Digital Commons Network^™

The Cycle Of Giving:, Sarai Brown

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

On one hot summer day in the middle of a 3-month stint studying Mandarin Chinese at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) in Taichung, Taiwan, my friends and I were desperate to sate our appetites after class, even in the atrociously hot and humid conditions. Most of our little group was drawn to a 牛肉麵 niúròu miàn (beef noodle) shop, but the thought of hot soup on a day like this drove me and a couple of others to continue our search. We stumbled upon another outdoor restaurant—though “restaurant” is perhaps a loose term for the holey-tent-covered food stand with mismatched …

A Different Dimension: A Comparison Between 2d Cell Lines And 3d Organoids In Cancer Drug Screening Cell Viability​, Paytin Curran, Isaac Packer, Delaney Anderson, Victoria Johnson, Jeffery Okojie, Jared Barrott

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

Cancer drug screening is commonly performed on two-dimensional (2D) cancer cell lines. Recent innovations in cell line development and methods of incubation has led to further interest in the development of three-dimensional (3D) organoids from standard cancer cell lines and patient-derived tissue. Our research intends to test the relationship between cell viability of 2D cancer cell lines and the viability of 3D organoids during cancer drug screening.

The Work Of Cross Dating: A Look Into The Dendrochronology Of Great Basin Bristlecone Pine At The Carpenter Canyon Middle Site, Zeb Mendenhall, Otto De Groff, Steven L. Petersen

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva, hereafter bristlecone) is the longest living organisms on earth. Their annual growth rings are vital resources for understanding climate change¹ (Fig. 1)

Like all trees, bristlecone develops a “ring” every year during the growing season. Because of their exceptional longevity, this makes them an ideal “archive” of past climate conditions²

While climate is a variable affecting bristlecone growth, little research has been conducted that identifies factors the influence bristlecone growth, in particular elevation.

This study investigates these factors to better understand bristlecone’s response environmental variability at specific elevations.

For Dust Thou Art, And Unto Dust Shalt Thou Return — Testing Soil-Derived Plant-Beneficial Bacteria For Potential As Biofertilizers, Johnathon Brim, Blake Oler, Jacob Hardy, Joseph Richardson, Ryan Bjazevich, Kate Whalen, Emmelia Wevers, Foxx Naylor, Ethan Shreeve, Alex Cherry, Ethan Cherry, Tanner Gunnell, Jayden Longhurst, Andrew Burrows, Mailon Odell, Jacob Sy, Jeffrey Schacterle

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

• The results of plant testing have shown that bacteria treated seeds outperform the control seeds on a consistent basis
• We will continue to receive more data from out own experiments as well as crowdsourcing methods.
• Our next step is to begin comparing results of our soil/seed treatment against commercially available fertilizers that use beneficial bacteria.

Pedestrian Safety South Of Brigham Young University Campus, Emma Mayo, Alisha H. Redelfs

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

8,500 crossings happen on 800 North every day. In Provo last year, 57 car crashes involved pedestrians. A pedestrian’s view of the road is obstructed by cars parked on the right hand side of the road causing them to walk in the crosswalk to see if there is a car coming. Sidewalks on connecting streets are uneven and cracked. Multiple blocks on 800 North without a stop sign to slow drivers down. Currently no posted speed limit signs on 800 North. Drivers can’t see pedestrians crossing on 200, 300, 400, or 500 East because of inadequate lighting. Cars obstruct areas …

Examining Purkinje Cell Modulation Of The Vor: An Optogenetic Study, Ben Davis, D Garcia, B Haack, J Lewis, J Jackson, C Worthington, Trace Stay

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is coordinated eye movement to maintain a stable gaze during head rotation. This reflex can be adapted in behavioral training by using repeated head movements and shifting visual stimuli.

Previous research (Kimpo et al., 2014) implicates cerebellar output as critical to VOR adaptation, but it is unclear whether Purkinje cell (PC) output paired with a vestibular or visual stimulus is sufficient for driving reflex adaptation.

We hypothesize that PC output is sufficient for driving gain up behavioral VOR adaptation when paired with peak ipsiversive head movement in mice. Stimuli include a rotating vestibular environment or visual …

How Microbiota Affect The Drosophila Melanogaster Life History Approach, Ricardo Romo, John M. Chaston

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

• The microbiota of Drosophila melanogaster plays a significant role in its life history strategy and local adaptation [1]. This study examines how variations in microbiota composition influence the trade-offs between reproduction and somatic maintenance.
• Previous research has shown that LAB and AAB bacteria affect Drosophila Melanogaster life history strategies and this research explores the effects of LAB and AAB bacterial strains on flies raised under controlled conditions.
• This study contributes to the growing evidence that microbiota is an essential factor in understanding local adaptation and evolutionary biology and how certain bacterial strains affect an organism’s reproductive strategy.

Population Monitoring Of Packera Castoreus, Autumn Gudmundsen, Madison Huie, Steve Flinders, Loreen Allphin

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

Packera castoreus is a rare flowering plant, endemic to high elevations in the Belknap volcanic substrates of the Tushar Mountains of Utah (fig.1 & 2).

• The species has been classified as high priority for monitoring and conservation by the Utah Native Plant Society.1

There have been conservation concerns for rare alpine species recently due to increased threats, primarily:

• Grazing from large ungulates (mountain goats, deer, & elk)2
• Human impacts (especially hiking)1
• Climate change1

To better understand the impacts of these various threats on P. castoreus, we monitored populations from 2018-2022 and assessed plant morphology, community composition, and population …

Mitigating Herbivory Impacts On Aspen Forest Regeneration Through Fire And Mechanical Thinning In High-Grazing Landscapes, Chloe Denham, Sam St. Clair

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

• Monroe Mountain in Fishlake National Forest has experienced rising herbivory pressure from elk, deer, and cattle in its stable aspen forest.
• Stable aspen stands have minimal conifers, low stand turnover, and rare disturbances.
• We looked at how herbivory patterns change over time under different treatments on Monroe Mountain.

Investigating The Role Of The Liver-Brain Axis In Addiction, Camryn Holt, Isabella Roque, Shimran Sharma, Chris Galbraith, Jordan T. Yorgason

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

Ethanol (EtOH) increases dopamine (DA) release, leading to addictive behaviors.

Ex vivo, EtOH only alters DA release at supraphysiological levels.

The liver metabolizes EtOH, and metabolites can escape into systemic circulation and cross the blood-brain barrier.

We hypothesize that these metabolites may induce changes in the mesolimbic circuitry and thus contribute to the reinforcing effects of EtOH.

We examined the effects of bile acids (BAs) and other EtOH metabolites on accumbal DA release and CIN firing.

We also investigated downstream effects of EtOH metabolism, such as macrophage migration and TGR5-mediated release of glucagon- like peptide-1 (GLP-1).

Socioeconomic Advantage Effects On Family Health Across Three Generations, Brooklyn Richins, Gladys Lopez Mph, Kato Haupeakui Mph, Ali Crandall Ph.D.

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2025

Family health is a resource at the level of the family unit that influences each family member’s health (Weiss-Laxer et al., 2020).

Socioeconomic status (SES) is measured by education, employment, and income; prior research suggests that SES influences quality of life (Baker, 2014).

We examined how parent and grandparent SES affects young adult report of family health.

Journeyer, Christie Gardiner

Inscape

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

The Seven Seals, The Age Of The Earth, And Ongoing Revelation, Nicholas J. Frederick

BYU Studies

One of the more intriguing elements of the book of Revelation is its mention of a book sealed with seven seals (Rev. 5:1). As John’s vision progresses over the next two chapters, each of the seven seals is broken. These have been interpreted by scholars in a variety of ways. One interpretation, typically known as the “historicist” view, saw the seals as representing periods of time in the earth’s history, whether the entirety of the earth’s history from Adam on or just parts, such as early Christian history.1

Practical Faith For The Real World Reading As If, Believing As If, Kylie Turley

BYU Studies

A few years ago, I was talking with some friends about the Book of Mormon. Actually, if you know me much at all, then you know that those last five words are unnecessary. Of course I was talking about the Book of Mormon. My children have been known to complain that the Book of Mormon is all I talk about. But let’s continue the story: One of my friends indicated that we “cannot read the Book of Mormon down to the word level.” She insisted that it was just not possible to read it “as if individual words are meaningful.”

The Heyday Of The Mia Latter-Day Saint Youth Programs In The Postwar Era, Lisa Olsen Tait, Amber C. Taylor

BYU Studies

On Saturday, June 16, 1956, a crowd of twenty thousand spectators filled the University of Utah football stadium, nestled against the foothills to the east of Salt Lake City, to witness the Mutual Improvement Association (MIA) Dance-Drama Festival of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hopes were high that the weather would hold, since Friday night’s performance had been canceled because of rain. The weather did cooperate, and for over two hours, a massive procession of brightly costumed young women and men, representing almost every stake in the Church, presented a spectacular program of intricately choreographed dances and …

Using A Reconciliation Approach To Teach Evolution May Help Religious Students Remain Faithful, Danny Ferguson, Ethan Tolman, Spencer Shumway, Cassidy Shively

BYU Studies

Many religious people struggle to accept the theory of evolution, and about 40 percent of Americans reject the theory outright, preferring a literalist, creationist account that confirms a young earth.1 As Latter-day Saints ourselves, we understand the trepidation surrounding the idea that perhaps evolution contradicts our belief of an earth created by a loving Father and Savior. People may feel that the scientific theory of evolution implies that there is no need for a God or that our existence is simply an accident. As college-age youth, we are familiar with the struggles that students face as they confront evolution in …

Getting To 100, Vauna Davis

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Review: Latter-Day Saint Art: A Critical Reader Edited By Amanda K. Beardsley And Mason Kamana Allred Oxford University Press, 2024, Maddie Blonquist

BYU Studies

The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts’ impressive new volume, Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader (Oxford University Press, 2024), makes an ambitious and long-awaited contribution to the fields of religious studies, art history, visual and material culture, and cultural theory. This edited collection is both intellectually and physically substantial, with over 600 pages, nearly 250 reproductions, and twenty-two authors from a myriad of disciplines. Scholars of history, art, film, and media studies share space with artists, museum directors, filmmakers, curators, theologians, and journalists who span the spectrum in their relationship to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The …

End Matter

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Inscape

No abstract provided.

Orbits, Zach Keali'i

Inscape

Zach Keali’i Murphy is a Hawaii-born writer with a background in cinema. His stories appear in The MacGuffin, Reed Magazine, The Coachella Review, Lunch Ticket, Raritan Quarterly, Another Chicago Magazine, Little Patuxent Review, Flash Frog, and more. He has published the chapbook Tiny Universes (Selcouth Station Press). He lives with his wonderful wife, Kelly, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Don't Eat The Raspberries, Janaya Young

Inscape

Janaya Young has an MFA in Creative Writing from BYU and has previously been published in Matchbook Literary Magazine. She currently writes from Boston, though her writing has yet to leave her rocky desert home in the Intermountain West.

Jobs, Benjamin Schmitt

Inscape

Benjamin Schmitt is the Elgin Award-nominated author of four books, most recently The Saints of Capitalism and Soundtrack to a Fleeting Masculinity. His poems have appeared in Sojourners, Antioch Review, The Good Men Project, Hobart, Columbia Review, Spillway, and elsewhere. A co-founder of Pacifica Writers’ Workshop, he has also written articles for The Seattle Times and At The Inkwell. He lives in Seattle with his wife and children.

The Family Plot, Ilse Eskelsen

Inscape

Ilse Eskelsen is a BYU English student who has lived just north of Washington, DC; in Stuttgart, Germany; and just south of Washington, DC. She has pieces published or soon-to-be published in literary journals like Rainy Day, Lunch Ticket, and Inscape Journal.

Me And Maya Hawke, Travis Roberson

Inscape

Travis D. Roberson is a New York based writer originally from central Florida. His work appears in The Iowa Review, Pithead Chapel, Juked, Cutleaf, and many other publications. He is both a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee, as well as a Porter Fleming Literary Competition winner, in the non-fiction category. He also serves as a CNF Editorial Assistant at CRAFT. You can find more of his work on his website.

Communion Of Saints, Kathleen Fields

Inscape

Kathleen Fields (She/Her/They) lives in Chicago. Her honors include a Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Poet & Author Fellowship, Midwest Writing Center’s Iron Pen prize for poetry and a Kankakee One Act Fest prize for playwriting. Fields is a three time National Endowment for the Humanities teacher fellow. Her poems, creative nonfiction and academic writing appear in literary magazines such as Belt Magazine, The Platform Review, The New York Times, and Terra Foundation for the Arts. She is a poetry reader at Iron Oak Editions and a founding poetry editor of Pine Row Press. She holds an M.A. in …

Three Weeks Ago, I Found A Body, Dead., Christie Gardiner

Inscape

Christie Gardiner is an award-winning author, poet, writer, and performer. Her literary oeuvre includes four ecumenical books (one, currently in its ninth printing), four anthologies, journal publications, booklets, articles, and the writing of her own videocast/podcast. Additionally, Christie has made numerous appearances as a regular media contributor, has cohosted two successful podcasts and serves as a facilitator of writing groups for women. She worked in poetry acquisition for Inscape literary journal, holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Utah Valley University and is an MFA student at Brigham Young University. Recent and upcoming publication credits includes poems and essays …

No Crying In Baseball, John Van Wagner

Inscape

John Van Wagner lives and writes in New Jersey. His work has been recently published in October Hill Magazine, Marrow Magazine, New Pop Lit, and elsewhere.

The Silence Of The Sea, Kendalyn Murdock

Inscape

Kendalyn Murdock is (will be graduated as of June 2024) an English major at BYU. She was born and raised in southeast Idaho and has had a love for the written word since she learned the alphabet. She loves time outdoors exploring and time in books, similarly, exploring.