Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Predictive Validity Of A New Self-Report Measure Of Individual Skin Type Through Characterization Of Skin Melanin Using Reflectance Photospectroscopy, Mark Sanchez, Lisa Marriott, Teala Alvord, R. Samatham, S. Chang

Student Research Symposium

In the realm of research and dermatology, the Fitzpatrick Skin Type scale (FST) has been the gold standard of measurement to classify sun sensitivity for human’s skin. This scale is based on an individual’s dermal reaction to ultraviolet exposure (Parrish, et al., 1974; Fitzpatrick, 1975; Pathak, et al., 1976; Fitzpatrick, 1988). It was assumed in science as well as popular culture that individuals with darker skin were less susceptible to issues related to UV damage of their skin. More recent research (Eilers, et al., 2013) suggests that while melanin affords some skin protection, damage can still occur that may result …

Development Of A Design Guideline For Pile Foundations Subjected To Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Spreading, Milad Souri, Arash Khosravifar

Student Research Symposium

Past earthquakes confirmed that seismically induced kinematic loads from soil lateral spreading and inertial loads from structure can cause severe damages to pile foundations. The research questions are:

• How to combine inertial and kinematic loads in design of pile foundations in liquefied soil?
• How the combination of inertia and kinematics changes with depth?
• How this combination is affected by long-duration earthquakes?
• How this combination affects inelastic demands in piles?

Glacial Meltwater Modeling To Simulate Streamflow And Lake Levels In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Julian M. Cross, Andrew G. Fountain

Student Research Symposium

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) are the largest ice-free region (4,500 km²) in Antarctica. The MDV are a polar desert with an average annual temperature of -18˚C and minimal precipitation, < 50 mm w.e. a^-1. In Taylor Valley (77°35’ S, 163°00’ E), a closed-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes occupy the valley floor. Ephemeral streams transfer glacier meltwater for ~10 weeks each summer. Glacial meltwater accounts for nearly the total inflow to these streams and lakes, groundwater is essentially non-existent. A microbially-dominated ecosystem in Taylor Valley depends on glacier runoff and thus is highly sensitive to changes to the hydroclimatic regime. A model …

Exploring And Expanding The One-Pixel Attack, Umairullah Khan, Walt Woods, Christof Teuscher

Student Research Symposium

In machine learning research, adversarial examples are normal inputs to a classifier that have been specifically perturbed to cause the model to misclassify the input. These perturbations rarely affect the human readability of an input, even though the model’s output is drastically different. Recent work has demonstrated that image-classifying deep neural networks (DNNs) can be reliably fooled with the modification of a single pixel in the input image, without knowledge of a DNN’s internal parameters. This “one-pixel attack” utilizes an iterative evolutionary optimizer known as differential evolution (DE) to find the most effective pixel to perturb, via the evaluation of …

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associations Across Multiple Saltmarsh Plant Species Mitigating The Impacts Of Sea-Level Rise, Rayna Koberstein, Catherine E. De Rivera

Student Research Symposium

Sea level rise caused by climate change will detrimentally impact saltmarsh habitats by increasing the elevation and rate of terrestrial salt water inundation, thereby reducing effective functionality of ecosystem services provided by saltmarshes. Facilitation is key to community structuring and function in habitats characterized by abiotic stress, such as salt marshes. Halophytic plants within salt marshes can benefit from symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) facilitations through increased inundation tolerance, greater nutrient availability and uptake, alleviation from drought stress and relief from saline stress.

Through this research, land managers developing sea-level rise mitigation plans will have data supporting which plants will …

Cluster Chondrite Accretion Temperatures Determined With Electron Backscatter Diffraction, Secana Goudy, Alexander Ruzicka

Student Research Symposium

We studied ordinary chondrites with cluster chondrite lithologies using electron backscatter diffraction to measure the temperatures of their olivine grains during deformation. Samples analyzed with the technique are shock classified as S1 and are type 3, so the deformation analyzed is inferred to represent the temperatures of the chondrules during accretional deformation. It was found that the studied samples are of a mixture of chondrules at mostly hot temperatures (>850°C) and some at cold.

Are We Providing The Preferred Floral Resources For Bees In Our Neighborhoods? Relationships Between Small Scale Vegetation Metrics And Pollinator Visitation In Se Portland, Hailey Wallace, Marion Dresner

Student Research Symposium

Due to the threat of losing our pollinators, there are many conservation actions such as "pollinator friendly" areas being constructed in cities around the globe, because of this there is a need for a greater understanding of the relationship between bees, and floral resources at a local landscape level. I assessed the relationship between blossom density, inflorescence type, cover, frequency, density and numbers of bees observed at three different "pollinator friendly" areas in South East Portland. This project utilized community science members to gather observational monitoring data at Johnson Creek Commons Rain Garden, SE Yukon Bioswales and Beyer Court Rain …

Effects Of Wavelength Variation On Localized Photoemission In Triangular Gold Antennas, Christopher M. Scheffler, Robert Campbell Word, Rolf Könenkamp

Student Research Symposium

Exposing metal-dielectric structures to light can result in surface plasmon excitation and propagation along the transition interface, creating a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) response. Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) has been used to image nanometer scale plasmonic responses in micron-sized plasmonic devices. With PEEM, optical responses can be characterized in detail, aiding in the development of new types of plasmonic structures and their applications. In thin, triangular gold platelets SPPs can be excited and concentrated within specific regions of the material. In this regard, the platelets act as receiver antennas by converting the incident light into localized excitations in specific regions …

The Gear Up Experience: What Leads To College?, Erik Dickamore

Student Research Symposium

Gear up is a 6-year federal grant whose purpose is to encourage and support underprivileged students to enroll in and succeed in higher education. Gear up was deployed in 11 school districts across the state 5 and 1/2 years ago. Ambiguity arises when trying to assess the Gear Up program as a whole because each student's experience within the program varies. My research focuses on using advanced statistical techniques ie. a latent profile analysis (LPA) to look at the holistic experience of Gear Up Students. Results highlight the link between different profiles of experiences within the Gear Up program and …

The Effects Of Radiation-Induced Defects On The Electrostatic Discharge Of Polymers, Kip Quilter, Alexandra Hughlett

Student Research Symposium

Test were done to see how radiation-induced defect states affect the electrostatic discharge (ESD) breakdown potential of a material. We selected five different highly disorder polymers (PEEK, PI, FEP, PP, LDEP) due to their different tolerances to radiation. By irradiating samples with 5kGy of penetrating beta radiation in vacuo, we created more localized trap states in the polymers; this is known to increase hopping conductivity. It has also been hypothesized that post-irradiation exposure to oxygen or water in air can repair these defects. ESD can be viewed as an extreme limit of conductivity and therefore is expected to decrease as …

Climate Change At Utah Ski Resorts: Impacts, Perceptions, And Adaptation Strategies, Emily Wilkins, Tara Saley, Hadia Akbar, Rachel Hager

Student Research Symposium

Utah sees over four million skier visits per season, which has substantial economic impact across the state. However, climate change may affect the operability of these ski resorts, which could also impact local businesses and communities. With warming temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns, the future of Utah's ski resort industry may be uncertain. We conducted an interdisciplinary study to understand how past weather has changed at the resorts and what climate may be like in the future. We studied this using publically available weather data from PRISM, Daymet, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, and climate change …

Temperature-Dependent Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Polymers, Megan Loveland, Brian Wood

Student Research Symposium

Temperature-dependent electrical conductivity measurements of polymers are compared to predictions by thermally assisted hopping conductivity, commonly used to model electron transport between defect sites in highly disordered insulating materials (HDIM). Constant voltage is applied across samples using a parallel plate geometry under vacuum, with the resulting current measured using a high resolution electrometer to calculate extreme low level conductivity. Conductivity of thin film PEEK (polyether ether ketone) and LDPE (low density polyethylene) samples was measured at temperatures ranging from 270 to 350 K to determine temperature influence on conductivity. Long time scales are needed for polymers to reach electrostatic equilibrium …

Quaternions, Octonions, And Electromagnetism, Ben Shaw

Student Research Symposium

An introduction to Quaternions and Octonions is given, and the Maxwell Equations are formulated in terms of each. The conventional, source-free relativistic theory of eight dimensional electromagnetism is introduced and examined. Similarly, the source-free Octonionic Maxwell Equations are developed, and it is shown that the seven dimensional electric and magnetic fields pure Octonions each admit plane wave solutions. An Octonionic Faraday tensor is constructed and compared with the conventional Faraday tensor, and it is shown that, in the source-free case, the conventional and Octonionic theories are equivalent.

Gravitational Anomalies & Elliptic Curves, Michael T. Schultz

Student Research Symposium

A gravitational anomaly is a special type of curvature that is important in string theory. Elliptic curves are very important and ubiquitous in mathematics - for example, it was a special property of some families of elliptic curves that was instrumental in proving the famous Fermat's Last Theorem. In the context of my research, an elliptic curve is a torus defined by a simple polynomial equation. My research shows that every suitably general one parameter family of elliptic curves (called an elliptic fibration with section) has both local and global gravitational anomalies. In my talk, I will explain these anomalies …