UP Summer Research Poster Session - 2020

SMAC mimetics, chemotherapy drugs which imitate the natural SMAC molecules produced by the mitochondria, are of high interest to cancer research due to their ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. They have also been hypothesized to act on cells of the immune system, augmenting their ability to generate an anti-cancer response. We have found that SMAC mimetics tend to decrease proliferation in human T cells while simultaneously increasing their expression of a common activation marker, CD25. The production of cytokines in T cells seems to be impacted by exposure to SMAC mimetics, but has not shown a clear trend. If our work identifies a connection between the use of SMAC mimetics and immune function, it would demonstrate a potential to fend off cancer from both an immunotherapy and chemotherapy approach.

Ashley Burton and Brittany Ligman

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #STEM

It is important to carefully regulate the partitioning of chromosomes during cell division otherwise a variety of defects, including cancer could occur. We are using Caenorhabditis elegans, a small worm in which many genetic tools are available to better understand components that regulate this process and prevent errors. Haspin and BUB-1 are proteins that are thought to act in parallel to promote accurate chromosome partitioning. Knocking out haspin function in C. elegans kills roughly 70% of offspring, but BUB-1 could be compensating, making it responsible for the remaining 30% live eggs. We hypothesize that knocking out both haspin and BUB-1, or a BUB-1 activator BUB-3, at the same time will lead to increased lethality in comparison to knocking down haspin alone, providing us more direct information as to how these components function in the process of cell division.

Danielle Carmeci

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #STEM

The western monarch butterfly has suffered a >99% decrease in population since the 1980s due to the destruction of their milkweed habitat. This habitat loss has been attributed to the use of Roundup, a common herbicide used throughout the U.S. Limited research has shown that the negative effects of Roundup may be ameliorated in some plant species by the presence of mychorrhizal fungi, which colonize the roots of most plant species. We investigated the effects of Roundup and mycorrhizal fungi, alone and together, on growth parameters of narrow-leaf milkweed, one of two milkweed species native to the Willamette Valley.

Arianna Perez-Wolfe

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #STEM

Coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart, and defects in these arteries can lead to heart attacks. The aim of this study is to understand how blood flow induced stress effects the remodeling of coronary arteries. To do this, stress markers ET-1 and eNOS were used to identify turbulent blood flow in the vessels lining the aorta and coronary arteries. We have found that stress from blood flow significantly influences the diameter of coronary arteries.

Jessica Cramm and MaryKate Kordash

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #12:30 #STEM

Cell division is a tightly regulated process that includes the correct transfer of chromosomes into the newly created cells. Passing on the wrong number of chromosomes can result in infertility, birth defects, and cancer. Haspin is a protein that plays a vital role in this process that we are working to better understand. Haspin can be activated by another protein called polo-like kinase, but it is unclear whether this mechanism is necessary in all circumstances. The goal of this project is to use genetic techniques available in C. elegans to test hypotheses about the molecular functions of these important proteins, to better understand what might be occurring when cell division errors occur.

Jommel Macaraeg

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #12:30 #STEM

Milkweed (Asclepias spp.) are the main food source and habitat for western monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus), a critically endangered species. It has been found that monarch larvae have better survival rates on milkweed plants that contain lower levels of cardenolide, a compound produced by milkweeds as a chemical defense. We investigated the effects of mycorrhizal fungi, a common root symbiont, and glyphosate, the main ingredient in the weed-killer Roundup, on cardenolide production. This knowledge will be crucial in establishing suitable migratory and breeding habitats for the long-term survival of western monarchs.�

Jennifer Ng

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #1:35 #STEM

Purple Martins (Progne subis) have been nesting in derelict pilings on the Franz River Campus of the University of Portland for years. The pilings will be removed next summer to make way for a new boat dock as one of the many new facilities being built to expand UP. We installed a 12-gourd array to provide stable nesting sites for these swallows and compared nest attendance patterns in the two nesting types (pilings and gourds). We also studied age and sex differences during incubation and chick-feeding stages.

Gabby Casentini, Emily Hosoume, Abby Knott, and Ellie Winkelmann

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #2:40 #STEM

The CDC estimates that 0.2 -1.5 per 1000 infants born show signs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), a condition which results a in number of developmental anomalies, among which are differences in cardiac development. However, the baseline heart rate of these infants with FAS is inconsistent among published studies. We are conducting a systematic review of a wide search of databases. In June, we retrieved and screened 6,076 abstracts, excluding those with data that obviously did not meet the inclusion criteria. Of the remaining 54 articles, we read each article to determine whether they met the inclusion criteria, and we are extracting data, including age at exposure and age at measurement, from the remaining 10 articles. We continue to work through our remaining papers and their associated databases to determine the baseline heart rate of infants with FAS.

Peyton McDonnell

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #2:40 #STEM

Ethenolysis is a reaction in which long-chain alkenes are broken into more-useful terminal alkenes. This reaction could enable use of plant-based oils instead of petroleum products for some chemical production. However, common ethenolysis catalysts do not make enough product to be useful for industrial applications. It has been reported that new catalysts based on a cyclic alkyl amino carbene (CAAC) ligand greatly improve ethenolysis efficiency making this reaction viable in industry. This study focuses on studying computationally what makes these new CAAC catalysts better than previous catalysts as well as proposing some new theoretical CAAC catalysts that could perform even better.

Aubrey Putansu

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #STEM

This project uses inert atmosphere, organometallic synthetic methods to synthesize novel phosphine ligands. So far, the synthesis of an asymmetrical tripodal ligand has been completed and successfully coordinated to nickel halides. Spectral and electrochemical analysis has been performed.

Jason Ware

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #STEM

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy was used to analyze elemental profiles in human remains from several necropolises at the site of the ancient Roman city of Pollentia. XRF spectroscopy revealed lead content in the skeletons, as well as barium, strontium, and zinc levels, which serve as possible indicators for health, diet, and socioeconomic status. High lead levels were found in remains from the Roman era and, unexpectedly, in remains from the Islamic era. The XRF study revealed relatively high strontium to calcium and barium to calcium ratios for radiocarbon dated remains exhumed from a necropolis dated to the Islamic era. Such high ratios point to an herbivorous diet within an agricultural economy.

Anya Forma, Tristan Low, and Emily May

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #STEM #12:30

Bacteria isolated from bronze dishes at the Pollentia archaeological site in Spain were observed to grow less abundantly than similar-looking bacteria isolated from soil. Since bronze contains copper, growth of the three bacteria isolated from bronze were compared with the soil bacteria to determine whether copper added to culture medium might serve as an antimicrobial element.

Alysha Naone

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #STEM

My research project studied the Stille Cross-coupling reaction. This reaction involves an organometallic compound, a palladium complex, and an organohalide. There are two possible mechanisms the reaction can proceed through, a concerted transmetalation or a stepwise transmetalation. This study explored the characteristics of the cyclic mechanism when using different organometallic, to find which pathway was more energetically favorable.

Victoria Zottarelli

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #12:30 #STEM

In collaboration with the Barker lab at the College of Charleston, we have studied the reactivity of halogenated alcohols toward epoxide formation. The Barker lab found that a monofluoro alcohol rapidly formed an epoxide, despite the typical low reactivity of fluorine leaving groups. More surprisingly, difluoro- and trifluoro-derivatives did not react. We have studied these reactions using computational simulations and found surprising reactivity trends that are the opposite of traditional SN2 reactions.

Emma Morrow

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #1:35 #STEM

Rivers are a major force responsible for the transport of plastic pollution into the ocean. This research reviewed and analyzed the current technology available to reduce plastic pollution in freshwater systems in the form of a research paper. In addition, in-person research was conducted on the Willamette River in Portland, OR to investigate microplastic pollution. A simple microplastic sampling device was constructed and the microplastics were separated and identified in the laboratory.

Olivia Helinski

Shiley School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research

#SSOE #10:20 #STEM

The Los Angeles River watershed is a highly urbanized area with a growing need for an increased and sustainable water supply. The purpose of this project was to create a clean and usable database to characterize the water quality within the watershed. Water quality data was gathered from four available open sources and cleaned using R Programming. The data was analyzed using R Programming with a focus on copper, lead, zinc, and total suspended solids (TSS). Results showed that the concentrations of the metals and TSS were generally higher in the winter months than the summer months, likely due to increased precipitation creating more runoff to carry pollutants into the river.

Anna Tinoco

Shiley School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research

#SSOE #10:20 #STEM

Bioretention is a developing green water treatment system used to treat stormwater. However, leaching occurs in the bioretention soil mix. There is little research in the equilibrium chemistry of water treatment residuals (WTRs) in bioretention systems under saturated conditions. A chemical equilibrium model was developed to evaluate the impact of WTRs on aquatic chemistry in saturated and unsaturated conditions.

Troy Membrere

Shiley School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research

#SSOE #1:35 #STEM

This poster presentation will include findings from a mixed-method program evaluation examining the implementation of a school-wide SEL approach at one public alternative high school in Tualatin, Oregon. This poster uses baseline data from the first year of a 3-year longitudinal study examining how the implementation of a school-wide social and emotional learning approach at a public alternative school impacts students. Data for this poster presentation includes quantitative measures collected using measures of the 11 competencies of SEL. All data was collected in the Fall of 2019; 102 of the 206 students responded to the questionnaires. This data is important for creating school programs that are supportive for students and help them learn and develop.

Alannah Clay

Provost's Initiative for Undergraduate Research

#Education #1:35 #ProvostsInitiative

As sustainability becomes increasingly important in a changing climate, we researched the ways in which UP has risen to the challenge. Using a social innovation lens, we looked at the sustainability initiatives that have occurred across campus. What we learned is that the way sustainability initiatives are implemented at UP very closely follows the Adaptive Cycle in social innovation theory. We see motivated students entering the university and starting projects, varying levels of success as they progress through the university, and then a decline in action when those students graduate. Our findings highlight the barriers at UP for sustainability initiatives to scale deep, as well as areas where innovation could overcome those barriers.

Molly Lowney and Macey Schondel

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #12:30 #SocialScience

In the university timetabling problem, sometimes additions or cancellations of course sections occur shortly before the beginning of the academic term, necessitating last-minute teaching staffing changes. We present a decision-making framework that both minimizes the number of course swaps, which are inconvenient to faculty members, and maximizes faculty members’ preferences for times they wish to teach. The model is formulated as an integer linear program (ILP). Numerical simulations for a hypothetical mid-sized academic department are presented.

Sam Koellmann and Peter Pham

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #1:35 #STEM

Our project was to create mathematical models that show how the Covid-19 virus spread throughout the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February of 2020. Our results found that the disease spread quickly throughout both the passengers and the crew. We also found that the quarantine helped slow the spread, but there is likely to have been flaws in it's execution.

Chloe Campbell and Sierra Nieland

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #1:35 #STEM

The (bold directed forest complex) of a directed graph G is the simplicial complex whose faces are directed subforests of G. The nature of the relationships between G and its directed forest complex is rooted in a question of R. Stanley and remains a very unsolved problem. Our approach is inspired by classical differential topology: we use discrete Morse functions on the directed forest complex to tease out its elementary topological invariants. With particular focus on Betti numbers, we are able to make significant progress on classifying the directed forest complex of a food web graph.

Connor Progin and Casey Carr

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #2:40 #STEM

Parkinson's Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that most commonly results in a hand tremor. There are many current solutions to aid in tremor suppression, however, none of the devices are both inexpensive and prevent the hand from moving. The goal of this research was to create an adjustable device that achieved both of these criteria.

Riley Dehmer and Sam Winston

Shiley School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Research

#SSOE #1:35 #STEM

High-quality sources of random numbers are essential in science and engineering. Ideal quantum random number generators (QRNGs) can produce genuinely random numbers, in the sense that the output is algorithmically random and thus incomputable. This is in contrast to pseudo-random number generators, which produce predictable sequences if the seed used to initialize the generator is known. The verification of the presence of algorithmic randomness and incomputability in the QRNG output is a nontrivial task. We present the results of a search for algorithmic randomness and incomputability in the output from two different QRNGs, including a QRNG we have realized in our own lab.

John Kavulich and Nicholas Salinas

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #10:20 #STEM

In the current environment, workplaces are at least ostensibly attempting to wrestle with racism within their ranks. We examined White people's reactions to Black vs. White employees calling out racist (or otherwise inappropriate) behavior on the part of their employer. Participants observed a pre-recorded Zoom interaction between White employers and their employees and rated the employee's volume when making the call-out, along with the employee's aggressiveness, hostility, appropriateness, etc. We analyzed results in terms of gender and participant political orientation.

Camden Boyd and Gabriella DiPaulo

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #SocialScience

Despite great social strides and enforced legislation, discrimination by gender and race is still prevalent in the labor force. To be considered for promotion, many workplaces require employees to self-nominate or be nominated by their peers. We were curious how these processes might inadvertently disadvantage individuals with one or more marginalized identities. Specifically, we were curious as to how gender (male vs. female) and race (Black vs. White) impacted White participants' perceptions of fictional employees who either self-nominated or were nominated by peers for a prestigious promotion in their workplaces. We analyzed results by participant gender and political orientation.

Gabriella DiPaulo

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #SocialScience

A growing number of Americans recognize climate change as a crisis in need of intervention. Despite an increase in activism, the average consumer struggles to implement sustainable actions into their everyday life, including when they buy gifts for loved ones or themselves. Researchers hypothesized that a gendered difference would be found in considering sustainability while purchasing gifts. A 55 item questionnaire was given to 213 university undergraduates. Results indicated that women were significantly more likely than men to avoid fast fashion, and that both genders prioritized a gift's sentimental value and usability above all else.

Jasmine Fehr and Maya Sellier

Provost's Initiative for Undergraduate Research

#CAS #12:30 #SocialScience #ProvostsInitiative

This article studies Espejo fiel de vidas (Life's True Mirror, 1720) of Daniel Israel López Laguna as an example of Baroque Spanish poetry that reworks the book of Psalms for an audience that like the author were conversos, or New Christians, that is, Spanish and Portuguese Catholics of Jewish origin and their descendants. Likewise, it studies the geographic and spiritual journey of one such Iberian New Christian through the Hispano-Portuguese Jewish diaspora who became a practicing Jew upon settling in Jamaica. Besides showing elements of this journey in López Laguna's paraphrase of Psalms, the article explores how the poet incorporates features of Golden Age Baroque Spanish into his text. As a result, it positions López Laguna as a Jewish and Spanish author in ways that never seem incongruous, despite the exclusion of Jews from Spain and Portugal during the two centuries before he wrote the poem. Our analysis of specific passages of Espejo fiel de vidas shows how López Laguna navigates a hybrid worldview reflective of his years living first as a New Christian and subsequently as a "New Jew." The following pages accompany the poet on this journey by situating Espejo fiel within his lived experiences; connecting the poem to trends of converso and Baroque Spanish literature; and discussing how the spiritual wandering, or peregrinaje, and Inquisitorial consciousness that permeate the text represent the converso condition.

Joshua Henderson and Katie Wojda

CAS Summer Undergraduate Research Experience

#CAS #11:25 #Humanities