring the Mechanical Quality Factors of Optical Coatings Deposited onto Silicon Nitride Membranes

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with the Goal of Increasing the Range and Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave DetectorsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Riccardo DeSalvo

Thermally induced Brownian noise, due to the interaction of optical coatings with their environment, is a fundamental source of noise in the current generation of gravitational wave detectors. It is crucial to accurately identify future materials and coating methods that yield the largest possible mechanical quality factor (Q) so they may be deposited onto the test masses in interferometric detectors thus increasing the range and sensitivity of possible event observation. Current methods to find the Q of optical coating candidates suffer in precision when attempting to measure nanometer thick coatings because depositing the materials onto relatively thick

substrates dilutes the measurement. We propose a new experimental approach that will more precisely measure the Q of coatings by depositing them onto 100 nm Silicon Nitride membranes and then exciting the resonant modes with electrostatic actuation.

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Abstracts of Poster PresentationsBehavioral and Social Sciences

1. Lauren HockerM.A. PsychologyRelationship Motivations: Links with Attachment and Relationship Cognitions Faculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi R. Riggio

Attachment shapes ways that people think about intimate relationships in adulthood (Hazan & Shaver, 1994). Attachment may be an explanatory mechanism of feelings of anxiety and competence in relationships (Mikulincer et al., 2002). Three types of motivation are intrinsic, instrumental, and extrinsic. This study examines links between relationship motivations and various individual psychological qualities involving beliefs about romantic relationships and the self, including attachment style, self-efficacy as a relationship partner, and feelings of anxiety about relationships. Adults recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk completed anonymous online self-report measures, including a measure of relationship motivations (Rempel et al., 1985), the Self-Efficacy in Romantic Relationships Scale (Riggio et al., 2011), the Relationship Anxiety Scale (Snell, 1998), and the Adult Attachment Scale (Simpson et al., 1996). Participants also completed the Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1962). Partial correlations controlling for sex, age, SDS scores, and education level indicate strong significant correlations between intrinsic and instrumental relationship motivations and anxious (rs =- .43, -.44) and avoidant attachment (rs =- .19, -.20), self-efficacy as a romantic partner (rs = .41, .40), and relationship anxiety (rs =- .22, -.23) (ps < .001). Extrinsic relationship motivation is not linked with any of the relationship cognitions.

2. Yvette Servin, Diane Martinez and Rosemary GironM.A. Sociology; B.A. Sociology; B.A. SociologyMigrant Abuse & Rights along the Mexico-Guatemala BorderFaculty Mentor: Dr. Katie Dingeman

Since the early 2000s, the U.S., Mexico, and Central American countries have pursued enforcement-first initiatives to stem migration in the region, including the Merida Initiative in 2008 and Programa Frontera Sur in 2014. Far from reducing corruption, crime, and migration, securitization efforts such as these appear to have increased exploitation, trafficking, and violent abuse against migrants (Slack, Martínez, Whiteford, and Peiffer 2015). They are also correlated with

escalated disappearances, deaths, impunity, and restrictions on the freedom to organize (Paley 2014). The atmosphere of corruption, violence, and impunity in Central America and Mexico make migrant abuses and disappearances particularly difficult to track and redress. In this poster presentation we examine a novel set of data from migrant shelters—specifically 20 qualitative interviews with migrants in transit and 100 formal complaints of abuse filed by migrants to the Mexican and Guatemalan governments from both before and after Programa Frontera Sur was initiated. We aim to document and analyze the nature, location, and perpetrators of alleged abuses against migrants, and how they shifted in recent years. The project contributes to our understanding of how securitization and humanitarian policies are shaping the contemporary migrant experience.

3. Cassie Huff, Meghan MacGregor, Daisy Arzate and Melissa RamirezB.S. Criminal JusticeInstagram & Community PolicingFaculty Mentor: Nicole Smolter, M.S.

Instagram, a social media application allows users to post photos and videos and permits others to comment on the posts. Our research focused on the interactions or lack thereof between official law enforcement Instagram accounts and their commenters. The research included a non-experimental design in which we observed the social media accounts of five police departments. The research concludes that the use of social media by police agencies does promote a positive image towards society. We encountered some limitations when conducting the research; the use of non-experimental design made nonspuriousness difficult to establish, the vagueness of the use of emojis, and the possibility of comments being deleted by the police departments. A strength of the research study was that the research helped identify the weakness and strengths in police departments’ use of social media. Another strength is that the research study helps determine what posts create negative comments, and what should be added to create involvement with the community. An additional strength identified by the research is that social media does create a positive image of police officers towards the community they serve. Further research can help strengthen community policing with the use of social media.

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4. Nikita Dhanraj Marathe, Kanishka Sunnam, Nikeeta Akbari, Rohit Tiwari, Vrunda Shah, and Yuvasree Kalaiselvan M.S. Information SystemsAnalytics on LCA, PERM Applications and Prevailing WagesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jongwook Woo

This paper aims at performing data analysis on the LCA (Labor Condition Application) applications, Permanent Employment Certification applications, and prevailing wage determination. This data is available on the Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certificate. Every year the department avail a public access file, under disclosure data category for public use. We decided to work on the available data from the year 2008 to the year 2017 and tried to analyze the number of applications filed by employers, average wage, top job titles with the applications, etc. As the data size is enormous, we have used HIVE and PIG to perform data analysis and Tableau tool for data visualization. We find these data interesting as most of our class members are International students and hence deriving insights for job positions, top states for H-1B jobs and top employers that sponsor H-1B and permanent residence could help them to choose wisely.

5. Hazina Cain-HoustonM.A. Economics, Option in Financial EconomicsThe Emotions of the Stock MarketFaculty Mentor: Dr. Carol Cui

The goal of this research is to see if the volatility of individual securities, and by extension the entire stock market, can be parsed via natural language processing of financial news. News feeds from MarketWatch about specific stocks were parsed using natural language processing software spaCy and the Natural Language Toolkit, which were used to analyze news articles, then assign “moods” to each one. The moods were separated into general categories of “positive” and “negative.” “Positive moods” were expected to correlate to an increase in the stock’s price, and “negative moods” were expected to be reflected in a fall of the stock’s price. All “moods” were then compared to movements of the stocks on said day and analyzed for correlation in expectations. A slight correlation between overall “mood” of a stock’s articles and the stock’s price movement has been observed.

6. Angela Navata and Christinalee HousemanB.A. Psychology; M.A. PsychologyExamining the Use of the Asian American Values Scale for Filipino AmericansFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jessica Dennis

Kapwa, refers to a shared connection to other people and this value influences many aspects of Filipino life (David, Sharma, & Petalia, 2017). Currently, the Asian American Values Scale-Multidimensional (Kim, Li, & Ng, 2005) is commonly used to examine endorsement of cultural values and beliefs associated with Asian ethnicities such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, however, there is some evidence that these values are as strongly endorsed by Filipino Americans (Kim et al., 2001). Current study, compares the responses of Filipino Americans versus those from other Asian subgroups in their endorsement of the following Asian American values: conformity to norms, emotional control, family recognition of achievement, and humility. It is hypothesized that Filipino Americans will be less likely to endorse these values compared to members of other Asian groups. Participants included 60 Filipino Americans, 84 Chinese Americans, and 78 individuals of other Asian American ethnic groups. Results suggested that Filipinos were not significantly different from the other groups on conformity to norms, family recognition of achievement, and humility. However, Filipinos have lower emotional control compared to other groups. Base on the results, Filipinos may not be different from other Asian subgroups. Although, research there should be further research about Filipinos cultures.

7. Nicole Benchequea and Tatev Sarkissyan B.A. PsychologySex, Religious Group, and Supernatural BeliefsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Heidi R. Riggio

Modern research indicates that 72% of Americans believe in an afterlife in heaven (Pew Research Center, 2017), 31% believe in telepathy, and 25% believe in astrology (Gallup, 2005). Supernatural beliefs are the basis of all major world religions (Furnham & Proctor, 1989). Because religious identity fundamentally involves endorsement of religious beliefs, including supernatural events (e.g., miracles, prayer), and because endorsement of group beliefs is linked with strength of identification with a group (Cohen, 2003), it is important to examine supernatural beliefs in relation to religiosity. Participants are 449 adults (251 women, mean age = 36.1 years) paid 50 cents on Amazon Mechanical Turk for survey completion. They are majority Euro-American (76.8%; 7.3% Asian American, 5.8% Latino American, 4.7%

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African American, 4.3% other). Most identified as Christian (229; 162 agnostic/atheist 59 different group). They completed a measure of religious (e.g., angels, miracles, blessings) and nonreligious (e.g., fairies, curses, magic) supernatural beliefs. Results of a two (participant sex) by 3 (Christian, other religious group, agnostic/atheist) MANOVA indicate that women report greater beliefs in religious and nonreligious events than men, and that Christians report greater religious and nonreligious supernatural beliefs than both other groups. Results are discussed in terms of social identity theory. 8. Maria A. Serpas and Qing WangB.A. Child Development; M.A. Child Development Preschool Teachers' beliefs and practices in STEM curriculumFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yafen Lo

With the projection of the future work force, the United States government has prioritized three major areas to support STEM education since 2017- to improve the quality of STEM curriculum, expand access to STEM courses for all, and address bias and expand opportunities for underrepresented students. In the context of early childhood education, one question is raised regarding how teachers transfer their beliefs into the classroom practice to support preschoolers’ STEM learning. The current study aimed to understand the correlations between preschool teachers’ beliefs and practices, especially in teaching STEM. Ten head start teachers were recruited for the study. They completed developmentally appropriate beliefs/practices, and level of confidence in teaching STEM survey, and were observed for teacher-child interaction and environment in supporting STEM curriculum. The preliminary results suggested that there was a gap between teachers’ beliefs and

practices in STEM curriculum. STEM activities in these classes that were rushed often resulting in missing the teachable moments. Teachers tended to stay on a schedule rather than enhancing and exploring on children’s ideas. Teacher perceived themselves as the most influential person in implementing STEM curriculum, yet their practices did not reflect such a perception. 

9. Alysia Huang, Joshua Pono, Leon VaughnB.S. Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Portrayals of Minority CriminalsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nicole Smolter

Crime stories on local or national news channels provide the public with information about crimes occurring not only in the world but in their own neighborhoods. The news has a massive effect on the public’s perceptions of the people presented in their news stories due to its expansion from the internet. The purpose of our study was to investigate what rhetoric was used in crime reports and provide interpretations for what that rhetoric suggests depending on the criminal being presented. The researchers were especially focused on examining whether there was a disparity in positive versus negative presentations between White criminals and minority criminals. The study’s design examined factors such as the images presented in the news story, language utilized by the reporters, and the specific information provided about the crime. This research study found that rhetoric in crime stories presenting minority criminals was increasingly negative in most regards. In contrast, White criminals were more often presented in either a neutral or positive manner. These finding suggests a disparity in representation in the media between these two groups based on the factor of race.

Biological Sciences I10. Jesse Duque, Timothy Bennett and Edward CardenasM.S. Chemistry (Inorganic); Biochemistry, B.S.; Chemistry, B.SMechanism-Guided Design of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Methane StorageFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

This study aims to synthesize novel metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), as well as investigate their chemical and physical properties. Our current linker synthesis involves a Suzuki reaction that is comprised of a multistep synthesis. We synthesize our azide by an azidonation, followed by a Sonogashira coupling to produce the diyne that will undergo a 1, 3-dipolar

addition to the azide. Once we synthesize our linker, we will attach it to various metals and run gas sorption experiments to quantify the volumetric capacity of our MOFs. Completing these sorption experiments will provide us with information as to how effective these MOFs will be at gas storage. We hypothesize that developing this specific organic linker, that has been modified to enhance adsorption, will provide information as to how certain functionalities affect gas adsorption.

11. Shaanti Trikha and Sergio IglesiasM.S. Chemistry - Physical; B.S. ChemistryIntegrating Metal Organic Frameworks into Solar CellsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Yangyang Liu

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Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have ingrained features such as; accurate arrangement (structure), high surface area, and porosity. A MOF is comprised of organic ligands which coordinating to a metal ion or cluster. The structure of each individual MOF, and pore size, is due to the way the ligand coordinates to the metal. The specific structure of the organic linker may lead to a specific function. The versatility of the organic linkers allows MOFs to be utilized for a multitude of tasks such as; hydrogen storage, catalytic conversion, antimicrobial dressings, and now, solar cells. Designing an organic linker which can control the pore size, and band gap tunablity can lead to an increase of directional channeling of the electrons through a solid state solar cell. Therefore, enhancing the number of useable electrons. A way of increasing solar efficiency is by decreasing the amount of transits created on the solar cell due to poor coating of the dye-sensitizing molecule, as well as, the backflow of the electrons allowing recombination. By determining a structure-function relationship of the Ruthenium polypyridine based MOF in directional transportation of electrons, thus allowing for a decrease of backflow of electrons. Understanding the structure-function relationship between polypyridine adamantane structured organic ligands, that have the highest tendency to channel electrons efficiently through a solid state solar cell.

12. Ricardo Ramirez II and Jesus Rodriguez-MoralesM.S. Biology; B.S. BiologyDeveloping Co-Transfection Parameters to Test for Transcriptional Regulation of the Id2 gene by MyoD Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandra Sharp

Transcription factor MyoD is a positive regulator of myogenesis or muscle development. Transcription factor MyoD initiates differentiation of myoblasts into myocytes by binding specific E-box (CANNTG) DNA sequences found in the regulatory regions of muscle-specific genes and activating their expression. Inhibitors of DNA-binding proteins (Id), are helix-loop-helix (HLH) transcription factors that act as negative regulators of basic HLH transcription factors, such as MyoD. Interestingly, MyoD has been shown to bind the regulatory region of the Id2 gene during proliferation. We hypothesize that MyoD contributes to the efficiency of Id2 expression during proliferation. To test this, we will perform transient transfections in Balb 10(1) and 10T½ fibroblast cells using a MyoD expression construct co-transfected along with a reporter construct driven by the Id2-promoter to determine the effect of MyoD on the transcription of the reporter. We have verified MyoD-expression and Id2-reporter constructs through sequencing,

determined cell densities needed for transfection, and performed a transfection assay demonstrating that transfection of the MyoD construct results in expression of active MyoD in both cell lines. If our hypothesis is correct, the results will suggest that MyoD also acts as a positive regulator in proliferating cells to inhibit myogenesis.

13. Tracey NgB.S. BioPhysicsUnderstanding the Reliability of a Spectroscopic Reporter in ProteinsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Paul Nerenberg

P-cyano-L-phenylalanine (pCNF), an infrared (IR) spectroscopic reporter for chemical environments, can be incorporated into proteins to study structure and dynamics. Our experimental collaborators incorporated pCNF into super folder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) at three different sites: one solvent exposed (residue 133), one partially buried (residue 149), and one fully buried (residue 74). IR spectra for two of the sites (residues 133 and 149) yielded only single peaks, but when pCNF was incorporated into residue 74 three peaks – implying three distinct chemical environments at that site – were observed. To develop an atomistic picture of the chemical environments at these sites, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of wildtype sfGFP, as well as the three pCNF mutants. To characterize the chemical environment and local structure and dynamics at each site, we examined several observables: backbone and sidechain dihedral angle distributions, solvent accessible surface area of the pCNF sidechain and cyano group, and the characteristic fluctuations of the protein backbone. While these analyses explain the single peaks for residues 133 and 149, they are not able to explain the three peaks for residue 74. We discuss future avenues for structural analysis that may help resolve this discrepancy.

14. Jessica RomeroB.S. Biochemistry, BiophysicsCytosine methylation and its effects on BI/BII equilibrium in DNA.Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paul Nerenberg

The local conformation of DNA plays a critical role in the recognition-and-binding process of transcription factors. In particular, the most common form of the DNA double helix, B-DNA, exists as a conformational equilibrium between BI and BII substates that are associated with changes in major and minor groove dimensions. It has been hypothesized that cytosine methylation, the most common epigenetic modification and one that is often found in so-called CpG islands,

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modulates transcription factor binding affinity by altering the BI-BII equilibrium in the neighborhood of methylation sites. Indeed, previous molecular dynamics studies have suggested that cytosine methylation leads to a uniform stabilization of the BI substate in CpG islands. In this work we first benchmark the ability of the latest Amber DNA force fields and a variety of three-point water models to reproduce BI-BII equilibrium in the Dickerson dodecamer and reduce terminal base pair fraying. Using the best-performing combinations, we then re-examine the conformational effects of cytosine methylation in a prototypical CpG island, (GC)5. We find that the BI substate is stabilized for GpC steps in such sequences, but that the BII substate is stabilized for the CpG steps. More interestingly, the Amber ff99bsc0 DNA force field used in previous studies yields opposite conclusions. These findings highlight the need for continued fixed-charge force field development for nucleic acids, as well as solution state experimental datasets involving epigenetic modification that can serve as benchmarks for simulation accuracy.

15. Marcus Forsell and Alex McCombeB.S. Food ScienceCoffee: Caffeine and Antioxidant Variability Between Brewing Techniques and Degree of RoastingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jing Zhao

It is known that roasting and brewing methods could affect coffee taste and caffeine content. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influences of roasting and brewing methods (cold and hot) on the caffeine content and antioxidant activities of brewed coffee. Light, medium, and dark coffee roasts were brewed either at 90° C for approximately 2 min (hot-brew) or at 23° C for 24 hours (cold-brew). Caffeine content was quantified using both solvent extraction and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. Total phenolic content, radical scavenging, and metal chelating activities were analyzed using Folin-Ciocalteu, ABTS radicals and ferrous-ion chelation methods, respectively. Results (n=3) were statistically analyzed using ANOVA and LSD for mean separation (P<0.05). Cold-brewing resulted in significantly higher caffeine, total phenolic, and antioxidant properties in coffee than those in hot-brews. Roasting significantly affected caffeine contents and antioxidant activities of coffee in cold-brews (P<0.05) but not hot-brews (P>0.05). Cold-brews contained 4-7 times more caffeine than hot-brews due to the long brewing time. Phenolic content, radical scavenging and ferrous-ion chelating activities were approximately 7-times, 2.5-times and 5-times higher in cold-brews than in hot-brews, respectively. This study provided a better

understanding of the relationship between brewing time and coffee properties.

16. Kayla Love M.S. ChemistryLipid accumulation in the leaves of ltp4 and ft/ltp4 Arabidopsis thalianaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Vellanoweth

The goal of this project is to determine if there is a change in Lipoxygenase (LOX) at the floral transition in mutant ltp4 and ft/ltp4 which may contribute to the delay flowering in regenerating Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Very little is known about the biological pathway linking reproduction to senescence in plants. Studies show that in Arabidopsis during long days, the flowering hormone Flowering Locus T (ft), which is present in leaves, translocates to the shoot apical meristem and induces flowering. Also, the activities of the enzymes catalase and ascorbate peroxidase (APx), which act as scavengers to remove H2O2 produced during cellular metabolism, declines. Our previous research demonstrates, that during this decline in scavenger activity there is an increase in 13-lipoxygenase (13-LOX) activity which catalyzes chloroplast lipid peroxidation. Peroxidized lipids are known as oxylipins and are used for the biosynthesis of many products such as jasmonates that act as mobile signals for gene expression responses. We also showed through microarray gene analysis that the genes encoding lipid transfer protein LTP3 and LTP4 are upregulated during this transition. Knockdown of these LTP’s  and the double knockdown of FT/ LTP3/4 shows that  after the first round of reproduction and apparent death, these mutants redevelop with basal rosettes formed from the axillary meristems and live as long as 2+ years. ft/ltp4 mutants even flower 7 months late. We hypothesize that the mutational loss of LTP3/4 and FT during the floral transition, prevents the rapid movement of a LOX derived oxylipin flowering hormone to the shoot apical meristem. This knowledge is important because in order to optimize crop yields, of which we all depend on for health and survival, it is imperative that we understand the chemical and biological processes that result in their development. Furthermore, this will be helpful in developing techniques to improve on the oxylipin pathway, increase crop yield efficacy and further develop Arabidopsis as the model plant.

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17. Benjamin NittayoB.S. BiologyMitochondrial Redox Regulating Determinants of Melanoma HomeostasisFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nathan Lanning

Cancer cells are known to generate high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a result of their rapid rate of proliferation and they must find ways to offset this stress to maintain homeostasis. Oxidative stress caused by elevated ROS levels in cancer cells is known to promote the proliferation and motility of tumors. Both normal and cancer cells rely on mitochondria to buffer cellular redox status against oxidative stress within the cell. To investigate the role of mitochondria in cancer biology further, there must be an effort to characterize all mitochondrial functions in relation to cancer. The aim of our research is to connect the mitochondrial proteins that are necessary for maintaining melanoma cell homeostasis in response to different stresses to their specific functions in supporting the survival of the tumor. Identification of essential mitochondrial antioxidant proteins in melanoma cells can lead to the development of therapeutics against melanoma that inhibit tumor growth and metastasis. To discover these connections, we are devising a strategy to measure cellular parameters linked with cellular homeostasis, including GSH/GSSG, NADP+/NADPH, mitochondrial membrane potential, and response to H2O2 metabolic stressors. Subsequently, we will carry out an RNAi screen of all known mitochondrial protein regulators of cellular stress management. By executing the screen in melanocytes and melanoma cells, our results will indicate possible vulnerabilities in both homeostatic and survival mechanisms in melanoma.

18. Ignacio Gonzalez and Kevin QuachB.S. MicrobiologyHypothermic Preservation of insulin producing Rat INS-1 Cells line using a recombinant Antifreeze Protein Faculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

Organ preservation for transplant applications has saved life of many patients who were at stage of organ failure. Cold preservation of donor pancreas using University of Wisconsin (UW) solution has been a standard method for many years for whole pancreas transplantation or islet transplantation which requires isolating insulin producing islets from pancreas. Islet transplantation has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), however, the success depends largely on the viability of the islets isolated after pancreas preservation. The current solution to preserve the

pancreas is not optimum. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a better solution to preserve the organs prior to transplantation. Nature has adapted system that can achieve survive at extreme conditions. In particular, Antifreeze Proteins (AFPs) have been found in many species for survival during harsh winter at low temperature (-30ºC). AFPs prolong cell survival by binding to ice crystals inhibiting the crystallization inside the cells. They can create a gap between the melting point and freezing point of water, referred to as thermal hysteresis. In this study, we synthesized recombinant AFP from a beetle, Tenibrio molitor (TmAFP) and investigated the efficacy to prolong in vitro rat insulin producing INS-1 cell line survival and viability during hypothermic preservation. INS-1 cells were used for preservation at 4 ºC for up to 7 days in UW solution, in the absence (Ctrl) and presence of TmAFP at concentrations range of (0-1000 µg/mL). The viability of the INS-1 cells was monitored on days 0, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 by trypan blue staining using a Cellometer Auto Cell Viability Counter. The addition of TmAFP (50 and 500 µg/mL) in UW maintained INS-1 viability for up to 6 days while viability of the control cells without TmAFP significantly decreased (>20% decrease as compared to pre preservation) on day 6. The results suggesting the potential of TmAFP for improving β cell viability during cold preservation.

19. Brent BeadellB.S. MicrobiologyThe antimicrobial peptides HNP-1 and HBD-2 act against Mycobacterium smegmatis independent from their chiralityFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

Tuberculosis is among the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent, is a bacterium with a lipid-rich cell wall. One of the first lines of defense against bacterial invasion involves the release of pore-forming antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) by epithelial cells and phagocytes including neutrophils. Preliminary data has shown growth inhibition of Mycobacterium smegmatis (Ms), a model organism for Mtb, in the presence of the epithelial Human Beta Defensin-2 (HBD-2) and Human Neutrophil Peptide-1 (HNP-1). We hypothesized that HBD-2 and HNP-1 inhibit Ms growth due to unspecific membrane-targeted action independent from their chirality. This study aimed to compare growth inhibitory effects of the D- and L- forms of HBD-2 and HNP-1 against Ms. Ms was incubated in 7H9 broth with serially diluted AMPs (0.3125-5 µM) or solvent control for up to 48 h and bacterial metabolic activity was quantified by reduction of the resazurin dye. D- and L- forms of HNP-1 and HBD-2 both inhibited Ms growth throughout all tested

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concentrations. This data supports that L-HNP-1 and L-HBD-2 have a membrane targeted action and do not appear to act through a receptor. This knowledge may inform future drug development against Mtb.

20. Ivan Ocegueda B.S. BiologyMapping the Methylated Arginine Residues on PGC-1α, a Protein Implicated in Cellular Metabolism Faculty Mentors: Dr. Cecilia Zurita-Lopez, and Immaculeta Osuji

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) is a transcriptional coactivator that regulates metabolism-related genes within various organ tissues. The effects of PGC-1α lead to the activation of gluconeogenesis, thermogenesis, and mitochondrial biogenesis. Furthermore, this central metabolic protein undergoes post-translational modifications (PTMs) on specific amino acid residues, modifying its functionality to adapt to the body’s physiological demand. For example, serine phosphorylation is a PTM that regulates the transcriptional activity of PGC-1α. Another type of PTM is arginine methylation, which is known to influence protein localization, protein-protein interactions, etc., thus affecting overall protein function. Little is known about which arginine residues become methylated and the functional impact on PGC-1α. We hypothesize that methylation marks deposited onto arginine residues by the enzyme protein arginine N-methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) blocks neighboring serine phosphorylation, activating pathways that lead to obesity and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). To determine which arginine residues become methylated, we performed site-directed mutagenesis on a truncated version of PGC-1α. Preliminary evidence shows many arginine residues being methylated near a known serine phosphorylation site. By unveiling the role that arginine methylation plays on PGC-1α, we aim to develop new ways to regulate PGC-1α, leading to novel therapeutic approaches to combat T2D and obesity.

21. Joshua Lugo and Chely TejedaB.S. ChemistryEnzyme Activity and Molecular Interactions of ADH and DAFP-1Faculty Mentor: Dr. Xin Wen

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) are biopolymers known to inhibit ice crystal growth. Through enzymatic activity and aggregation assays of a model enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), AFP Dendroides canadensis (DAFP-1) has been shown to also exhibit thermal protective behaviors and prevent aggregation. This is of interest in industry as a means of improving product

quality and efficiency. It is also medically relevant as protein aggregation is linked to amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer's. It is believed that the aggregation mechanism for these amyloid diseases is shared and involves beta sheet interactions. We’re analyzing the molecular interaction between DAFP-1 and the ADH using Maestro, Pymol, Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD), and Nanoscale Molecular Dynamics (NAMD) software. This allows us to determine the energetically favorable orientations and likely residues of interaction along the beta sheet of DAFP-1 and ADH. This interaction assists in maintaining ADH’s structure under stress and prevent free monomer from forming aggregates. Knowing the interaction points allows us to better understand the mechanisms behind AFPs which may develop new novel opportunities for therapeutic approaches through inhibiting protein aggregation.

22. Joshua Alvarado, Jessica Hsueh and Sarah MadiraB.S. Biochemistry, B.S. Microbiology, B.S. BiochemistryGeneration of Leigh Syndrome Cell ModelsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nathan Lanning

Leigh Syndrome (LS) is a neurological disease that stems from mutations in the subunits of mitochondrial respiratory chain subunits. These mutations decrease electron transport chain (ETC) efficiency, leading to decreased cellular ATP levels and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. There is currently no therapeutic approach to combat this degenerative disorder, and patients typically die by 8-10 years of age. There are also very few models with which to study this disease. We have generated LS cell models using both a chemical and genetic approach. Chemically, we inhibit ETC activity with low levels of rotenone, an ETC poison, in order to suppress ETC-dependent ATP generation to levels seen in LS patients. Genetically, we use siRNA to knock down the ETC subunits that are mutationally inactivated in LS patients, also disrupting ETC function. Through these approaches, we have constructed LS cell models that can now be used to investigate potential therapeutics.

23. Ryan Meraz and Ernesto CastellanosB.S. Biology; B.S. BiochemistryAK4 modulates AMPK and mTOR signalingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nathan Lanning

The mitochondrial adenylate kinase, AK4, is thought to regulate several biological processes related to the cellular stress response. AK4 expression levels are correlated with cellular survival in response to hypoxia, low nutrient levels, and elevated reactive

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oxygen species. Reducing AK4 expression by RNA interference also modulates these responses. To identify the mechanisms by which AK4 expression regulates these biological effects, we manipulated AK4 expression levels using small interfering RNAs and assessed core signaling pathways related to cellular stress management. We found that AK4 knockdown enhances both the AMPK and mTOR signaling pathways. AMPK activation serves to enhance cellular redox buffering, authophagy, and re-wire cellular metabolism to promote cell survival under stress. mTOR signaling promotes cell growth and proliferation. The AMPK and mTOR pathways are typically thought to be antagonistic and therefore mutually exclusive. Here, we identify a mechanism (inhibiting AK4 expression) whereby AMPK and mTOR signaling are concurrently activated.24. Carlos Gonzalez, Tracey Nguyen and Amelia AbdullahM.S. BiologyAK4 regulates cellular bioenergetics and redox bufferingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Nathan Lanning

In order to maintain cellular homeostasis, mitochondria integrate bioenergetic, metabolic, and redox cues. Signals both converge on and emanate from mitochondria to respond to varied cellular stressors. Therefore, mitochondrial proteins must play critical roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis. In a search for mitochondrial proteins that impact cellular bioenergetics, we identified the adenylate kinase, AK4, as the most potent regulator of ATP levels out of >1,000 mitochondrial proteins. We also found AK4 expression to significantly impact cells’ ability to respond to energetic stressors by maintaining NADP(H) pools, regulating cellular redox buffering, and engaging autophagy. Together, these effects of suppressed AK4 expression allow cells to thrive in the context of nutrient deprivation-induced stress. The profound effects of AK4 expression on bioenergetics and survival under stress position AK4 as a potential master regulator of mitochondria-dependent cellular homeostasis.

25. Mabel BushB.S. in MicrobiologyIn vitro Model to Examine the Antibacterial Barrier Function of Epithelial CellsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

Epithelial cells lining our body surfaces prevent bacterial invasion through anatomical and chemical barriers. However, primary pathogens circumvent the epithelial cell barrier. Our lab is interested in learning how to improve the barrier function of epithelial cells. Objective: In this study, I aimed to established an in

vitro model for testing the epithelial barrier function using the lung derived alveolar type II cell line A549 and the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). Methods: A549 cells were grown at air-liquid interface. PA was added to the air-exposed apical compartment at different bacteria to A549 cell ratios. At various time points thereafter, the number of bacterial colony forming units in the subcellular basal compartment reflecting bacterial translocation was quantified. Results: Based on three independent experiments conducted in duplicates, the optimal bacteria to cell ratio was 50 bacteria : 1.32 x106 A549 cells and the best time points to enumerate the bacteria was every 2 h between 4 and 12 hours after challenge. Conclusion: Our lab is now ready to begin investigating modulators of the epithelial barrier function.

26. Hugo Mora and Rogelio Nunez Flores M.S. Biology; M.S. BiologyAntibacterial Activity of Boron Heterocycles against Acinetobacter baumannii Clinical StrainsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Howard Xu

Antibiotic drug resistance is increasing at an alarming rate which renders most available antibiotics ineffective. In a previous report, we discussed the synthesis and antibacterial properties of multiple boron heterocycles that were active against Escherichia coli. It was suggested that enoyl ACP reductase could be a potential target of these inhibitors. In this study, we report the antimicrobial susceptibility and cytotoxicity of six select boron heterocycles against Acinetobacter baumannii, a multidrug resistant bacterial pathogen. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) of 26 boron heterocycles were determined against four clinical isolates of A. baumannii using an established broth microdilution procedure according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute. The human embryonic kidney cell line HEK 293 was used to determine the cytotoxicity of the six boron compounds using MTS as a cell viability indicator. Our results indicated that eight boron compounds exhibited solid potency against A. baumannii isolates, producing MICs values of 4-16 µg/mL and most of them exert cidal activities with MBC values the same as or close to their MIC values. Cytotoxicity results showed that IC 50 values ranging between 18 µg/mL and 24 µg/mL, indicative of some cytotoxicity to the HEK 293 cells.

27. Alex Moreno and LeeAnn ReinkingB.S. Exercise Science; B.S. MicrobiologyCell Free Expression of Luciferase from Bioluminescent Ostracod Crustaceans

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Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Torres

Ostracods are microscopic marine crustaceans that produce blue light for defense and attracting mates. The bioluminescence is produced from the oxidation of the substrate luciferin by the enzyme luciferase. We have expressed luciferase in mammalian cell culture, but with the discovery of many new enzymes, we want to move into a cell free expression system. The goal is to develop a PCR based approach for expression in a mammalian in vitro translation system. A 600bp fragment of the pT7CFE1 vector containing a T7 promoter is amplified and fused to the 1650bp luciferase gene of ostracod. The template can then be used with the in vitro expression kit to generate luciferase enzyme for assays. We successfully amplified the 600bp T7 promoter fragment; but our luciferase primers with adapters failed to amplify a single full-length fragment. We are optimizing PCR protocols but also working on subcloning the luciferase into the pT7CFE1 expression vector since the PCR is problematic. By successfully expressing the luciferase enzyme in a more convenient system, we will be able to more quickly screen for active luciferases and better understand their potential uses and limitations for biomedical applications and artificial light sources. 

28. Elvia SilvaM.S. BiologyVisualization of Epithelial Immune Markers in HIV-infected Human Intestines Using Immunofluorescence & ImmunohistochemistryFaculty Mentors: Dr. Edith Porter and Dr. Bapi Pahar

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) affects millions worldwide. The virus infects cells that normally control the immune response leading to immunodeficiency. However, recent research has indicated that HIV infection can also disrupt the intestinal mucosa causing epithelial barrier disruption due to apoptotic cell death and leakage of luminal microbiota into the circulation. The intestinal mucosa is populated by different epithelial cell types including Paneth cells (PC), specialized defense cells. One of the major products of PCs is human defensin 5 (HD5), an antimicrobial peptide. All cell lineages derive from the intestinal stem cell (ISC) which expresses Lgr5. We wish to compare PC, ISC, and mucosal integrity in human tissue sections from HIV infected individuals, non-HIV disease controls, and normal tissue sections obtained from routine endoscopy. Our hypothesis is that in HIV the PC-ISC communication is disrupted. The objective of the present study was to establish staining protocols for Lgr5, HD5, and Caspase 3, an apoptosis marker, with excess tissues from an unrelated study. PCs were visualized with an

immunofluorescence protocol but a histochemical detection method was needed to demonstrate Lgr5+ ISC and caspase 3. We will next examine epithelial cell barrier markers and then analyze the HIV study tissue sections.

29. Yesica Viramontes and Peter Ewing M.S. Microbiology, B.S. MicrobiologyMarkerless gene knockouts for the tonB gene and ABC transporter genes from two iron siderophore biosynthesis gene clusters in hypervirulent Acinetobacter baumannii LAC-4Faculty Mentors: Dr. Peter Ewing and Dr. Howard Xu Acinetobacter baumannii is a Gram negative, multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogen prevalent in hospital intensive care units. To combat MDR pathogens, there have been efforts in discovering novel antibiotics and antivirulence therapeutics. One virulence factor to target is A. baumannii’s ability to acquire and use iron from hosts. In this study, knockout (KO) mutants of A. baumannii LAC-4, a hypervirulent strain acquired from an outbreak in a Los Angeles County Hospital, were generated to assess putative virulence factors associated with iron metabolism. The genes coding for an iron siderophore tonB protein and iron siderophore membrane ABC transporter (SBC) were each separately deleted from LAC-4 to help us understand their role in hypervirulence. The unmarked KO of tonB and SBC was achieved through homologous recombination using a KO construct containing an apramycin resistance marker generated via overlap extension PCR. The construct was ligated into the pMo130 suicide vector and transformed into LAC-4 by electroporation. Confirmed co-integrates were passaged in sucrose-containing media to enrich mutants in which suicide plasmids are excised. LAC-4 mutants were confirmed by genomic analysis via PCR and Sanger sequencing.

30. Neil PooleB.S. MicrobiologyEstablishing Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to study antimicrobial lipid function in the Innate Immune SystemFaculty Mentors: Dr. Edith Porter and Dr. Edward Eivers

Antimicrobial lipids including cholesteryl esters (CE’s) add to the function of lipids beyond energy storage and membrane structure. CE’s are generated by the esterification of a fatty acid residue to a cholesterol molecule by the enzyme Sterol O-acyltransferase 1 (SOAT1). A significant role could be attributed to CE’s if a reduction in the antimicrobial activity of epithelial cell secretions occurs in their absence. We wish to employ the use of insect cells derived from Drosophila

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melanogaster to test the effect of SOAT1 knockdown by siRNA on antimicrobial activity taking advantage of a gene homolog to human SOAT1 and simple transfection protocols in D. melanogaster. Here, we tested various media to maintain S2 cell growth and established a biofilm assay with the bacterium P. aeruginosa to quantify the antimicrobial activity of D. melanogaster Schneider 2 cells (S2 cells) secretions. We found that the medium SFM-900 II supported S2 cell growth and, in the absence of S2 cells, promoted bacterial biofilm. In contrast, SFM-900 II medium conditioned with S2 cell secretions appeared to contain inhibitory factors, ideal for tracking changes in antimicrobial activity for control and gene silenced S2 cells. Our next step is to silence SOAT1 expression in S2 cells.

31. Daniel CoelloM.S. BiologyEstablishing a Confluent Monolayer of Alveolar type II cells in Air Liquid InterfaceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edith Porter

Mycobacterium tuberculosis affects approximate one third of the world’s population. The current preventive and active treatment measures are limited. Therefore, identifying novel interventions to combat tuberculosis are needed. Traditionally, the adaptive immune response has been targeted in vaccine development. We wish to explore whether the innate immune response mounted by airway epithelial cells can be elicited in novel vaccine design. The objective of this study was to develop an in vitro model for the airway innate immune response using A549 cells derived from lung alveolar cells type II. A549 cells were seeded at different densities on transwell filters, grown at air-liquid interface and stained for cell integrity. In addition, cells were stimulated with cytokines and their immune responses evaluated by real time PCR analysis. We found that seeding 1.28x105 cells/ cm2

led to the formation of a continuous cell monolayer.

Additionally, the gene expression of interleukin 8 was found to be upregulated in response to the cytokine stimulation. The results will contribute to fundamental information necessary for the development of preventive and active treatments against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

32. Jalen LangieB.S. MicrobiologyRole of yeast casein kinase 2 in pH-responsive biofilm formation of Candida albicans Faculty Mentor: Dr. Hyunsook Park

Candida albicans is an opportunistic, dimorphic fungus known for causing oral, vulvovaginal, and systemic infections. A key virulence factor is the formation of biofilms, which are resistant to many antifungal agents (1). Our previous studies demonstrated that biofilm production and morphogenesis – which are regulated by a casein kinase 1 homolog (CaYck2) – are intertwined (2). However, the regulatory mechanisms that govern morphogenesis-associated biofilm have not been elucidated. Regulatory mechanisms become activated in response to environmental cues, such as pH. Due to morphogenesis’ dependence on pH, CaYck2 may govern pH sensing pathways. One such pathway, RIM 101, facilitates in hyphae and biofilm formation in alkaline environs. Preliminary research connects RIM 101 regulation to ScYck1 – a gene in S. Cerevisiae that bears amino acid similarity to CaYck2 (1,3). I hypothesized that CaYck2 is involved in pH responsive morphogenesis via RIM 101 regulation. To test said hypothesis, I conducted a multimedia biofilm assay under alkaline and acidic conditions and quantified the results utilizing optical density. The results suggested that CaYck2 regulates the RIM 101 pathway, as the mutant exhibited more biofilm than the wild type in alkaline and acidic conditions. Subsequently, molecular testing will be employed to determine CaYck2’s effect on RIM 101.

Biological Sciences II

33. Josseline Gonzalez and Daniel Tellez B.S. Biology DNA Sequencing to Determine Integrity of Acta1 Reporter Plasmids to be used in Transient Transfection AssaysFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sandra Sharp

Our laboratory hypothesizes that known MyoD binding regions located 5’ and 3’ to the transcribed region of the Acta1 gene work together to regulate transcription of the Acta1 gene. To prepare to test this hypothesis, others in our group have made luciferase reporter constructs which include insertions of the 5’ region (WT), or specific mutated versions of the 5’ region (5’TT, 5’TG, 5’Mef2) upstream of a luciferase gene in

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a reporter plasmid backbone. These mutations are known to reduce activation by MyoD. Additional constructs also include insertion of the 3’ region, which includes three MyoD binding sites. Our objective was to sequence these insertions to be sure that no undesired changes occurred during their construction. We isolated plasmid DNA from bacterial cultures and assembled sequencing reaction mixes with custom designed primers. The reaction mixes were sent out to Retrogen for sequencing. Upon return of the results, sequences were compared to the known mouse genomic sequence using the NCBI BLAST tool. Thus far, our sequence data confirm that the inserts for the 5’ WT region, 5’ region with mutation at the MEF2 site (5’MEf2), and 3’ region match the database as expected. Sequencing of the remaining 5’ inserts is planned.

34. Gigi BeasM.S. Biological SciencesTesting for Combinatorial Activity of 5’ and 3’ MyoD Binding Regions in Mouse Acta1 Gene ExpressionFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sandra Sharp

The muscle specific transcription factor MyoD binds to regions located both 5’ and 3’ of the transcribed region of the skeletal muscle-specific actin gene (Acta1). Binding in the 5’ region of the Acta1 gene activates its transcription. The function of binding in the 3’ region is unknown. I have begun to test the hypothesis that the 5’ and 3’ regions work together to regulate Acta1 transcription by comparing transcriptional efficiencies of purposefully designed luciferase reporter constructs in transient transfection assays in C2C12 myogenic cells. These plasmids contain wild type (WT) and mutated versions of the 5’ region inserted upstream of a luciferase reporter gene, with and without the 3’ region inserted downstream of the luciferase gene. My data suggest that expression is at least 4-fold greater with the 5’ WT than with the 5’minimal promoter, which lacks the MyoD binding region. The next experiments will include the 5’-3’ combination constructs. A demonstration of combinatorial regulation at the Acta1 gene will raise the possibility that other muscle specific genes are regulated by 3’ MyoD binding regions in addition to 5’ regions. This work will enhance knowledge of muscle development and may thereby contribute to the understanding of abnormal development.

35. Courtney Eiley, Kenny Castro and Hugo Urrutia

B.S. Biology An RNAi screen to identify new modulators of BMP signaling Faculty Mentor: Dr. Edward Eivers

BMP proteins are a family of cytokines that are involved in a multitude of biological processes, from determining tissue type in the early embryo, to maintaining tissue homeostasis in the adult organism. The aim of the Eivers research lab is to characterize unknown mechanisms of BMP pathway regulation at the level of the BMP transcription factor Mad phosphorylations, using the developing Drosophila wing as a model system. In order to find new BMP pathway modulators we are currently carrying out an RNAi screen of 74 different Drosophila protein phosphatases and analyzing adults wings for BMP gain-of function or loss of function phenotypes (typically gain or loss of vein tissue). To date we have screened 30 of these RNAi lines and we have identified the following wing phenotypes: incomplete crossveins, ectopic longitudinal vein tissue and notch wings. A number of interesting protein phosphatases have already been identified, such as Protein phosphatase 2B at 14D which gives a striking notched wing phenotype. Moving forward we intend to pursue these positive hits further by looking at the phosphorylation state of BMP pathway molecules in overexpression and knockdown scenarios.

36. Hugo Urrutia and Abigail AlemanM.S. Biology Investigating if Mad linker phosphorylations can control BMP receptor turnoverFaculty Mentor: Dr. Edward Eivers

Deciphering how signaling pathways are regulated is essential for biologists to understand the role these cellular events play during development and disease. The Eivers’ lab is currently investigating how a phospho-serine code in the central/ linker domain of the transcription factor Mad modulates bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling during Drosophila development. Previous work by Aleman et al. (2014) identified that cyclin dependent kinase 8 and Shaggy phosphorylate serines 212, 208 and 204 in the linker domain of Mad. These linker phosphorylations have been shown to play an essential role in controlling the range of BMP signaling in embryonic tissues and demonstrated these phosphorylations result in signal termination via Mad degradation (Aleman et al. 2014). More recently Urrutia et al. (2016) identified Dullard as a Mad phosphatase, which dephosphorylates the Mad linker and C-terminal domains, which we hypothesize is a mechanism to recycle Mad proteins for additional rounds of signaling. Recently, we discovered that

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linker phosphorylated Mad not only tracked C-terminally phosphorylated Mad Eivers et al. (2009) but also localized to distinct cellular puncta along the developing pupal wing margin. Interestingly, a number of these puncta co-localized to the endocytosed BMP receptor, Thickveins. The purpose of this research project is to investigate if Mad linker phosphorylation plays a role in degradation of the endocytosed BMP receptor, Thickveins, thus adding a new layer of regulation to this signaling cascade.

37. Steven AzurdiaB.S. BiologyTesting for a Role for MyoD in Regulation of Id2 during MyogenesisFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sandra Sharp

During muscle development, or myogenesis, progenitor muscle cells develop into mature muscle fibers through cell signaling pathways dependent on key myogenic regulatory factors such as MyoD. MyoD binds to specific sequences in the regulatory regions of muscle-specific genes, resulting in their activation during differentiation. MyoD has also be found to bind to regulatory regions upstream of the genes for Id2 and Id3, which are inhibitors of differentiation. This binding occurs during proliferation, as opposed to differentiation. We hypothesize that MyoD positively regulates these genes. Using the myogenic cell line C2C12, putative MyoD knockdowns were previously constructed through lentiviral transduction of genes for MyoD-specific shRNAs. Rounds of puromycin selection have been completed to identify cell lines that have incorporated the lentiviral package into the genome. I am now testing for 80% downregulation of MyoD in the presumed knockdown cell lines. Initial analysis of RNA from these and control lines by qRT-PCR confirms the successful synthesis of cDNA from RNA collected. After identifying successful knockdowns, I will determine whether or not Id2 is expressed at lower levels in confirmed knockdown lines. If it is, MyoD will have been shown to contribute to both inhibition and progression of differentiation.

38. Alexandra GarciaM.S. BiologyBattle of the sexes: Assessing sex-specific microhabitat associations in the Mojave Desert moss Syntrichia caninervis (Pottiaceae)Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kirsten Fisher

Both a heavy reliance on asexual reproduction and the evolution of desiccation tolerance have allowed mosses to successfully inhabit arid environments worldwide. Studies on the species Syntrichia caninervis in the Mojave Desert, CA have observed a high female bias based upon phenotypic sex

expression suggesting that male mosses may be restricted to shaded and moist microhabitats because expression of male gametangia is limited to these microsites. But sex expression is not necessarily a proxy for the distribution of sexes, as most ramets in a given population of S. caninervis do not express sex. Here, I use a novel genetic sex marker to test for the presence of sex-specific differences in microsite use in S. caninervis across 18 microhabitat variables in the Mojave Desert. Sex of 91 sterile samples was determined through PCR followed by restriction enzyme digestion and visualization of the digested products. Multivariate regression models will infer the presence or absence of sex-specific differences in microhabitat associations and thus may challenge current assumptions if sexes are not microhabitat specific. These findings will have important implications for resolving the ecological and evolutionary drivers of sex ratio bias in S. caninervis, providing context for understanding sex evolution in plants.

39. Beatriz Aguirre, Lamont Hayes, Myles Kilpatrick, Sasha Tyomkin, B.S. BiologyThe effects of urban microsite factors (buildings and shade) on drought stress of olive trees at Cal State LA.Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alexandra WrightCollaborators: Crystal Aclan, Victor Anzures, Vincent Cole, Brian Hseieh, Andre Labuda, Felicia Makaya Libifani, Lizbeth Pliego, Hillary Ramos, Daisy Saenz, Agustin Trigueros, Vanessa Trissthain, Alex Tzarax, Crystal Whitehurst, and Austin Xu

Throughout the southwest of North America, extreme drought is expected in the near future due to climate change. Different plant species are more sensitive to drought than others. In an urban context, microclimate conditions (impervious surfaces, buildings, landscaping) will also influence plant water use efficiency and responses to drought. We hypothesized that olive trees (Olea europea sp.) on the east sides of buildings at CSULA will experience more negative mid-day water potential than those on the north sides of buildings. If these east facing trees experience consistently more negative water potential and soil moisture limitation, we predict that they will produce lower overall specific leaf area (SLA). We measured midday water potential on Sept 28 and Oct 3. We also measured SLA of all trees and 10 cm depth soil moisture on both days. We found that East-facing trees experienced more negative water potential on 9/28, which was the hotter and drier of the two days.

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We found no difference in SLA between East and North facing trees, likely due to lack of long-term water stress. In order to maintain optimum growing conditions for trees growing in urban areas, local microclimate factors should be taken into account in watering schedules.

40. Benson TruongB.S. BiologyCryptic Speciation and Lineages within the Genus Triphoturus from the Northeast PacificFaculty Mentor: Dr. Andres Aguilar

Cryptic speciation is the formation of a new species that share similar morphological characteristics to its derived species and are distinguished differently by genetic material. Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of the Mexican lampfish (Triphoturus mexicanus) enables us to determine the presence of cryptic species and lineages. We are specifically interested if T. oculeum, found in the southern hemisphere, is in fact a separate cryptic species from T. mexicanus and if cryptic lineages exist within T. mexicanus from the northeast Pacific. To date, we have sequenced over 30 T. mexicanus from the northeast Pacific and have not found any evidence of cryptic lineages within this sample. Within the sampled T. mexicanus, there is a 0.3% sequence divergence (0.002 S.D.) at the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene. The southern hemisphere sister taxon (T. oculeum) is 1.5% divergent (0.001 S.D.), which is less than what is observed in other sister species of fishes, including lanternfishes. Additional samples of T. oculeum are needed to verify the genetic distinctiveness and time of divergence between these two taxa.

41. Ryan YangB.S. BiologyReduced Genetic Variation in the introduced Los Angeles River Green Sunfish Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andres Aguilar

Introduced species are a global conservation concern. This is due to how they out compete and prey on native species in the given area. Introduced species can either show reduced variation (due to a bottleneck) or have normal levels of variations (due to a large introduction) compared to natural populations. The green sunfish is an introduced freshwater fish species found in the Los Angeles River of California. We wanted to observe genetic variation in the green sunfish through comparison between 2016 and 2017. To do so, the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was sequenced in 24 individuals over the two years. All specimens had the same sequence, indicating a past bottleneck for this population and that there we sampled the same gene pool over two years. To have

clearer knowledge of genetic variation, continued sampling of the specimens is needed. As we progress, each new set would be compared to previous data, other introduced fishes in the river and other green sunfishes, located in other areas, to determine the genetic viability of the Los Angeles River population.

42. Frank GutierrezB.S. BiologyGenetic variation within the Lake Baikal endemic sculpin genus LimnocottusFaculty Mentor: Dr. Andres Aguilar

The Lake Baikal freshwater sculpin adaptive radiation, which is the diversification of species from a common ancestor, is interesting because it contains about 33 species which live in both shallow and deep lake environments. One genus of the Lake Baikal sculpin that we are studying is the Limnocottus. We are interested in determining if recognized species are correctly distinguished using genetics and if there is evidence for hybridization among distinct species of Limnocottus.  Additionally, we want to see if there are any genetic differences within species from various parts of Lake Baikal. This study was done by sequencing the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene from 84 Limnocottus samples and genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from ultaconserved elements (UCEs) from 48 fish. The sequences were then aligned with published data retrieved from Genbank. With the aligned sequences, we performed phylogenetic analyses UCE data also recovered the same species and found limited evidence for hybridization in our sample. Both datasets revealed no population structure within Lake Baikal for any species of Limnocottus. These data suggest a recent divergence among three species of Limnocottus during the adaptive colonization of Lake Baikal.

43. Jermaine Bishop and Kanique Thomas B.S. BiologyMolecular phylogenetic and morphological analyses reveal two new species of sea slugs in the genus Placida (Heterobranchia: Sacoglossa), including one from CaliforniaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Patrick Krug

Sea slugs in order Sacoglossa are often used in studies of algal feeding preferences due to their specificity of algal host, and in studies of chloroplast functionality and symbiosis. Species in the genus Placida are miniscule herbivores in tropical and temperate oceans that consume green algae such as Codium, including some highly invasive species, and Bryopsis, a source of potent anticancer compounds. Currently, there are only 10 recognized species of

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Placida, but molecular analyses of most sea slug groups reveal unrecognized or cryptic species that can subsequently be distinguished using subtle external or microscopic internal differences in anatomy. Here, we report results from analyzing DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and nuclear Histone III (H3) gene from 36 specimens of Placida from (list places your samples were collected from). Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses were used to determine the phylogenetic relationships between 13 species, including a new, undescribed species from southern

California related to the globally distributed Placida dendritica, as well as a new species found in Australia and Hawaii. Placida kingstoni is not closely related to other Placida species; future morphological work will examine whether it should be transferred to its own new genus.

Creative Activities

44. Damaris Garcia and Jose G. Sanchez IIIB.A. Studio Art and PsychologyBreathing into ActionFaculty Mentor: Dr. Richard Wearn Interactive Sculpture. Placed along a MacArthur Park bus stop;

Historically art has been located within institutions such as museums and galleries, making them inaccessible to underserved communities. Art can exist outside of these institutions and serve a broader audience. As interdisciplinary artists, we want to create visual and verbal translations of scholarly research for communities lacking access to higher education. Our interactive sculpture functions as public art bridging inaccessible mental health information with underserved communities. In collaboration with the community of MacArthur Park and artist Jose Sanchez, we placed a 3 x 1 ft mix media interactive sculpture on a bus stop near MacArthur Park. The sculpture is made of three wooden panels: a visual history of job insecurity, the mental and physical health stressors of job insecurity, and mindfulness exercises. Participants who interacted with the art piece stated that they appreciated seeing art that reflects their experiences as well as demonstrating the potential for self-love. Research has shown that mindfulness practices can prevent behavioral responses to stress that have chronic health conditions. Based on written and conversational feedback from community members interacting with the art, we were able to conclude that this art piece altered this space to become a space of reflection and conversation.

45. Sade MeeksM.S. Nutritional ScienceThe Development of a Cookbook Addressing Food Literacy Among the Food InsecureFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Hillstrom

Food insecurity is one of America’s most daunting health and nutrition issues, it is affecting a growing number of households. Food pantries have long served as food assistance for this population, however there is a need for more didactic resources. Along with actual food, education interventions can help improve the low food self-efficacy among the food insecure. A potential response to low self-efficacy is to improve food literacy, which is defined as the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that strengthen dietary resilience. Food literacy has eleven components which are included under four domains: planning and management, selection, preparation, and eating. Food literacy and its descriptive components were defined by Queensland University in Australia through a research study and used as the foundation for designing this cookbook. The purpose of this project was to develop a Food Pantry Cookbook, with two distinct but connected purposes. First, to serve as a resource for food insecure populations to make healthy and tasteful meals from commodity foods typically found at a food bank. Second, to incorporate food literacy components into the cookbook to empower the target population to protect diet quality. To assess the cookbook’s effectiveness, pre-test and post-tests were incorporated into the cookbook for the readers.

46. Bridget Garcia Vera, Elizeth Virrueta Ortiz and Anthony RoblesB.A. Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Communications, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx Studies; B.A. Sociology, Minor in Chicanx and Latinx StudiesLA CAUSA Community Mural: Building a Community of External ResistanceFaculty Mentors: Dr. Alejandro Covarrubias and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal

Through a class-driven praxis project, Cal State LA students worked in community with students from LA

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CAUSA, an East LA-based alternative high school, to create a mural that highlights the lived experiences of students who were formerly pushed out of their assigned community high school. Together, students from LA CAUSA and CSULA designed, planned, and created a mural through a dialogic, iterative process. Through a Critical Race Feminista Praxis of External Resistance, we have been able to create a reciprocal mentorship that allows students from either institution to learn from one another. CRFP of External Resistance offers a framework for LA CAUSA students to understand the oppressive conditions in their educational experiences. Visual representations

of these experiences were critically scrutinized and manifested through the mural. In addition, the pedagogy of storytelling used to reveal these experiences incorporates the collective memories and narratives of oppression and struggles experienced by the overall student body. This practice of collective reflection culminated in the production of a community mural that expresses the struggles of the community and stories of perseverance that exist in marginalized spaces, as well as allows students to visually conceptualize their journey and future trajectory.

Engineering and Computer Science47. Patrick D. ArguelloM.S. Electrical Engineering Spec. Biomedical EngineeringThe role of fast potassium channels in a hybrid computational model of selective activation of afferent versus efferent nerves.Faculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah Won

While neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been shown to have potential for leading to long-term rehabilitation of spinal circuits involved in locomotion in a rodent model of spinal cord injury, NMES is presently used only for acute assistance. To achieve such therapeutic effects reliably and optimally, preferential activation of afferent fibers over efferent fibers is required. To understand how to systematically achieve preferential stimulation, a hybrid computational model to simulate percutaneous NMES has been developed, consisting of two components: a finite-element method (FEM) model to simulate the electrical field potential generated by an implanted electrodes, and a multi-compartment cable model to simulate the neural response to the electrical field potential. Explicitly represented in our afferent fiber model are fast potassium channels, which we hypothesize makes recruiting afferent over efferent fibers difficult. Monopolar stimulation simulations demonstrate a longer rise time in membrane voltage in fibers expressing fast potassium channels and subthreshold activation, supporting the hypothesis that the fast potassium channels’ hyperpolarizing effect counteracts the otherwise quick depolarizing effect of sodium channels. These results will help guide optimization of stimulus parameters to achieve preferential afferent fiber stimulation, thereby improving the rehabilitative outcome of spinal cord injury patients.

48. Amadeo CandidoM.S. Mathematics

An application of nullclines to parametric sensitivity analysis of central pattern generator rhythmic burstingFaculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah Won

Spinal plasticity has been shown to enable the possibility of restoring capabilities to walk in spinal cord injured patients. To promote systematic design of rehabilitative therapies which promote spinal plasticity, we are developing a computational model of a central pattern generator (CPG) network which exhibits long-term plasticity based on a physiologically feasible mechanism. To implement long-term plasticity, we first conduct sensitivity analyses on the parameters that potentially influence generation of the desired phasic bursting spike output. Nullclines of the ionic current and the sodium inactivation channel provide us with a phase plane analysis approach to determining the initial conditions which create these stable attractors which represent the rhythmic oscillatory neural bursting patterns that produce well controlled stepping behavior. We focus on the effect of these parameters which are critical to steady state behavior: mesencephalic locomotor region drive, initial membrane voltage, and the leakage voltage. As we varied the parameters, we conduct phase plane analysis to determine the parameter combinations and ranges which produce 3 different classes of behavior: tonic, phasic bursting, and irregular bursting. We present an insightful graphical representation of the influence of the initial conditions on achieving phasic bursting.

49. Jason Ng and Jeanette VongB.S. Civil Engineering; M.S. Civil EngineeringSelf-Consolidating Concrete and the Application for Underground Transportation Infrastructures: A Review of State of PracticeFaculty Mentors: Dr. Mehran Mazari and Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl

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Self-Consolidating Concrete (SCC), also known as self-compacting concrete, is a type of hydraulic cement concrete that easily forms around the reinforcement without segregation. Design of an SCC mix is chosen based on either powder-type, viscosity modifying admixture-type, or a mixture of the two types depending on structural and constructional conditions, and material available. Due to the improved fresh properties of SCC, this concrete type is more favorable for precast sections that could be used in transportation infrastructure applications. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of fiber-reinforcement on fresh and hardened properties of the SCC. The fiber type and content in the SCC mix, affected the compressive strength, tensile strength and crack initiation and propagation. The improved mechanical properties of the fiber-reinforced SCC makes it alternative solution for pre-cast sections for transportation infrastructure applications compared to the conventional concrete.

50. James Velasco and Kevin MonsalvoB.S. Electrical EngineeringWireless Sensor Networking in a Mobile App to Encourage and Facilitate Exercise for Individuals with Spinal Cord InjuryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah Won

We have developed a monitoring system to track physical activity to enhance a spinal cord injured (SCI) patient’s ability to exercise in the comfort of their home. It is a fully mobile system, unlike existing exergaming systems on the market. The system consists of multiple sensors that record muscle contraction (EMG), heart rate, and human movement, all of which interface with a custom designed mobile app. We devised games that will help motivate SCI patients to exercise more often and more effectively. We present our app prototype and the design approach we took to overcome communication and data acquisition issues with the wireless sensors. We present the design issues that result particularly from acquiring data from multiple wireless EMG sensors (Dynofit Inc., TX) as well as acquiring data from sensors with different sampling rates. We present our solution to acquiring data reliably and efficiently at a sufficiently high sampling rate (1 GHz) and storing the data into our cloud database. We also ensured that the latency (0.157 ms) introduced in processing and displaying the data in the app did not create noticeable delays in the exergaming activities. We have implemented a novel truly mobile system expected to encourage cardiovascular fitness in SCI patients.

51. Jason LinB.S. Mechanical Engineering

Nonlinear Mechanics of Polymer Derived Ceramics in Ambient Room TemperatureFaculty Advisor: Dr. Ni Li

Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are a new class of multifunctional ceramics synthesized by directly pyrolyzing polymeric precursors. Room-temperature viscoelastic behavior is a recently observed phenomenon in PDCs. Although the room-temperature viscoelastic behavior is commonly seen in materials like polymers, viscoelasticity is seldom observed in ceramics at ambient room temperature since ceramics are generally very brittle and have no mechanism to redistribute internal stresses at room temperature to support viscoelastic deformation. The study of PDCs’ viscoelastic phenomenon under ambient room temperature can open new research directions in a wide range of applications such as impact protection and vibration reduction. In this paper, the nonlinear mechanics of PDCs is characterized by using theoretical modelling methods. The overall behavior of PDCs will be modeled as a combination of “elastic” ceramic phase and “viscous” carbon phase using Rheological model. The nonlinear programing method is used to identify the parameters.

52. Davis Louie, Adekola Togunloju, Patrick Flinner, Sudip Baral, Zolangi Ramirez, Andrew McLees, Hongsuk Choi; Johnson Truong and Isaac CanoM.S. Computer Science; M.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer Science; B.S. Computer ScienceVisualization Tool for Composition of Cloud Computing ServicesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jiang Guo

Creating a software tool to compose cloud computing web services. Users of this program will be able to use this tool to structure and combine existing web services to create a system of cloud computing services. The Visualization Tool for Composition of Cloud Computing Services (VTCCCS) system is composed of two main components: a client-side application which will be served over the web; and a server-side which will support and interact with various client-side features. The system is designed to facilitate the process of tracking and displaying the composition of cloud services and the results of these composite services. Potential scenarios include

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processing satellite data and then passing the processed data to another service to analyze.

53. Raphael RosasM.S. Civil EngineeringResilience of Road Infrastructure in Response to Extreme Weather EventsFaculty Mentors: Dr. Mehran Mazari and Dr. Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl

Transportation infrastructure, as a major component of urban infrastructure, plays an important role in critical emergencies such as natural disasters and extreme events. The functional loss of transportation facilities, mostly highway pavement structures, negatively impacts the disaster management process and could significantly delay the evacuation and recovery process. Pavement structures are the main components of road assets that need to be maintained, rehabilitated and reconstructed. The performance of pavement structures can be significantly affected by environmental factors. Therefore, evaluating the resilience of pavements during extreme events and natural disasters is of major interest to highway agencies and coastal stakeholders. Infrastructure resilience is an important contributor to its long term sustainability. This study focused on the state of the practice concerning resilience of pavement structures during extreme events. A decision making algorithm and risk assessment framework was evaluated to study the resilience of highway and pavement systems in critical conditions. The results of this study could further be expanded to the broader range of transportation infrastructure in response to the extreme events in urban and rural areas.

54. Gabriela MartinezM.S. Civil EngineeringUrban Watersheds: A Universal Model for Best Management PracticesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sonya Lopez

The current research uses a single archetypal (or representative) urban watershed to model three watersheds in Los Angeles County: Ballona Creek, Los Angeles River and Santa Clara watershed. The synthetic watersheds contain a synthetic reach network based on Hack’s law. All watersheds are represented using existing land cover patterns, geomorphology, and other physiological features from remotely sensed datasets. Simulations from previous work reasonably represents annual streamflows using historical observations. To further develop this watershed model, best management practices along with precipitation and temperature variability are incorporated to the model. The goal of this research is

to determine how BMPs and climate variability affect urban watersheds, and if a single urban watershed model can be used universally. Archetypal watershed modeling is performed using the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hydrologic Simulation Program – Fortran coupled with HSPF’s BMP function.

55. Rachel Ibrahim-WatkinsB.S. Civil EngineeringEvaluation of the Performance of Transportation Infrastructures During Extreme Weather EventsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Mehran Mazari

Within the road network, the pavement structure, an important element of state owned transportation assets, need to be maintained, rehabilitated and reconstructed. The performance of pavement structures is significantly affected by environmental factors. Such environmental factors include inundation, a common consequence of extreme weather events caused by climate change. Due to the presence of excessive water in the pavement foundation layers, the bearing capacity of these layers may decline and could cause collapse of a section of a road. Moreover, opening the road to the traffic after major inundation could increase the severity of distresses and may increase the cost of rehabilitation and maintenance. Therefore, evaluating the performance of pavements during inundation caused by such extreme weather events is of major interest to departments of transportation and state highway agencies. Furthermore, the ultimate adaption of Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) methods and other methods by U.S. Coastal regions is effective in analyzing current pavement conditions and preventing future damage. This study examines the FHWA Vulnerability Assessment study, Virginia’s Coastal region FHWA Vulnerability Assessment pilot study, and the current performance of transportation infrastructures along the coastal region of the State of Georgia. The purpose is to encourage adaptation of the FHWA Vulnerability Assessment pilot similar to that piloted by Virginia’s Coastal regions.

56. Simon PackmanB.S. Civil EngineeringEvaluating the Resilience of Transportation Infrastructures to Extreme Weather Events using Soil-Moisture Active Passive Satellite DataFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sonya Lopez

Soil-Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite measures the water content in the top 5 cm (2 inches) of soil everywhere on the Earth’s surface. SMAP launched in Jan 2015 and will collect observations for a three-year period (2015-2018), with a 2-3 day temporal resolution. It produces global soil moisture

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maps that can be used to improve the understanding of water and carbon cycle, improving weather forecasts, monitoring droughts, and predicting floods. These radar observations could also be superimposed on a map of transportation infrastructures to evaluate their resilience to extreme weather events. This project involved a multidisciplinary approach to managing flood risk to transportation infrastructures. The objectives of this study were to use remote sensing technology to improve the durability and lifespan of transportation infrastructures as well as improve flood predictions to prevent hazardous flooding.

57. Isabel EscobarB.S. Civil Engineering MajorPre- and Post-wildfire Hydrologic Calibration of Evaporative Fluxes using ParFlow-CLMFaculty Mentor: Dr. Sonya Lopez

Wildfires alter the natural processes within a watershed. This research uses ParFlow, a three-dimensional, distributed hydrologic model to simulate post-fire hydrologic processes by representing the spatial and temporal variability of soil burn severity (via hydrophobicity) and vegetation recovery. Using this approach, we are able to evaluate the change in post-fire water components (surface flow, lateral flow, baseflow, and evapotranspiration). This work builds upon previous field and remote sensing analysis conducted for the 2003 Old Fire Burn in Devil Canyon (California, USA). This model is initially developed for a hillslope defined by a 500 m by 1000 m lateral extent. The subsurface reaches 12.4 m and is assigned a variable cell thickness to explicitly consider soil burn severity throughout the stages of recovery and vegetation regrowth. We consider four slope and eight hydrophobic layer configurations. Evapotranspiration is used as a proxy for vegetation regrowth and is represented by the satellite-based Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBOP) product. The pre- and post-fire surface runoff, subsurface storage, and surface storage interactions are evaluated at the point scale. Results will be used to calibrate the watershed-scale model. Long-term simulations will advance our understanding of post-fire hydrological processes, providing improved guidance for post-fire watershed management.

58. Dandell Ilano, Edward Ramirez, Jia-Wei Wang, Mauricio Velasco, and Mike MuhlmeyerB.S. in Electrical EngineeringA miniature testbed for Connected & Autonomous VehiclesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shaurya Agarwal

Description of project: The team project utilizes the technological advancements of Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) to reduce the negative characteristics associated with traffic while also improving its efficiency. Causes of traffic are explored through two scenarios: stop and go waves and a stop light. The goal of the project is to design and build a small-scale testbed while implementing the CAVs to simulate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications provided by a given algorithm. The testbed will be composed of a circular track and the CAVs will be composed of slot cars. The exposure of CAVs to society will reduce gas emissions and travel time, while increasing the throughput which in turn will have a positive impact on society.

59. Sosy Dersarkissian, Oscar D. Sanabria, Atilio Chacon, Emmanuel Racela and Yair De JesusM.S. Electrical Engineering; B.S. Electrical Engineering; B.S. Electrical Engineering; B.S. Electrical Engineering; B.S. Electrical Engineering Multi-Sensor System and Urban Informatics for Smarter Cities Faculty Mentor: Dr. Shaurya Agarwal

Integrated multi sensor system allows for the collection of various parameters using a single device. By implementing a network of multi sensor systems city wide, patterns in temperature, pollution, noise, traffic, and population density can be collected. Each multi-sensor unit can send collected data to a central location, disposing real time information to relevant parties and the general public directly to personal computers and mobile devices. Using machine learning techniques, each system will independently predict activity from patterns found in its corresponding database. Each multi sensor unit can provide a window to the local area bring monitored, ultimately identifying deficiencies in infrastructure. These revelations influence money and policy to be invested and created for the maximization of infrastructure, pushing big cities, such as the greater Los Angeles, towards a smart city. Furthermore, the action put in motion using this network of multi sensor systems drastically improves the quality of life, advocates sustainability and environmental wellness, and saves tax payers and cities money.

60. Ara Setrakian and Sosy DersarkissianM.S. Electrical EngineeringStochastic Estimation and Prediction of Road Traffic AccidentsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shaurya Agarwal

Road collision prediction are useful tools for road safety and reduce collisions, given their potential for

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determining the collision frequency occurrence. Car collision frequency refers to the prediction of the number of collisions that would occur in a time period. The targeted data are collected from California Highway patrol, and observed to be time series. Different time series methods are briefly explained. Among the different process ARIMA and ANN methods are used to train the model and predict future estimate data. Finally, challenges faced to determining the best process fit the road traffic accidents as well as future process are briefly discussed.

61. Michael MuhlmeyerM.S. Electrical EngineeringDigital Media, Social Campaigns, and Fake News: Mathematical Modeling and Control MethodsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shaurya Agarwal

Description of project: The role of information spread and the impact it has on societies in the modern world cannot be understated. In the age of mass communication, digital misinformation, and social media, the importance of understanding and developing control mechanisms for information spread are doubly necessary. The project consists of two main components: proposed mathematical modeling of digital social media systems and the application of engineering control methods upon those systems. A proposed mathematical modeling of contentious information spread within social media as well as a proposed social media craze model are presented. Additionally, optimal control methods are applied to the models to both simulate an advertisement-driven creation of a “social craze” and to simulate immunization from a “fake news” outbreak.

62. Kevin Chaput, Dongling Li, and Salla KimB.S. Mechanical EngineeringSolar Steering: A Novel Approach for Satellite Attitude ControlFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ni Li

Solar sailing is a form of satellite propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. Since it does not need propellant, it is considered as a promising solution for spacecraft deep space exploration. An attitude control system is

essential for a sail craft to maintain a desired orientation. IKAROS, launched in 2010, practically proved the possibility of using a solar sail as a propulsion system. However, it also showed the current sail orientation system changed the attitude very slowly, only about 0.1° per day, which is not efficient for a desired orientation. In this project, a novel attitude control system for solar sailing spacecraft is being developed. In contrast to the existing single solar sail design, a new four-sail configuration is proposed and the coordinated motion of the four sails is used to control the attitude motion of a satellite.

63. Jonathan SahagunB.S. Mathematics, B.S. Computer ScienceA Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering Collaboration: 3-D PRINTING CALCLUSFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shirley Gray

Rachit Desai, a graduate student and Jonathan Sahagun, an undergraduate working with Dr. Shirley B. Gray and Dr. Samuel Landsberger have generated models for three research projects currently being investigated at Caltech, JPL and the City of Hope.Models being constructed by Desai and Sahagun and observed by others in CSULA labs include the following: a 3-D model of a light absorber used in two-photon imaging of biological (cancerous) tissues; a 3-D model of a molecular catalyst being developed to make oxygen from carbon dioxide for a NASA/JPL manned mission to Mars in 2030; and a 3-D model of a catalyst being developed to make solar fuels from water. The last catalyst is currently described in an cover article published by the high impact journal Joule. All three catalysts are in various phases of patent disclosure. Thus we, as CSULA students are participating in active, on-going research and development – including the agony and ecstasy of having to make changes as the projects progress. This presentation will describe the process of taking math equations and functions to physical 3D models.

Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences64. Angella LeeB. S. NursingNursing Student Communication Training with Caregivers Using COMFORTFaculty Mentor: Dr. Elaine Wittenberg

Nursing students often feel unprepared or unskilled when communicating with patients and families, leading to poorer patient outcomes. Currently, more attention is being focused on the family caregiver as a strategy to enhance patient outcomes. Yet, there are limited training programs that educate nursing students on how to communicate effectively with

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caregivers. The Family module of the COMFORT communication curriculum was designed to provide the information and training to nursing students in their practice of family caregiver communication. The Family module will be presented as an online module, which the nursing students will have access to through an email. This study will use a pretest and posttest survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the COMFORT curriculum on family care communication for nursing students.

65. Veronica BuacharernM.S. Nutritional Science CandidateHealthy Lifestyle Intervention for Formerly Homeless WomenFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Hillstrom

Cal State LA nutrition students and faculty have been working with a rehabilitation center on Skid Row for formerly homeless women, leading to many health questions and observations. As previously homeless women are provided stable living, adequate nutrition, and rehabilitation from substance addictions, they often report an increase in body weight. With this increase can come a host of other problems including hypertension, diabetes, and other co-morbid conditions. With lack of emphasis on nutrition in rehabilitation programs and little research on the health of homeless individuals in transition, an investigation was conducted to determine factors contributing to poor health status. A piloted intervention called the "Living Healthy Program," which includes anthropometric measurements, focus groups, nutrition education, and physical activity, was launched to explore this phenomenon. Participants presented with a high body fat %, waist circumference, and body mass index. The most significant concerns for the subjects include weight gain, lack of autonomy with self-care, and poor food quality and access. The study reveals the possibility of malnutrition related to homelessness, substance abuse, and a shelter-based diet.

66. Alma Araiza, Wendy Avila, Danny Covarrubias and Patricia Vargas M.A. Child Development; M.A. Child Development; B.S. Nutritional Science; B.A. Child Development Early Head Start Parents’ Perception of Parental Feeding: The Role of Technology Faculty Mentors: Dr. Ashley Munger and Dr. Kathryn Hillstrom

Eating behaviors during the first five years of life serve as a foundation for later food consumption. Parents and caregivers play an essential role in the formation of these behaviors through parental feeding (Savage,

Fisher & Birch, 2007). Parental feeding is defined as the practices and strategies parents use when managing their children’s eating, such as the amount and types of food (Birch & Fisher, 1998; Ventura & Birch, 2008). The context of parental feeding is also an important consideration. In the U.S., families have easy access to inexpensive and processed food, which affect their eating habits, growth, and development (Savage, Fisher & Birch, 2007). The present study seeks to understand parents’ perceptions of, barriers to, and strategies used for healthful eating for their young children. Methods: Five focus groups were conducted, four with mothers and one with fathers. All forty participants were caregivers of a Head Start/Early Head Start child. Results: Parents desired children to eat healthy foods, but reported barriers to healthy eating. Parents used strategies involving technology and social support from others to get their children to eat healthy foods. Suggestions for the development of specific tools to benefit parents are discussed.

67. Nishant ShristirajM.S. Information SystemsTobacco Smoking Trends in the United States: A Business Analytics Approach using TableauFaculty Mentor: Dr. Shilpa Balan

The trend for tobacco smoking in the United States is on the significant rise. Cigarette smoking is a leading risk factor for morbidity in the United States. The healthcare industry has generated large amounts of data. Big data in healthcare is now being used to predict epidemics, cure diseases, and avoid preventable deaths. Cigarette smoking leads to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. This research specifically examines the data for tobacco smoking to analyze the trends of the youth tobacco smoking in the United States. The dataset examined contains data such as cigarette smoking frequency and prevalence, and the number of quit attempts among cigarette smokers. In this research, a popular data analysis and visualization software named Tableau is used to explore the smoking trends among the youth. Results indicate that the number of male smokers are significantly more than the number of female smokers. The results also highlight that the second-generation smokers are the highest in number among all youth smokers.

68. Lisa LeM.S. KinesiologyFeasibility and Effectiveness of Circuit Resistance Training Using Elastic Bands for Individuals WithSpinal Cord InjuryFaculty Mentor: Dr. Christine Dy

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Exercise is associated with better health, fitness, and psychological well-being for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Circuit resistance training (CRT) has been shown to increase muscle strength and fitness. The purpose was to develop a modified CRT protocol which would be affordable and done at home. We hypothesize that a modified CRT protocol using elastic bands will be intense enough to increase heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO2) usually seen with traditional exercise modalities. Six individuals with SCI, tetraplegics and paraplegics, performed a maximal exercise protocol to measure peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) with an arm cycle ergometer followed by a modified CRT session on a separate day. CRT followed a protocol proposed by Jacobs and colleagues (2002), but was modified to be used with resistance bands. Oxygen consumption was recorded via open-circuit spirometry and heart rate (HR) measured through a chest strap monitor on both visits. Subjects were able to reach 71%±0.09 (N=2, tetraplegics) and 39%±0.08 (N=4, paraplegics) of their VO2max during the modified CRT protocol. HR reached 92%±0.05 and 70%±0.06 of HRmax, for tetraplegics and paraplegics respectively. This new CRT protocol allowed our

69. Arsen KaakijianB.S. Public HealthAssociations between Environmental Indicators and Cortisol levels in minority children living in Los AngelesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Claudia Toledo-Corral

Cortisol’s action as a stress regulator makes it a vital hormone in the human body. Obesity and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome have been associated with excess cortisol levels. Historically, studies have shown psychosocial stressors influence cortisol production, while more recent work suggests that environmental indicators like air pollution may be associated with cortisol. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between environment and cortisol by hypothesizing that pollution burden, ozone, PM2.5 and traffic density indicators correlate with serum, salivary, and urinary cortisol levels. Cortisol data from 126 participants of the Diabetes Risk due to Ectopic Adiposity in Minority Youth (DREAM) study at USC were analyzed for correlations to environmental indicators using CalEnviroScreen, a screening tool used to evaluate the burden of pollution from multiple sources in communities. Overall pollution burden was positively correlated with morning salivary cortisol before and after adjustment of confounders including age, ethnicity, and total percent body fat. (p<0.05). In addition, PM2.5 was negatively correlated with night time salivary cortisol even after adjusting for

confounders (p<0.05). These results suggest that increased environmental burden may contribute to changes in stress physiology that may foster metabolic disease outcomes.

70. Mabel De La Luz and Megha Tandel B.S. Public HealthExploring food access and dietary intake among Latina pregnant women in Los AngelesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Claudia Toledo-Corral

Maintaining a healthy diet is important for an individual but it is crucial for women who are pregnant because it can affect the health of both the mother and her baby. Many Los Angeles neighborhoods have more fast food options that can create health risks in expecting mothers, such as obesity and gestational diabetes. Moreover, high access to fast food can be increasing problematic in populations that have an existing high prevalence of obesity and diabetes, such as the Latino population. The objective of this project is to demonstrate if pregnant mothers are adhering to the National dietary guidelines for macronutrients and micronutrients. We used dietary data using the National Cancer Institute’s Automated Self-Administered (ASA) 24-hour diet recall collected across pregnancy (n=131) from the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social stressors (MADRES) at University of Southern California’s Environmental Health Division. Understanding if expecting mothers are able to meet their macronutrient and micronutrient intake throughout the duration of their pregnancy can help us explore the impact of fast food options during pregnancy. Furthermore, dietary intake during pregnancy may also impact prenatal outcomes, such low birth weight

71. Cristina Hernández, Diana Morales and Marisela Rosales B.S. Public HealthPerceptions and experiences of environmental health risk among Latina women in Los AngelesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Claudia Toledo-Corral

When trying to reduce environmental exposures to minimize risks, public health campaigns target new parents and pregnant women. Yet, most data does not include new mothers’ perceptions on environmental health risks. The goal of our project was to examine perceptions of Latina women on environmental exposures and perceived risks to themselves and their communities. Latina mothers who were currently pregnant or had a child under the age of 3 were interviewed. Reported observations included a total of 38 in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed

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using qualitative software. In addition, observations and commentaries from participants of community outreach workshops on cleaning products were also collected. Frequent concerns among female participants were smoking, odors, and the presence of trash. The themes among interview responses were lack of power to change their exposures, tangible risks, barriers to changing the environment and vague descriptions of what composes the environment.

Amongst the community outreach workshops, women described use of harsh chemical product use in their household and a general resistance to embrace environmentally friendly products. As a whole, these observations may serve as a platform to develop more efficacious interventions and culturally tailored campaigns on the environmental health risks.

Physical and Mathematical Science72. Armond KhodagulyanM.S. Physics Oxygen-isotope effects in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+yFaculty Mentor: Dr. Oscar Bernal and Dr. Guo-meng Zhao

Oxygen-isotope effects have been studied in double-layer superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y in a wide doping range, which crosses from deeply underdoped to heavily overdoped region. The doping levels of the samples are controlled by varying the oxygen content, which can be achieved through annealing them in different oxygen partial pressures up to 600 bars. The oxygen-isotope effect on the superconducting transition temperature Tc is the smallest for optimal doping and increases systematically when Tc is dropped in both underdoped and overdoped regions. The present result provides an essential constraint on the microscopic pairing mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.

73. Elizabeth Metzler-WinslowB.S. Mathematics General Option, Minor in Physics.Refining Models of L1527-IRSFaculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

Using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and codes written by Dr. Barbara Whitney, this project examines models of the Class 0 protostar L1527-IRS (hereby referred to as L1527) in the interest of creating a more accurate model. A recent preprint based on ALMA data indicated that L1527, located in the constellation Taurus (about 138 parsecs from Earth), has mass of ~0.44 solar masses. Note that in a Class 0/Class I protostar like L1527 the protostar itself and the envelope are both fairly massive, but the mass of the disk is significantly larger. Existing models (specifically those studied in Tobin et al., 2010) fit the expected mass by including a puffed-up disk, treating the envelope as uniform and relatively low mass. However, the inclusion of the puffed-up disk results in a portion of the disk overlapping with the outflow cavities - a physical impossibility. This project compares models which decrease the size of the disk

and compensate by increasing the density inside the outflow cavities (hypothesizing that some dust from the walls of the outflow cavities is swept up into the cavity itself) to the existing models.

74. Lucas VelasquezB.S. Physics“Assessing the Accuracy of Fixed-Charge Electrostatic Models for Molecules"Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paul Nerenberg

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are an important tool for studying molecular systems.  The partial atomic charges used for MD simulations are frequently derived from ab initio quantum chemistry calculations of molecular electrostatic potentials.  But while quantum chemistry methods are constantly being improved, most MD simulation charge models are based on methods that were state-of-the-art two decades ago.  In this study we use previously published data to examine the ability of various quantum chemistry methods (HF/6-31G(d), MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ, and B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ) to reproduce experimental gas phase dipole moments and polarizabilities for a diverse test set of 47 molecules, as well as how these methods correlate with each other.  We pay particular attention to the HF/6-31G(d) method, which underlies nearly all of the widely used Amber force fields.  This method is commonly thought to over-polarize molecular electron distributions, which may be useful for determining the partial atomic charges for condensed phase MD simulations, but only if the over-polarization is consistent across all types of molecules.

75. Anh VoM.S. Applied MathematicsCircular Nim CN(7,4)Faculty Mentor: Dr. Silvia Heubach

Circular Nim is a two-player impartial combinatorial game consisting of n stacks of tokens placed in a circle. A move consists of choosing k consecutive stacks and taking at least one token from one or more stacks. The last player able to make a move wins. The

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question of interest is: Who can win from a given position if both players play optimally? In an impartial combinatorial game, there are only two types of positions. An N-position is one from which the next player to move can win. A P-position is one from which the next player is bound to lose, no matter what moves s/he makes. A P-position is characterized by the fact that all allowed moves lead to N-positions or that there is no legal move, while an N-position has at least one move to a P-position. Therefore, the question who wins is answered by identifying the P-positions, and a winning strategy for a player in an N-position is to move to one of the P-positions. We will prove results on the structure of the P-positions for n = 7 and k = 4.

76. Angel ChavezB.S. MathematicsThe Chromatic Number of Distance Graphs Faculty Member: Dr. Daphne Liu

Our research is based on the chromatic number of distance graphs, which itself is based on the open problem: the chromatic number of the plane. The chromatic number of the plane ask what is the lowest number of colors needed to color the plane so that no two points that are distance one apart have the same color. The simplification of this problem asks the same but rather than working on the entire xy-plane, we work on the number line. To prevent triviality rather than asking two numbers have different colors if they are distance one apart, we create a distance set, D and say if the distance between any two numbers falls in the distance set then the two points must have different colors. Let D be a fixed set of prime numbers. The resulting graph is called a prime distance graph. The chromatic number is known for all prime distance graphs when the distance set has at most four primes, so we begin to classify prime distance graphs with a distance set of five primes. The number theoretic functions μ (mu) and κ (kappa) are used as tools, and some interesting general lemmas about κ are established.

77. Marcos ReyesM.S. Mathematics Kazhdan Constants Related to Isomorphic Cayley GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Krebs

Kazhdan constants relative to groups who yield isomorphic Cayley graphs are computed. The Kazhdan constant is dependent on the non- trivial irreducible representations of the respective group and the generating set. In particular, we focus on the group of integers under addition modulo n, with generating set {1, n − 1} and the dihedral group, D_2k

with generating set {s,rs} where r denotes a rotation of 2π/k and s is any reflection in the dihedral group. The groups we are considering, with these two generating sets, are known to give a special Cayley graph, namely a cycle graph with n vertices. The question we are investigating is as follows: if two Cayley graphs are isomorphic, does this imply that their corresponding Kazhdan constants are equal?

78. Travis HayesM.S. Mathematics - General MathematicsThe Investigation of the Kazhdan Constant for Finite Cyclic GroupsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Krebs

Given a family of finite cyclic groups that are Cayley isomorphic, we will calculate their Kazhdan constant. The Kazhdan constant is dependent on the (non-trivial) irreducible representations of the group and their generating set. We will focus on two families of cyclic groups and their generating sets. The question we are investigating is: Is there an infinite family of non Cayley isomorphic but graph isomorphic groups with different Kazhdan Constants?

79. Andrew GarciaM.S. Computer ScienceDiurnal Cycle of Cloud Fraction in High Latitudes from In Situ and Satellite ObservationsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Hengchun Ye

Clouds play an integral part in our climate by balancing radiative energy transfer on Earth. The diurnal cycle of cloud fraction serves as an ideal metric for measuring the impact of the clouds’ radiative effects. In this study, the monthly mean cloud fraction diurnal cycles in the high latitudes are derived from multiple ground-based instruments and the collocated satellite measurements from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). Monthly mean effective cloud fraction, for 12 months split over 2007 and 2010, is calculated for AIRS version 6 level 2 data, as well as for shortwave/longwave and radar/lidar radiation data from the North Slope Alaska ARM site. The collocation criteria involve a ±0.5 degree latitudinal and a ±1 degree longitudinal difference, with respect to North Slope Alaska. The diurnal sampling density of the AIRS instrument is investigated as a function of latitude and satellite zenith angle. Transitioning from winter to mid-summer, results not only illustrate an increase in the max amount of samplings but also the samplings tend to concentrate towards the evening hours. Simultaneously, when taking into account only the zenith angles < 20°, the frequency of samplings decreases as well.

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80. Angelica EnriquezB.S. Civil EngineeringAnalyzing Extreme Precipitation events using Satellite Measuring MissionsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jingjing Li

With a changing climate, it's important to see how well we can track extreme meteorological events, especially as these events progressively get stronger. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the differences between two measuring missions, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM) for extreme events. Using recent meteorological events, we collected the data and compared both data sets. Hurricane Harvey provided a good sample of extreme precipitation since over the course of a few days (August 21 -28) it produced 15-25 in of rainfall. In the past, TRMM was the standard source of data since TRMM focused on the tropics making it easier to see the association between rainfall and released heat that powers the atmospheric circulation around the globe. TRMM offers its data at a spatial resolution of .25° and a temporal resolution of 3-hours with a latency of 2 months. Since the launch of GPM in February of 2014, GPM has shown an even more expansive development with regards to understanding of environmental water cycles and improved forecasting of extreme meteorological events. GPM is able to do so by including coverage over medium to high latitudes, where TRMM failed to do so. GPM also has an improved timely and temporal resolution, recording data at a spatial resolution of .1° and a temporal resolution of 30 minutes (10km x 10km at 30min over 90°N-S). Both these instruments have shown great value when it comes to global climatic information, our objective is to see how accurately and efficiently they produce the extreme precipitation values.

81. Neil KohanskiM.A. Anthropology, Option in Socio-CulturalIncensarios, Copal and Speleothems: Interpreting the Function of Chultun 3 at Mul Ch’en WitzFaculty Mentor: Dr. James Brady

Chultunes are ubiquitous throughout the southern Maya lowlands, but their function is still under debate. A central problem in the interpretation of these subterranean features is the paucity of artifacts recovered from within them. Within Chultun 3 at Mul Ch’en Witz, an area located within the larger site of La Milpa in northwestern Belize, several artifacts suggesting ritual activity were encountered. These

artifacts include an intact vessel, an incensario, burnt jute, fire-affected limestone, and speleothems. These artifacts were found in association with fragmented human remains, which suggests the importance of the items within the subterranean context. This poster will report on these artifacts, discovered during preliminary excavations by the Contested Caves Archaeological Project (CCAP) in 2017.

82. Brady RossM.A. Geography Validation of surface temperature from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Satellite over Barrow, AlaskaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jingjing Li

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) satellite has been taking measurements since 2002 across the whole Earth. The main variables the AIRS satellite is observing are water vapor and temperature profiles. Given the long orbiting time of the satellite, the data provided is of utmost importance in understanding the climatic changes on Earth. This science is necessary because it can show how the Earth is cycling into a more extreme weather cycle. These cycles can be accentuated in a fragile environment, such as the arctic. In the arctic, it is difficult to observe certain characteristics of the climate due to extreme temperatures, harsh weather, consistent cloud coverage, and a limited number of ground stations for validation. While much research that uses the ground-based observations to verify satellite data was conducted, there have been few studies that look at the validation of the AIRS satellite to these measurements. In this study, I examine one ground-based station in Barrow, Alaska where instruments have been providing similar variables to AIRS, so we can better plan for and measure how the arctic climate is reacting to our warming climate worldwide. Regression analysis is carried out to identify the trends and warming rates. The possible discrepancies between the AIRS satellite and the ground-based station are explored.

83. Beatriz Aguilar MolinaM.A GeographyEvaluation of Global Precipitation Measurement Mission in the High Latitudes: A Case Study During the 2014 Winter Season in CanadaFaculty Mentor: Dr. Jingjing Li

Precipitation is a vital component in the water cycle. Measuring accurate precipitation is significant because it is important to know when, where, and how much precipitation is occurring. Precipitation has commonly been measured using ground-based devices such as rain gauges and ground radars. Although these methods have worked well, their

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spatial coverage is restricted to land. With the development of satellite precipitation products, it is possible to obtain measurements at high spatial and temporal resolution. Satellite precipitation products can help get a better understanding of the Earth’s water distribution as well as improve the forecasting for extreme precipitation events. However, satellite products are prone to error, which make it necessary to evaluate their performances. The objective of the study is to assess the quality of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission in the high latitudes during the winter season. This study will use GPM Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG), which is a data product that uses an algorithm that

combines all passive-microwave instruments in the GPM satellite Constellation into half-hourly precipitation estimates. The performance of GPM-IMERG will be evaluated by comparing the estimates against ground-base observations over the higher latitudes, mainly focusing on Canada during the winter season of 2014 (December 2014-March 2015). For the evaluation, various statistical measures will be applied in order to investigate the performance such as root mean square error, correlation coefficient, bias and other factors derived from the contingency table.

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Last Year’s Cal State LA Statewide Competition Delegates California

Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, April 28th and April 29th, 2017Dulce MontielM.A. PsychologyMedia Use: Sleep, Well-Being, School-Belonging and Academic PerformanceFaculty Mentor: Dr. Kaveri Subrahmanyam

Gabriela CedréM.S. Forensic PsychologyFalse memories for evidence presented at trialFaculty Mentor: Dr. Mitchell Eisen

Kelly EbelingB.A. PsychologyNeuroticism, Smoking, and Perceptions of Quality of Life in HIV Positive PersonsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Ramani Durvasula

Gredma Dalesy CasasolaB.A. Latin American Studies"Fueron los Subversivos": Reconstructing Guatemala's Conflict through Oral HistoryFaculty Mentors: Dr. Ericka Verba and Dr. Enrique Ochoa

Natalia UkhlivanovaB.S. BiochemistryDisaggregation of amyloid beta peptides by ginnalin A and related compounds: biophysical, bioanalytical, and cytotoxicity studiesFaculty Mentor: Dr. Feimeng Zhou

Katherine MishlerM.A. HistoryConcepts of Gender Sensationalized: Women and Their Industrial Injuries in Newspapers during World War IFaculty Mentor: Dr. Carole Srole

Raquel RojasM.F.A Studio Arts and M.A. Art HistoryUn Camino Nuevo | A New PathFaculty Mentor: Dr. Mika Cho

Arianna BrownM.S. PhysicsStar Formation and AGN Activity: Correlation or Causation?Faculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Terebey

Grant RobinsonM.S. MathematicsColoring Distance GraphsFaculty Mentor: Dr. Daphne Liu

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to those who have been instrumental

in the organization of this event and have provided us with invaluable support.

In addition, we would especially like to thank our student volunteers, faculty, and staff

for their vital support.

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