All Abstracts

 The thrust of migration from the British-colonized Caribbean to America can be dated to the early twentieth century but accelerated from 1964 with the removal of country quotas. Jamaicans represent the largest number of British Caribbean migrants to the United States and possess the most distinct and persistent cultural identity. This researc...

This study examines the response of the Jonathan administration to the 2014 kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, Nigeria. This study was designed to show the relationship between gender policy, security, and state-based patriarchy and has a time frame of between April 2014 and May 2015. This study analyzes the Jonathan Administration’s national age...

Previous research indicates that relationships with deviant peers are associated with increased smoking and increased alcohol use. In addition, adolescents do not have fully developed prefrontal cortexes, which affects decision making and social behaviors. One implication of this is that adolescents believe that they are not susceptible to harm and...

As a civil rights activist, Ruby Hurley showcased her progressive thinking while with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). We call her progressive thought "radical" because women, especially black women during the forties and fifties, were encouraged to govern themselves according to societal standards that made t...

Several mental health morbidities and physical mortalities disproportionately affect African-American women. Mistrust and negative perception towards the value of health professionals may play a role. This study examines the environmental, cultural, and societal factors that influence African-American college women’s attitudes toward mental and p...

Spelman College is well known for the success of its graduates in the workforce. Because of this, students feel the need to overachieve in their studies. 62 Spelman College students were asked to participate in an anonymous online survey. The survey asked about academic stereotypes, academic performance, and stress. A Pearson Correlation was conduc...

Although African American women are burdened by mental illness, their use of mental health services is low (Matthews & Hughes, 2001). This project explores how black women’s identity relates to knowledge about mental health and shapes attitudes towards seeking mental health treatment. It is hypothesized that mental health literacy is positive...

Organochlorides, a component of pesticides, are suspected of contributing to cancer risk due to their effect on DNA methylation. Our previous study showed that among individuals with greater than 100ng/mL of organochloride DDE in their blood, the genes TERT, HCK, and DIO3 displayed differential methylation. The goal of this study was to determine i...

Classifying amoebae is difficult due to limited morphological characters that can be used to distinguish them. Biodiversity within amoeboid organisms still remains poorly studied. DNA sequences such as small subunit ribosomal RNA and Cox1 genes are almost exactly the same between Cochliopodium minus & C. pentatrifurcatum. However, they have a v...

Television is often used to promote dominant ideologies and to define social and cultural norms and expectations. Reality television has been has been singled out by scholars and critics because its supposedly “real” content is in fact intentionally structured and presented to emphasize ideologies related to social norms and cultural stereotype...

There is a significant gap in social scientific knowledge about suicide amongst black women. Existing research on this topic is limited and relegated to rigid frameworks of thought based on assumptions of pathology and trauma. This project seeks to interpret the phenomenological implications of suicidal conduct as a response to being socially kille...

Black women have been voting at rates above 85% in presidential elections since 1972 which begs the question: what have they seen that others have not? Building on applied standpoint epistemology theory, Black women’s acceptance of a presidential candidate is examined as a leading indicator of the polarization of presidential approval. Polarizati...

The Greater Atlanta Area as well as the West End communities that surround Spelman are in environmental danger. We will study environmental awareness among students at Spelman College, a minority college. Using a survey, we will gather information from students across all majors.  Collected data will be itemized using the SPSS statistics softw...

It is known that Chlamydia pathogenesis causes complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease and tubal factor infertility. In this study, we will determine the role of circadian rhythms on the outcome of Chlamydia infection. We hypothesize that the time of day of infection is important in determining the progression of chlamydial pathogenesis. ...

Globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) is a glycolipid molecule that serves as a receptor for Shiga toxin molecules. Shiga toxin molecules are produced by some strains of E. coli bacteria. Infection with Shiga toxin-producing bacteria can lead to hemorrhagic colitis in adults and hemolytic uremic syndrome in children. Shiga toxin B subunits each contain three...

In order to establish a protocol for stem cell differentiation, we experiment on different methods in C2C12 cells. To begin, C2C12 cells transduced with the myoD promoter were grown to full confluency. When differentiation began, the control cells grown horizontally were compared to the experimental cells grown vertically. The cells grown verticall...

Random matrix theory is a major branch of contemporary mathematics. With origins in nuclear physics and statistics, random matrices have numerous applications in areas as diverse as real-time signal processing, civil engineering, combinatorics and number theory. The notion of rigid motion in Euclidean geometry is captured by orthogonal matrices. Th...

This project explores Sexual Literacy among college students. The researcher conducted focus groups and administered questionnaires to a convenience sample of students at Spelman College. In the focus groups, the participants shared their feelings about and experiences with sexual health. This information was used to develop a questionnaire. Survey...

Microgel particles are being applied to a variety of nano- and microtechnologies such as biomaterials, materials for enhancing oil refinery, and catalysis. Highly deformable microgel particles dispersed in solvent, swell more than stiffer particles because the latter have a higher crosslinking density. However, when these microgel particles are cro...

Art Therapy is a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing, or modeling (Malchiodi, 1998). Art Therapy is also used as a means to diagnosis emotional or psychological problems in individuals. Even though Art Therapy is not typically practiced in schools, the techniques and strategies are som...

Patrice Brown, a curvy paraprofessional and rising Internet celebrity known as #TeacherBae, emerged in September 2016. She was both praised and chastised for her figure and her form fitting work attire. Pop culture articles about #TeacherBae opened a larger conversation about Black women’s bodies and oversexualization. My goal is to extend the di...

There have been many discussions in recent years relating to hydraulic fracturing in North Carolina. As early as 2010, heated debates between environmental agencies and pro-fracking energy companies began, which eventually led to a state lawsuit between Clean Water North Carolina and the North Carolina Oil and Gas Commission. In 2015 this lawsuit r...

Previous research links autobiographical storytelling to both individual and familial psychosocial well-being indices. This study examines the relationship between measures of well-being and the stories families tell about one’s birth, known as birth narratives. The project will allow us to determine how well-being is expressed through basic reco...

Black music is a term that describes music that is produced or inspired by Black people. Black music, such as blues, jazz, soul, and rhythm & blues, explores Black pain. Black women singer-songwriters have shared trauma and presented their experiences of Black womanhood by presenting and politicizing it through their music, but they also benefi...

Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) is an inherited disease that promotes the development of cancer. HNPCC patients are also at risk of developing other cancers throughout the body. HNPCC is linked to defects in the DNA mismatch repair mechanism (MMR). MMR corrects single point mutations resulted from unfaithful DNA replication. MutS ...

Redox signaling is how molecules, such as superoxide, communicate within cells to negatively impact normal cell function. Understanding redox signaling is important because of the role of redox signaling in the aging of a cell as a result of superoxide radicals. Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) is an antioxidant enzyme that functions to eliminate superox...

This study examines the power of an authority figure and the role of source credibility in relation to the continued influence effect conceptual framework. A random sample of 165 participants is examined. We hypothesize that (1) an authority figure providing false information will result in increased believability and increased reliance on misinfor...

Endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seed of flowering plants. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrients. It also provides signals to regulate embryo growth. Endosperm development consists of the syncytial and cellularization phases. Interestingly, embryo growth is faster in the cellularization phase than the syncytial phase. An invertase...

Within this research, Computational Commutative Algebra was used to solve a common Graph Theory problem known as three colorability. A special kind of generator for the ideals of a polynomial ring in n-variables R[x1, x2, ... , xn] were studied. These generators are called Gröbner bases, which are suitable for solving many computational problems r...

In this study, we focus on the interaction of termites and ants, whether there is one free-moving ant, one restrained ant or if a free moving and restraint fire ant is present in the same environment. Three parameters—termite colony, presence of a soldier termite, and whether the ants were living or dead—were tested to assess aggressive behavio...