Perscriptivist Rules by Type Finding the Values in English Usage Manuals

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Delaney Barney and Faculty Mentor: Don Chapman, Department of Linguistics and English Language Introduction The popular view of usage manuals like Fowler’s Modern English Usage (1926) and Garner’s Modern American Usage (2003) is that they contain a well-established set of rules. We expect to find the same language rules we’ve been practicing since elementary school: […]

Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà: Construction, Creation, and Sculptural Meditation

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Heidi Pyper Faculty Mentor: Elliott D. Wise, Department of Comparative Arts and Letters I organized this research project to better understand Michelangelo’s final work and sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, which contains an upright Jesus supported from behind by Mary (Fig. 1). Michelangelo labored on the sculpture up until the last days of his life, and […]

Recognizing the Portuguese Immigrants of the 1940s through Photographs by Visual Anthropologist John Collier Jr.

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Anna Giberson and Faculty Mentor: James Swensen, Department of Comparative Arts and Letters This project focused on the study of the photographs of Portuguese immigrants in Massachusetts taken in 1942 by John Collier Jr., an important pioneer in visual anthropology. My goal was to analyze Collier’s photographs in order to raise awareness of the contributions […]

Analyzing and Mutating Structural Patterns To Create New Music in the Style of Other Music

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Drew Jex and Dr. Dan Ventura, Computer Science Department Introduction A common element in music is the concept of repeating patterns. It is the careful organization and combination of notes and rhythms that forms these patterns, and indeed the very essence of music itself. Because music is definitive and pattern-based, we as humans recognize it […]

Development and Evaluation of an EEG-Based Symbol-Digit Substitution Task

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Christopher Beckett and Dr. Bruce Brown, Department of Psychology Introduction The event-related potential (ERP) method has led to major advances in the experimental exploration of the neurological correlates of human cognition (Luck, 2005). The usual process is to take EEG (electroencephalographic) recordings during a cognitive task. The recording is timelocked to a stimulus so that […]

Detecting Cognitive Distortions Using Machine Learning and Text Analytics

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Taetem Simms and Dr. Christophe Giraud-Carrier, Department of Computer Science Introduction Due to the rise of social media data, health scientists have become more engaged in using computational modeling to better understand health and health behavior. Pentland et al. have noted that daily use of technology “leave digital breadcrumbs – tiny records of our daily […]

Parameter Reduction of the Hodgkin-Huxley Model of a Spiking Neuron

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Tyler Bahr and Dr. Mark Transtrum, Department of Physics and Astronomy Introduction The foundational model of voltage spiking in neurons, formulated by Hodgkin and Huxley in 1952, is composed of 4 dynamical variables and 25 parameters. The sheer complexity of the basic neuron model is a key issue which makes neural simulations computationally expensive. We […]

PbSe and PbTe Quantum Dots inside the Ferritin Protein

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Kameron Hansen and Dr. John Colton, Department of Physics and Astronomy Ferritin (FTN) is a spherical protein shell used nearly ubiquitously across life to store and transport iron in a non-toxic form. Ferritin’s natural occurring ferrihydrite mineral (Fe(O)OH) can be removed, leaving behind a hollow interior that conveniently serves as a template for researchers to […]

Digital Analysis of Norwegian Tourist Journals: Searching for the Ecological Imaginary

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Andrew Tate and Dr. Christopher Oscarson, Department of Comparative Arts and Letters I wanted to understand how Norwegians’ perceptions of their own country, particularly with regards to ecology, changed between the years 1868 and 1921. The Norwegian Tourist Association (or Den Norske Turistforening) has been publishing yearbooks since 1868. These publications are packed with articles […]