The Brother Joseph W. Stander Symposium recognizes and celebrates academic excellence in undergraduate and graduate education. This annual event provides an opportunity for students from all disciplines to showcase their intellectual and artistic accomplishments. The Stander Symposium represents the Marianist tradition of education through community and is the principal campus-wide event in which faculty and students actualize our mission to be a "community of learners."
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The Effects of Religion and Spirituality on Mental Well-Being
Maria Sophia Przybyla
Past research has shown that religion and spirituality can have a great impact on an individual's well-being, whether that effect is positive or negative. Religion and spirituality can ultimately be used as a source of therapy for those with mental illnesses and also improve a person's mental health in general. Some examples of a positive effect include improving or preventing depression, anxiety, and suicide. While knowing it can better a person's well-being, it also has the possibility to worsen an individual's mental health by creating the emotions of shame, guilt, and not being accepted amongst a religious community. The goal of this research project is to better understand the relationship of an individual's religion/spirituality and mental well-being.
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The Effects of Sodium Propionate on Developmental Stages in Drosophila melanogaster
Rihanna L. Domingos, Isabelle Mae Ellis
Propionate, or propionic acid, is a common food additive used to inhibit mold and some bacterial growth. Propionate has been recognized as a metabolic disruptor as it has been linked to an increase in obesity and other digestive changes. This experiment aims to explore the effects of sodium propionate on the developmental processes of Drosophila melanogaster. The experiment involved exposing drosophila larvae to varying concentrations of sodium propionate infused with their regular food and observing larval growth, pupation, adult emergence, adult physiology, and fitness. Preliminary results demonstrate notable alterations in development, physiology, and fitness. Future research will help establish D. melanogaster as an experimental model to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of propionate.
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The Effects of Solar Panels on Precipitation Runoff
Destiny S. Cratsenberg, Lindsey Christine Dewey, Emily M. Sobolewski, Megan Starr Tierney
Solar power is one of the largest sources of renewable energy, and the most widely used form of solar energy is solar panels. Due to misinformation, solar panels are causing controversy regarding their leaching ability and the changing in ability to contaminate through the years. This misinformation is because solar panels are constructed with chemicals like silica, phosphorous and boron that negatively affect the environment when in high levels. A large concern regarding solar panels is their greater leaching potential when a solar panel is cracked. The goal of our study was to determine if installed solar panels introduced chemicals into precipitation runoff. We chose two study sites; our first site was Danial Curran place which had tilting panels and was established in 2018. Our second site was the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) which had fixed panels and was established in 2023. At these sites we tested our hypothesis that despite where water is collected in the several different locations at the solar farms, there will be no noticeable difference between the chemistry of water collected. To test this hypothesis, we placed twenty water collectors in varying locations around each of the solar farms. These locations are in the buffer zone (no overall interaction), in the aisle (no direct interaction) and under the panels drip line. At Daniel Curran Place, we placed an additional seven water collectors due to the presence of cracked panels in the farm. After placement, we allowed for one week worth of rain to accumulate in the water collectors. In the lab the amount of ammonia, nitrate, silica, and phosphate were tested using Lamotte kits. From these tests, we found that there was no significant difference between the water chemistry levels from the different locations, especially of the cracked panels. The only difference was less phosphorous in the drip line of the solar panels, but it wasn’t statistically significant enough to consider. These findings allowed us to conclude that solar panels do not have any negative effects on the water chemistry from precipitation runoff. There may be future implications for nutrient availability to the plants below the drip line but concerning the leaching abilities solar panels do not cause any.
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The End of Writing as We Know It? A Descriptive Case Study ChatGPT Usage among College Students in Required Writing Seminars
Taylor Lee Baxter, Alexandra M. Dimarco, Grace Marie Pierucci, Toni Ann Selman, Skylar Barbara Sharkey, Patrick W. Thomas, Lucy Larkin Waskiewicz
Recent uptake of Generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, has had considerable impact on students’ experiences learning to write. Unlike more quotidian assistive writing technologies, such as Grammarly or Google’s Smart Compose feature, the rise of ChatGPT marked a far more significant shift in how people produce writing. Both the cultural attention and the technical efficiency to GenAI technologies have lured students into daily use of tools like ChatGPT, and regardless of instructor knowledge, …. or it’s linguistic limitations, student use of ChatGPT continues apace.This presentation reports on a semester-long research project investigating students’ use of ChatGPT for the purpose of completing academic writing assignments. Focusing, for the sake of depth, on a few case examples, this study examines students’ ChatGPT use within required first- and second-year writing courses: arguably the very courses in which students are expected to learn how to write for the university. We explore questions about when and how students prompt ChatGPT for assistance in writing academic essays, the types of prompts that students compose, and the outputs that students’ prompts generate. Drawing on data from a survey, in-depth interviews, and tstudents’ ChatGPT prompts and subsequent ChatGPT output, we highlight findings that identify moments within the writing process that students engage with ChatGPT, as well as the kind of assistance they seek and the ways that they incorporate ChatGPT outputs into their writing. In doing so, we highlight implications for students in using ChatGPT for academic essay writing, professors in evaluating student writing that makes use of ChatGPT outputs, and universities in the process of developing policies regarding student use of ChatGPT in writing courses.
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The Environmental Activism of the Q’eqchi’ Tribe of Central America
Delany Baldinger, Makayla E. Cripe, Justine Smith, Sandra Todd
The Q’eqchi’ are a Mayan tribe of Central America who are collectively organizing to advocate for environmental protections in their regions. Multinational corporations, including mining industries, have engaged in practices that have contaminated land and water resources in Guatemala and other Central American countries. The Q’eqchi’s fishing industry is in danger of collapse. Cancers and other illnesses are on the rise. This poster session documents the efforts and results of the Q’eqchi’ as they organize against the negative health and economic impacts of these harmful practices. Their work sets an example for other, formerly disenfranchised, communities to organize a powerful voice against multinational corporations who exploit the environment and long-term well-being of the regions where they have chosen to harvest resources and manufacture.
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The Foundations of The Freedom Rides of 1961 During The Civil Rights Movement
Lindsey Anne Cloos
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The Gamma-Exponentiated Burr Type XII Distribution
Hannah R. Wabel
The Burr Type XII distribution has many applications in several fields including economics and finance. A new four-parameter distribution, called the Gamma-Exponentiated Burr Type XII distribution is presented. The new distribution can be applied to the same areas and should perform better in describing more complicated datasets. Some statistical properties of the new distribution including cumulative distribution function, probability density function, hazard function, moments, skewness and kurtosis are presented. Maximum likelihood estimation technique is used to estimate that model parameters. We provide an application to real data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed distribution. We also compare the distribution to other similar distributions to demonstrate its performance relative to those.
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The Impact of Anxiety on Students and Possible Coping Mechanisms
Maureen Adaire Kadel
Anxiety is a complicated experience that can take a toll on students’ overall mental health and education. Students struggling with anxiety often feel stressed, leading to the development of negative coping mechanisms. This project examines the role anxiety plays in college students’ lives and the positive coping mechanisms that may help.
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The Impact of Diagnosed Mental Illness on Criminal Behavior and Misconduct in Prison Environments
Carina M. Albrecht, Riley R. Patterson
This research investigates the association between diagnosed mental illness and its impact on criminal behavior and misconduct within prison settings. This project aims to address the misconceptions surrounding mental illness and examine patterns of prisoner misconduct among those diagnosed with mental disorders who committed violent crimes. This research seeks to provide valuable insights into mental health, crime, and the criminal justice system, and by contributing to the ongoing debate surrounding these issues.
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The Impact of Foot Orthotics on Injury Prevention & Symptom Management
Ashley Elizabeth Andrews
The use of foot orthotics has been thought to prevent injuries, treat generalized foot pain, and improve comfort levels with activities of daily living. Absorbing ground reaction forces and correcting the anatomical positioning of the foot are possible explanations for their efficiency. The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between the use of foot orthotics and the prevention of injury or pain management.
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The Impact of Gandhi’s Diet
Aidan Michael Burke
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The Impact of Rising Federal Funds Rates on Healthcare Sector Stocks: An Empirical Analysis 1999-2023
Nick Mulvihill and Xavier Martin
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The Influence of Screen Time on Drug Abuse in Adolescents
Taylor M. Beebe, Luke M. Panek
Today, digital screens have become an integral part of adolescents' lives more than ever. This unprecedented exposure to screens has raised concern over the impact on adolescents' development and well-being. Using the YRBS database, this case study delves into the relationship between screen time and adolescent substance use. Our study utilized the results from an extensive 2021 survey completed by high school students to observe how screen time can affect teens' likelihood to use drugs. We expected the more screen time a student had, the more likely they were to abuse drugs. However, it was found that students who have more screen time were less likely to abuse drugs, and vice versa. From our sample, we noticed there was a low number of drug experimentation among students and more than three hours of screen time daily for a student was uncommon which implies that there is a negative correlation between screen time and drug use. Additionally, it was observed that females were more likely to experiment with drugs compared to males. While drug usage seems to be more normalized among adolescents, our study examines whether digital devices and screen time is an influencing factor or not.
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The Issue with Asexual Representation in the TV Shows
Kailey Patricia Peppard
This THR/VAR 250 Diversity in the Creative and Performing Arts poster presentation project requires each student to research and present on a topic relevant to the interdisciplinary fields of visual and performing arts through a critical multicultural and social justice lens that foregrounds the appreciation of diversity and enables the expansion of personal cultural competencies.
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The Jailing of Cesar Chavez in his Search for Justice
Peter John Grant
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The Link Between Intensive Parenting and Adolescent Well-Being
Ella Simone Ben-Porath, Riley R. Ennenbach, Daniel Steven Georgesen, McKenna Francisca Hoefsmit, Kaitlyn R. Lancia, Quinn Ryan Willerton
The link between intensive/over-controlling parenting and adolescent well-being is well established, with research indicating that higher levels of intensive/overcontrolling parenting are associated with lower levels of adolescent well-being and criminal justice system involvement in children. However, the link between intensive/over-controlling parenting and adolescent well-being and criminal justice system involvement is not well understood, and findings from past research are mixed. The present study examined the link between parental control and child outcomes using a longitudinal design in an effort to better understand their relationship over time. Also, consistent with the goodness-of-fit framework, we also tested whether the association between parental control and criminal justice system involvement would vary depending on children’s characteristics and outcomes. These links were tested using data from the NLSY 97 study, which included 9,000 youths that were 12 to 18 when the study first started and now range in age from 30 to 40. Emotional and behavioral problems were measured concurrently with parenting style when participants were 12 to 18 years of age, and crime and drug abuse, work ethic, and mental wellbeing were measured when participants were older in adulthood. Analyses will be conducted using multiple regression, and gender and age ranges will be included as control variables to reduce confounding of the relationship between level of parental control and adolescent well-being. Findings will be discussed in terms of their relation to past research and their implications for children’s social development.
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The March for Salt Satyagraha
Jacob H. Murphy
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The March of Unity
Romeo Fabrice Yao
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The Montessori Method
Amelia Jane Adams
The Montessori educational philosophy and method has existed for over 100 years, and much data and research has been collected to compare and assess students' academic and social outcomes. This research provides various comparisons of the Montessori method to traditional schools, specifically looking at state performance tests and fidelity classification of programs.
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott and Gandhi
Peter Anthony Veith
What is nonviolence — a concept, a mode of protest, a practice for modern living? This poster explores the ways in which nonviolence has been historically interpreted as "ahimsa," "beloved community," and as a way for practical and ethical thinking in our modern lives. We highlight the role of nonviolence as method and practice in historical and contemporary global instances that range from the farm workers movement, anti-nuclear protests, environmental green politics, and Dalit and Black actions towards representation.
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The Necessary Reception of those with Disabilities in the Mass amid Liturgical Fragmentation
Jack H. Gorman
The Catholic Church is at a moment of receiving those with disabilities through catechetics, liturgical accommodations, and structured ecclesial guidelines; the Church realizes that the reception of Catholics with disabilities is necessary. Although, this ecclesial posture does not alter the fact that the Church is in liturgical fragmentation. The true form of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the novus ordo is being practiced and even exploited in many different ways and polarized into camps. Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has utilized the two poles of Neo-Pelagianism and Gnosticism to speak about this liturgical fragmentation, or “spiritual worldliness”. Working from this insight from the Holy Father, this paper applies these terms to the current reception of Catholics with disabilities in the Mass. In this paper, Neo-Pelagianism is characterized as the temptation to receive those with disabilities in the Mass solely through human means apart from the gift of Divine Grace. Docetism, which replaces Pope Francis’ Gnosticism for the sake of this paper, is characterized by an ignorant trust in the Liturgy that dismisses the embodiment of those with disabilities and neglects accommodations they may need. The presence of these temptations within disability ministry is objectively seen through ritually analyzing five separate Masses that were celebrated explicitly for accommodating those with disabilities. Although there are isolated signs of Docetism, the analysis shows that Neo-Pelagianism, as a temptation, is prevalent in disability ministry. The presence of Neo-Pelagianism is seen throughout the Liturgy as an abnormal amount of lay involvement, excessive and unscripted commentary, and invalid changes of liturgical rubrics or practice. The presence of Docetism, which was more isolated, is seen primarily through long and complex homilies. The paper will then end with some remedies to these temptations in the reception of those with disabilities within the Church.
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The number of sudoku solutions
Trent Alexander Wood
Sudoku is a puzzle that has had a lot of popularity since 2005. A person needs to use logic and trial-and-error to solve a Sudoku puzzle. In this presentation, we describe counting valid Sudoku puzzles.
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The Perception and Roles of Women in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
Anna Katherine Mahoney, Kayden Grace Rothery, Jeslyn Mara Singson, Grace Marie Smolak
This study explores how Christianity, Judaism, and Islam create perceptions about and enforce roles for women in society. The purpose was to discover how women are traditionally viewed and how gender roles play a part in these religions. Our review of relevant articles in psychology, sociology, and anthropology, revealed a significant difference in the roles that men and women play. Women face a plethora of oppression, challenges, and disadvantages in comparison to men. We found that historical traditions and practices are a major influence in why women are treated this way. While there has been a lot of progression in women's roles in society in general, there is still much work to be done in religious contexts. The traditions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam limit the roles of women, and there needs to be more progression in these religions.
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The Portrayal of the American Presidency in Film and Television
Adam D. Cardos, Katie N. Clark, Camryn J. Crum, Alejandro Miguel De Jesús, Kimberly F. Halwenge, Elly A. Hanna, Tucker J. Hoffmann, Jack C. McGranahan, Benjamin Paul Ruth, Taryn Elizabeth Smith, Alexander J. Stottner, Anastasia B. Stowers, Craig D. Wilson
How is the American Presidency portrayed in film and television? As part of the Political Science Senior Capstone students are engaged in a group project to assess how the presidency is portrayed based on the genre of the film, race/gender of the president, fictional vs. historical president as well as several other factors.
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The Power of Trans Joy at a Catholic University
Gabby Rose Campana
This project explores the ways in which transgender and gender non-conforming undergraduate students experience trans joy at Catholic universities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with current undergraduate students who had completed one semester at a Catholic university and identified as transgender and/or gender non-conforming. The project utilizes descriptive methods that identify common themes across participant interviews. Participants expressed that online communities, close friendships, romantic relationships, and access to affirming medical care impacted the joy they felt in their identity. These findings have important implications on the types of support transgender and gender non-conforming students at Catholic institutions need and, moving beyond just support, what experiences help to cultivate joy.
