The 2nd Annual Cross-Disciplinary Undergraduate Research Exhibition brings together examples of the impressive depth and breadth of research done by undergraduates across the departments, schools, and centers of Georgetown University.
The Library is grateful to the many faculty in departments, schools, and centers across campus who nominated the students who presented at the Undergraduate Research Showcase on April 10, 2026, and whose research projects are included in this online exhibition.
Service Encounters in Italy: Attitudes Towards L2 Italian Speakers
Addison Basile
Service encounters are consequential activities for second language (L2) learners; in these interactions they put their language skills to use, but the manner in which their use of the L2 is received by service industry employees can vary in ways that are impactful both for the learner and for the business in which the encounter is situated. These interactions are prevalent in Italy, where there are high rates of tourism and study abroad students. The present study sought to gain a deeper understanding of the attitudes of native Italian speaking service industry employees towards L2 speakers of Italian. The data included nine semi-structured interviews with employees in Italian food service and retail establishments, conducted in cities in central Italy and analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis and Membership Categorization Analysis frameworks. Findings suggest that service industry employees’ language attitudes at work are modulated by the identity of the L2 speaker they are interacting with, their expectations for linguistic flexibility, and the overarching influence of the business environment. This analysis provides valuable insight in the field of sociolinguistics regarding how L2 learners and service employees interact as well as how language attitudes ultimately impact language learning and business outcomes.
Examining the Longitudinal Impact of Substance Use on Crime in People with High Psychopathy
Paige Foster
Investigating the antecedents of crime is crucial to developing effective prevention programs and protecting public safety. Prior research has established that both psychopathic traits and substance use independently predict criminal behavior, though few studies have examined how substance use contributes to criminal outcomes over time among individuals with high psychopathy in community settings. In this longitudinal study, data was collected from a unique pool of participants scoring in the 95th percentile of psychopathic traits through a 501(c)3 nonprofit, yielding one of the most diverse high psychopathy samples to date (N = 201). Using a cross-lagged panel model, we found greater self-reported substance use did not significantly increase the likelihood of committing a crime at a one-year follow-up. Early life factors evidenced no protective or risk effects for initial rates of substance use. The present research has important implications for clinical practice and the criminal justice system.
The Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia: Effects on Energy and Environmental Policy
Connor Henry
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has grown to encompass most of their overseas investment and finance, will play an outsized role in determining how clean future global energy finance is. I use data from the International Energy Agency and AidData to investigate how the domestic energy and environmental policies of recipient countries interact with BRI investment, focusing on Southeast Asia. I found that within the fossil fuel and renewables sectors, the level of policy support or restrictiveness in recipient countries has significant effects on investment. My research will improve our understanding of what policy responses to the BRI should look like.
Uncovering the Viral Ecology of Antarctic Soil Microbial Communities
John Henry Lotz-McMillen
Physical constraints on biotic activity in the hyperarid deserts of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) create a unique opportunity to elucidate how biogeographic factors can drive viral community structure and shape virus-host interactions. While it is known that microbial diversity exists along a climate gradient, it remains unclear how the spatial and temporal variability of factors like temperature and water availability shapes viral diversity or how climate change could transform the virus-host landscape in the MDV. In this study, we identify the viral communities in soils sampled from 23 locations across the MDV, providing the broadest snapshot of MDV soil virus biogeography ever studied concomitantly. Viral communities differed significantly across climate regions according to soil moisture and pH gradients and consisted of viruses with largely novel (>90%) taxonomies, reflecting the understudied nature of the MDV virosphere. Predicted hosts corresponded with the microbial phyla known to dominate the MDV, opening the door to further analysis of virus-host relationships. The biogeography of the viral communities uncovered here suggests that strong adaptation to local conditions and host communities is requisite for viral persistence in extreme environments, but also that this heterogeneity can preserve diversity across spatial scales.
Cross-Filed: Examining Cross-Petitions in the District of Columbia
Mara Lewis
Civil Protection Orders (CPOs) serve as an accessible pathway for securing safety from an abusive partner without imposing criminal charges. However, the process of obtaining one becomes more complex in instances of cross-filing, which occurs when both parties file petitions against each other. To better understand the dynamics of cross-filing, this study analyzed 84 paired cross-petitions filed in the District of Columbia. Using modified versions of the Composite Abuse Scale (CAS) and the CAS-Short Form, petitions were coded, and descriptive analyses examined case characteristics, timing, and patterns of reported abuse across first and second filings. In half of the paired filings, both petitions reported physical harm, suggesting patterns of bi-directional violence. There were also 24 instances in which petitioners alleged potential legal manipulation against the respondent. Moreover, cases involving a child in common often centered on custody disputes, highlighting how custody concerns may arise within a legal process not meant to resolve them. Ultimately, the findings highlight the need for increased legal clarity in the filing process and procedures that ensure each party feels heard, which in turn may contribute to outcomes perceived as fair and legitimate.
RNAFold Modeling of SNORD118: Do U8 structural variants contribute to disease phenotype in LCC?
Julie Marco
Leukoencephalopathy with calcifications and cysts (LCC) is an ultra-rare disorder, with fewer than 100 cases reported worldwide. Characterized by white matter injury, edema, and progressive calcifications and cysts, symptoms include motor impairment, movement disorders, epilepsy, and cognitive and neuropsychiatric dysfunction. LCC presents from infancy to adulthood, and no genotype-phenotype associations currently exist. Bi-allelic variants in SNORD118, encoding U8 snoRNA, cause LCC, and U8 binds partners essential for 60S ribosome biogenesis. In this project, we evaluated how disease-associated U8 variants affect molecular structure and whether these changes relate to disease severity. Using literature cases and the Children’s National Patient Cohort, I identified variants and modeled immature and mature structures to create a novel severity metric comparing variants with wild type. Cases with clinical severity scores were also analyzed to test correlations between clinical and structural change severity. It was found that structural disruption was neither position-dependent nor correlated with clinical severity. Variants clustered in the newly identified SDE2 binding domain and the n.* region, suggesting functional importance. Future work should examine homozygous cells to determine variant-specific effects, as opposed to broader patient-holistic clinical severity, and also expand clinical severity scoring to all variants identified globally.
Modeling the spread of vaccination behavior and infection on survey-derived networks
Sophie Maretz
Infectious disease transmission relies on spatially proximate interactions between individuals, while behavioral habits, such as vaccination decisions, can spread through social exchanges that occur either in person or through technology (e.g., social media, phone calls) (1, 2). Both social and face-to-face contacts can be represented as networks that connect people with their various contacts to understand the transmission of disease and information throughout populations (1–3). Network structure greatly affects the speed and magnitude of disease and social contagion according to network theory (3).I analyzed data from a US survey of 1,640 individuals from the RAND American Life Panel and generated networks that reflect social and disease-relevant connections delineated in the survey responses (4). I then ran behavioral and disease simulations on networks generated from an exponential random graph model fitted to the social and spatial survey network data. I modeled vaccination behavior on the social network, where decisions are shaped by information flow, and modeled disease spread on the face-to-face contact network, where transmission requires physical contact. The models will be used to test possible mechanisms of behavior and disease spread, which can help us understand the impact of vaccination behavioral pathways on the spread of a disease.
Comparing Well-Being Among College Student-Athletes and Non-Athletes
Shay Montgomery
College is a key transitional period characterized by academic expectations, new social influences, and personal development. Student-athletes face these same challenges while also managing additional athletic obligations. Such demands include practice, travel, competition, coaching influence, and team culture, which create a particularly demanding environment that may shape their well-being in distinct ways. This study examines differences in well-being between college student-athletes (n=293) and non-athletes (n=205) using a Qualtrics survey administered across a wide range of sports and academic institutions (N=498). Measures include self-stigma, perceived stigma, athlete culture, help-seeking behavior, and well-being across hedonic, social, and psychological domains. After adjusting for confounders, student-athletes had significantly worse hedonic, social, and psychological well-being, were 63% less likely to flourish compared to non-athletes, and had a higher likelihood of depression. Self-stigma was a consistent negative predictor of well-being across both groups. Qualitative findings revealed that support staff were frequently described as emotionally supportive and uplifting, while coaches were more often cited as harmful or unsupportive. Teammates emerged as a primary source of social support, with many athletes describing their team as a "second family". Findings highlight the unique challenges facing student-athletes and inform targeted university health programming and support services.
Exploring PKA’s Conformational Selection Mechanism Using Monte Carlo Simulations
Sonya Savelyev
Destabilization in protein kinases is associated with the development of various human diseases. Understanding the conformations of the protein kinase family under different conditions is thus critical to finding therapeutic measures in protein kinase-related diseases. Protein Kinase A (PKA) phosphorylates target protein molecules along various signaling pathways after allosterically binding to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and magnesium. Currently, deterministic models fail to comprehensively describe the variability in PKA’s behavior, so a conformational selection mechanism is considered. However, the extent to which PKA populates multiple states under different conditions has not been fully elucidated. To explore the behavior of the regulatory subunit of PKA (PKA-R), data previously collected using single-molecule optical tweezers was statistically analyzed. Using Monte Carlo simulations, PKA unfolding patterns in various conditions were reproduced, revealing that multi-state models of PKA behavior most closely aligned with experimental data. The proposed conformational selection mechanism of PKA is thus supported, suggesting that wild-type PKA-R acts as an energy sensor by differentially populating each of three conformational states in response to cellular energy levels. This thermodynamic basis for PKA conformational flexibility and activation can ultimately inform the dynamics of PKA disease mutants and their implications throughout the cell.
Is language special? Learning and memory consolidation in language and non-language patterns
Micaela Wells
Statistical learning is a language-learning mechanism that allows us to compute information about the distribution of elements in a sequence and use those calculations to generalize rules about how elements can fit together (e.g., Fetch et al., under review; Saffran et al., 1996). Recent work on statistical learning of language-like phrase-structure patterns has shown that a 24-hour delay after training alters the structure of learned knowledge, leading to additional learning through a process called memory consolidation (Getz & Newport, under review). This quantitative behavioral study aims to address ongoing questions about what underlies our linguistic capacity and how specific it is to language. We ask whether the consolidation trajectory of statistical learning previously shown for linguistic patterns is similar in visual patterns as well. 16 adult participants (M age = 20.07 years) learned nonlinguistic visual and linguistic auditory versions of a nonsense miniature language paradigm with phrase-structure rules. We analyzed their acquisition of the structural relationships between items in a sequence using two-alternative forced-choice tests. Preliminary results show retention of learning in the auditory condition but loss of learning in the visual condition over a 24-hour delay, indicating possible differences in the underlying computational process across domains.
Assessing the Role of Environmental Exposures on Cardiovascular Health Among People Living with HIV (PLWH)
Malar Bala
Climate change and industrial activity influence air pollution, land cover, climate, radiation, and industrial toxic releases, negatively impacting health outcomes. However, the effect of environmental exposures on the cardiovascular system of immunocompromised individuals, such as people living with HIV (PLWH), remains unclear. This study utilizes participant data from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) to examine associations between environmental exposure and predicted cardiovascular risk in PLWH. Cardiovascular health of participants was characterized using the ACC/AHA 2013 pooled cohort equation (PCE) score. Utilizing adjusted multivariable logistic regression models, we evaluated whether harmful environmental exposure increases CVD risk in PLWH beyond the risk attributable to HIV alone. After relevant adjustment, HIV seropositive individuals had 18.5% higher odds of having a higher risk for CVD compared to HIV seronegative individuals. Furthermore, in interaction analyses, for each 1-unit increase in air pollution, the odds ratio for CVD risk was found to be 30.7% (95% CI: 1.05-1.62) higher in the HIV-positive group compared to the HIV-seronegative group. This study clarifies the previously uncharacterized effect of the environment on cardiovascular health in PLWH, a pressing need as climate change and increased industrial activity continues to heighten environmental health risks.
Navigating Public-Private Partnerships in the Commercial Space Era
Ben Bliss
This study highlights how, despite the success of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and the Commercial Crew program, NASA and other government agencies continue to struggle with the construction and facilitation of public-private partnerships (PPPs). Interviews with space industry experts revealed that a divisive culture exists within NASA, and many expressed their concerns with ongoing procurement models. These concerns included the excess of government oversight, the creation of a “race to the bottom,” and a lack of funding proportionate to the prospective level of government vs. commercial activity in the market. The commercial space industry is young and limited in PPP success stories, which is why running current programs optimally and cost effectively is important for modeling the frameworks of the future. The great mistake of NASA’s old guard is believing that a fixed price contract will be a panacea for cost overruns and program delays; to ensure a successful PPP, multiple key elements must be present. Addressing these expert concerns and lessons learned from COTS, Commercial Crew, CLD, CLPS, and PWSA has severe implications, ranging from billions of dollars in savings for the American taxpayer to preserving a continuous American heartbeat in space.
Searching for a Lost River: Remaking the River that Made LA
Justine Brandes
This research examines how social and ecological meanings of place are shaped by past and proposed development along the LA River, focusing on how Frank Gehry’s plans may affect the Rio Hondo Confluence. Methods include analysis of design proposals, spatial assessment of projected health impacts, and review of media coverage from the past decade. Findings suggest that while the confluence holds contested significance for stakeholders and proposed parks may provide health benefits, the designs do little to support ecological restoration or sustained human–river connection. Framed as revitalization, developments such as the proposed platform parks may instead reinforce growth machine dynamics and maintain separation between people and the river.
Understanding Moral Imperfection: Genesis 4 and its Interpretations in Early Jewish and Christian Thought
Elizabeth Cooper
This thesis examines the changes in interpretations of Genesis 4:1–16, the story of Cain killing Abel, as they relate to understandings of moral imperfections from the fifth century BCE to the seventh century CE. It traces how each interpretation answers a series of implied questions and categorizes their final conclusions. These conclusions illustrate how some of these interpretations contributed to what would later become the Christian doctrine of original sin and the Jewish idea of dual inclination. Following this analysis, a summit-dialogue is conducted, appointing sources as representative peaks throughout the interpretations of this narrative. Finally, the ancient conclusions reached regarding moral imperfection are compared to modern scholarly discussions about moral imperfection. This demonstrates many continuities between time periods; the most significant point of change is the focus of modern sources on identifying a solution for moral imperfection. It is unclear if additional differences between the conclusions are a result of the different time periods or due to the limited nature of the biblical narrative ancient sources were reflecting upon.
Synthesis of Slide-Ring Hydrogels for Biocompatible and Chemically Tunable Materials
Isabel Early
Cyclic crown ethers and amine-containing salts were synthesized and assembled into pseudo-rotaxanes. The pseudo-rotaxanes were then combined with linkers to form high molecular weight linear polymers which were cross linked to create network polymers. These network polymers thus contained rings around linear axles trapped between blocking groups. Because the blocking groups could be easily removed via chemical deprotection, the distance the rings could travel along the axle became tunable with distinct slide-off and slide-on states. Mechanical testing confirmed increased capacity for stress dissipation in the slide-on state. While slide-ring gels exhibit superior toughness and elasticity compared to traditional non-covalently and covalently cross-linked gels, their responsiveness to stimuli and tunability lags behind more traditional gels. Thus, installing stimuli-responsive behavior to a slide-ring gel’s axle polymer by which slide distance of the ring-crosslinks can be controlled will provide novel and transformational insight into several areas including tissue engineering, biological sensors, soft robotics, and wearable electronics.
Hidden Preferences: Young Women’s Health Insurance Priorities in the U.S. Consulting Industry
Layal El-Ayoubi
College-educated women are an ever-growing subset of the U.S. labor economy. Their contributions are especially important to resolving the labor shortage in the professional and business services sector. Companies in this sector rely heavily on a constant inflow of high-skilled labor, and as employers, they must position themselves to attract and retain top talent. In response, this qualitative study investigates the decision-making process of single, college-educated women ages 18 to 25 when faced with the decision to accept or reject an offer of employment in the U.S. consulting industry. More specifically, this study explores the role of employer-sponsored health insurance in this process, and college-educated women’s health insurance priorities. Based on a series of semi-structured interviews, this investigation finds that participants considered employer-sponsored health insurance benefits secondary to other factors such as salary, location, and company culture in their job offer evaluation process. When specifically considering health insurance, participants most prioritized general healthcare benefits including access to specialists, affordable prescriptions, and mental healthcare. Participants also suggested improvements, including comprehensive employee education to help them capitalize on their health insurance benefits and concierge assistance in finding relevant healthcare providers.
Intranasal Oxytocin: A Moderator of Empathy in Individuals with Higher Psychopathic Tendencies and Differences in Brain Structure
James Gill
Oxytocin (OXT) is a neuropeptide with a complex role in empathy and prosocial behavior. Previous research has shown that administering OXT to non-clinical samples is associated with improvements in perceived salience of social cues and emotion recognition. However, oxytocin’s potential to treat the empathic deficits associated with psychopathy remains largely unexplored. The current study investigates the effect of intranasal oxytocin on empathy scores and whether this relationship is modulated by subclinical psychopathic traits and cortical structure sizes. Sixty-five male participants participated in a double-blind, between-subjects, placebo-controlled experiment, half of whom were randomly assigned to either the oxytocin or placebo control group. Self-report measures were recorded (Time 1), followed by administering 24IU of intranasal oxytocin or saline solution as a placebo. Measures were then recorded again (Time 2), and participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. We predict that oxytocin will predict greater change in reported empathy, and that psychopathic traits and cortical structure size will moderate this relationship. Empathy is a fundamental component for co-existence, and this research implicates a possible intervention for the various psychopathologies that are marked by empathic deficits.
In Case of Emergency, Break the Constitution:
Katie Goodhines
When Supreme Court decisions make headlines, they typically do so through lengthy, reasoned opinions on the “merits docket.” Increasingly, however, the Supreme Court is reshaping constitutional law through unexplained emergency orders on its “shadow docket.” My thesis examines how this once-benign, procedural tool has evolved into a consequential mechanism for resolving major disputes with limited transparency. By analyzing patterns in emergency application filings by the Trump administration and decisions before an ideologically-aligned Court, I investigate whether the shadow docket has been retooled to systematically advantage the executive branch. Ultimately, I aim to assess whether this opaque process is quietly transforming the constitutional balance of power.
Healing through Harmony: Classical Music Engagement for Understanding and Promoting Wellbeing
Jordan Guzzi
Healing Through Harmony: Classical Music Engagement for Understanding and Promoting Wellbeing" examines how participating in music (either through listening or performing) is able to promote wellbeing by increased social connection with others and facilitating community engagement, among other benefits. Approaching this research from the field of medical ethnomusicology (the nexus of culture, health, and music) enabled me to understand how music (and the arts) affects our health and wellbeing from a more holistic, human-centered view. By conducting qualitative interviews and extensive observation, as well as documenting autoethnographic experiences from my lived identity as a trombonist, this research shows that music is essential to living out happier and healthier lives. More broadly, this research broadens the potential for further arts and health integration in the future, and to view the arts as a multidimensional practice: a cultural cornerstone, creative outlets, and now, a public health intervention.
From City Chambers to Statehouse Steps: Analyzing Bottom-Up Climate Policy Diffusion in the U.S.
Jackson Hightower
This thesis conducts a quantitative analysis of the influence of local climate action plans on state-level climate legislation. It specifically aims to answer the following question: how and to what extent do local climate action plans influence the subsequent development and adoption of state-level climate legislation in the United States? To address this question, the paper employs a novel dataset involving local climate action plans and state-level climate legislation to run multiple regressions and determine the relationship between those two variables. Ultimately, the thesis finds that the presence of local climate action plans has a statistically significant impact on the adoption of state climate policies generally as well as energy efficiency policies but not severance taxes, renewable portfolio standards, and distributed generation policies specifically.
Can large language models deliver the goods on idioms? How LLMs interpret idiomatic phrases cross-linguistically
Anastasia Kelly
Idiomatic expressions (like “rock the boat”) remain difficult to consistently interpret, produce, and translate for the most state-of-the-art large language models. Idioms have two properties which make them distinct from other types of expressions and problematic for language technologies, like LLMs and machine translators: conventionality and contingency. Conventionality describes how words in idioms have non-canonical meanings. Contingency refers to how unexpectedly frequently these words with non-canonical meanings occur together. Socolof et al.’s 2022 study defined conventionality and contingency probabilistically in order to quantify idiomatic language. Their framework shows promise in generating scientifically consistent, computer-interpretable evaluations that align with human intuitions about idiomaticity. However, their study was conducted solely in English. This study expands on Socolof et al.’s framework by applying it to four additional languages. Using contextualized word embeddings produced through BERT (Devlin et al., 2019) and XLNet (Yang et al., 2019), this current study extends this research through a cross-linguistic replication study across four languages, with two goals. First, to evaluate the validity and effectiveness of the metrics of conventionality and contingency across diverse language systems; and second, to investigate what the strengths and challenges of these metrics might reveal about variation and universality of idiomatic language.
To Be Nationalist or Orientalist, Traditional or Modern: The Enduring Legacies of French Colonial Arts Administration in Vietnam
Camille Kelly
Vietnam's history of colonialism and violent foreign intervention has undoubtedly contributed to why, in the words of Vietnamese art historian Nora Taylor, “Vietnamese art is still seen as peripheral to mainstream art history.” In this paper, I trace the overlooked histories and enduring legacy of French colonial arts and crafts administration and instruction in colonial “Indochina”/Vietnam. Drawing from Taylor reparative methodology, I argue that this is a fragmented and nuanced history, one resting upon archives and narratives stained with lingering colonial violence, indigenous erasure, and institutional neglect. Both the fine arts colonial administration and crafts production under French control sought to unify and commodify a Vietnamese national identity and aesthetic, erasing cultural, ethnic and stylistic variations across the colonized territory. A critical historiographic study of French crafts instruction in colonial Vietnam ultimately demonstrates that despite narratives propagated by the colonial forces and the Western historical canon, of artistic enrichment and exchange as well as cultural preservation, French colonialism in Vietnam was above all else an economic project and one oriented towards economic subjugation—through intellectual theft and artistic exploitation of the indigenous peoples.
Between Slop and Sophistication: AI, Agency, and Authorship in the Film Industry
Sophia Lu
For a film industry that has long prided itself on epitomizing human creativity, artificial intelligence poses an existential challenge to the livelihoods of creative workers. Though studios have embraced the technology for efficiency gains and tech companies have promoted a “democratization of creativity,” the actual situation on the ground remains poorly understood. Utilizing 70 semi-structured interviews with actors, directors, producers, screenwriters, and other industry professionals, this research shows that while generative AI has demonstrated the sufficient technical capabilities to take over ancillary aspects of film production, such as pre-visualization, script coverage, and audio transcription, creative professionals still drive the core storytelling work. Indeed, AI has proven far more useful as a tool in the production pipeline, rather than a replacement. At the same time, significant labor market disruptions are playing out in real-time: emerging talent has found it increasingly difficult to break into the industry, freelancers have experienced increased instability, and entire lines of work have faced elimination. Yet some filmmakers are building entirely new careers through experimenting with the technology. Ultimately, these results suggest that human-driven storytelling will retain a premium, even as much disruption remains on the horizon for the film industry.
Inferring associations of Tursiops erebennus population using photo metadata
Shea O'Day
Animal social structures shape evolutionary and ecological dynamics, such as disease and information transmission. Individual associations, the frequency with which two individuals occur in a social group at the same time, are valuable metrics to understand these dynamics. However, in cetaceans, this process is challenging due to limited visibility, large group sizes, and wide-ranging movements. For example, Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins group sizes range from 1 to >250 with frequent fission and fusion, making consistent visual documentation difficult. Furthermore, group definitions vary greatly across studies, thus needing standardization. Photographic data collected during routine field surveys can help bridge this gap by identifying individuals as associated if they appear in the same image or adjacent images. Here, we aim to develop a repeatable, comparable, and applicable approach to define associations in cetaceans using photo timestamps. Specifically, we evaluate (1) if the time elapsed between photographs of two individuals can be used to infer social association and (2) if there is a natural temporal threshold that can be used to differentiate close subgroup associates from distal associates. Using more than 2,000 from 160,000 individual pairs across 230 sightings of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins, we quantified the temporal proximity of photographs to establish associations. We found that pairs photographed within one second of each other were rarely photographed more than 4 minutes apart, indicating a natural temporal threshold for determining subgroup membership. Thus, all individuals photographed within 4 minutes of another dolphin can be classified as a part of the same subgroup. Social networks derived from these classifications reveal timestamp-based associations consistent with those observed visually across time. This work provides a method for unraveling dolphin social structure from photographs when groups are complex, large, and dynamic, a characteristic feature of the migratory and quasi-residential bottlenose dolphin populations in the Chesapeake Bay.
Communication breakdown: examining compounding effects of aphasia & Limited English Proficiency on acute stroke care & outcomes
Nina Park
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. Prior research suggests that communication barriers such as aphasia and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) may lead to disparities in stroke care. Nonetheless, the interaction of LEP and aphasia have rarely been studied. Here, we leverage a large stroke registry of hospitals in the DMV to test the hypothesis that concomitant aphasia and LEP would produce additional disparities in care. We used linear mixed-effects models to examine the effect of LEP status, aphasia severity, and their interaction on 1) mRS at baseline, 2) mRS improvement, and 3) length of hospital stay. In our sample (N = 22,756), 26.7% had aphasia, 1.6% were LEP, and 0.5% had both. mRS analyses did not present a significant interaction. LOS analyses showed that LEP and aphasia had both independent and compounded (β = 1.03, t(22,744) = 1.97, p = .049) impacts. This is the first study to quantify the interaction of LEP and aphasia on stroke care. An increase in aphasia severity removed the effect of LEP on LOS, suggesting that aphasia is an overriding factor. We are currently running models with additional potential moderators including interpreter use, payor, and discharge location.
Food, Family, and Baby Sugar: Maternal Experiences with Gestational Diabetes Among Low-Income Populations in Karachi, Pakistan
Amara Saleem
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is highly prevalent in Pakistan, at an estimated incidence of 16.7% among pregnant women. To date, GDM is understudied, undertreated, and underfunded in Pakistan because of a lack of structure in the Pakistani healthcare system and competing prenatal health concerns. It is ultimately low-income and marginalized women who acutely experience challenges relating to accessing care for GDM. However, little is known about their experiences managing their condition, negotiating their care, and their lived realities within cultural and gender hierarchies. Through partnership with a nonprofit hospital in Karachi, this study explores the barriers and facilitators to management of GDM via semi-structured interviews with patients and providers. This study argues that GDM education and surveillance practices emphasize individual self-control even as structural constraints limit patients’ ability to manage their condition. This mismatch generates psychological distress, yet the narrative of self-control may simultaneously enable patients to reclaim a sense of agency and responsibility.
Synthesis and Characterization of Polymer Nanocapsules via Flash Nanoprecipitation
Allie Stevens
This study explores the encapsulation of water within polymer-shelled nanocapsules using the flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) technique. FNP enables the rapid formation of stable nanocapsules with controlled particle sizes, which is valuable for drug delivery. To deepen our understanding of this process, molecular dynamic simulations were used to analyze the forces involved during FNP, particularly the interactions that stabilize the polymer shell around the water core. Through SEM imaging and particle size analysis, we confirmed the successful formation of these nanocapsules, demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach and suggesting promising directions for further application and optimization.
Paving the Way for Urban Innovation and Health Equity: Collecting Oral Histories with DC Community Leaders
Roberto Terrell Jr
This research project, “Paving the Way for Urban Innovation and Health Equity: Collecting Oral Histories with DC Community Leaders,” documents the lived experiences, leadership journeys, and innovative practices of community leaders working to address health inequities in Washington, D.C. Through a series of in-depth oral history interviews, the project explores how structural factors—including racism, poverty, immigration status, and policy design—shape health outcomes across the city. Drawing on narratives from leaders across healthcare, nonprofit, legal, and community development sectors, the project highlights how effective solutions extend beyond traditional clinical care to include wraparound services such as housing support, food access, legal advocacy, workforce development, and culturally responsive care. These stories reveal a shared shift from charity-based models toward structural and justice-oriented approaches that center dignity, trust, and community voice. The research emphasizes that health inequities are not accidental but produced by historical and systemic forces. By elevating lived experience as expertise, the project contributes to a community-engaged framework for urban health innovation—one that informs future research, policy, and practice aimed at building more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable health systems in Washington, D.C.
(Dis)enchanted Islands: Dubious Commemoration and Questions of Culture in the Jewel of Ecuador
Emma Vonder Haar
My project explores the public and social history of the penal colony on Isla Isabela, Galápagos, Ecuador and what it reveals of state intervention. Closed in 1959 and now part of the Parque Nacional Galápagos, the colony's legacy lives only in the memory of witnesses. Through personal interviews and historical texts, I investigate how civil conflict, cultural stereotypes, tourism, and environmental concerns converge to shape memory and the contemporary experiences of people in Isabeleña society. This research offers unique insight into an unstudied site that has been erased from official memory.
Investigating Downstream Epigenetic Mechanisms of the Autism-Associated Gene Chd1 in Drosophila
Junyi Wang and Grace Chu
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder associated with mutations in numerous genes, including CHD2. In Drosophila, the CHD2 homologue, Chd1, is required for Presynaptic Homeostatic Potentiation (PHP), an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that maintains synaptic strength in response to impaired postsynaptic receptor function. While preliminary data demonstrates that Chd1 is crucial for PHP, the Chd1-dependent downstream signaling pathways mediating this effect remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of Cad74a, a direct downstream target gene of Chd1, in the regulation of PHP. Sharp-electrode electrophysiology recordings at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) reveal that Cad74a null mutants exhibit a complete block of both acute and chronic PHP. Furthermore, genetic interaction experiments demonstrate that Cad74a functionally interacts with Chd1, suggesting a shared pathway. Complementing these findings, behavioral assays further demonstrate that both Chd1 and Cad74a mutants exhibit significant locomotor deficits, including impaired larval crawling, climbing, and seizure-like phenotypes, consistent with motor dysfunctions commonly observed in ASD. Collectively, our findings identify Cad74a as a critical downstream effector of Chd1 in maintaining synaptic homeostasis and motor function. These findings offer new insights into how epigenetic regulation contributes to synapse stabilization and its potential relevance to ASD.