Jinie Chon

Major: Laws, Societies, & Justice
Mentor: Dr. Ines Jurcevic, assistant professor Evans School of Public Policy & Governance
Project: A Comparative Study of the Impact of Confederate Monuments on White and Black Americans

Abstract:
During the rise of the BLM movement of 2020, confederate monuments became a focal point of national debate, with heightened awareness of their historical context and implications for racial equality. My research seeks to leverage this moment of increased attention to explore how the presence of symbols of marginalization near voting stations may impact voting intentions and overall experience. In this study, Black and White Americans are presented with a simulated map along with a set of instructions that lead them to a nearby polling station. In the experimental group, participants received a map featuring Confederate monuments while participants in the control group received a neutral map with directions that avoided any mention of Confederate monuments. Once the participant correctly identifies the voting station on the map, they are asked a series of questions not only on the usefulness of the map but also on factors such as safety, comfort, the value of the vote, personal belonging, and likelihood of voting. Findings suggest Black participants exposed to Confederate monuments expressed a diminished value of their vote and reduced intention to vote, whereas White participants indicated no changes in voting intentions, perception of vote value, or a desire to change voting locations. As an extension to this study, I am currently conducting a replication study where participants are explicitly informed that the map represents a neighborhood in the South. After navigating the map, participants are asked not only about the impact of factors such as comfort, safety, value, personal belonging, and the likelihood of voting but also regarding their relative importance and influence on voting behaviors and intentions. Collectively, these studies have important implications for racial disparities in voting intentions and for advancing a more inclusive and equitable electoral process within the United States.

View Jinie’s Poster

Kristin Bennett

Major: Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Nance, professor Chemical Engineering
Project: Ex vivo Brain Tissue Model of Multimodal Traumatic Brain Injury for Therapeutic Models

Abstract:
In the US, there is an average of 69,500 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) related deaths, 223,135 TBI-related hospitalizations, 326,600 inpatient stays, and 801,700 Emergency Department visits per year. The Centers for Disease Control report the annual cost of treating non-fatal TBIs to be over $40B. Currently, there is no pharmacological treatment for TBI, and 138 clinical treatment trials were completed since 2004 with a 100% failure rate. A rigorous screening model in vitro is needed to increase the probability of successful clinical trials. TBI is complex with many possible modalities of injury. The primary insult to brain tissue may result from compression or shear stress and strain, followed by swelling that compounds into the secondary insult. The cascade of TBI causes additional neuronal death and dysfunction to complicate injury and treatment further. The range of unknown potential injury to the brain during a TBI makes a single TBI model too simplistic to represent the full extent of injury accurately. I have developed a set of living-tissue organotypic whole hemisphere (OWH) brain slice models to mimic compressive damage with a whole slice and novel partial slice compression. The models simulate mild, moderate, and major TBI representing primary and secondary insult inflammation and cytotoxicity propagation across multiple brain regions. Future work will model shear strain damage and the neurochemical response to injury. This set of robust models will be used to screen treatments for TBI before in vivo and clinical trials to study how the compounds affect damaged tissues at a cellular and molecular level.

Rosaline Dou

Major: Art
Mentor: Dr. Whitney Lynn, assistant professor of school of art, art history, and design
Project: 回 (huí)

Artist Statement:
回 (huí) is a multimedia installation that delves into conditioning. Beginning with behavioral conditioning and extending to the consideration of societal norms, the work unfolds in a paradoxical loop where unlearning transforms into a form of learning, deconditioning becomes a nuanced conditioning, and deconditioned behavior forges a new social norm. The conditioned outer reality, the enigmatic in-between, and an inner chamber are three enclosed membranes that form the character “回,” a traced path that leads back to where one never truly departed. Outside of the boundary of the installation is the familiar everyday reality. Upon entering the in-between chamber, visitors are invited to sign a contract with their thumbprints—an actualization of the assumed social contract embedded since arrival. Fragmented words float suspended in a thin paste of shaving gel and glue, actively dissolving on their way to becoming residues. Viewers are conditioned through the set of processes, language, and meaning reinforced by me. The inner chamber, veiled by sheer curtains, embodies a void. This installation experience culminates as visitors exit the inner chamber, traverse the in-between space, and re-emerge into the external reality. This path draws out the shape of “回,” returning to the outer reality never actually left. However, going through sets of conditions inside the installation allows viewers to see their conditions. If every moment we are a different self, when viewers return to the same outer reality, they are no longer the same self anymore. The installation embodies my paradox of seeking deconditioning; the core of this endeavor lies in the struggle itself. This is because achieving deconditioning—should it even be possible—immediately establishes a new condition. Therefore, I ponder in this work that the process of struggling is, in essence, deconditioning itself.

Aditi Prabhala

Major: Anthropology: Medical & Health, Food Systems, Nutrition
Mentor: Dr. Jennfier Salk, associate professor of dance; Jenn Pray, pre-doctoral lecturer
Project: i was eating sushi that day…. – Embodied Nature and Experiences

Artist Statement:
People embody the joy and pain of nature through their own experiences, and have been sharing and cherishing this interconnectedness from time immemorial through paintings, stories, songs, dance, and more. I am a migrant living in a foreign country. i was eating sushi that day…. is a solo dance and an ethnographic research project, exploring ways in which I connect to, resonate with, and embody nature and personal experiences through performance. The awe-inspiring habit of salmon migration sparks my curiosity about the complex and multifaceted nature of human migration. As anadromous fish, salmon spend their juvenile life in rivers, and migrate to the ocean where they spend their adult life. They return to the upstream rivers to reproduce when they reach sexual maturity. Salmon are able to precisely return to their natal river, and even to the very spawning ground of their birth. This creative research explores my questions around identity and the idea of belonging through examining migrating salmon, and my own migrating experiences. What is the definition of home? Is it where you were born, reproduce, and die? Or where you mature? Salmon migrate to optimize their chance of reproduction as it defines their success. What about humans? What are we migrating for? Are we ultimately going to return to where we were from? My creative process starts with producing a soundscore combining text, breathing, and waves. The choreography is inspired by and generated through filmed improvisations as I experiment with different ways to interact with the soundscore and the props, always keeping my research questions in mind. The piece is a product of my desire to understand and reify the fear, confusion, exhaustion, excitement, and hope in the process of migration.

Shaheer Ahmed Abbasi

Major: Economics, Political Science
Mentor: Dr. Isabelle Cohen, assistant professor of public policy and governance
Project: The Impact of State-level Taxation on Interstate Migration in the United States

Abstract:
Policymakers in the United States often express concerns of their state tax base being reduced if taxes are increased because higher taxes will encourage richer taxpayers to relocate. The notion that a taxpayer’s decision to move is influenced by the level of taxation they experience is reinforced by current migration trends. In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act placed a limit on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, meaning that high income taxpayers have a limit on how much their state and local tax payments can reduce their federal tax burden. The increase of the share of state and local taxes in the overall tax burden of taxpayers is felt differently based on the level of taxation by state. I researched the extent to which the SALT deduction cap in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act impacts interstate migration in the United States and its variation amongst different income groups. I conducted a difference in differences analysis using Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income interstate migration data and taxation data from 2011 to 2020. There was an increase in the migration outflow from states with high taxation levels caused by the tax code change. Such increase was modest because taxation only marginally influences a person’s decision to relocate, compared to other factors such as job prospects and cost of living. This research shows that while the change in migration from taxation should be considered by state policymakers, the concern that the tax base will dramatically decrease from a tax increase is overblown. This research can be built upon by conducting a similar analysis in five to ten years to measure the long-term effects.