SAVE THE DATES: The 2022 CNS Honors Thesis Symposium will take place on Thursday and Friday, April 28 and 29, in the William C. Powers, Jr. Building.
In April 2021, 62 students from Polymathic Scholars, Health Science Scholars, and Dean's Scholars presented their Capstone research in 20 faculty-moderated panels, all over Zoom. You can see that program below. We expect even more presenters in 2022. Check back on April 15, 2022 for the lineup!
THURSDAY, APRIL 29
Session 1: 10 – 10:50 a.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/98402825076
NOVEL APPROACHES TO MENTAL HEALTH
Moderator: Alex Huk, Department of Neuroscience
Miles Gibson
Maintenance Electroconvulsive Therapy Use in Adolescents for Long-Term Remission in Treating Major Depressive Disorder
Andre Taylor
Video Games and Mental Health
Sophia Bibb
The Relationship Between Sensory Processing Sensitivity and Trauma
Session 2: 11 – 11:50 a.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/96658695671
INNOVATIONS IN HEALTHCARE
Moderator: Erin Donovan, Department of Communication Studies
Preethi Keerthipati
Antibacterial Face Mask Design Based on the Surface Structure of Cicada Wings
Bilal Haque
The Impact of Technology on Diabetes Distress
Barna Veli
Implementation of Multidisciplinary Care Teams in Cancer Care
CELESTIAL OBJECTS: FIRST STARS, NASCENT STARS, AND EXOPLANETS
Moderator: Rachel Gonzalez-Martin, Department of Mexican American and Latin/a Studies
Gina Chen
Modeling Filamentary Structures in Simulated Star-Forming Regions
Zoe de Beurs
Understanding Celestial Objects With Artificial Intelligence: Novel Methods of Exoplanet Detection and X-ray Binary Classification
Rabia Husain
Neutron Star Remnants from the First Stars
Session 3: 1 – 1:50 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/91023591397
CHALLENGES IN HEALTH COMMUNICATION
Moderator: Craig Hurwitz, Dell Medical School
Mahad Rehman
Using Social Media for Health Campaigns in Developing Countries: A Case Study with Antibiotic Resistance
Anila Katragadda
Awareness of Cognitive Bias is an Integral Part of Health Literacy
Sebastian Hama
Social, Cultural, and Historical Factors of the United States Antidepressant Overuse Epidemic
MAKING THINGS BETTER: REFINING ALGORITHMS
Moderator: Mike Mauk, Department of Neuroscience
Jeremy Cook
On the Relationships Between Z-, C-, and H-Local Unitaries
Brendan Fitzgerald
Understanding and Applying the Updated Module Boundaries of Modular Type I Polyketide Synthases
Connor Davis
Probing the Fastest Light Pulses in the Universe
SESSION 4: 2 – 2:50 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/95711866622
THE REACHES OF ART: ANATOMICAL ILLUSTRATION, ARCHITECTURAL STRIPING, AND THE RUMBA COMPLEX
Moderator: Donnie Sackey, Department of Rhetoric and Writing
Alyssa Wu
The Enduring Impact of Pre-Renaissance Anatomy
Shireen Shah
The Architectural History of Striping
Arhian Albis Ramos
Three Essential Moments in the Evolution of Cuban Rumba
HIGHER MATH: ELECTRON DYNAMICS, MARKOV CHAINS, AND ALCOVE WALKS
Moderator: Arturo De Lozanne, Department of Molecular Biosciences
David Garcia
Above-Threshold Ionization in Ultra-Intense Laser Fields
Alexander Halsey
Cournot Competition as a Continuous State Space Markov Chain
Matthew Huynh
Alcove Walks and Spherical Whittaker Functions
SESSION 5: 3 – 3:50 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/98480545343
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
Moderator: James Pennebaker, Department of Psychology
Samuel Lin
A Comprehensive View of the Health Disparities in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury
Sabrina Benitez
Medical Mistrust as a Barrier to PrEP Adoption in Black Women at Risk for HIV Infection
Michelle Sanchir
Urban Redevelopment and the Health of Black Residents in East Austin
HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND ITS EFFECTS
Moderator: David Hillis, Department of Integrative Biology
Lauren Do
Universal Suicide Screenings in Pediatric Emergency Departments
Meghan Mallya
Emotional Stimuli and Fixation on Negative Thoughts' Influence Efficiency of Replacement in Working Memory
Stefani Barre
Using an SIR Model to Predict the Spread of COVID-19 in Travis County
FRIDAY, APRIL 30
Session 6: 10 – 10:50 a.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/98865116128
EMERGING ISSUES IN SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Moderator: Caryn Carlson, Department of Psychology
Joy Li
The Lived Experience of Transition for Individuals With Gender Dysphoria
Ananya Bashyam
Ethno-Racial Microaggressions and Their Implications on South Asian American Adolescent Identity Formation
Fouad Debs
Investigating the Social Effects of Homelessness on School-Age Children
TESTING AND TREATMENT
Moderator: Laura Colgin, Department of Neuroscience
Purvee Patel
What’s in Your Water? – Diagnostic Testing for Cryptosporidium Parvum
Amanda Xia
Characterization of T Cell Receptor Specificity to Mediate Immune Responses
Zijian Wang
Methionine and Cyst(e)ine Depletion with Engineered Enzymes for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer
Session 7: 11 – 11:55 a.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/93463182879
CARING FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
Moderator: Thomas Garza, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Adarsh Melukote
Identifying Effective Administrative and Technological Interventions for Burnout in Medicine
Thanvi Thodati
Investigating Suicide Risk Among Women Physicians
Shilpa Rajagopal
A Changing Narrative: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Roles of Healthcare Chaplaincy and Advance Care Planning
HEALTH AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Moderator: Alex Huk, Department of Neuroscience
Aakansha Bagepally
Eugenic Measures Against Immigrant Women as a Means of Population Control
Audrey Gow
The Barriers to Reproductive Healthcare Services for the Refugee Population in the U.S.
Marco Flores
Big Pharma and HIV Policy: A Case Study of Gilead and PrEP Pricing
Aashna Lal
Effective Altruism in Global Health
Session 8: 1 – 1:50 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/94722637842
FOOD AND NUTRITION
Moderator: Mike Boylan-Kolchin, Department of Astronomy
Lauren Palluth
Policing Nutrition: How School Lunch Policies Can Better Combat the Childhood Obesity Epidemic
Michael DiLeo
Correlating Hunger With Eating Behaviors in Individuals with Type Two Diabetes
Alexis Salim
Food Insecurity in University Students: Improving Interventions
ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Moderator: Amy Simmons, Butler School of Music
Anna Yammine
A Theory-Guided Approach for Universities to Reduce Student Misuse of Prescription Stimulants
Madison Sipes
Academic Success of Average Students at The University of Texas at Austin
Lois Owolabi
Exploring the Impact of Video Games in STEM Education
Session 9: 2 – 2:50 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/92454807287
HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS AND POLICY
Moderator: David Laude, Department of Chemistry
Anthony Zhang
How Have Health Professionals in Congress Affected American Health Policy?
Parker Spradley
Succeeding With Value-Based Care: How Physicians Can Improve Health and Lower Cost
Ethan Wang
Opt-In vs. Opt-Out: A Systematic Literature Review Comparing Spanish and American Systems of Deceased Organ Donation
COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT
Moderator: Karen Browning, Department of Molecular Biosciences
Glori Das
Optical Imaging of Retinal Muller Glia: A Potential Tool for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease
Sindhu Venkat
Lasers, Rats, and Enzymes: Treating Cognitive Impairment
Alisha Ahmed
Neuron Morphology in the Scn1b Mouse Model of Dravet Syndrome
HEALTH AND CULTURE
Moderator: Rene Dailey, Department of Communication Studies
Sofia Ferguson
Curanderismo and Colonization: Historical Analysis of the Origins of Curanderismo’s Practices
Tenzin Palkyi
A Case Study of Tibetan Medicine: Examining Challenges of Establishing the Credibility of Traditional Medical Systems
Koshma Eswaramoorthy
Exploring the Broader Cross-cultural Perception of ASD in Asian Parents and the Implications for Healthcare
Session 10: 3 – 3:55 p.m.
https://utexas.zoom.us/j/95718376422
THE STORIES WE TELL: LITERATURE, MEDIA, AND CULTURE
Moderator: H. Michelann Quimby, Human Development and Family Sciences
Ariana Nehrbass
Science Representation in Children's Streaming Television
Joseph Carver
Dating Violence and Conservative Gender Norms in Three Versions of Twilight
Katharine Fisher
Red Uniforms and Girls on Fire: Communication with the Fashion of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games
POLITICS AND CULTURE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Moderator: Greg Sitz, Department of Physics
Divya Kolli
Motivation, Feasibility, and Ethics of Colonizing Mars
Emil Shabanov
Tourism and Urban Development in the Yucatan
Srividya Kottapalli
Populistic Nationalism and Globalization
Bowen Song
Conspiracy Theories and Polarization: How Modern-Day Conspiracy Theories are Fueled by Echo Chambers
