Digital Commons Network^™

Testing Resilience Of Microalgae Biofilms When Exposed To Hydrothermal Liquefaction Aqueous Phase, Davis Haag

Student Research Symposium

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a process that transforms wet biomass into a mixture of aqueous phase (AP), biochar solids, biocrude oil, and biogas.

The HTL process is not economically viable on a large scale partially because the HTL-AP is a toxic waste product with no current use.

The HTL-AQ contains high amounts of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), but also environmental toxins such as phenolic compounds. The N and P could potentially be used to grow algae if it can survive the toxins.

Rotating algal biofilm reactors (RABRs) provide a method to grow algae biomass as a biofilm on plastic …

Cocoa Polyphenols Modulate The Gut Microbiome In A Site-Specific Manner In Mice, Marcus Hayden

Student Research Symposium

Gut Health and the Microbiome

• Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in the United States; early-onset CRC is also on the rise [1].
• Colitis-associated CRC is defined as CRC that arises from inflammation of the colon.
• A Western-type diet has been shown to exacerbate colitis.
• Metabolites of the gut microbiome contain anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties [2].
• Diet is a key factor in the gut microbiome composition.
• Polyphenols in cocoa may restore the gut microbiome composition from pre-existing dysbiosis.
• More research is needed to study how dietary cocoa supplementation modulates the microbiome across several sites of the …

Chemical-Mediated Mate Attraction In Clover Root Curculio; Sitona Hispidulus (F.), A Below Ground Pest, Kristin Leutgeb

Student Research Symposium

Few control options

• Registration of broad-spectrum soil fumigant insecticides discontinued
• Effective monitoring is time- and resource-intensive

Crop damage from feeding on root nodules by soil-dwelling CRC larvae

• Nodules are a symbiotic relationship between the plant and rhizobia, which provide nitrogen to the plant host
• Curculionid beetles can sense the nodules

Mating by pheromones. CRC produces contact and volatile chemicals for mating and egg laying (oviposition).

• Utilize pheromone during active mating above ground

Building Community Through Athletic Activities, Alyssa Taylor

Student Research Symposium

Community is important to mental, physical, and social wellbeing.

Variable Drought Impacts On Stream Habitat Across The Northwestern Us, Sophia Withers

Student Research Symposium

The United States has been in a continuous drought since 2002. Stream quality, specifically in the context of fish habitat, depends on many variables, including vegetation quality. Drought conditions affect vegetation conditions, however it is unclear how drought conditions impact stream habitat quality for fish. Objectives for my project include:

• How does stream habitat quality relate to drought across National Forests of the Northwestern US?
• Has drought increased impacts on riparian vegetation over the past 20 years?

Can Chinese Be Learned Through Card Game Play?, Sixin Fu

Student Research Symposium

Learning environments play a vital role in students’ learning experience to engage and enhance learning. Implementing games as a learning tool has a substantial impact on students' learning (Lukas et al., 2020). Research indicate that students demonstrate increased engagement in language learning when games are integrated in the learning process (Karyati & Rachmawati, 2019). The use of games introduces cultural contexts that facilitate meaningful collaborative conversations among learners (Poole, et al., 2019). This paper investigates whether Chinese can be learned through card gameplay.

What Are The Demographic Characteristics Of Us State Legislatures That Introduce Anti-Transgender Legislation?, Sophie Christensen

Student Research Symposium

Do demographic factors of state legislatures such as proportion of female members, proportion of LGBTQ+ members, proportion of POC, etc., effect how much anti-trans legislation is introduced by the legislature? Do these effects vary based on the party composition and control of the legislature?

The Effects Of Including Sprouted Barley In The Diets Of Feeder Lambs, Zachary Crump

Student Research Symposium

Introduction

• Why do we care about sustainable agriculture?
• Increased population, and decreased available resources make production difficult to keep up with demand (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012).
• Lamb demand has increased 38% from 2012-2022 in the United States (Agriculture 2024)
• New technology can increase crop intensification to help production meet demand.

Assessing The Promise And Pitfalls Of Chatgpt For Automated Cs1-Driven Code Generation, Fawad Khan, Max Ramsdell

Student Research Symposium

Definition and Overview of Large Language Models:

• Large Language Models (LLMs) are advanced AI algorithms designed to understand, generate, and interact with human language at a vast scale.

The Evolution of LLMs:

• The development of LLMs has progressed
• 1960 - Basic LLM - basic predictive text functions
• 2017- Transformers - Core model powering ChatGPT introduced
• 2022 - ChatGPT context-aware systems

Emotions In Human-Human And Human-Ai Collaboration: Insights For Collaborative Design, Saríah López-Fierro

Student Research Symposium

Emotions are important to collaboration. They influence intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics (van Kleef et. al., 2022). Both positive and negative emotions impact individuals' behaviors and the effectiveness of group interactions (Caballero et al., 2021).

Few studies have examined emotions in human-AI collaboration. Our work explores emotions in collaboration with a Generative AI tool (OpenAI's GPT-4) in design writing contexts.

Coding And Math In Elementary School: Relationships Among Mathematical, Spatial, And Computational Thinking, Anahita Ashineh

Student Research Symposium

Research shows that spatial thinking (ST) is foundational to mathematics learning¹ and computational thinking (CT) and can help students learn math more deeply². Few studies look at how students use ST, CT, and math knowledge (MK) concurrently. This project is working with teachers to co-design integrated CT, ST, and MK lessons to study how students use ST, CT, and MK and how their knowledge develops over time.

Goal: To empirically develop, test, and refine a CT learning trajectory for elementary students (grades 1-2) that integrates ST & MK.

The Dynamic Interplay Of Self-Regulated Learning, Academic Emotions, And Cognitive Load Theory In Student Learning, Shaf Ahmed

Student Research Symposium

The Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the dynamic interaction between SRL, academic emotions, and CLT to address a significant gap in educational research, focusing on their collective impact on student learning.
• Examine the complex, bidirectional relationships among academic emotions, SRL, and CLT, considering their changes over time and across different educational contexts.
• Advance understanding of student engagement and learning outcomes by merging theoretical insights with practical strategies for educators, aiming for a comprehensive approach.
• Develop targeted educational interventions by offering a holistic perspective that integrates key psychological and cognitive factors, tailored to meet the needs of students in diverse settings. …

What Are The Implications Of Carrying Over A Credit Card Balance For Emerging Adults During Covid-19?, Olyessa Carter

Student Research Symposium

Emerging adults who carried over their credit card balances reported lower levels of financial satisfaction than those who did not carry over their balances.

Journeys Of Domestic Violence Survivors In Uintah County, Jessie Miller

Student Research Symposium

This two-phase research project was a collaboration between the Uintah Basin Domestic Violence Coalition (UBDVC), Friends Against Family Violence (FAFV), and USU Transforming Communities Institute (TCI).

Data provided by FAFV showed an increase in DV related services – monthly case management services rose from 69.25 - 293.33.

Patterns Of Fruit And Vegetable Incentive Use By Consumers With Low-Incomes, Sarah Moore Smith

Student Research Symposium

Situation:

• 9.5% or 316,980 Utahns are food insecure. That’s 1 in every 11 people who are experiencing hunger.¹
• Hunger is often accompanied by poor diet quality as a result of inadequate access or resources to purchase nutrient dense foods² (i.e. fruits and vegetables, F&V).

Public Health Response:

• Utah Double-Up Food Bucks (Double-Up) addresses this situation by providing a monetary incentive to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers to purchase fresh F&V. Double Up matches the amount of SNAP EBT withdrawn (up to $30) to be spent on F&V.
• Double Up has resulted in:
• New farmers market customers
• Increased …

Preliminary Coding In Modeling Responsive Teaching In A Theory-Building Context: A Constructivist Grounded Approach, Ravi Sinha, Idris Solola

Student Research Symposium

• Theory-building practices such as modeling are central to the Next Generation Science Standards^[3]. This is a powerful context for responsive teaching (RT), where teachers elicit and refine students’ prior knowledge.^[5]
• While research has previously characterized teachers’ RT^[4] , the granularity of analyses has been large and the studies do not illuminate RT moves in a theory-building context.
• We draw on the constructivist theory of Knowledge in Pieces (KiP)^[1], which views knowledge as a complex system of elements drawn into networks based on the sense-making demands of a particular context and learning as the progressive …

Analyzing Latinx Outdoor Participation In The U.S., Alyssa Taylor, Bailey Sturges

Student Research Symposium

Outdoor recreation is an emerging part of mental health research and has become vital to many individual's discovery of self and belonging. Research finds improvements in mood, cognition, and behavior associated with nature based recreation.

Latinx individuals make up more than 18% of the current U.S. population but are expected to grow to more than 28% by 2050. Only 11% of Latinx individuals participate in outdoor recreation activities.

Latinx people have experienced barriers to accessing outdoor recreation. These barriers take the form of distance, finances, discrimination, free time, and knowledge. Some experience fear of outdoor recreation areas due to fear …

Motor/Movement Planning Study, Brooke Vankampen, Landen Winder

Student Research Symposium

What is Motor Planning? Motor planning is the process by which humans organize and create movement sequences for tasks to be performed and goals achieved.

Offshore Wind Farm Pycnocline Mixing From Varied Flow Types, Laura Lundahl

Student Research Symposium

As the demand for sustainable low carbon energy grows, offshore wind farms (OWFs) are becoming increasingly popular and are being pushed into stratified regions where a pycnocline exists (Figure 1). These wind farms may cause turbulent mixing of the pycnocline, which will harm the phytoplankton ecosystem. This project quantifies pycnocline mixing to gain knowledge of effective methods for mitigating harmful effects.

Assessing Chatgpt As A Programming Exercise Generator, Maxwell Ramsdell, Fawad Khan

Student Research Symposium

Motivation

• Proximal Zone of Development
• Teaching Efficiency
• Cross-Discipline Applications

For these to work, we need to evaluate the effectiveness with which chatGPT writes coding exercises

Examining The Impact Of Weather And Air Quality On University Commuters' Travel Behavior, Atul Subedi

Student Research Symposium

Introduction

• Understanding Transportation Choices: Essential for creating a compatible (socially and environmentally) transportation system.
• Role of Weather and Air Quality: Key factors affecting travel behavior.
• Commuting Options to Utah State University (USU): Diverse, including private, public and active modes (walking and bicycling)
• Research Aim: Investigate how weather and air quality influence university commuter choice decision.

Teaching A Computer To Do Mechanics, Andrew Watson

Student Research Symposium

Classical Mechanics

- Used for determining motion of objects

- Three Main Formulations of Classical Mechanics

• Newtonian Mechanics: Revolves around Newton’s 2nd Law (F = ma)
• Lagrangian Mechanics: Revolves around the Lagrangian
• Hamiltonian Mechanics: Revolves around the Hamiltonian

- Hamiltonian Mechanics provides the most powerful view of mechanics – but it’s complicated!

• My goal is to get the computer to do Hamiltonian Mechanics.

Effects Of Process Design And Light Quality On Biomass Growth And Nutrient Uptake In Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors, Emily Hanson, Hayden Harrison, Colby Hamson, Shanelle Sorensen

Student Research Symposium

Goal: Produce algae, to be used as bioproducts, from wastewater containing high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous. Determine if a single-stage or a two-stage reactor has a higher algae biomass yield.

Approach: Use single-stage and two-stage reactors to conduct experiments in triplicate to determine the reactor design that leads to the highest biomass yield and nutrient uptake.

Quasi-Static Compression Performance Of Three Subscale Origami-Inspired Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer, Chase Mortensen

Student Research Symposium

Sandwich-structured composites are made of a lightweight core material between two thin composite panels. Variants of the Ori-Miura folding pattern have been investigated and compared to both the traditional Miura folding pattern (Fig. 1) and the more commonly used core design, the honeycomb. While the honeycomb design is favored over the Miura folding pattern and its variants due to its simple shape and better performance in compression, honeycomb cores also present drawbacks that are detrimental to the integrity of the sandwich structure. These drawbacks include, but are not limited to:

• Honeycomb cores consist of closed channels trapping moisture and heat. …

Optical Distortion In High-Magnification Camera-Based Deformation, Brayden Monson

Student Research Symposium

DIC (Digital Image Correlation): By randomly speckling a specimen with paint, we can track how each speckle of paint moves via a camera and, thus, how a material deforms in different conditions.

Advantage of DIC: Traditional methods of measuring material properties cannot be used in extreme conditions, such as in high-temperature or radiation chambers. DIC does not have this limitation, by virtue of using a camera and being non-contacting.

Optical Properties:

Refraction: Light bends as it goes through a material, creating distortion

Reflection: Parts of light reflects when entering a new medium, reducing the quality …

Licensing Barriers Among Social Workers In San Juan Co., Sariah Tillotson

Student Research Symposium

Research Question

What are the barriers for rural social workers seeking licensure in San Juan County, Utah?

Investigating Geomorphic Controls On The Luminescence Properties Of Quartz Sand In A River System, Jenna Mills

Student Research Symposium

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz sand grains is used to date young deposits across disciplines in geology and archaeology. OSL dating requires that the quartz mineral is sensitized, or pre-conditioned to produce a luminescence signal following exposure to ionizing radiation. The geological processes that enhance the OSL sensitivity (photons released per given radiation dose and sediment mass) remain uncertain. Our Research Objectives are to investigate the geomorphic controls (bedrock source, fluvial transport, and hillslope processes) on OSL sensitivity using sediment collected along the Pagliara River in NE Sicily.

The Pagliara catchment (13km²) is tectonically active and …

Floating Homes | A Response To Rising Sea Levels, Caroline Nemelka

Student Research Symposium

Every year, an average of 25 million people are displaced by disasters, typically extreme weather events like floods and storms. By the century’s end, flooding alone could displace up to 50 million people. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), higher seas are projected to displace or impact approximately 680 million individuals residing in low-lying coastal zones by 2100. Studying nations like the Netherlands, known for its innovative land reclamation and flood management strategies, can provide valuable insights into addressing this impending housing crisis. Using this information allowed for a community of hypothetical floating homes to …

Impact Of Snac On Physical And Mental Health, Halle Larson, Kaylee West

Student Research Symposium

Food insecurity is a common occurrence among college students and may have profound impacts on a student’s physical and mental well-being. It is vital that college campuses create not only access to food, but a culture of food security among students and student service organizations. Many institutions are striving to provide food assistance to their students and create this culture through a variety of methods. Ninety seven percent of institutions involved in programs to fight food insecurity implement a food pantry to combat this issue, but only 54% track the impact of their food pantries. Through this study, the impact …

Wave Properties Of 2019 Southern Ssw Event, Gabriel Decker

Student Research Symposium

Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events are extreme increases in polar stratospheric temperatures (10s of Kelvins) over several days. They happen nearly yearly in the Northern Hemisphere, but they’re rare in the Southern.

Planetary Waves (PWs) are large-scale perturbations of the atmospheric dynamical structure that extend coherently around a full longitude circle. (A. K. Smith, 2003)

The exact relationship between SSWs and PWs is not known, but in September 2019, there was a Southern Hemispheric SSW (2^nd ever recorded) which coincided with a strong PW activity. In this investigation, we examined the PW to better understand whether this PW activity …