31 students honored for their research during CSC Day 2020

A total of 31 students from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University have been honored for their undergraduate research at the 20th anniversary of Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity (CSC) Day April 23.

Recognition was given in three categories: All-College Thesis Scholars, CSC Day Spotlight recipients and Emerging Scholars.

The honorees represented just a small portion of the research presented throughout CSC Day. Nearly 250 students presented their research online throughout the day.

All-College Thesis Scholars

The All-College Thesis Scholars are graduating seniors who have successfully completed a three-semester long independent research or creative work project, producing work that is above and beyond the expectations of a senior capstone.

All-College Thesis Scholars are endorsed and sponsored by their academic departments based on a competitive project proposal. At the completion of their thesis, students are eligible for nomination for the Outstanding Thesis Award, to be awarded by email the week of May 4.

The 15 Scholars and their research titles include:

• Bardia Bijani Aval, “Implementation Considerations for Mitigating Bias in Supervised Machine Learning.”
• Hannah Baumgardt, “The City Eternal - a Spectrum of Stories.”
• Brent Burg, “Modulation of Parasympathetic Reactivation Post-Exercise via Slow Breathing.”
• George Doyle, “Catholicism and Politics in a Fallen World: Understanding Human Imperfection as it Relates to Political Institutions.”
• Kori Friedges, “The Effect of a Positive and Negative Mindset on Affect, Happiness and Heart Rate Variability.”
• Allison Grodnick, “The Evolution of Multidrug Resistance in an Isolated Pseudomonas Strain.”
• Carisa Hilton, "The Impact of Nutrition Education on Serving Size Comprehension in College-Age Female Students."
• Zach Kennedy, “The Impact of Perception on Financial Decisions for Women Entrepreneurs.”
• Molly Kluever, “'Thus seyden sadde folk:’ Chaucer’s Oxford Clerk on Theological Controversy in the 14th Century.”
• Elise Miller, “Drought in Temperate Mesic Regions Leads to Micro-density Anomalies in White Pine.” 
• Olivia Olson, “Emotions as Moderators or Mediators of Integration and Memory During Reading.”
• Kristina Packer, “Determinants of the Gender Pay Gap in the U.S. Financial Sector: Estimating the Role of Discrimination.” 
• Ryan Pauley, “Parental Support for Physical Activity in Young Children.”
• Maria Schrupp, “Real Life Migration: An Analysis of Emotional and Micro-Level Responses to the Structures of Migration in Santiago, Chile.”
• Ryan Strelow, “Recurrent Neural Network Design in Music Composition.”

CSC Day Spotlight Award

Each CSC Day, the Undergraduate Research Program highlights the research and creative work of 10 exceptional student projects in the CSC Day Spotlight.

To be considered for the spotlight, students must be nominated, register to present their work at CSC Day and submit a short reflection on their research experience. Recipients are selected the by the Undergraduate Research Program, based on faculty nomination and student reflection.

The 10 projects selected for this award include:

• Joshua Aune, “Measuring the Effects of Ammonium Salt Inhalation on Reaction Time, Power Output and Resistance to Fatigue in Male Collegiate Athletes.”
• Amanda Bjerke, “German Language Education: A Qualitative Comparison of German Language Education in Germany.”
• Matthew Captain, “Is There a Relationship Between Basking Site Characters and Morphological Features of Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta)?”
• John Colleran, “The Acute Effects of Mental Imagery Training on Force Production in College-age Students.”
• Alejandra Gallardo, “UNFCCC COP25 Research on Climate Migrant Narratives.”
• Madison Jones, “Utilizing Heart Rate to Predict Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption: A Mathematical Model.”
• Martha Koenig, “Coordination is Not Related to a Parents’ Perception of Ability or Support for Physical Activity.” 
• Gabriella Lott and Quinlen Marshall, “A Novel Synthetic Procedure and In-Silico Analysis of Azo-Dye Coupled Inhibitors of Low Molecular Weight Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase.”
• Brigid Mark, “UNFCCC COP25 Research on Global Youth Climate Justice Movement.”
• Perrin Thompson, “Hmong Women in Leadership: Creating a Multicultural Identity While Preserving Traditions in the Modern Age.”

Emerging Scholars

This is the first cohort of the Emerging Scholars Program, which is designed to provide first-year students that have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education or their field of study to three high-impact practices over the course of their first year at CSB/SJU: undergraduate research, learning in community and meaningful on-campus student employment.

Students selected to be an Emerging Scholar are offered a full-time, paid, on-campus research position (10-12 hours per week) for the entire academic year under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Emerging Scholars are selected by Undergraduate Research, based on student application and fit with faculty mentor.

The selected five Scholars and their faculty mentors of the inaugural cohort include:

• Emerging Scholar: Alex Arellano;
  Faculty mentors: Katie Furniss, biology (fall semester), Troy Knight, environmental studies (spring semester); “Genetic Variation of the Pinus Strobus in the Saint John's Abbey Arboretum.”
  
  
• Emerging Scholar: Karen Benitez;
  Faculty mentor: Annette Raigoza, chemistry;
  “Development of Biological Sensors: Attachment of Adamantanethiol Molecules.”
  
  
• Emerging Scholar: Maya Green;
  Faculty mentor: Jeff DuBois, languages and cultures;
  “Learning Japanese Kanji Through Lightboard Videos.”
  
  
• Emerging Scholar: Gilbert Perez;
  Faculty mentor: Ted Gordon, first-year seminar;
  “Transforming CSB/SJU for Native and Indigenous Inclusion.”
  
  
• Emerging Scholar: Perrin Thompson;
  Faculty mentor: Deborah Pembleton, global business leadership;
  “Balancing the Professional and Personal Lives of Hmong Women in Leadership - A Phenomenological Culture Case Study.”