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On Friday, October 27, the Fall 2023 Graduate Research Symposium highlighted the outstanding and diverse scholarship being conducted by graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Students gave either Three Minute Thesis-style oral presentations in the East Lounge in Dougherty Hall or presented posters in the Connelly Center Art Gallery. The event was sponsored by the Office of Graduate Studies (CLAS), Falvey Memorial Library and the Center for Graduate Research and Education.

"The Research Symposium is a celebration of the fine work of our graduate students," said Emory Woodard, PhD, Dean of CLAS Graduate Studies. "This event not only showcases the depth of our students' research but also highlights the essential role of interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing knowledge in our complex world. By connecting those outside of our disciplines with our important work, our students develop an important competency for career success."

Oral Presentations, East Lounge

Rachel Carrock, Biology
Investigating the Relationship Between Morphology, Performance, and Behavior in an Invasive Gecko

Claire Jones, Biology
How do chickadees communicate about the presence and absence of food?

Gabrielle Solomon, Biology
Dominance relationships, ancestry, and plumage signals among Black-capped Chickadees, Carolina Chickadees, and their hybrids

Juliette Murray, Chemistry
Development of a Liquid Chromatography Post Column Derivatization Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MAE-LC-PCD-APCI-MS/MS) Method for Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) Analysis in Hair

Matthew Schnell, Chemistry
Understanding the Mechanism of Keap1 Cysteine-151-Specific Nrf2 Activators

Daniel Zelch, Chemistry
Expanding the molecular toolbox of medicinal chemists with biologically active and synthetically useful azetidines

Adam Riekstins, English
Literary Existentialism: Beyond the Canon

Hannah Feldman, Environmental Science
An immersive urban environmental geochemistry research experience at the high school level as a pathway to the geosciences

Lorina Holterhoff, Environmental Science
Evaluating heavy metal contamination in green stormwater infrastructure within the greater Philadelphia region

Sahara Rios-Bonilla, Environmental Science
A Matter of Perspective: Eating Lionfish to Reduce Marine Plastic Pollution and Ease Fishery Pressure on Local Species

Ryan Snyder, History
Sanctifying a Coup: Max Thornburg and The Christian Rational for TPAJAX

Timour Kamran, Philosophy
Benjamin, Weber, and the Critique of Technology

Claryn Spies, Philosophy
A Queer Phenomenology of Masked Figures

Ranya Al-Khayyat, Psychology
Social Support Networks in Homeless Experiences

Hannah Campbell, Psychology
I didn’t mean to look, I’m just tired: The association between poor sleep, reduced inhibitory control, and attention to romantic alternatives.

Ryan Krieger, Psychology
Exploring individual differences in personality and sleep-related practices

Benjamin Swack, Psychology
Effects of Early Life Stress on Adult Stress Susceptibility and Neurogenesis

Zainab Jeffrey, Theatre
Shakuntala’s Legacy: Deconstructing the Passive Femininity in South Asian Drama

Elisha Chi, Theology
The Catholic Doctrine of Discovery and Indigenous Women

Poster Presentations, Art Gallery

Cathilyn McIntosh, Biology
Linking greenhouse gas emissions to oyster berm barriers in salt marsh ecosystems

Edwin Owusu-Ansah, Biology
Unraveling the role of the mitofusin-like protein TbMFNL in mitochondrial dynamics of the eukaryotic parasite Trypanosoma brucei

Faith St. Clair, Biology
Quantifying in vitro growth and attachment of Crithidia bombi, a parasite of bumblebees

Elizabeth Wright, Biology
Superhero Activation: LPCAT1 Upregulated in Early CD4+ T Cell Activation

Claude Baluh, Chemistry
Bimetallic Ruthenium 2,2’-Bipyrimidine Bridged Complexes for Water Oxygen Electrocatalysis

Molly Moore, Chemistry
Sleuthing the Trypanosome Genome for Haloacid Dehalogenases

Donald (Merle) Bernhard, Chemistry
Synthesis of Chelating Ligands Containing Ring-Expanded N-Heterocyclic Carbenes 

Oladimeji Fatoki, Education
A Comparison of Three Approaches in Promoting Youth Civic Engagement Among University Students

Luis Berrios-Hayden, Environmental Science
Spatial Distribution of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Diversity and Heavy Metal Soil Concentrations as a Function of Urban Structure in Philadelphia, PA

Paris Baker, Environmental Science
Development of a spatially explicit model for projecting future salinity distributions in coastal regions

Anjum Karim, Environmental Science
Exposure to Particulate Matter in the Philadelphia Subway

Kevin Lower, Philosophy
Margaret Cavendish’s Materialist Conception of Sympathy

Thomas McGlone, Philosophy
Négritude and General Will? Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor on Unity and Activity

Rose Dietrich, Psychology
Integration of spatially separated tactile information at prolonged timescales

Harris Drachman, Psychology
Simultaneous active negative attentional templates for multiple distractor colors

Tia Nicolas, Psychology
My COVID Experience

Reet Patel, Psychology
Time-course of processing for lexical status and syntactic class

Tekoa Robinson, Theology
'You shall have no other gods before me': The Technological Structuring of the Fragmentation, Objectification, and Commodification of the imago dei at work on Instagram

Noelle Johnson, Theatre