35 Students Accepted to Present Research at NCUR

The Dominican students will present their original research on topics ranging from biofuels, the biodiversity of bees in national parks, the effect of Tamoxifen and Vitamin D on breast cancer, parent involvement in child education, and a study of sustainability in the Northern California coastal town of Bolinas.

Established in 1987, NCUR is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students. Unlike meetings of academic professional organizations, this gathering of young scholars welcomes presenters from all institutions of higher learning and from all corners of the academic curriculum.

Through this annual conference, NCUR creates a unique environment for the celebration and promotion of undergraduate student achievement, provides models of exemplary research and scholarship, and helps to improve the state of undergraduate education, said Dr. Sibdas Ghosh, chair of Dominican’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Dominican sends one of the larger contingents to NCUR each year. Over the past five years, an average of 30 Dominican students per year have presented results from research conducted with faculty mentors, or under their guidance, at the conference. Dominican hosted NCUR 21 in 2007, which was attended by more than 2,000 students and faculty mentors.

“Undergraduate research combines teaching and research and, as a result, replaces the traditional archetypes of teacher and student with a collaborative, investigative model, which uses research done with a faculty mentor,” says Dr. Ghosh.

“Undergraduate research truly motivates students to learn by doing,” he adds. “With faculty mentors, students engage directly in practicing the work of their discipline, while they avoid passively acquiring knowledge that this discipline has produced.”

The Dominican research accepted for NCUR 23:

• BIOFUELS: A HANDS-ON APPROACH, LEARNING THE POTENTIAL OF UTILIZING NON-FOOD SOURCES (POSTER-CHEMISTRY) Hom, Alexandra

•  A PHYLOGENY OF THE GENUS GERYGONE BASED ON A COMPARISON OF SONGS (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Cameron, Gregory

•  BIODIVERSITY OF BEES IN NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Jacobs, Winnie

• GLYCOSYLATION OF CYCLOOXYGENASE-2 (COX-2) INFLUENCES THE EFFICACY OF COX-2 INHIBITORS (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Sierra, Guadalupe

• ADDRESSING NON-NATIVE PLANT INVASION IN NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNITS OF CALIFORNIA (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Grant, Christen

• POTENTIAL ROLE OF MICRO-ALGAE ON GLOBAL ENERGY SUPPLY (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Callaway-Keeley, Sage

• THE EFFECT OF TAMOXIFEN AND VITAMIN D ON BREAST CANCER (POSTER-Cell & Mol BIO) Firanescu, Fabian

• THE EFFECTS OF 1.25-DIHYDROXYVITAMIN D3 ON CYCLINS A, B, D AND E EXPRESSION IN LNCAP PROSTATE CANCER CELLS (POSTER-Cell & Mol BIO) Rubin, Ashley

• EFFECTS OF ETHYL PARABEN ON MCF-7 BREAST CANCER CELL PROLIFERATION (POSTER-Cell & Mol BIO) Ponce, Esmeralda

• GIFT-WRAPPED POLLEN 2 FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION VIA COEXPRESSION ANALYSIS (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Uy, Tricia

• CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA JUST-ONE-MORE (JOM) FLOWERING MUTANT(POSTER-BIOLOGY) Cayabyab, Mark

• CALLOSE SYNTHASE ACTIVITY IN THE POLLEN GIFT-WRAPPED POLLEN 2 MUTANT (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Romingquet, Rejine

• TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: HEALTH AND RECREATIONAL STUDY AT POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, CALIFORNIA (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Montalban, Manuel

• GIFT-WRAPPED POLLEN 2 (GWP2) SUBCELLULAR LOCALIZATION DURING ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA POLLEN GERMINATION AND POLLEN TUBE GROWTH (POSTER-BIOLOGY) Cailing, Gabriellee

• EVALUATING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SCIENCE RESEARCH CLASSES (ORAL-BIOLOGY) Ramirez III, David

• CHARACTERIZING THE EXPRESSION OF ELASTIN AND KERATIN WITHIN IN VITRO AND IN VIVO SKIN (ORAL- Cell & Mol BIO) Kahn, Tasha

• IMMUNOPHENOTYPIC ANALYSIS OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELL DIFFERENTIATION INTO NEURONS AND MUSCLE CELLS (ORAL- Cell & Mol BIO) Morrow, Theodor

• EFFECTS OF TGF-ß1, A WOUND HEALING CYTOKINE ON KERATINOCYTES (ORAL- Cell & Mol BIO) Saeedi, Shahdad

• CHOKING THE SMALL AMERICAN FARM: CHANGES IN MODERN AGRICULTURAL POLICY (ORAL-Political Science) Cordi, Juleah

• (WO)MANLY POLITICIANS: STUDYING VOTER PREFERENCE FOR MASCULINE VERSUS FEMININE FEMALE POLITICIANS (Oral- Political Science) Curtis, Audrey

• POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THEMES IN HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES (ORAL-ENGLISH) Peterson, Maren

• AN EXPLORATION OF THE SINO-SOVIET SPLIT: 1950-1970 (ORAL-HISTORY) Gross, Dana

• VISUAL INQUIRY OF SPACE AND SHAPE (Performing Art- Art and Media Studies) Ancheta, Nathaniel

• SEX, CINEMA, AND CENSORSHIP: A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF CENSORSHIP OF SEX IN FILM (ORAL- Film Studies) Jordan, Brandon

• AMERICA’S MODERN TRAGEDY: AN EXAMINATION OF BUSH’S TRAGIC FLAWS IN COMPARISON TO SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE (ORAL-Interdisciplinary Studies) Harris, Janelle

• A STUDY OF BOLINAS: A COMMUNITY LOOKING TO MAINTAIN SUSTAINABILITY (ORAL-Interdisciplinary Studies) Fontan, Trisha

• OPPRESSION IS A CATALYST FOR ARTISTIC EXPRESSION BECAUSE ART HAS THE ABILITY TO BREAK THROUGH AND TRANSCEND IMPOSED LIMITATIONS (ORAL-EDUCATION) Caminiti, June

• INVISIBLE BARS: CLASSROOM ALIENATION AND ITS LONG TERM EFFECTS (ORAL-EDUCATION) Tee, Rachel

• THE REPRODUCTION OF INEQUALITY: SOLVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT GAP WITH LOCAL COMMUNITIES (ORAL-EDUCATION) Taylor, Lacey

• THE USE OF CORPORATE-SPONSORED CURRICULUM IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS (ORAL-EDUCATION) Lightfoot, Laura

• WHERE THE SIDEWALK BEGINS: PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN CHILD EDUCATION (ORAL-EDUCATION) Butler, Natalie

• BILINGUAL VS. ENGLISH IMMERSION EDUCATION: A STUDY ON THE PARENTS' PERSPECTIVE (ORAL-EDUCATION) Martin, Amanda

• IMPROVING PRESENTATION SELF-EFFICACY THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL TRAINING (ORAL-BUSINESS)   Huiberts, Shane

• CONSUMERCRAVINGS (ORAL-MARKETING) Poole, Lindsay

• EDUCATED WITH NO WHERE TO GO: CUBA’S HIGH LITERACY RATE DESPITE ECONOMIC POVERTY (ORAL-BUSINESS) Alcaria, Rizza