Celebration of Creative InquiryBeck Hall Atrium
Wednesday April 9, 2025
3:30-5:30 p.m.

Oral Presentations

Time: 3:30-4:30
Beck 101 and 111 

 Session A: Beck 101

Harragas and Sub-Saharan Migration in Morocco
Claire Schoonmaker ’25
Faculty Sponsor: Paschal Kyoore
Department: Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

The Impacts of Human Conflict on Soil Erosion, the Environment and Land Use Change Associated with the Early Modern Period  
Kaisa Whittaker ’25, Kendall Wiggins ’27 
Faculty Sponsor: Erik Gulbranson
Department: Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences

Bomb Calorimetry and Nutritional Label Accuracy
Samantha Gardow ’25
Faculty Sponsor: Amanda Nienow
Department: Chemistry

Syrinx
Sigrid Rohrer ’26, Claire Schoonmaker ’25, Kailyn Walukas ’25 
Faculty Sponsor: Sharon Marquart
Department: Modern Languages, Literatures, and Culture

Chernobyl Crisis 
Cristina Sirbu ’25
Faculty Sponsor: Annalise Rivas
Department: Eastern European and Eurasian Studies

Session B: Beck 111

The American Response: Letters to the Editor During the Tet Offensive
Breeana Schmidt ’25
Faculty Sponsor: David Obermiller
Department: History

Understanding the Role of Bromodomains in Gene Expression
Abigail Kugler ’26, Alexander Bur ’30, Laura Murillo ’28
Faculty Sponsor: Scott Bur
Department: Chemistry

French Film and Media – Poubelle ma belle
Matthew Felty ’28, Logan Bell ’28, Linnea Reinsmoen ’28
Faculty Sponsor: Sharon Marquart
Department: Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Groundwater Damages from Enbridge’s Line 3 Pipeline Construction
Alex Dillon ’25
Faculty Sponsor: Laura Triplett
Department: Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences

Impacts of Climate Change on Phosphorus Dynamics, Chlorophyll-a Concentrations and Water Temperature in Minnesota Freshwater Lakes: Implications for Eutrophication and Ecosystem Health 

Macey Whitlock

Faculty Sponsor: Julie Bartley

Department: Geology

Poster Presentations

Time: 3:30-5:00pm in the Beck Atrium

Attentional Focus in Long and Short Distance Track Runners

Lucie Henrich ’25, Ellen Becken ’25, Reese Blondin ’27, Olivia Koeneman ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Lauren Hecht & Hayley Russell

Department: Psychological Science 

Stain Detection Using Artificial Intelligence for Accessibility

Molly Stein ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Guarionex Salivia

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics 

Two Approaches to Feed Injection Method Development for Injection of Strong HPLC Solvents

Dasha Shyroka ’27, Zach Kruger ’23, Sarah Carr

Faculty Sponsor(s): Dwight Stoll and Tina Dahlseid

Department: Chemistry

Investigating the Role of sOlincRNAs in Abiotic Stress Response in Arabidopsis Thaliana

Amelia Qualey ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Katie Leehy

Department: Biology

Impact of Ploidy on Antifungal Drug Resistance 

Kassidy Thomas ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Laura Burrack

Department: Biology

Exosome Mediated Decay of mRNA in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Samantha Anderson ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Jeff Dahlseid

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

How are Belowground Structures Impacted by Enemies in Native vs. Non-native Red Mangroves?

Sigrid Rohrer ’26, Marley Michaud ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Amy Kochsiek

Department: Biology 

Comparing Minnesota Native and Invasive Flowering Times from 1880s –2020s 

McKenzie Schwartz ’25, Audrey Christiansen ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Naomi Rushing

Department: Biology 

Identifying the features responsible for Nonsense-mediated decay of the CEP3 mRNA

Akwasi Amoah ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Jeffery Dahlseid

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Exploring the Relationship Between Sleep Hygiene Habits and Fatigue in College Students 

Adison Dack ’25, Lakesha Carter ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Heidi Meyer

Department: Nursing

Analysis of Photodegradation Pathways in the Commercial Herbicide Agents Tembotrione and Mesotrione

Beau Supan ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Amanda Nienow

Department: Chemistry

Degradation of Telomere-Related Gene mRNAs by the Nonsense Mediated Decay Pathway

Samara Goltz ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Jeff Dahlseid

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Effect of Taxol on JNK-1, c-Mos, AFT2, and p38α Gene Expression in L2 Sarcoma Cells

Grace Kinkeade ’25, Emily Sagstetter ’25, Lily Leahy ’25, Gabriella Hamvas ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Laura Burrack

Department: Biology

Simplicial Pseudorandom Number Generator Optimization

Branden Hopper ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Guarionex Salivia

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics

Stromatolite Morphological Diversity and Stratigraphic Position in the Prairie du Chien Group

Miranda Vizoso-Marino ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Julie Bartley

Department: Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences 

The Impact of Source of News on Youth Understanding of News: A Literature Review

Kylie Scott ’27, Riley Zebroski ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Karl Larson

Department: Public Health

Documenting the 2024 Election Season at Gustavus

Amanda Hukee ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Anna Hulseberg

Department: Library

Visual Nonconscious Memory, Mirroring, and Disruptions to Verbatim Memory

Tobias Polley ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer Ackil

Department: Psychological Science

Revisiting Minamata: Class and Stigma around Mercury Poisoning

Jonathan Cordano ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Kate Keller

Department: History

A Comparative Demographic Profile of Native Americans in the U.S.: 1990 – 2020s

Abby Housker ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Sun Hee Lee

Department: English

Roman Women and Divorce

Jay Erickson ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Seán Easton

Department: Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Facebook/Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal: A Rhetorical Analysis

Jillian Elton ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Patricia English-Schneider

Department: Communication Studies

Spring Star

Nikolas Kopek ’26, Taylor Kothenbeutel ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Guarionex Salivia

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics

Restorative Room with Influence from Interior Designer Tyler Karu

Gabriella Stoudt ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Kristen Lowe

Department: Art and Art History

America’s Forgotten War in the Philippines: A Digital Museum of Memories

Anders Taylor ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Kate Keller

Department: History

“Late” – A French Film from FRE 251 – Film & Media in France

Kristen Bonneville ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Sharon Marquart

Department: Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

Paper Trail

Robby Swenson ’25, Anders Taylor ’25, Tanner Redner ’25, Sydney Maller ’27, Cuong Pham ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Gaurionex Salivia

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics

iOS Miles Calculator Development 

Matthew Felty ’28

Faculty Sponsor: Gaurionex Salivia

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics

Understanding Lady Ranelagh’s Life Through the Lens of a Recipe Book: How They Come to Be, Cease to Exist, and What Keeps Them in Existence? 

Alena Meier ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Lisa Heldke

Department: Philosophy

Exploring the Features that Determine Binding Order of sRNAs to Target mRNAs

Kate Rooker ’26, Hannah Babcock ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Optimizing Usage of the MBP-MS2 Protein to Investigate the Order of Binding by Small RNAs

Hayley Youngberg ’27, Samuel Norsted ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The Binding Blueprint: How sRNAs Preferentially Bind to mRNAs

Lindsay Berggren ’26, Hannah Ahrens ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Automation of MS2-MBP Protein Purification

Abigail Kugler ’26, Allison Power ’25, Ella Sontowski ’26, Gabriella Stoudt ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen

Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Sweat, Stress, and Smell: Investigating the Release of Volatile Organic Compounds as a Result of Stress 

Ava Farrell ’25, Sophia Smith ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Dwight Stoll

Department: Chemistry

Turia: Conforming to Gender Roles

Rebekah Moll ’27

Faculty Sponsor: Seán Easton

Department: Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Gustavus Fall 2024 Advising & Registration Survey Analysis and Visualization

Department: Orin Brau ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Kyle Chambers

Department: Office of the Provost

Board of Trustees Investment Committee Student Project: Impact and Potential Downside of Equity Market Concentrations

Levi Scmidt ’25, Olivia Duraine ’25, Stanislav Danaev ’25, Evan Ressler ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Kathy Lund Dean

Department: Business and Economics

Fulvia’s Legacy: Ancient Biases and Modern Interpretations

Claire Brings ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Seán Easton

Department: Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Surface Change Assessment of the Debris-covered Reschreiter Glacier on Mt. Chimborazo, Ecuador

Name: Marit Isaacson ’25

Faculty Sponsor: Jeff La Frenierre

Department: Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences 

From Flu to Falsehoods: Rhetoric, Responsibility, and the 1918 Influenza Crisis

Name: Elizabeth Orton ’25 

Faculty Sponsor: Patricia English

Department: Communication Studies

Bacterial Regulation & sRNA Gene Expression in Escherichia Coli

Name: Amelia Butler ’26

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen

Department: Chemistry

A Series of Healthcare - Maternal Mortality Rate in African American Women 

Name: Kendra Stanton ‘26

Faculty Sponsor: Sharon Marquart

Department:Gender Women Sexuality Studies

Leveraging Large Language Models to Empower Teachers in Course Design: A Scalable AI-Driven Solution for Personalized and Efficient Curriculum Development

Name: Jaxon Jones ‘27

Faculty Sponsor: Dongji Feng

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics

Analysis of E. coli small RNA binding site accessibility 

Name: Julia Canty ‘27, Katherine Umanksy ‘27

Faculty Sponsor: Janie Frandsen 

Department: Biochemistry

Towards More Robust Summary Evaluation by Customizing BERTScore with Expected Value Normalization

Name: Frija Reinert ‘25

Faculty Sponsor: Dongji Feng

Department: Mathematics, Computer Science, Statistics

Fulvia’s role in the final years of the Roman Republic

Name: Malcolm Fares ‘26

Faculty Sponsor: Sean Easton

Department: Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies