Wellspring Symposium

As a direct result of the recent COVID pandemic, North Carolina has experienced significant reductions in student academic achievement. Though academic achievement in subject areas across the board has been negatively impacted by the pandemic, there is a particular concern for the Language Arts department. From higher rates of grade retention to lower scores on the reading sections of standardized tests, such outcomes are far-reaching. North Carolina has needed a new educational approach to the language arts curriculum. To combat such decreases in scores, the state has institutionalized the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling program in all public schools. This program, also commonly referred to as the LETRS program, is based on a wide-standing body of research that has been conducted over the past several decades. Based upon this research, instruction with an emphasis on word recognition and word comprehension has been showcased to improve literacy. More specifically, it helps raise student achievement and improve the effective teaching of language arts. To fully understand such findings, a thorough examination of prior systems used for instructing Language Arts and the supported research, teacher application, and reported outcomes of the LETRs program would be deemed beneficial.

Mentor: Dr. Keel

College Campus Sexual Assault is a crisis that goes under-reported on a majority of college campuses. In a society influenced by rape culture, women are less likely to report sexual assault due to the impact of victim blaming and a lack of social support. Women who report are questioned on how much they drank, what they were wearing, and why they decided to go back to someone's apartment. They are expected to be responsible for their actions, even when under the influence of drugs or alcohol or while incapacitated. Even reporting to the police can result in an interrogation of the victim and not the perpetrator. Rather than blaming the victim, why is society not blaming the perpetrator? Why are universities sending out emails telling women what to do to protect themselves instead of telling men that they should not be assaulting women? Sexual crimes are undermined in our male-dominated society in which men are not made to take responsibility for their actions. With this being said, how do college students' perceptions of campus sexual assault impact a victim's likelihood of reporting when they are being victim blamed?

Mentor: Dr. Geniece Mondé

How many different configurations are there of a Rubik's Cube? How can a Rubik's Cube express theoretical math concepts and properties through its configurations? With the Reeve's Summer Research Grant, Dr. Kaitlyn Niedzielski and Tyler Moore have developed "Groups and Games," which combines the foundations of Group Theory with modern puzzles including the Rubik's Cube, pyraminx, other puzzle cubes, and numerical games. During the research, the behaviors and properties of numerical games were analyzed and applied to theoretical group concepts like group properties, order of groups and elements, subgroups, and operation tables. This research examined certain games as groups or not, the elements of the games, different ways to construct subgroups, and the cycle notation of position elements on the game cubes. In this presentation, the abstractness of group theory will be visually and physically presented through the analysis of the Rubik's Cube and other numerical games

Mentor: Dr. Kaitlyn Niedzielski

Positively charged oxenium cations containing a monovalent oxygen atom with an incomplete electron shell are key intermediates in many important reactions. Studies of the reactions of oxenium cations are challenging as these ions are very short-lived and difficult to generate in solution. Therefore, gas-phase ion-molecule reactions were used to study the reactions of oxenium cations with dimethyl sulfide (DMS) by using tandem mass spectrometry. This study builds on previous work on reactions of oxenium cations with dimethyl disulfide (DMDS). Mass spectrometry is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) of gas-phase ions formed upon the ionization of analyte molecules and upon their reactions with neutral compounds. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) is one of the various ionization methods used in mass spectrometry to generate gas-phase analyte ions from neutral analytes in solution. For the experiments discussed here, the oxenium cations were generated by ionizing their precursor molecules by using APCI, transferring the precursor ions into an ion trap, and subjecting them to collision-activated dissociation to cleave off a methyl radical and generate the oxenium cation. Then the oxenium cations were isolated by ejecting all other ions from the ion trap and allowed to undergo reactions with neutral DMS introduced into the ion trap by using a reagent mixing manifold. Reactions with DMDS included a thiomethyl group abstraction and hydride abstraction depending on the specific structural isomer studied. We are interested in finding out whether the reactions of DMS are comparable to those of DMDS as these compounds are structurally similar.

Mentor: Dr. Hilkka Kenttämaa

Preschoolers are selective in whom they trust when learning new information, considering informant characteristics such as reliability and expertise (Marble & Boseovski, 2020). However, children are also susceptible to social biases and are more likely to trust informants from their in-group rather than their out-group (Corriveau et al., 2013). Limited research suggests that preschoolers show a lack of trust in informants with physical disabilities, which even overrides children's preference for reliable informants (Jaffer & Ma, 2015). However, this previous research examined limited testimony contexts (i.e., testimony about facts and physical activities). The current study assessed children's trust of individuals with disabilities who provided testimony about various facts and actions that were more or less relevant to disabilities. Importantly, we examined contexts in which people with physical disabilities would ostensibly have greater expertise (e.g., how wheelchairs function). We expected children to show less trust in individuals with physical disabilities when their testimony dealt with actions, as children may perceive this as a limitation of such informants. We also expected children to prefer informants with disabilities when their testimony was relevant to their disability. Finally, we expected this recognition of expertise to increase with age as children become more sensitive to expertise cues (Marble & Boseovski, 2020). Data collection is ongoing and reported analyses are preliminary. The study employed a 2 (Age: 3- to 6-year-olds vs. 7- to 11-year-olds) x 4 ( Condition: Disability-relevant action, disability-­irrelevant action, disability-relevant fact, disability-irrelevant fact) design with age as a between-subjects variable and condition as a within-subjects variable. Participants heard two trials of testimony from each of the four conditions accompanied by line drawings of the informants. On each trial, participants heard conflicting statements from the two informants about a topic (e.g., how to stop when using a wheelchair) and were asked "Which do you think is right?". A mixed ANOVA revealed a significant effect of condition, F(l, 90) = 2.67, p = 0.04, = 0.03. Children were more likely to endorse testimony of the informant using a wheelchair in the disability-relevant actions condition (M = 1.21, SD= 0.07) than the disability­-irrelevant action condition (M = 0.92, SD= 0.08). There was no significant difference in children's informant selection in the disability-relevant fact and disability-irrelevant fact conditions. Tests against chance indicated that children were more likely than chance to select the informant using a wheelchair in the disability-relevant action condition, t(91) = 2.88, p = 0.005, d = .30, whereas children responded at chance levels in all other conditions, ps > .10. There were no significant effects of age, ps > .09. The current findings suggest that children do not demonstrate an overall bias against individuals with disabilities in their informant selection. In contrast, they value the testimony of individuals with disabilities in contexts that seem most relevant. Future research should consider under what other conditions children may have such perceptions and how this information could be leveraged to increase positive perceptions of out-group members..

Mentor: Dr. Candace Lapan

Wheelchair users experience many limitations and constraints in their daily lives. Additionally, wheelchair users experience constraints when competing in sports. Some common barriers for these athletes to compete are the lack of opportunity, venue, and equipment, due to both cost and access combined. By interviewing an elite athlete who is part of the rolling Hornets, we discussed these limitations and ways that they can be modified to allow equal opportunities for everyone who has a passion for sports. There were many ways that were determined which would help to modify these events to promote ease and enjoyment for those who are confined to wheelchairs. For example, one of the main topics that we analyzed was the lack of funding that is put into wheelchair sports. The suggested solution involved the promotion of wheelchair athletics to outside organizations that are willing to help with fundraising and the providing of equipment, as this is often the main financial constraint that can limit one from beginning their journey in wheelchair sports. We also debated and researched many other barriers that physically and mentally impair a wheelchair user within the field of sport.

Mentor: Dr. Christopher Harrist

A large dispute that has been affecting the NCAA athletes, coaches, and programs for decades is whether or not college athletes should receive forms of payment based on their Name, Image, and Likeness, also known as NIL deals. The addition of the NIL deals to college athletics has made a positive impact on the athletes, successful college coaches and programs, and companies/businesses that use the athletes to promote their brands/products. In addition to the positive aspects, there are also negative aspects of NIL deals that are impacting less successful college programs, college coaches with recruiting, and the NCAA with keeping the playing field fair. Our research has shown the evident pros and cons of the addition of the NIL deals, how they are impacting many factors that are involved in the process, and the upside and downsides of each factor.

Mentor: Dr. Ji-Ho Kim

This research project focuses on the lack of adaptive sports in PE classes in public schools. It also focuses on the lack of awareness in public schools about adaptive sports.

Mentor: Dr. Christopher Harrist

Major League Baseball has seen a decline in popularity of viewership among younger audiences over the last several decades compared to the other major four American sports. This paper explores how MLB has tackled this issue and how their advertising and marketing efforts have changed in an attempt to attract viewers. To answer these questions, we've identified changes in MLB's domestic and international strategies for youth who play the sport, where younger audiences are consuming their entertainment, and how sports betting and fantasy sports may play a role in the future of growth in baseball. Our results show that while MLB has successfully expanded in international markets, and baseball has the most participants among youth sports in America compared to other sports, MLB still lacks viewership due to not previously pushing their superstars. MLB has attempted to create marketing initiatives that change its viewership, which is helping it make baseball fun for a younger audience with all information in the palm of their hands. Furthermore, MLB has explored digital platforms such as Youtube, Twitch, and streaming services like Apple TV to infiltrate younger audiences. Finally, sports betting has appeared to take off in other sports; however, MLB has not fully embraced this as a way to keep fans interested. This study emphasizes the need for Major League Baseball to continue to market their players' personalities, providing their product on more digital platforms, and why MLB should lean into sports betting and fantasy sports in an attempt to capture a younger audience.

Mentor: Dr. Ji-Ho Kim

The field of polymer chemistry is still rapidly developing as researchers are finding ways to synthesize greener materials. One area that offers promise in helping to reduce the plastic waste problem is by employing materials that are stable and robust enough to successfully implement for their designed end use and once that has been accomplished, the ability to decompose it into its most basic of elements. Here within, we investigate a novel polymeric material that may still allow the benefits of plastics while eliminating one of the largest disadvantages of plastics: the waste it generates. Via a simple two-step reaction process, terminal dienes are easily converted into tetrols with high yield. The resulting tetrol is then used to create the main chain linkage of the polymer backbone. The sustainability lies in the fact that the linkage is covalent yet reversible. The stability and reversibility allows synthesis of elastic polymers, which we will show have the ability to be selectively degraded.

Mentor: Dr. Shakena West

Adenosine monophosphate protein kinase (AMPK) plays an important role in restoring metabolic balance in the body when nutrient deprivation/starvation is occurring. Because cancer cells are using up the nutrients in order to undergo massive replication, this state of deprivation is entered, causing the activation of AMPK. Though this is its main function in the body, multiple studies have shown that it potentially plays a part in suppressing tumorigenesis by slowing the growth rate and increasing apoptosis. There are two different isoforms of AMPK– AMPKα1 and AMPKα2, which work together in restoring this metabolic balance. Interestingly, AMPKa2 has been observed to be suppressed in cancer cells which suggests that its absence confers a growth and survival advantage for the cancer cells. In accordance with this potential discovery, further studies were done and found that AMPKα2 is able to contribute significantly to the regulation of tumor growth, so it being inhibited points toward it being detrimental to cancer cells trying to replicate. The objective of this study was to silence AMPKα1 or AMPKα2 in breast cancer cells and observe how their absence influences cancer cell growth and survival. Western blot analysis was used to evaluate the signaling cascades involved with these processes.

Mentor: Dr. Melissa Fox