Digital Commons Network^™

"Balthazar, The Good Dragon", Jennifer Trahant

Liberty University Research Week

Dragons have long been portrayed as symbols of greed and destruction in mythology and literature, reinforcing the idea that they represent evil. However, this sculpture challenges that perception by drawing inspiration from children's literature such as Wings of Fire, The Fire Within, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Eragon, How to Train Your Dragon, and Pete’s Dragon. In these stories, dragons are often misunderstood, and feared due to human prejudice rather than their true nature.

"Howard Be Thy Name", Jennifer Trahant

Liberty University Research Week

A Biblical worldview recognizes the beauty in aging, viewing it not as a decline but as a testament to wisdom, resilience, and God’s faithfulness. Scripture affirms this perspective, as seen in Proverbs 16:31, “Gray hair is a crown of glory,” and Job 12:12, “Wisdom is with the aged.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us that “He has made everything beautiful in its time,” affirming that aging is part of God’s design. While physical beauty fades, the Lord confirms that time can emphasize the inner self's renewal. By honoring the marks of age, we embrace a perspective that values the depth, grace, and …

Listen, Katrina Mcmillen

Liberty University Research Week

There is a disparity of genuine communication between women and healthcare professionals. Although modern society claims equal access and opportunity for all genders, there is a large portion of women who continue to go unheard. Most healthcare professionals are not actively seeking sexist options when treating patients, yet many women are still being treated differently or not at all. Changing the current status quo begins with acknowledging the current situation women all around the world are experiencing. The Communication Objective is to display the struggle within the affected group. There is an outcry from women, observable across countries, to be …

Brand Campaign: Motorized Misfits, Rachel Rosenberger, Jenna Modrzejewski

Liberty University Research Week

We were tasked with creating a visual identity, branding and collateral for a fictitious nonprofit organization, called Motorized Misfits that is based in Atlanta, Georgia. This organization helps provide economically disadvantaged individuals gain access to transportation. This study was directed by studying the target audience and researching their preferences, relationships, age habits, geographical location, and socioeconomic background. We studied the media preferences of the age group as well as the financial background, the individual’s education level, and the relational status of the individual or if they have children. Prevalent social movements in the Atlanta region were also researched. This information …

Feathertop Character Design, Ariana Murphy

Liberty University Research Week

Feathertop, a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, suffers from a marked lack of high-quality illustrations to bring the story to life and public awareness. Despite having a strong mood and atmosphere, intriguing characters, and thought-provoking themes, it is a little-known story with much creative potential from a written and visual standpoint. The goal of this research project is to utilize the author’s rich descriptions of the main character, Feathertop, to create a memorable and endearing design which will serve as a launching off point for further illustrative development of the story.

Graceful Gold, Aunna Leach

Liberty University Research Week

Graceful Gold is a multi-layer painted glass Immersive & reflective experience. Using multiple layers of glass I have painted a goldfish, bubbles and black background onto four layers of glass creating a 3d view when seen, and a double goldfish reflection. Please see research notes for more information.

Painted Sky Jewelry, Aunna Leach

Liberty University Research Week

I was inspired to create a Native American jewelry set because of my great-grandmother, who was Native American. I created a necklace and ring set with my newfound skills that I developed at Liberty University. Please see Research notes for more information.

Fields Of Yesterday, Aunna Leach

Liberty University Research Week

This is a rustic style oil painting that depicts a hard working farmers field. View research papers for more info.

Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Students’ Satisfaction In Higher Education At The Uae, Saleha Saleh Alkarbi

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) students face unique challenges in higher education, particularly regarding accessibility, communication, and academic support. This study examines the levels of satisfaction among DHH students in UAE universities, focusing on key factors such as academic support, accessibility services, teaching methods, and inclusion efforts. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines quantitative data from 47 students surveyed and qualitative data from 18 students interviewed. The findings highlight key barriers, including the inconsistent availability of sign language interpreters, limited faculty awareness regarding the needs of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) students, and insufficient academic accommodations. Despite advancements in national policies …

Nathaniel Cooper

African American Funeral Programs

Handwritten Announcement; No Dates; No internet information located.

Ca Harmful Algae Risk Mapping (C-Harm), Clarissa Anderson Phd, Raphael M. Kudela

Benefits of Ocean Observing Catalog (BOOC)

The CA-Harmful Algae Risk Mapping (C-HARM) system generates predictions of harmful algal bloom (HAB) conditions in California and Southern Oregon coastal waters through a combination of 1) real-time circulation models that predict the ocean physics, i.e. the West Coast Operational Forecast System (WCOFS), 2) satellite remote-sensing data of the ocean “color” and chlorophyll patterns, and 3) statistical models for predicting bloom and toxin likelihoods. These predictions are generated daily to provide a forecast of where you might encounter a Pseudo-nitzschia bloom and/or domoic acid event in the next one to three days.

“Woman At Point Zero” Challenges Faulty Person Schemas, Josephine Ebersole

KU Inspires! Undergraduate Research Day

This paper explores how literature can challenge faulty-person schemas as defined by Mark Bracher through an analysis of Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi. The paper outlines how Saadawi pushes her readers to question faulty-person schemas and biases and also question the impact these schemas have on institutions and structures that are rooted in bias to oppress and control minorities. The main character in the novel, Firdaus, is a woman who fights against oppressive structures for her protection and freedom, and through humanizing such a character, Saadawi demonstrates how faulty-person schemas place inaccurate judgements on people and encourage …

Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives Of Imaginative Social Dreaming

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Transforming Futures Through Speculative Ypar: The Garage Story, Allison Joann Lester, Eden Kadosh, Atlas Suarez, Abigail Rubinstein

Occasional Paper Series

The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions for young people across the U.S., exacerbating feelings of isolation and disconnection. In response, the [Youth] Think Tank—a paid Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) internship—was launched in [city name]. Teens from diverse backgrounds came together to address the issues they and their peers were facing. This article chronicles the journey of the [Youth] Think Tank through each phase of its YPAR project, following the design process step-by-step as the group developed The [Hub]: a youth-designed space that fosters connection, safety, and belonging within the community. Starting from the program's inception, we trace how the teens …

Speculation Is Not Theoretical: The Work Of Ypar Moving Forward, Nicole Mirra

Occasional Paper Series

Nothing brought me more joy during my years as the coordinator of the UCLA Council of Youth Research than those moments when, after politely listening to my explanation of some theoretical concept that scholars have painstakingly defined and debated across years in the academy, the students would laugh and respond with some variation of, “Yeah, we get it. We know what they’re saying—they just use fancy language to say it.” Hegemony, social capital— whatever the concept, the youth could always tap into their own identities and experiences to understand that, stripped of all jargon, they already viscerally grasped these realities—the …

Crawl Spaces To Productive Ruptures: A Reflection To Remember Speculative Futures, Petra J. Lange, Erin Perry, Gregory Wickenkamp

Occasional Paper Series

Perhaps the greatest purpose of artistic expression is trying to make sense of the human experience. Art and storytelling construct and transform our realities. They take the noise of seemingly endless stimuli in our physical existence and identify patterns and meanings, and in so doing, wield incredible power. This is the exact reason censorship is a useful tool to the status quo and reactive. The state of Iowa put this tool to use in 2021 with the passage of House File 802, the law restricting so-called “divisive concepts” and the ability to explore systemic oppression in schools (Iowa Legislative Services …

“I’Ll Walk Out If You Walk Out”: A Comic On How Students Of Color Utilize Racial Micropolitical Literacy In Their Everyday Lives, Josephine Pham, Talitha Angelica Acaylar Trazo

Occasional Paper Series

Advocating for an expansive view of Youth Participatory Action Research that considers everyday practices in mundane life as essential for building just and thriving futures, the authors co-created a comic to illustrate the inventive ways youth of color co-create educational possibilities for racially just futures in everyday classroom life. Framed through a racial micropolitical literacy framework and based on a real-life narrative, their scholarship in comic form invites youth, practitioners, and scholars to re-frame and re-present learning, teaching, studying, and living educational justice in renewed ways. Specifically, the authors highlight the ingenious practices of youth of color who are already …

Social Imagining In “Youth Taking Action:” Documenting Immigrating And Settling Through A Hybrid Youth Participatory Action Research Project, Natacha Monestel Mora, Julia Iriarte, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Sediqa Temori, Mathias Abraha

Occasional Paper Series

This paper is a memoir of our experiences with Youth Taking Action (YTA), a YPAR program that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. YTA, a collaborative effort organized by a non-profit based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, provided a space for 6 newcomer youths and 4 immigrant adults to engage in active dialogue. Through these conversations, we explored stories of immigration and settlement, identified barriers that limit opportunities for young newcomers and discussed possible actions to address these issues. The youth also learned documentary filmmaking techniques, which helped them collect data and generate more dialogue. This process revealed that linguistic …

Actualizing Black Spatial Histories Through A Speculative Youth Archiving Project, Kaleb Germinaro, Alvin Logan, Jr.

Occasional Paper Series

For today’s youth, learning about one's history and culture is not always a given in the classroom. Many schools are learning spaces void of any cultural or spatial connection, particularly for Black students. This paper details an action-based summer archeology program hosted by the Burke Museum and Seattle Public Schools Liberatory Education Program that explored Black spatial histories through speculative youth archiving. Through key relationships with community organizations, students underwent a three-week program designed to allow students to develop their relationship with Black spatial histories and envision their role in creating and setting history in real-time. Using student interviews, the …

Así Querés Que Aprenda: Artivism As A Speculative Praxis, Ángela Shamira Morales Pereira, Ana Corona, Rodrigo Aleman

Occasional Paper Series

Así querés que aprenda (Is this how you want me to learn?): Artivism as a Speculative Praxis is a youth-led research project created by a community of young people from Centro Educativo de Capacitación, Arte y Producción (CECAP), an alternative school in Uruguay. The project's title is drawn from a poem written during the research process, where youth critically reflect on their educational experiences

Introduction: Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives Of Imaginative Social Dreaming, Ricardo Martinez, Ezequiel Aleman

Occasional Paper Series

The theme of Issue 53 of the Bank Street Occasional Paper Series, Speculative Youth Participatory Action Research: Narratives of Imaginative Social Dreaming, arose from our perception that many youths and teachers assumed that youth participatory action research (YPAR) was unattainable to them. We argue that, to the contrary, many have been living different forms of YPAR for years.

Navigating Public Sentiment: A Comparative Analysis Of Immigration Policy Perceptions In Canada And The United States (2017-2020), Jowan Mohammed Hussain

MA Research Paper

This paper examines the comparative perceptions of immigration policy in Canada and the United States from 2017 and 2020, focusing on how demographic factors such as age, sex, education, and occupation influence public attitudes. Utilizing data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey, the study employs multinomial logistic regression models to interpret predicted probabilities. The findings reveal that women, younger individuals (18-29 years), and those with higher education levels generally exhibit more positive attitudes towards immigration policies. In contrast, older individuals (50 and over) and those in certain occupational categories, such as skilled and unskilled workers, tend to …

Intimate Partner Violence And Patriarchy: A Macro-Level Analysis, Tian Yi Xu

MA Research Paper

Past studies of intimate partner violence (IPV) have extensively examined causes at the individual, interpersonal, and community levels. However, as a worldwide issue, a complete understanding of IPV cannot be obtained without investigating macro-level causes and international variations. Thus, I examined national-level patriarchal beliefs as a macro-level societal cause of IPV. The research question is do national-level patriarchal beliefs in a country affect its IPV rate? To answer the question, I extracted variables from the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx), the World Values Survey (WVS), and the Quality of Government Dataset (QoG) and analyzed them using quantitative linear regressions with …

Racial Inequities In Canadian Academia: The Case For Examining Within Discipline Variation, Sydney O. Joao Ms

MA Research Paper

Racialized faculty often earn less than their white counterparts due to a lifetime of structural, social, and institutional inequities presenting barriers to success within a given university. This research aims to explore the mechanisms and processes that help to explain the expected residual differences in income for faculty based on race, gender, and discipline. Focusing on one Southwestern Ontario university, I control for several factors such as faculty members' salaries over 5 years, year of graduation, type of degree, rank, type of employment, number of job changes, appointment, gender, visible minority status, and citations. Publicly available data was compiled from …

Promising Young Woman And The Structural Failure To Protect Women, Josephine Ebersole

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

This paper explores Emerald Fennel's film Promising Young Woman and the relationship between women and male violence and how male violence is protected by misogynistic structures, specifically in the case of sexual assault. The paper argues that institutions and structures that are rooted in patriarchy and misogyny are fundamentally unable to protect women from the actions of violent men, both in the film and in reality.

Program Booklet, Kutztown University Of Pennsylvania

KUCC -- Kutztown University Composition Conference

PDF of Program Booklet

Black Women Are Supreme: An Empirical Examination Of Black Women's Evaluations Of Ketanji Brown Jackson, Christine M. Slaughter, Camille Burge-Hicks, Nadia E. Brown

ConLawNOW

This article discusses research on the nomination of the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. The study examines how emotions and feelings of connectedness to racial and gender groups shaped evaluations of the historic nomination. The research finds that Black women were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about Jackson’s nomination, but that enthusiasm was attenuated by a wide range of variables like interest in politics and the interplay between racial and gender identity. It analyzes how linked fate, a sense of connection to one’s racial group, is associated with the evaluations of the Jackson nomination. The study finds that Black …

28 - Game Design Program, Kat Little

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Our Game Design presentation will provide an interactive and engaging experience that showcases student work and encourages discussion about game development. The booth will be structured into three distinct sections:

1. Game Jam Winner Showcase: A laptop will be set up for attendees to play the first-place game from the recent Game Jam. This will highlight the creativity and talent within our student community.

2. NetTech Warriors Display: This section will feature materials related to the NetTech Warriors project, including visuals, documentation, and insights into its development.

3. Student Work Video Montage: A monitor will continuously play a video montage of student projects, …

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12 - Hydrogen Energy Lab, Xiaoyu Zhang

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Research Lab Showcase

01 - Design Of Ion-Sieve For Selective Adsorption Of Lithium From Geothermal Brine, Agyare Asante, Abigail Berardi, Jayla Standin, Elliott Walker, Alvin Spruill, Ujjwal Pokharel, Sandeep Kumar

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The growing demand for lithium-ion batteries necessitates efficient and sustainable lithium extraction technologies. Geothermal brines provide an alternative lithium source; however, their complex ionic composition challenges selective lithium recovery. Hydrogen manganese oxides (H₄Mn_4.5O₁₂) are widely studied as lithium-ion sieves due to their high selectivity for lithium ions. Still, its structural instability and manganese dissolution during adsorption-desorption cycles limit long-term performance. This study introduced zirconium (Zr) doping into the spinel-type Li₄Mn₅O₁₂ precursor through a one-step calcination process (450 °C for 24 hours at 10 °C min^-1), ensuring an …