Oral presentations, session III

Art History, History

Hanson Annex 127 (Session C)

"Devotion as Accessory: The Rosary and Religious Identity in the Early Modern World"
Art History
Presented by Dr. Margaret Morse

Religious piety is often associated with a rejection of worldly goods, yet fashion has historically been a key marker of spiritual identity. In early modern Catholicism, religious dress established a sacred hierarchy that separated the ordained from the laity, making it difficult for ordinary individuals to announce their spiritual state through clothing. Instead, accessories served as a primary means to mark the bodies as devout. I argue that the rosary was the accessory of choice by which laypeople cultivated their spiritual lives and proclaimed their religious affiliation and pious status. Catholics embraced the rosary as a highly concrete and visible way to practice their faith and showcase personal and collective identity during a period of religious tensions. Utilizing household inventories, contemporary portraits, costume books, and the material evidence of rosary devotion, this talk explores the multiple functions of the early modern rosary, from high-end jewelry to humble devotional aid, and situates the beads in the larger context of devotional jewelry and the "look" of Catholicism that emerged in the wake of the Reformation. The numerous sets of rosaries recorded in household inventories indicate the prominence of the devotional apparatus and the need for certain spiritual properties associated with the materials employed. The varied rosaries individuals owned also suggest that appearance mattered—a point reinforced by the frequent presence of rosaries in portraits from the period. By investigating the rosary at the intersection of both of fashion and devotion, this talk will demonstrate how belief was "worn" in early modern Europe, and the role accessories played in constituting religion in everyday life.

"Magical Minerals and Malicious Miners: How Hollywood's Science Fiction Portrays the Mining Industry"
History
Presented by Dr. Brian Leech

Vibranium. Dilithium. Kyber crystals. Lovers of science fiction will recognize these fictional metals and gems from "Black Panther," "Star Trek," and "Star Wars." These substances' amazing properties belie the other way that the genres of science fiction and fantasy talk about rocks—as materials that get mined through horrific labor by evil companies in far-away outposts. While much of American popular culture celebrates mine prospectors and resource frontiers, Hollywood's science fiction has increasingly exaggerated the negative effects of mining, using common themes to critique the industry's business, labor and environmental practices. This presentation will use research conducted during the author's sabbatical to tell you more about how Hollywood treats the mining industry.

French

Hanson 102 (Session D)

"Discriminized to Belonging: Identity Negotiation Through Third Spaces"
French
Presented by Ashanti Chatman
Project advisor: Dr. Kiki Kosnick

I will focus on the intersectionality of the seemingly contrasting identities that make up the author Nina Bouraoui—examining how she spends her adolescence uplifting certain aspects of her identity and shunning other attributes. I will explore how Bouraoui's existence in this third interstitial space, as an outsider, allows another avenue for her journey of self-appreciation and acceptance into both spaces.

"Negotiating gender and sexuality in familial and spatial contexts"
French
Presented by Sophie Rhodes 
Project advisor: Dr. Kiki Kosnick

This presentation explores the relationship of gender identity and self-discovery with familial relationships and the significance of identity in different spaces in contemporary francophone life writing by Nina Bouraoui, with references to Abdellah Taïa. It will seek to examine the relationships between the protagonists and the influence of cultural spaces on their self-perception.

"Understanding Character Through Silence in the Works of Abdellah Taïa and Nina Bouraoui"
French
Presented by Rachel Witt
Project advisor: Dr. Kiki Kosnick

This presentation examines the way in which the recurrence of silence can be be used to form understanding of character within the contemporary francophone works of Abdellah Taïa and Nina Bouraoui.

"The Intensity of Idealized Love"
French
Presented by Grace Sottos
Project advisor: Dr. Taddy Kalas

This presentation explores the intensity of idealized love in the early 15th-17th centuries of French women's literature (by Mme Riccoboni, Mme de Lafayette and Isabelle de Charrière).

Texas Medical Center

Old Main 28 (Session E)

"Norepinephrine Transporter (NET), Dopamine Transporter (DAT), and Serotonin Transporter (SERT) mRNA are Expressed in Diffuse Midline Glioma/High-Grade Glioma (DMG/HGG) Cells via RT-qPCR"
Texas Medical Center
Presented by Nicholas Weilbaker
Project advisors: Dr. Jose Boquin and Dr. Amanda Wilmsmeyer

Previously known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma (DMG) is an aggressive brainstem tumor that is the leading cause of cancer-related childhood death worldwide. Currently, there are no effective therapies to treat DMG. However, there have been attempts to treat DMG via radiation which often results in increased side effects and lacks consistent long-term DMG prevention. Alternatively, combinational therapies show promise in decreasing adverse side effects and increasing long-term DMG resistance. Repurposed drugs serve as preferred combination therapy candidates as they are already FDA-approved. The ANASTAS LAB conducted a drug screening to identify potential synergistic effects with cyclin-dependent kinase 9 inhibitors (CDK9i) and discovered that norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs), dopamine reuptake inhibitors (DRIs), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) exhibit synergy with CDK9i. Based on this finding, it is hypothesized that there must be target proteins norepinephrine transporters (NETs), dopamine transporters (DATs), and serotonin transporters (SERTs) present on DMG cells. NET, DAT, and SERT mRNA expression will be determined via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

"Uropathogenic E. coli Infections, Fetal Sex Differences, and Their Role in Preterm Birth"
Texas Medical Center
Presented by Addison Larson
Project advisor: Dr. Heidi Storl

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect most women in the United States and pose a significant threat to maternal and fetal well-being during pregnancy. When contracted during this period, UTIs double the risk of preterm labor and can cause other chronic complications postpartum. Preliminary research suggests that uropathogenic Escherichia coli UTIs account for anywhere between sixty to seventy percent of UTIs during pregnancy, but the mechanistic way that these E. coli UTIs cause preterm birth remains poorly understood. More specifically, little is known about fetal sex differences, bacterial burden, and whether a correlation between the two impacts immune profiles and/or neonatal outcomes. To address this, our lab developed a novel Agouti mouse model that mimics human urinary tract infections so we can determine what immune cells and cytokines cause the observed inflammatory responses contributing to preterm birth. Our results demonstrate that preterm individuals, both males and females, experience an influx of CD45+ cells and NK cells compared to infected term individuals. This finding proves as a foundation for future vaginal microbiome research and may help researchers develop more effective therapeutics for UTIs in pregnant women. 

"The Osteogenic Niche: How Bone Marrow Notch Signaling Regulates Homeostasis of the Medullary Cavity Microenvironment"
Texas Medical Center
Presented by Adam Torry
Project advisors: Dr. Dongsu Park and Dr. Laura Ortinau

There's a large gap when it comes to understanding lineage interactions between bone cell populations like osteocytes, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts. Specifically, how signaling between these populations work together to achieve homeostasis of the medullary cavity, the hollow interior of our long bones that is housed by marrow and lattices of trabecular bone. Within mesenchymal bone marrow cells NOTCH signaling is quite prominent, and is linked to developmental advantages by delaying osteogenic commitment, increasing osteogenic precursors, and inducing bone formation and mineralization. The medullary cavity houses a plethora of cell types, but I focused on a specific cell type, Adiponectin (ADQ) expressing cells, that express an abundance of NOTCH signaling genes compared to other marrow resident cells. Therefore I sought to determine how NOTCH signaling interacts between different ADQ expressing cell populations in the trabecular bone to regulate bone and tissue formation and differentiation throughout the medullary cavity. I hypothesized that knocking out the RBPJ gene of the NOTCH pathway would result in an increase in trabecular bone due to repressing tendencies of the RBPJ encoded protein being lost due to gene inactivation. Results showed that loss of the RBPJ gene function in ADQ expressing cells drastically increased trabecular bone growth throughout the medullary cavity and decreased the spatial capacity for bone marrow. The most drastic changes appeared in the 16 week population and the female population was consistently more affected than the male population. Therefore, we conclude that NOTCH signaling plays a significant role in bone development, and in maintaining homeostasis of the bone environment.

Sociology and Anthropology

Old Main 132 (Session G)

"'I went for firewood and came home with a baby': Similarities in the Socioeconomics of Maternal Health in Rural Nepal and the Quad Cities"
Sociology and Anthropology
Presented by Americus Sharmila Mahatshahi
Project advisor: Dr. Adam Kaul

This paper compares factors affecting maternal health care in the United States and Nepal to further highlight the disparities in global health. Data was collected quantitatively in Jumla, rural mid-west Nepal, and the Quad Cities for a month through interviews and case studies. In Jumla, nurses, doctors, traditional birth attendants (TBAs), health post workers, pregnant women and new mothers were interviewed. In the Quad Cities, organizations were interviewed to understand factors affecting maternal health. Six factors affecting maternal health in the United States and Jumla were family relations, level of education, household economy, social class, use of community healthcare workers and policy making. While these factors were the same in both of these regions, the way they played out in society was unique to the cultural context of the regions respectively. The relationship between these six factors and social power helps to understand the gap in providing maternal healthcare globally.

"Exploring Citizenship and Sika Deer"
Sociology and Anthropology
Presented by Olivia Pigliacelli
Project advisor: Dr. Adam Kaul

This paper will analyze the human-animal relationship between the sika deer in Nara Park. I argue that this relationship lends itself to arguments for animal citizenship. I begin by focusing on the long-term association established in Japanese culture and show how this has evolved into a modern interconnection. This intertwining relationship can be seen in various encounters that the sika deer have with humans in Nara Park and the impact that this contact has had on both parties. Understanding this relationship will allow for a more expansive conception of citizenship, and the political agency that the sika deer have. 

"To Speak a Sport: An Anthropological Analysis of Language and Sports"
Sociology and Anthropology
Presented by Anthony Sus
Project advisor: Dr. Adam Kaul

Anthropologists have long connected the concept of culture with the presence of language and, more recently, have additionally connected the practice of sport with culture. However, there has been limited attention paid to the relationship between sport and the language associated with it. This article intends to not only establish this oft not spoken link between sport and language but establish how language and sport have evolved as a reflection of cultural development. By first establishing what culture is and thus sport and language's relation with it through anthropological theory, this paper will argue that sports are their own culture and thus have their language. Similarly, just as culture develops and evolves, so too does sport and its language. By drawing on sources such as Tim Considine's "The Language of Sport," new words and meanings in addition to newer sports will be revealed and placed into modern context.

Communication Studies

Old Main, third floor (Session I)

"COMM 350 Colloquium: Student Explorations of Loss, Hope, and Support"
Communication Studies
Presented by Ryan Bingham, Zoe Cervantes,  Brianna Ebenroth, Maddie Feltner,  Kira Garza, Cat Grosso, Mary Kate Hughes, Connor Lopez, Fabian Martinez, Brandon Merritt, Zamzam Mohammed, Celeaciya Olvera, Kierstyn Rogers, Valerie Silva, Jaren Smith, Cameron Tomlinson, Annabella Valenti, Luke Vega, Kareem Washington, Sophia Weiss, Carter White and Karli Wilson
Project advisor: Dr. Jessica Nodulman

Students from COMM 350: Loss, Hope and Support will engage participants for presentations and conversations about their research investigations. Click here for a list of titles.