Native BYU: Remembering Living Histories

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Maren Loveland, Dr. Michael Taylor, English Department In collaboration with BYU’s recently founded Native American Alumni Association, BYU’s Special Collections, and Diné historian and BYU alumna, Farina King (Northeastern State University), the purpose of this project is to create a permanent physical and digital collection that documents the extensive and diverse history of BYU’s Native American […]

The Effects of Hyperlipidemia on β-Cells

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Andrew Barlow, Trevor Lloyd, Mason Poffenbarger, Austin Ricks, Dr. Jeffery Tessem; Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science Introduction Diabetes’ prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate. Normally, insulin-secreting β-cells in the pancreas regulate proper glucose absorption and storage. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are characterized by decreased functional β-cell mass and insulin production (1). Diabetes also results […]

Acute ethanol decreases infiltration of macrophages across the blood-brain barrier

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James Brundage, Jake Lattin, Dr. Scott Steffensen, Psychology Introduction Alcohol addiction affects the lives of millions of people worldwide. In the US alone, an estimated 28 million are currently undergoing treatment to recover from the effects of alcohol abuse at the cost of over 249 billion dollars. The disease has dire consequences for those affected, as […]

Russian For Professional Purposes Russ 399R Academic Internship

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Tyler Larsen, Jennifer Bown, Russian Department Introduction “Russian for Professional Purposes” was a project to design a curriculum that would teach students a way to independently specialize their Russian. The course directed students to choose a professional field and then do activities. Activities built vocabulary and confidence in communicating about and for the profession. During the […]

Damselflies of Vanuatu

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Madison Lallatin, Seth Bybee, Biology Department Introduction Vanuatu is a string of active volcanic islands in Micronesia near Fiji and Australia. The islands undergo regular submersion and emersion from the ocean, and the most recent emergence was 2 million years ago (Hamilton et al. 2010). As a result, all organisms on the islands of Vanuatu have […]

Oxytocin and Social Affiliation: A Study of the Genetic Underpinnings behind Social Behavior in Rhesus Macaques

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Ryno Kruger, J. Dee Higley, Psychology Introduction Studies suggest that social relationships play a critical role in physical and mental health1, with effect sizes similar to that seen for smoking and alcohol abuse. Those experiencing real or perceived social isolation show higher rates of mortality3, while those with stronger social relationships show decreased rates of mortality4. […]

How Endorser Gender Affects Candidate Electability

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Miranda Hatch, Connor Kreutz, Jessica Preece, Political Science Introduction Across the world, and especially in the United States of America, women are severely underrepresented in government. Although most Americans claim to see men and women as equals, covert and unintentional sexism still permeates the political decisions they make1.One consequence of this inadvertent sexism is the common perception […]

Could TK1 Suppress the Immune System and Promote Tumor Development?

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Joshua Keller, Roman Kovtun, Kim O’Neill, Microbiology & Molecular Biology Cancer is a widespread disease that affects millions of people worldwide and in many cases is difficult to treat. In order to find new and better treatment, it is important to understand how this disease progresses. Thymidine Kinase 1 (TK1) is a recognized biomarker that is […]

Measuring Compassion in the Workforce

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Haley Kirk, Jeffrey Jenkins, Information Systems My ORCA project is designed to measure a person’s level of compassion using mouse-cursor tracking. The field of compassion is relatively untouched in the world of research, and I wanted to be one of the first to effectively measure compassion. I also wanted this measurement to be easily implemented into […]

Impact of Lexical Bundles on Chinese L2 Learners’ Oral Proficiency

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Corey Ketring, Rachel Yu Liu, Asian & Near Eastern Languages This study examined the efficacy of formulaic language in improving the fluency of Chinese in second-language learners. Formulaic language refers to a group of words that is cognitively stored as one linguistic unit, rather than being analyzed by each indepdent part (Simon, 1974). For instance, if […]