All Abstracts

This study seeks to explore the politics of Afro-Cuban identity after the triumph of the 1959 Cuban revolution. I answer three main questions: What role, if any, have the tools of nation-state building played on how Cubans identify themselves? Does a distinction between racial identity and national identity exist amongst Cubans of African descent? ...

Maternal adaptation to physiological shifts during pregnancy is essential for both successful pregnancy, parturition and newborn health. The physiological changes that occur during pregnancy could be detected at the transcriptional level. However, little research has been conducted on gene regulation within maternal organs. We hypothesize that many...

Media is a socializing institution which produces and reproduces culture by circulating images. Unfortunately, many images that respresent Black Women are "controlling images" (Collins 200:85). Examples of controlling images of Black Women are the Mammie, Jezebel, and the welfare queen. These monolithic images are harmful to Black Women and society...

Increasing gentrification and homelessness have coincided with neighborhoods, communities, cities, and states undergoing transformation and reconstruction. A negative outcome of gentrification is cultural displacement experienced when a group is forced out of the neighborhood due to changes in property taxes and rents. The purpose of this project i...

Black Lesbian Fiction emerged as a literary genre out of the cultural work of Black feminists of the 1970’s and 1980’s. The genre’s formal beginning was marked in 1974 by the publication of the novel, Loving Her. Despite its cultural significance, Black Lesbian Fiction and the writers who worked within the genre have been largely erased from ...

The unique nature of graphene and its versatility in technological applications has prompted research on the once enigmatic and theoretical material. With a nearly zero band gap, graphene offers conductive properties that surpass most, if not all, other semi-conductors/superconductors. Understanding the subatomic structure of the material will allo...

The infrared region of the light spectrum contains photon energies that are able to create vibrational excitations of covalently bonded atoms and groups. This region is known to contain many fundamental stretches (e.g. N-H, C-H, O-H, etc.) that are useful when analyzing molecules and determining molecular structures. The mid-IR region (approximatel...

Childhood experiences have the potential to shape well-being during adulthood. The purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there is a relationship between recollections of childhood well-being and Black women's levels of well-being in adulthood. A survey was administered to 65 African-American women. The instrument included a retr...

For the first time in history, the aggregate student loan debt in the United States has surpassed the total credit card debt. Furthermore, the amount of federal tax dollars allocated towards funding postsecondary education has remained the same over the last thirty years. Research has shown that the ability to finance one’s education is a primary...

Metformin is the most widely used therapeutic for Type 2 diabetes, and it has also been shown to have antineoplastic properties by modulating tumor growth and T cell responses. Immunotherapy for cancer is becoming a promising approach to treat metastatic disease because of the rising pre-clinical and clinical studies targeting checkpoint inhibitors...

Water, energy, and food (WEF) are essential to human health, sustainable development, and economic success. WEF nexus is the interrelationship between water, energy, and food. The ability to understand how water, food, and energy are connected allows for a more sustainable environment. Urbanization is a process that occurs when populations from rur...

Bacteria are small single-cell, prokaryotic microorganisms. They are normally a few micrometers in length and usually grow together in millions as colonies. Bacteria can vary in shape: spherical (cocci), rod shaped (bacilli), and spiral (spirilla). One of the major factors that can affect bacterial growth is temperature. Bacteria can be found in ar...

Despite its resource wealth, over 40% of Sub-Saharan Africans live in absolute poverty.  With more resources than many of the developed countries, it leaves one to wonder why Africa is unable to sustain steady economic growth, if not dominance. For many highly indebted African countries, it has proved nearly impossible to simultaneously repay ...

Multiple myeloma (MM) currently accounts for less than 1% of total cancer occurrence worldwide. Despite decades of research and design of therapeutics, clinical responses to molecular-targeted drugs tend to vary and are often unsuccessful. This hematological malignancy originates in the plasma cells involved in immune response. Evasion of apoptosis...

Valproic acid (VPA) is an organic acid and known ERG inhibitor by regulating histone deacetylase (HDAC). HDAC regulates transcription and is known to be highly expressed by ERG. ERG, or ETS-related gene, is a transcription factor in the ETS-1 family. Several studies have shown that ERG plays a large role in the transcription of ERG genes involved i...

Actin is highly conserved and participates in more protein-protein interactions than any other known protein. It is a critical player in many cellular functions, ranging from cell motility to the regulation of transcription. Even though Amoebozoa has been evolutionarily linked as closely related to human, there is little research done related to cy...

Numerous forms of modern slavery and human sex trafficking constitute a global billion-dollar industry. China is one of the largest factors fueling this industry. The Chinese government’s inefficient prevention and investigation measures have caused an exponential rise in human sex trafficking. Over forty-four percent of the Chinese population is...

Kidney transplantation is a surgical procedure using a donor kidney to treat an individual with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Common causes of ESRD are diabetes and high blood pressure. Approximately 29 million people in America have diabetes, causing a high demand for kidney transplants. Over 100,000 people currently await a donor kidney, but on...

African-American respectability politics are founded in ideals of whiteness, yet they are reinforced within the homes, social spaces, and institutions of the black community. HBCUs have long served as hubs of black intellectualism and racial uplift, but have not escaped the consequences of conformity to identity conventions. At Spelman College, thi...

The Brazilian film This Love that Consumes Us, directed by Allan Ribeiro (2012), portrays an Afro-Brazilian dance company and its struggle for sustainable artistic creation. The group is striving to secure the house where they live and rehearse in Rio de Janeiro. In my presentation, I analyze how this film creates different ways of representing sub...

Biologically relevant odors, including those related to predators, produce unconditioned fear and anxiety-like behaviors, such as risk assessment, avoidance and freezing as well as conditioned place avoidance. In addition to predator odors, social stress can promote anxiety-like behaviors. When a male Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is confro...

While the importance of herbivorous fishes in supporting the health of coral reefs has been established globally, the role of herbivorous invertebrates has only been evaluated in the Caribbean, where urchins were found to have compensated for a long history of overfishing when a catastrophic decline in sea urchins resulted in transitions from healt...

Research demonstrates that Black women are the strongest supporters of black female candidates. However, despite strong electoral support for candidates, few gains have been made in electoral success, as compared to other minority groups. What is missing in the literature is how this support impacts the wage gap. Relying on existing data, this stud...

Research has found that voter identification requirements do not significantly impact voting. These studies have focused on short-term rather than long-term impact. Past analysis has failed to test if voter identification laws implemented in the 1960s continue to impact voter participation among minorities today. The hypothesis of this research was...