Stander Symposium Projects

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  Parent Perspectives of the Special Education Process

  Courtney Bockbrader

  Research indicates that parents of children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) experience challenges with participation in the special education process due to a variety of barriers. Parents report barriers including a lack of knowledge regarding special education law and terminology, asymmetrical relationships with school staff, the perception of depersonalization and a deficit approach taken by school personnel, and experiencing considerable emotionality throughout the process (MacLeod et al., 2017; Smith & Krieg, 2022; Zeitlin & Curcic, 2013). These findings are significant considering that parents have a legal right to participate in team decision-making within the special education process, as determined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004). This qualitative study examined differences in experiences and needs for support within the special education process for parents of newly identified children and parents of children with long term IEPs. Findings suggest that experiences and needs vary between these groups, although some overlapping themes were identified. Implications for school personnel are discussed.

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  Pathways to a Greener Cement Industry in Nepal: Forecasting Energy and CO₂ for 2030 SDG Compliance

  Sobit Sapkota

  Nepal's cement industry, a major contributor to the nation's economic growth, faces pressing challenges in aligning its expansion with climate and energy sustainability goals. This study employs the Markov Chain Grey Model (MCGM) integrated with scenario analysis to forecast the industry's energy consumption and CO2 emissions through 2030. Findings reveal that under a business-as-usual scenario, energy use is set to surge by 107%, with CO2 emissions rising by220%—an alarming 63% above the target for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).However, in an optimized scenario incorporating energy efficiency improvements and low-carbon technologies, energy demand could be limited to a 26% increase, with CO2 emissions meeting the SDG threshold. The results highlight the critical need for strategic policy support, advanced technologies, and sector-wide commitment to achieve climate targets and manage energy demand effectively. By enhancing the forecasting precision of the MCGM, this study provides actionable insights for climate policy and sustainable energy strategies, offering a pathway for Nepal's cement industry to contribute meaningfully to national and global climate objectives.

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  Pedestrian Early Collision Detection System

  Jayanth Merakanapalli, Jayanth Paturi, Sushanth Singireddy

  Pedestrian safety is a growing concern in urban and suburban areas, where pedestrian-vehicle collisions can result in serious injuries. This research focuses on developing an early collision detection system that leverages dash cam video footage to predict potential pedestrian-vehicle accidents before they occur. The system utilizes advanced video processing techniques, including zooming, center distortion correction, and cropping, to enhance detection accuracy. By analyzing frame-by-frame motion and trajectory patterns, the system assesses the risk of a collision and provides timely alerts to drivers, allowing them to take preventive action.A key feature of the proposed system is pedestrian trajectory prediction, which estimates a pedestrian’s future movement based on historical motion data. The model evaluates pedestrian paths relative to approaching vehicles and determines the likelihood of an imminent collision. The study is conducted using a dataset of dash cam videos capturing real-world pedestrian-road interactions, where vehicles stop before a collision occurs.The research aims to contribute to the advancement of driver-assistance technologies by enhancing collision prevention mechanisms. By integrating pedestrian trajectory prediction with dash cam-based monitoring, the system provides an additional layer of safety for drivers and pedestrians.

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  Performing Arts in Children's Development

  Jolee York

  Engaging children in performing arts during their early developmental years offers cognitive and mental benefits. Research suggests dance and theater help with creativity and self-expression. It also shows the nature of performing arts as helping children build discipline and time management skills with responsibility. Overall, it is agreed in this literature that performing arts are important in shaping well-rounded and cognitively capable children.

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  Phase-Change-Material Trimmed, Fixed-Wavelength Slow Wave Loop-Terminated Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Sensors for Low-Cost Chem-Bio Sensing Applications

  Jianhao Shen

  We experimentally demonstrated a compact slow wave enhanced loop-terminated Mach-Zehnder interferometer (LT-MZI) sensor with phase sensitivity of 277,750 rad/RIU-cm. The sensor employs phase change materials (PCMs) to actively trim interferometer fringes post-fabrication, enabling alignment with fixed-wavelength sources for low-cost on-chip chem-bio sensing. Traditional chip-integrated sensors face challenges due to fabrication-induced wavelength mismatches and dependance on external tunable lasers or alignment-sensitive coupling. Here, antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) PCMs integrated on the LT-MZI reference arm enable non-volatile phase tuning via amorphous-to-crystalline transitions, eliminating the need for energy-intensive, continuously powered thermal tuning elements. The LT-MZI leverages slow light propagation in a 2-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide (2D PCW) structure to amplify phase shifts, achieving enhanced sensitivity. A 2×2 multimode interference (MMI) splitter divides light into reference and sensing arms, which recombine at a second MMI connected to a loop mirror. The LT-MZI’s loop mirror doubles the effective interaction length, further increasing sensitivity compared to standard MZIs. 3D-FDTD simulations confirmed spectral fringe trimming via PCM phase transitions, allowing alignment to fixed-wavelength lasers. This platform addresses fabrication tolerances and enables multiplexed, low-cost sensors. Ongoing work focuses on continuous PCM phase control for precise fringe stabilization. The approach is scalable to diverse interferometric and resonator-based sensors, promising compact, high-sensitivity systems for real-world chem-bio applications.

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  Pilot Study to Investigate the Effects of Step-rate Manipulation on Running Economy at a Performance Pace in Elite Male Distance Runners

  Noah Clemens

  Background: Step-rate (SR) is a spatiotemporal gait variable representing the number of steps taken per minute while running. Manipulating SR is thought to improve running economy (RE) or reduce injury risk. Research on SR manipulation for RE has focused on recreational athletes or highly trained athletes performing at slow speeds, with limited research exploring competition speeds.Purpose: This study piloted a protocol for determining the most economical SR of highly trained individuals at fast speeds. Methods: Five highly trained male distance runners participated. A graded maximal exercise test determined the speed at anaerobic threshold (AT) as well as the maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) for each subject. The participants returned to complete another running protocol, which consisted of eight 4-minute trials, with two minutes of rest between each trial. The trials were completed at each participant’s speed at AT, and seven step-rate conditions ranging from 9% below self-selected to 9% above self-selected were cued with a metronome. Oxygen consumption was collected.Results: Our sample had an average VO2max of 69.075 ml/kg/min putting them in the 99.5th percentile. The speed at AT varied, with speeds ranging from 10.2 m/s to 12 m/s. Optimal SR was identified for three out of five participants. If participants were unable to achieve a range of SRs, optimal SR could not be determined.Conclusion: Our inclusion criteria and trial duration are appropriate. Though speed at AT was varied, selecting a common trial speed slightly below the average speed at AT may allow for better SR adherence. Adjusting the SR conditions to cover a wider range of achievable values may allow optimal SR to be estimated for more participants. Most participants exhibited the expected relationship between SR and RE, suggesting that this methodology can be applied to a larger sample in a future study.

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  Politics and Prejudice: The Impact of Policy on Religious Communities

  Anthony Arroyo, Aidan Callero, Peter Carroll, Brooklyn Garon

  This presentation is a literature review that focuses on the impact of government policies and political events and the prejudice faced by religious groups. Drawing on contemporary research it examines how legislation, political rhetoric, and social movements have influenced public perception of religion, and how politics have marginalized or empowered groups. This presentation aims to foster a deeper understanding of how political landscapes can shape religious identities, discrimination, and intergroup relations.

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  Portable Power Charger Design with Solar Panels

  Lucas Terry

  When camping, access to electricity is often unreliable. The aim of this project is to design and prototype a solar panel battery charging system for small electronics in remote locations. The system requirements are to have two stable DC voltage outputs (5 V and 13.8 V), be able to withstand continual use, and have a small footprint. The design techniques are formed by power electronic principles and implemented to create two isolated circuits for converting and stabilizing the current generated by the solar panels. The device prototype is tested to verify it functions as intended. The final deliverables of this project are a functional device, test data in various weather conditions, and a live demonstration of the device granted the goals of the project are successfully achieved.

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  Powering Pollinators: Visitation and Abundance of Pollinators in a Solar Prairie Buffer Zone

  Madison Blythe, Caroline Deerwester, Madelyn Moore, Emily Walker

  Renewable energy, including solar energy, is becoming more prevalent across the U.S.. Creating sites for solar arrays can be damaging to ecosystems due to the need to clear and remove vegetation. One of the techniques to minimize ecological impact in these solar arrays is the formation of solar prairies beneath and surrounding the panels. Since these are novel ecosystems, their affect on wildlife has not been studied extensively. Pollinator species are of special interest due to their implications for agriculture and ecosystem services. To increase the knowledge of pollinator usage of a solar prairie, we investigated insect pollinator visitation at the University of Dayton’s solar prairie (Curran Place). To test this, we categorized the solar array at Curan Place into full sun, partial shade, and full shade microclimates and conducted point counts at randomly selected Canada goldenrod stalks. We recorded the number of flowering heads present on each of these stalks. Pollinator visitation rates were recorded over one-minute intervals, and visitors were classified into major pollinator groups, including bees, wasps, flies, and beetles. To better understand which bees and wasps are pollinating Canada goldenrod at Curran Place, we used passive netting to collect various specimens in each microclimate and identify them to the genus level. Our data found that pollinator visitations were higher in microclimates that contained Goldenrod stalks with more flowering heads, as well as increased visitations on days with warmer temperatures. Our findings contribute to an understanding of how microclimate factors shape pollinator distributions, with implications for habitat management and pollinator conservation with the increasing climate for solar energy.

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  Precision in Focus: Demonstrating the Capabilities and Accuracy of Camera Arrays

  Qingyu Ren

  This poster presents a novel camera array system that achieves sub-millimeter accuracy (less than 1mm) through absolute synchronization across all imaging sensors. The system is primarily designed for capturing moving objects, its robust feature extraction algorithms allow it to reliably process and work with blurred inputs when they occur. With a lightweight architecture that facilitates seamless integration with drone platforms, the system offers versatile applicability across diverse domains including aerial surveying, surveillance, and industrial inspection. Experimental evaluations confirm that even under conditions that introduce image blur, the system maintains high precision and performance.

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  Predicting the Home Field Advantage in the NFL

  Samuel Limbert

  Home-field advantage has always been an important talking point used to predict the outcome of NFL games. This project aims to develop a predictive model for forecasting NFL home team victories using different machine learning techniques. By analyzing historical game data, team performance metrics, player statistics, weather conditions, and betting odds, this project seeks to identify the key factors that contribute to predicting NFL games. Various machine learning algorithms including, logistic regression, quadratic discriminant analysis, and linear discriminant analysis are utilized to determine the most accurate predictive approach.

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  Predictors of Desistance in Antisocial Behavior from Childhood to Adolescence: A Prospective, Longitudinal Investigation

  Julia Butler, Daniel Georgesen, Kari Powers, Grace Schneider, Oluwayemisi Tayo-Ayorinde

  Childhood conduct problems are a reliable predictor of delinquency in adolescence. However, many children desist in their antisociality between these periods. Much work has been done to identify risk and protective factors for antisociality in childhood and adolescence, but less is known about the factors that predict discontinuities in antisociality. This study examined a wide range of dispositional, familial, peer, and sociodemographic factors that might predict desistance in antisociality from childhood to adolescence. Prospective links from these variables to patterns of continuity versus discontinuity in antisociality from childhood to late adolescence were tested in a large, socioeconomically diverse sample of adolescents from across the United States.

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  Preparation, Cure, Characterization, and Mechanical Properties of Reactive Flame-Retardant Cyanate Ester/Epoxy Resin Blends and Their Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites

  Mustafa Mukhtar

  Cyanate esters are used in aerospace and microelectronics because of their excellent thermal stability, superior mechanical characteristics, and favorable dielectric properties. Cyanate ester resins are typically mixed with lower-cost epoxy monomers to adjust cost, toughness, and processing capabilities. Despite the high performance of these thermosetting polymers, flame retardancy remains a challenge. This study explores blends of thermosetting cyanate ester and epoxy resin (EP/CE) enhanced with a reactive phosphorus-based flame retardant, poly(m-phenylene methylphosphonate) (PMP). Two different CE monomers were investigated (LVT and LECy). This innovative combination, previously unexplored, is designed to deliver improved flame resistance while retaining some advantages of both cyanate ester and epoxy resins. The two CE monomers were blended with the same epoxy monomer (DGEBA) in a 1:1 ratio. The effect of phosphorus concentration was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC). Carbon fiber composites with a Vf of approximately 0.5 were successfully fabricated. Dynamical Mechanical Analysis (DMA) of the composite laminates showed that PMP reduced the average Tg by up to 39°C at 3 wt% phosphorus. The flammability of the laminates was assessed with cone calorimetry, which confirmed a reduction in peak HRR by approximately 27%. The mechanical properties were assessed through three-point flexure testing. PMP integration only marginally affected flexural strength (6–15%) and modulus (7–13%).

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  Preschool Attendance Post-COVID related to Child Executive Functioning Skills and School Readiness

  Kaitlyn Hripko

  Child executive functioning skills and school readiness have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, working to reduce rates of early childhood education attendance. This paper will delve into the relationship between early childhood education (ECE) and school readiness, including executive functioning (EF) development, demographic information, socioeconomic status (SES), and school attendance rates post-COVID for early childhood education, in relation to EF skill development. Previous research has claimed that individuals who have attended early childhood education typically yield greater results of executive functioning skills and school readiness in working memory, inhibition, and cognitive processing, and greater ECE attendance post-COVID, if individuals are of a dominant social group, and have a high familial SES. Participants and research methods include data collection and analysis of material (such as child assessments and KRA data) from child executive functioning skills in math, reading, and vocabulary, collected from the Preschool Promise Research Assessors Program. Once precise data analysis and computations are conducted, our findings aim to predict that children who score higher on school readiness and EF skill development, will likely have more access to resources in their environment, and further will be more likely to attend early childhood educational programs post-COVID. Findings in this study are applicable to many facets of early childhood education, recognizing some children may have systemic and demographic barriers that prevent them from developing proper EF skills. We must work to implement solutions and strategies to ensure resources are available to boost learning, school readiness, and ECE attendance post-COVID in all children, including children who may be experiencing systemic and demographic barriers. We aim to critically evaluate this dilemma through a culturally sensitive lens.

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  Project Based Learning

  Ella Sureck

  This research paper will address Project-Based Learning. Project-Based Learning is a teaching method where students engage in real-world projects to gain academic knowledge and skills. Research describes the importance of adding this type of learning to classrooms as it helps students develop better critical thinking skills along with more problem solving skills. This is important as students shape themselves for a successful future.

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  Pros and Cons of Online Learning

  Sophia Mitchell

  There are many differences in online learning environments vs traditional learning in school. Everyone learns differently and has different preferences for their learning environment. Online learning has grown dramatically over the years in classrooms. Experiences in the classroom that increase student engagement and learning outcomes for online learning are explored.

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  Punxsutawney Power: Groundhogs Go Solar

  Andrew Bumps, Rodrigo Del Rincón Martínez, Elizabeth Divish, Gretchen Sackman, Victoria Scachitti

  This study investigates the activity of groundhogs (Marmota monax) within the solar panel prairie of native grasses and wildflowers at Curran Place at the University of Dayton. The environment was split into three microhabitats where burrows were found: under the solar panels, in the aisles, and the buffer area. Six burrows were monitored over a two week period using motion activated cameras to determine if groundhogs had a preference of what burrow locations they used. It was hypothesized that burrows under solar panels would have the highest amount of activity (detections). Results showed that groundhogs show no preference between microhabitats and remain largely unaffected by the presence of solar panels. An ANOVA test found no statistically significant results, likely due to limitations such as time constraints, lack of replications, different camera angles, and uneven amounts of microhabitat cameras. The study concluded that groundhogs may not be significantly impacted by the presence of solar panels if other environmental factors are consistent.

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  Quantifying Droplet Breakup Regimes in High-Speed Flow Fields with Diffuse Background Illumination

  Joseph Kastner

  Understanding the dynamics of droplet breakup in high-speed flow fields is critical for many aerospace applications such as liquid fuel injection into high-speed crossflow or weather encounters with high-speed vehicles. In such applications, thermophysical properties such as surface tension, viscosity, etc. as well flow parameters (Mach number) will drive the droplet breakup regime. The objective of this work is to implement diffuse background illumination (DBI) to quantify sessile droplet breakup. A shock tube will be employed to simulate high-speed flow conditions by generating shock waves of various strengths. Both head on and side imaging will be implemented to provide further insight to the breakup dynamics. Weber number will be used to identify breakup regimes. Center of mass calculations will be performed using the high-speed imaging data.

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  Quantitative Analytical Methods for Real Time Lie Detection Using Eye Gaze and Biometric Sensors

  Tanner Cuttone, Sean Davy, Nathaniel Doll

  This poster provides a summary of an IRB approved research study on the optical response of the human eye using a GazePoint eye tracking system and biometrics hardware. Pupil dilation, gaze position, blink rate, and reaction time were recorded for human subjects in response to various visual and auditory stimuli on a computer screen. In addition, EEG, heart rate, blood pressure, and galvanic skin response were recorded using a suite of simultaneous biosensors. The experimental tasks were designed with varying levels of complexity and included both memory-recall and computational tasks for truth and deception scenarios. The overall aim of this study was to identify establish baseline physiological data sets across multiple demographics, which can be used in the future to advance forensic diagnostic methodologies using quantitative analysis and machine learning for various types of neuroscience applications, including lie detection.

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  Racial and Socioeconomic Impact on Police Use of Force

  Samantha Carnes

  Police use of force has been a topic that is all over the news and other forms of media, especially with well-known cases such as that of George Floyd. George Floyd was a black man who died at the hands of police officers during an arrest in May 2020. Cases such as this have led people to start asking questions and have caused a lot of tension between minority groups and the police. Many have begun to point out trends in police use of force, noticing that particular groups of people are more vulnerable to falling victim. This begs the question: Are race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status factors that contribute to a police officer’s decision to use force? This is the focus of my research project, where I analyze the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities (SISFCF) dataset to determine if there is a relationship between race and/or socioeconomic status to police use of force.

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  Radicle Restoration: Growing Native Plant Seedlings for Changing Landscapes

  Madelyn Moore

  In the wake of great anthropogenic change in the landscape across eastern North America, there is a need for ecological restoration. Forests, in particular, are struggling due to the decline of previously dominant tree species and the need to protect the understory from persistent invasion. Forests cannot follow the typical path of natural development through secondary succession due to the interference of invasive species. Invasive species thrive in disturbed habitats, and they have a variety of adaptations that allow them to outcompete native species. Invasive species removal alone leads to their return to previously invaded sites. Instead, invasive removal should be coupled with native planting, and some of these natives can take niche spaces and provide resistance to reinvasion. To give native species as much advantage over invasive species as possible, high amounts of care should be taken in the production of saplings for restoration. Collecting localized seeds ensures that the saplings will be adapted to soil and weather conditions similar to those of the restoration site. Potted saplings with straight, healthy root systems perform better than bare-root saplings under transplant stress. With these ideas in mind, the goal of this project is to start up a native sapling repository for key woody species for use in future restoration projects. This project is based in Ginny’s Garden Greenhouse at the University of Dayton and involves seed collection, germination, and sapling management for a variety of native woody species. Some species include oaks (Quercus), buckeyes (Aesculus), hickories (Carya), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), paw paw (Asimina triloba), and flowering dogwood (Cornus florida). Over one hundred seedlings have been germinated since the project's inception, and over two thousand seeds have been collected for the advancement of this project. Outplanting for the project will begin in the spring of 2025.

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  Reason, Revenge, and Ruin: Masculinity Unraveled in Poe’s Dupin, Montresor, and "The Tell-Tale Heart"

  Abdulrahman Alzahrani

  Edgar Allan Poe’s fiction does not merely depict masculinity—it dissects it, revealing its contradictions, fragilities, and shifting dimensions. This project examines how Poe constructs masculinity through the figures of C. Auguste Dupin, Montresor, and the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, each of whom embodies a distinct yet interwoven facet of male identity. Dupin’s intellect asserts dominance through analytical mastery, positioning reason as the ultimate form of power. Montresor, bound by honor and vengeance, operates within a rigid framework of masculine control, his calculated violence reflecting an obsessive need to maintain authority. Meanwhile, the narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” epitomizes masculinity’s descent into instability—his obsession with control spirals into self-destruction, exposing the fragility beneath his performance of power. Through a close analysis of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Purloined Letter”, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, this study interrogates how Poe deconstructs traditional ideals of masculinity, revealing it as a construct that is neither fixed nor infallible. Poe’s characters do not simply embody strength or weakness; they exist in the space between, caught in the tension between dominance and collapse, reason and madness. This project ultimately argues that Poe’s portrayal of masculinity is not a celebration but an autopsy—an unflinching examination of power’s instability and the inevitable unraveling that follows its pursuit.

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  Recentering the Human in Migration: A Season in France

  Lila Acott

  Too often, the mainstream, typical narrative of migration is reduced to images of anonymous swarms of people on overcrowded boats arriving on European shores, posing a risk to sovereign borders and as a looming threat to national security. This presentation examines how Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s film, Une Saison en France (translated “A Season in France”), critiques major narratives about immigration and the faults of immigration systems while simultaneously humanizing the lived experience of immigrants. Haroun challenges such stereotypes by focusing on the case of the Mahadjir family, refugees from the Central African Republic, who seek asylum in France. In many ways, the film highlights the stress and difficulties of immigration regarding housing, security, and legal status. All the while, the audience is immersed into their daily lives, becoming familiar with each character’s wishes, hopes, and dreams. As a result, Haroun humanizes the Mahadjirs and creates space for a connection to be built between the characters and the audience. Ultimately, A Season in France, critically exposes the difficulty of the immigration system for its erasure of migrants often to the most extreme degree, forcing many to disappear.

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  Re-evolution of keratinized mouthparts in the tadpoles of two microhylid frogs

  Jacob Szafranski

  Within the family Microhylidae, only two genera are reported to have keratinized mouthparts: Scaphiophryne of Madagascar and Otophryne of South America. Based on our current understanding of the frog tree of life, it is possible that these two lineages have independently "re-evolved" keratinized mouthparts after the ancestor of microhylids lost these feeding structures. To evaluate this hypothesis, we are 1) generating histological data for both genera to confirm that the cellular microanatomy of the jaw sheaths is comparable to other tadpoles, typically defined by a stacked column of proliferating cells and 2) using phylogenetic comparative methods to evaluate whether these lineages re-evolved keratinized jaw sheaths in violation of Dollo’s law of irreversibility. This law posits that a complex trait lost over evolutionary time cannot be regained in the same form. This project will provide new insights into the constraints and flexibility of trait evolution in anurans.

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  Refining an in vitro approach to study the interactions between transcription factors and the DNA-binding sites that regulate gene expression

  Joseph Kash, Devon Seibert

  The regulation of gene expression is essential to animal development, physiology, and behavior. Mutations that alter gene expression are a major contributor to phenotypic variation, including evolutionary diversity, disease risk, and genetic disease. Hence understanding the molecular mechanism by which regulation occurs and evolves is of high interest. One general mechanism by which gene expression is regulated is through the selective interaction of transcription factor proteins with short DNA sequences that function as binding sites in the gene regions where control is imparted. These interactions have been traditionally studied in vitro through the production and purification of proteins and testing their interaction with potential binding site sequences in Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays or EMSAs. While effective, the traditional methods have been hit or miss, costly, and tedious. This research project is exploring different purification strategies and EMSA methods to make the characterization of transcription factor binding sites more efficient.