Digital Commons Network^™

A Network-Based Fmri Approach To Decoding Second-Language Proficiency In Advanced And Intermediate Speakers, Onila Rasanjala Narayana Mudalige Don

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Individual differences in second-language (L2) proficiency are not always well captured by traditional voxel-wise fMRI analyses. Network-level representations provide a more stable and interpretable framework for characterizing how the brain supports L2 processing, particularly in the presence of substantial inter-individual variability. In this study, we investigated whether large-scale brain networks can differentiate advanced and intermediate L2 speakers, and which network features carry the strongest proficiency-related signal.

Using fMRI data from Spanish–Basque bilinguals performing a semantic animacy judgment task, we applied group-level Principal Component Analysis (PCA) across all participants and both language conditions to identify shared spatial brain networks. Subject-specific component …

Using Adaptive Management To Understand Elk Population Dynamics In Northwest Montana, Andi Stewart, Nicole Bealer, Jesse Devoe, Zackary Farley, Christopher Hansen, Joshua Millspaugh, Kelly Proffitt

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Uncertainties about population dynamics may hamper the ability of state agencies and commissions to make informed wildlife management decisions. In hunting district 121, Montana, bull elk harvest has declined since 2012. Minimum counts suggest populations have been stable; however, it’s unknown if these counts reflect actual abundance and there are no vital rate data available for the region. Due to these uncertainties, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks developed an adaptive management project to address data gaps and uncertainties. From 2022-2025, we GPS collared 124 adult females, 18 adult males, and 185 neonate or 6-month-old calves. Across all years, the average …

Shared Minds, Shared Methods:, Sanjeet Mann, Heather L. Cribbs

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

How can SCELC librarians make user-centered decisions around emerging technologies like GenAI, when user research is commonly dismissed as too resource intensive to be useful to libraries? We are researchers at two SCELC affiliate institutions whose commitment to equity and justice-oriented technology librarianship has led us to confront this question. We pursue Slow, collaborative research including user studies because we believe that grounding library technology in the needs and lived experience of students and university employees strengthens the connections with colleagues and library users that we need to advocate for technology that realizes our libraries' values. In this session we …

Is It Relevant? Understanding Students' Perceptions Of A General Education Communication Course, Lauren Johnsen

SoTL Commons Conference

No abstract provided.

Student Perceptions Of Anti-Racist Pedagogy: A Cross-Disciplinary Descriptive Study, Ashley Davis, Melisa Osborne, Hope Haslam Straughan, Maria Datel, Christina Michaud, Danielle Rousseau

SoTL Commons Conference

No abstract provided.

Vocabulary And Student Led Notes Initiative, Luke Cd Johnson, Janel Smith

Empowering Educators Conference

The presentation is aimed at improving the accessibility of important subject matter literacy to students of all ability levels. Its primary focus is on the acquisition of vocabulary and the implementation of classroom-friendly methods to improve retention of information, including content literacy. It secondarily shows a method to transfer the focus of students' note-taking skills, aiming to transfer to lecture-style notes.

Supporting College Students’ Mental Health In An Academic Setting: Faculty Perspectives, April Garrity

SoTL Commons Conference

No abstract provided.

Creating Accessible And Welcoming Iep Meetings: Empowering Teachers To Partner With Parents, Barbara Serianni, Nedra Cossa

Empowering Educators Conference

Parents’ experiences in eligibility and initial IEP meetings range from feeling welcomed to feeling unheard. This session equips special education teachers with practical strategies—clear communication, inclusive structures, and culturally responsive practices—to create accessible, empowering environments where families are valued as equal partners in the IEP process.

Exploring Emotional Management Learning Among Prelicensure Nursing Students Used In The Clinical Setting, Elizabeth Coleman

SoTL Commons Conference

No abstract provided.

Ai Literacy As A Catalyst For Information Literacy: A Pilot Study, Terri Gotschall, Anne Stone, Caitlyn Deeter, Lucy Littler, Bob Casper, Rene Tanner

SoTL Commons Conference

No abstract provided.

Trust At A Distance: 6 Strategies For Managing In Remote Workspaces, Peggy Kendall, David Horsager

Day of Scholarship

In 2025, over 50% of US workers worked in hybrid jobs while another 27% work fully remote. As the way we work changes, it is important to understand how these technologies change the way we communicate and how we build trust. This project, based on research done through an Edgren Scholarship, has culminated in a book co-authored with David Horsager and published by Berrett-Koehler. The book has opened conversations related to challenges like proximity bias, remote accountability, employee burnout, meeting structures, and the changing nature of nonverbal communication.

Can Environmental Chaos Get "Under The Skin" To Influence Child Development? Implications For Policy And Practice, Ellie Brown Dr.

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Dr. Ellie Brown, Psychology, presents "Can Environmental Chaos Get 'Under the Skin' to Influence Child Development? Implications for Policy and Practice".

Extended Survival In Stage Iv Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Presenting With Anaplastic Transformation, Aryan Dowlatshahi, Umar Khan, Leopoldo Cobos

Cancer Survivorship Research Retreat

This is a discussion and case study of thyroid cancer survivorship in a patient who had been diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma with subsequent anaplastic transformation.

Trauma-Informed Collaborative Care In Adolescent And Young Adult (Aya) Oncology Survivorship Patients, Haleigh Mistry, Jessica Blanc

Cancer Survivorship Research Retreat

No abstract provided.

Social Media And Health Disinformation, Ammar Haroon, Emily Sarmiento

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

In our presentation, we looked at how social media acts as a facilitator of health disinformation. In particular, we looked at the strategies that social media platforms use and how that contributes to health disinformation online.

The Inaccessibility Of Scientific Writing And Science Denial, Emma Eisen

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The inaccessibility of scientific writing causes an increase in science denial. The frustration experienced by nonscientists due to the exclusivity, both in language and cost of subscriptions to scientific journals, often results in the rejection of scientific consensus and acceptance of the more accessible and understandable alternative perspectives presented by science deniers. Through the analysis of demographic studies on the relationship between native language and access to higher education and attitudes toward vaccines, this presentation further discusses how these marginalized demographics are excluded from scientific consensus leading to an increase in science denial.

Scrolling For Meaning: How Social Media Influence Young People’S Spirituality And Trust In Scientific Authority, Archna Yadav

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This project examines how social media and secular digital culture influence the spiritual growth, moral values, and trust in science among young people. My claim is that social media acts like a parallel source of authority, shaping ideas about meaning, morality, and truth. Evidence from studies shows that many young people now form personal belief systems by blending religious ideas, secular practices, and even pseudo-scientific claims. The warrant is that online algorithms, influencers, emotional content, and identity-based communities strongly guide what youth believe. As a result, spiritual and moral formation is increasingly shaped by digital platforms rather than traditional institutions.

Misinformation In The Digital Age: How Social Media Fuels Science Denial And Ways To Stop It, Jocelyn Morales

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This paper examines how social media platforms contribute to the spread of science denial and explores strategies to combat misinformation. The rise of digital platforms such as Twitter (now X) and Facebook has transformed how information is shared, but it has also created fertile ground for the rapid diffusion of false or misleading content. Research by Harman et al. (2025) demonstrates that science denial has far-reaching social consequences, delaying policy responses, undermining collective action, and increasing societal vulnerability. Lanier et al. (2022) further reveal how hashtags like #plandemic and #scamdemic on Twitter amplified COVID-19 misinformation, fueling pandemic denial and anti-public-health …

Faith And Evidence: Can Religious Belief And Science Coexist? An Investigation Of Galileo’S Discoveries And The Heliocentric Model, Amelia Atia

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

My research project focuses on the middle ground between science and religion. I focused on Galileo’s discoveries and how he experienced backlash due to his Heliocentric model, since it contradicted religious beliefs. By studying Gaileo’s model, I was able to better understand the concept of science denial. I have proposed that there’s a middle ground between science and faith. This is supported by Tycho Brahe, as he was able to propose a theory that still accepted the Geocentric model as it is applied to the physical world and also accepted the Heliocentric model as it applies to the natural world.

Faith Over Fossils: How Creationist Deny The Authenticity Of Carbon Dating, Mason Black

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

My claim is that young-earth creationist groups, such as Answers in Genesis, deny the authenticity of radiometric dating by excluding any evidence that goes against their belief that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. I did this by looking at various articles made by Answers in Genesis to see what arguments are made and what information is left out.

Religious Miracles In The Noma Model, Alexander Piero

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Miracles can fit within the NOMA model with some limitations. Miracles are defined as events that break the laws of nature. Christopher Miller helps illustrate how to use the NOMA model as a tool to determine when miracles may have occurred. This helps show that the NOMA model provides a framework in which to evaluate miracles. Ursula Goodenough helped highlight that the NOMA model takes liberties that allow for things like miracles and their varying interpretations to fit within Gould’s model. Finally, the challenge by Johnson doesn’t exactly hold up, and his critiques of miracles seem to be reasonably answered …

Why We Must Commune: Rethinking The Role Of Marketing Communications In Turbulent Times, Javier Garcia

Publications and Research

“Communications” is often thought of as a noun, representing the messages we receive on a daily basis from people, brands, and institutions alike. 

"Communications" is also often associated with an industry that exists to produce such messaging in service of capitalism, with a commercial or otherwise actionable outcome desired from its receiving audience. 

This presentation, hosted by two-time CCNY graduate and senior marketing communications professional and Assistant Professor Javier Garcia, will examine the urgency and opportunity in rethinking the value and study of marketing and communications. 

In his presentation, Professor Garcia will offer suggestions on how to guide students towards …

Ai-Powered Pathways To Open Education: Enhancing Practice And Expanding Discovery, Rebecca Mcnulty, Lily Dubach

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Generative AI is changing how we teach and learn, and this session will show practical ways it can support open education. We will look at two everyday challenges: finding aligned open materials and spotting places in a course where open practices could enhance opportunities for collaborative learning. An instructional designer will demonstrate how custom GPTs can review a syllabus and suggest places where open pedagogy could involve students in co-creating and sharing knowledge. A librarian will show how large language models can help locate courses and syllabi that already use open practices, making it easier for faculty to discover and …

Reusable To-Go Ware​ Program Feasibility, Nadine Boukhari

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Nadine Boukhari, M.S. Industrial/Organizational Psychology '27 and Lisa Smart, Post-Landfill Action Network present "Reusable To-Go Container Return on Investment Analysis" Please note we experienced an internet outage in the middle of the presentation, so there is a cut in the middle of the presentation.

Identify Top Journals, Ibis Anette Moreno-Lozano Phd.

Day Family Research Lab Workshop Series

No abstract provided.

Orthodontic Trial Transparency Audit: Automated Registry To Publication Linkage And Outcome-Switching Signals In Registered Rcts, Stephen P. Osman, Frank Licari, Shankargouda Patil, Shilpa Bhandi

Annual Research Symposium

Objective: To quantify transparency gaps in orthodontic randomized controlled trials by linking trial registry records to publications and characterizing timing of registration, publication delay, and selective outcome reporting signals using automated text-based methods.
Methods: A retrospective computational audit was designed around trial registries (e.g., ClinicalTrials.gov and other major registries used in orthodontics) and bibliographic records. Registry entries marked completed were programmatically screened for publication linkage using identifier matching (e.g., registration IDs) and document-similarity approaches aligned with prior registry-publication linkage research. Trial-level transparency indicators included (i) prospective vs retrospective registration, (ii) completion to publication lag, (iii) presence/absence of posted results in …

Mapping The Unexpected: Aberrant Celiac Trunk Origination With Atypical Splenic Artery Bifurcation, David A. Delano, Fernando D. Gonzalez, Franco R. Ramos, Parker J. Ballard

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Accuracy Of Salivary Mmp-8 Testing For Periodontitis In Patients With Type Ii Diabetes, Piper Collins, Claudia Freitas

Annual Research Symposium

This paper investigates the accuracy of salivary biomarker testing in patients with type II diabetes

When Nutrition Fails: Modeling Protein Malnutrition-Driven Vulnerability In Hepatic Drug Metabolism And Inflammatory Stress, Vijitha D. Kantety, Victor Jiminez Jr.

Annual Research Symposium

Background

Protein malnutrition remains a major global health problem and frequently co-occurs with alcohol use, opioid exposure, and infectious disease, particularly in low- and middle-income settings. The liver is central to both metabolism and inflammatory regulation, yet the effects of a malnutrition-like nutrient environment on hepatic responses to combined metabolic and inflammatory insults are not well defined. Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), a key enzyme involved in opioid metabolism, is highly sensitive to inflammatory signaling and may be especially vulnerable under conditions of nutritional deficiency. This project aims to 1) develop an in vitro model of nutritionally competent versus amino acid–restricted …

Finding Research Datasets And Evaluating Data Quality, Ibis Anette Moreno-Lozano Phd.

Day Family Research Lab Workshop Series

No abstract provided.