Stander Symposium: Projects with UD Institutional Learning Goals

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  Silent Struggles: Stigma, Mental Health Disclosure, and Social Support in Older Adulthood

  Dori Miller

  As the global population ages, mental health concerns among older adults have become an increasingly important public health issue. Despite growing awareness of mental health stigma, little research has explored how older adults navigate stigma, selective disclosure, and social support in the context of mental health. Stigma, including both public and internalized stigma, can significantly impact older adults' willingness to seek mental health support, often leading to selective disclosure—the decision to reveal or conceal mental health struggles based on concerns about social acceptance. This study applies Stigma Management Communication (SMC) theory (Meisenbach, 2010) and the conceptual framework of social support (Taylor, 2011) to examine how older adults manage disclosure and the role of social networks in shaping these decisions.Using qualitative methods, this research employs semi-structured interviews with adults aged 65 and older to explore their lived experiences with mental health stigma, disclosure strategies, and social support. This approach provides an in-depth understanding of how stigma influences help-seeking behaviors and interpersonal relationships. Findings from this study will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how older adults negotiate mental health disclosure, maintain social connections, and mitigate stigma’s negative effects.Addressing this gap in the literature is critical for developing stigma-reduction strategies and ensuring that mental health interventions are inclusive and effective for older adults. Without addressing these challenges, older adults may continue to experience barriers to care, leading to increased isolation and unmet mental health needs. By shedding light on these issues, this study aims to inform policies, healthcare practices, and social support initiatives that foster a more supportive environment for aging individuals. Ultimately, this research seeks to promote mental health equity, social inclusion, and improved well-being for older adults navigating mental health challenges in later life.

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  Single-ended in-situ atmospheric turbulence strength characterization using deep neural networks.

  Prabjeet Saggu

  In Free Space Optical (FSO) communication systems, precise characterization of atmospheric turbulence strength is essential for propagation systems. This study investigates the use of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) to evaluate atmospheric turbulence strength by analyzing scintillation patterns observed in double-pass laser beam propagation scenarios. Objective of this project to develop a DNN-based sensing data processing model capable of predicting the strength of atmospheric turbulence (��_��^2​) from simulated scintillation patterns in two distinct scenarios: single pass propagation and double pass propagation systems.

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  Skechers Closing Stock Price Forecasting Using Time Series Analysis

  Sydney Dobyns

  This study analyzes the historical closing stock price of Skechers to develop a predictive model for future price movements. The dataset spans from the early 2000s to December 31, 2019, and we will forecast stock closing price for the period 2020-2023. Analyzing the dataset reveals that the original time series is non-stationary which requires transformation before applying forecasting models. Various time series models are evaluated based on performance metrics such as Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Percentage Error (MPE), and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). By comparing these models we aim to determine the most accurate approach for predicting Skechers' future stock prices. Given the ever-changing nature of the retail industry, where consumer trends, economic conditions, and competition continuously fluctuates. It is important to develop a reliable forecasting method. Accurate predictions can assist investors, business leaders, and analysts in making informed decisions, allowing them to better navigate market uncertainties and strategize for future growth.

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  Social Emotional Learning in Elementary School

  Molly O'Riordan

  Implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) in elementary schools fosters students' emotional well-being, improves behavior, and enhances academic performance. This literature review focuses on the importance of starting SEL programs at a young age. As well as how SEL programs help children develop critical skills such as self-regulation, empathy, and interpersonal communication, leading to a positive classroom environment and better overall student outcomes both academically and socially.

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  Social Media and Its Effect on Political Engagement

  Brianna Comstock, Jessica Snyder

  This research investigates how social media effects political engagement, polarization, and discourse. It is a secondary study that utilizes data from The Civic Network: A Comparative Study of the Use of Social Media for Enhancing Young People's Political Engagement (Australia, United Kingdom, and United States, 2013).

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  Social Media Engagement with Traumatic Brain Injury Prevention, Recovery, and Community Re-Entry Resources

  Emma Braden

  Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) can result in cognitive, physical, and social-emotional effects that last a lifetime. Inefficient resources can be a significant barrier to care. Internet use, particularly social media, has become an effective way to communicate essential and educational information. Social media can foster connection among those affected by TBIs. Researchers evaluated engagement via analytics on three social media sites on three different platforms that shared information on TBI prevention, recovery, and community re-entry resources. The results of an ANOVA indicated significantly higher engagement when posts were boosted (p = <.001). There was also higher engagement across Facebook and Instagram when compared to Twitter/X. No significant differences were found among engagement across content types; therefore, TBI content creators should continue to post resources relating to prevention, post-injury, statistics, and general information. This study indicated that Facebook and Instagram may be the best social media sites suited to disperse boosted traumatic brain injury resources and content, bridging the gap between healthcare and community.

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  Social Work Advocacy Day: Applying the Social Work Framework to Advocate for Change

  Fiona Ackroyd, Morgan DiRocco, Madelyn Hales, Abiageal Newell

  In this project prepared for SWK 310, we share our reflections and insights gained from our experience participating in the Social Work Advocacy Day in Columbus, Ohio in March 2025. During our trip we attended advocacy training and planning sessions and met with state legislators and/or their staff. This presentation details our experiences at Advocacy Day, outlines an area of advocacy, and describes how we advocated for change through the lens of the Social Work framework.

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  Social Work Advocacy Day: Applying the Social Work Framework to Advocate for Change

  Lindsey Beattie, Ella Donnelly, Julia Fabian, Courtney Thompson

  In this project prepared for SWK 310, we share our reflections and insights gained from our experience participating in the Social Work Advocacy Day in Columbus, Ohio in March 2025. During our trip we attended advocacy training and planning sessions and met with state legislators and/or their staff. This presentation details our experiences at Advocacy Day, outlines an area of advocacy, and describes how we advocated for change through the lens of the Social Work framework.

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  Social Work Advocacy Day: Applying the Social Work Framework to Advocate for Change

  Oumoulkhairy Diop, Amelia Frazier, Destiny Rivera, Emma Viale

  In this project prepared for SWK 310, we share our reflections and insights gained from our experience participating in the Social Work Advocacy Day in Columbus, Ohio in March 2025. During our trip we attended advocacy training and planning sessions and met with state legislators and/or their staff. This presentation details our experiences at Advocacy Day, outlines an area of advocacy, and describes how we advocated for change through the lens of the Social Work framework.

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  Social Work Advocacy Day: Applying the Social Work Framework to Advocate for Change

  Kerry Durkin, Tyler Leffew, Caitlin Sheehan, Elijah Sobecki

  In this project prepared for SWK 310, we share our reflections and insights gained from our experience participating in the Social Work Advocacy Day in Columbus, Ohio in March 2025. During our trip we attended advocacy training and planning sessions and met with state legislators and/or their staff. This presentation details our experiences at Advocacy Day, outlines an area of advocacy, and describes how we advocated for change through the lens of the Social Work framework.

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  Social Work Advocacy on Campus: Applying the Social Work Framework to Evaluate Student Mental Health Policy

  Evie McCombs, Lianna Shakoor, Serenity West

  In this project prepared for SWK 310, we evaluate a law/policy that impacts the campus community through the lens of the Social Work framework. We discuss the impact of these policies on the campus community as well as on relevant human services, we review the history of the law/policy, and we lay out a recommendation and advocacy plan to promote positive change.

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  Soviet Nostalgia and how it is being leveraged to legitimize the war in Ukraine and Russian Expansionism

  Liza Wisniewski

  The collapse of the USSR has remained prevalent in Vladimir Putin’s political strategy throughout his career. In his extended presidency, he has worked hand in hand with the Kremlin to promote a newly revised history of the past century. His administration can be seen using the concept of nostalgia for the Soviet Union to justify the violence of Russian Expansion in the 21st century. This research paper will dive into case studies surrounding the war in Ukraine and the occupation of Georgian Territories. The main goal of this research is to understand the manipulation tactics of the Russian government and how they are shaping public opinion through tactical historical changes in order to gain support for the ongoing wars and occupation. Vladimir Putin has taken the collective memory of the Russian people and strategically reshaped it to attempt to serve expansionist ideologies. This research is being conducted by consulting peer-reviewed academic journals and observing current trends and news stories coming out of Russian media. Observing the narratives and framing techniques used in Russian news sources and comparing them with peer-reviewed academic journals provides the primary evidence for this research. This research recognizes many patterns of disinformation. These patterns support the claim that Soviet Nostalgia and World War II rhetoric are being used as propaganda to justify the war to the Global community. The significance of this work is directly related to the current geopolitical landscape with Russia in its third year of the Ukrainian invasion. The concept of Soviet nostalgia and how it is being used for manipulation can be seen plainly throughout Putin’s administration. Understanding the phenomenon is crucial in analyzing the geopolitical movements shaping the international community today.

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  S.S.S.S.: Student South Side Safety

  Ama Amponsah, India Gantt, Kahra Loding, Abigail Totte, Lily Yoder

  In this class project for SOC 324: Communities & Crime, we worked to identify a crime problem or a plan to promote safety that is pertinent to our own community. We applied relevant social science theories in order to understand how to promote continued safety in Campus South Apartments. Based on these theoretical explanations, we offer strategies to to enhance community safety, as well as an action plan to implement our recommended solutions.

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  Static Scenes with Dynamic Perceptions

  Kunal Agrawal

  In this paper, we explore how computers can recognize motion illusions in static images—pictures that trick our eyes into seeing movement. To study this, we created a new dataset called MISS, which includes images with and without motion illusions. We tested advanced deep learning models to see how well they could identify these illusions and also checked whether color plays an important role. Our results show that these models are good at spotting motion illusions, especially when the images are in color. This highlights the importance of color in helping machines understand motion in still pictures.

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  Stay With Me! A qualitative study on the retention of young adults in a historically black organization.

  Marnisha Mintlow

  This dissertation explores the factors influencing the retention of Black women under 40 in a historically Black nonprofit organization. Using a qualitative approach, surveys were conducted with current members to identify the organizational, social, and personal dynamics that contribute to their continued motivation and engagement. The study examines themes such as inclusion, motivation, engagement and background within the organization. Findings highlight sisterhood, internal values, dedication and the organization's mission statement, offering insights into how historically Black nonprofits can better support and retain this critical demographic, fostering a more inclusive environment. This research aims to inform retention strategies that address both individual aspirations and organizational needs.

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  STEM Unit On Optimizing School Transportation

  Kailey Peppard, Brent Wippel, Trent Wood

  Our Project is focused on an educational Unit Plan that integrates aspects of STEM education into the lesson while also having a focus on the social justice background of having an environmentally friendly school transportation system. School transportation is a problem, especially in urban areas, where many students are not afforded this opportunity. After learning about the effects of air pollution on the environment and the importance of students having access to transportation, students will work in groups to optimize bus routes for their school to save time and energy. Using an integrated STEM approach, students will utilize knowledge and strategies from content-specific areas to produce efficient transportation models to meet the needs of the school community.

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  Strain Sensing with Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EgaIn) for Wearable Electronics

  Ashok Rathanlal

  EGaIn (Eutectic Gallium-Indium) is a liquid metal alloy composed of gallium and indium, which remains in its liquid state at room temperature. This unique property allows EGaIn to maintain its fluidity and adapt to different shapes, making it highly versatile for various applications. When subjected to strain, EGaIn experiences a change in resistance, with the direction and magnitude of the strain determining the extent of this resistance change. Although the resistance change is relatively small, it can be precisely measured with specialized electronics and careful design. This makes EGaIn ideal for use in flexible and stretchable electronics, where it can be patterned into specific shapes to act as a sensitive strain sensor, opening up possibilities for its integration into wearable technologies.

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  Strength of Faith and its Relationship to Universal Religious Behavior

  Yaralin Urena

  After searching the advances of religion and behavior there seems to be insufficient research that is inclusive of major worldwide religions when addressing discrepancies between belief and behavior. The main objective of this project is to investigate universal religious practices and how these underlie major world religions. Specifically, it seeks to study the relationship between individual’s identified religious beliefs including, strength of faith (i.e., high vs. low), religious motivation (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic), and their perceived related behavior within ritualistic practices (i.e., high ritualistic involvement vs. low ritualistic involvement) and prosocial behavior (i.e., high altruism vs. low altruism).

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  Stress, Saliva, and Spirits: The Effects of Acute Psychosocial Stress on Alcohol Craving, Motivation to Consume Alcohol, and Physiological Correlates

  Olivia Dobiesz

  Stress has been identified as an important risk factor for the onset and maintenance of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Accordingly, the present study seeks to explore the link between stress and alcohol-related measures, specifically by analyzing how fluctuations in subjective and biological measures of stress affect craving and choice for alcohol.The present study utilizes a variation of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to acutely induce stress in participants. Participants will be randomly assigned to complete either the TSST or a non-stress equivalent procedure which will serve as the control. Saliva samples will be collected in order to assess fluctuations in the stress biomarker alpha amylase in response to the TSST. Heart rate and heart rate variation will also be measured throughout the experimental session as an additional measure of the physiological stress response. Participants will be asked to fill out a series of questionnaires pertaining to perceived levels of stress, anxiety, and affect before and after completing the TSST. Upon completion of the TSST, participants will complete a series of alcohol-related questionnaires that measure: frequency of alcohol use, magnitude of alcohol craving, risk for developing AUD, anticipated effects of alcohol use, hypothetical alcohol choice behavior, occurrence of negative alcohol-related consequences, and level of engagement in non-drug related activities. We expect to see an increase in subjective and physiological markers of stress post-TSST, correlated with an increase in alcohol craving in those who are at-risk for developing AUD. The aforementioned measures will allow us to identify factors that may influence the decision to consume alcohol or engage in non-alcohol related activities. In turn, this would allow us to develop a more complete understanding of the relationship between stress and alcohol-related behaviors which may relate to the development of AUD.

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  Stretchable Electronic Systems Enabling Rigid Electronic Payloads

  Adin Stoller

  Recent innovations in the space of Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing have resulted in increasing print complexity and resolution as well as an ever-expanding library of materials from which to print. While this has dramatic implications for every field supported by AM, the field of Soft and Wearable Robotics (SWR) has considerable potential to benefit from continued innovations in AM. 3D-printing methods, such as Digital Light Processing (DLP) in particular, enable developers to design and print complex structural components for SWR systems. Unlike other AM methods, such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), DLP allows for the selection of a wide range of elastomeric materials optimized for SWR needs (e.g., high strain, extreme temperatures, and self-healing).Additive Manufacturing has long allowed for the creation of basic SWR prototypes, such as pneumatically actuated fingers. With the integration of rigid electronic payloads and stretchable electronic circuits into AM elastomeric substrates (which are inherently insulators), these components will have the ability to sense and react to their environment in unprecedented ways. The next generation of soft robotics will be enabled by novel approaches to adding conductivity to additively manufactured soft robotic structures. With the creation of SWR material systems with embedded electronics, these new “electronic materials” have a wide range of possible applications, including strain sensing, capacitive touch, and stretchable heaters. Thus, developments in the fabrication of these components are necessary to fully realize the capability of SWR systems.

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  Students’ Sense of Belonging on Campus: Balancing Family Dynamics and Academic Success

  Emma Viale

  This study explores the unique challenges college students face while balancing academic responsibilities with home obligations. It is a complex topic that extends beyond the research documenting the stress of work-life balance in adults. Specifically, it explores how students' individual experiences with family dynamics and home stressors influence their sense of belonging and academic success. Through a combination of existing literature and in-depth interviews, this research seeks to answer the following questions: How do family dynamics and external stressors shape students' sense of belonging and academic achievement? How do students navigate these challenges? Using in-depth qualitative interviews to investigate varying family obligations, household conflicts, and financial pressures, this study provides insights into how these factors contribute to students’ overall success and well-being in college.

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  Superpoint-Based Region Growing for Point Cloud Labeling

  Alison Hardie

  LAser Detection And Ranging (LADAR) is widely used in fields such as forestry, topographic mapping, autonomous driving, urban planning, robotics, and object recognition. Automated tools are needed to label and process this data, as manual labeling is tedious and time consuming. Region growing is a widely used technique for both 2D and 3D segmentation. In seeded region growing, segmentation begins at a seed point, and similar neighbors are iteratively added to the region. This approach is applied here using superpoints generated by SuperPoint Transformer (SPT). The use of superpoints improves processing efficiency and captures features on a larger scale. In this method, the user clicks on an object to select a seed point. Geometric features are used to define a similarity metric which guides the iterative region expansion, including neighboring superpoints that meet the similarity criteria. This approach enhances LADAR segmentation and labeling, making the process more efficient and scalable.

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  Supporting Students with ADHD for Multiple Age Groups

  Mark Rutherford

  ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder a commonly identified learning disability amongst the US student population. This project reviews strategies that support students who are identified with ADHD in the classroom and include inviting therapy dogs to the classroom, playing music, dimming the lights, and many others. These strategies can positively affect the student's attention span and productivity in the classroom.

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  Supports and Strategies for Learners with ADHD

  Lillian Setser

  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common disorders among school age children. This literature review describes supports and strategies teachers can use to meet the needs of students with ADHD, such as structured routines, clear and detailed instructional techniques, and academic, social, and emotional support systems inside and outside of the classroom. It also highlights the importance of fostering collaboration among teachers, parents, and counseling professionals to create an equitable education for students with ADHD.

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  SURF Cohort - Stable Isotope Analysis on Groundwater-Surface Water Dynamics Reveal Distinct Flow Paths in a Riparian Floodplain

  Lizbeth Ramos-Ortiz

  Groundwater-surface water dynamics relevant to nutrient fate and transport remain poorly understood regarding factors that influence the recharge and discharge rates of water as it travels between the surface and the ground. We therefore investigated temporal and spatial dynamics of water flow and quality on a plot of agricultural land which borders the Great Miami River in Trenton, Ohio. The site comprises alluvial sediments atop Ordovician shale bedrock, which are synonymous with a low permeability rates and longer groundwater residence times. While farmers rent the site for growing staple crops along the 113 acres of land, consistent rates of precipitation washing out the floodplain raise concerns over nitrogen loading to the aquifer and its surrounding environment. Thus, over a 24 week period, biweekly surface samples were collected along the Great Miami River, Elk Creek (a tributary that connects to the river up gradient to the site), and a man-made lake along the field site. To investigate water sources, collected samples are examined for hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope analysis. These samples are compared to local groundwater, drought index, as well as precipitation data to determine how surface-groundwater interactions and climate conditions interact in terrestrial environments and further inform decisions regarding crop management. Results indicate that extreme weather events, such as Hurricane Helene, disrupt normal surface-groundwater cycling and temporarily alter drought conditions.