Academic Excellence Showcase (AES) is Western Oregon University's annual interdisciplinary undergraduate research conference, organized by the university's Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences (PURE). This collection presents papers, projects, performances, posters, and other materials from the showcase. For more information about AES, visit the AES website.
Submissions from 2022
2022 Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings, Western Oregon University
Effects of Salinity Stress from Deicing Salts on Brandywine Tomato Plants, Stephani Symanowicz and Ava Howard
How does the Environment of Human Remains Affect the Rate and Pattern of Decomposition?, Delaney Bishop
Polk County Contact Tracing & COVID-19 Hotline, Emily Synegal, McKenzie Fisher, Rebecca Zharkoff, Hannah McCallister, Valeria Garibay Maravilla, and Kailey Knospe
The Effects of Visuals on Levels of Animal Rights Support, Kayleigh Pierson
Submissions from 2021
2021 Academic Excellence Showcase TRIO Welcome Video, Rex Fuller
2021 Academic Excellence Showcase Welcome Video, Rex Fuller
2021 Academic Excellence Showcase Welcome Video (Winningham), Rob Winningham
A Discussion of Fake Relics in the Early Eleventh Century: An Analysis of Guibert of Nogent and Rodolphus Glaber, Alexis Berkey and Elizabeth Swedo Dr.
Advancing Monitoring Infrastructure for Oregon’s Native Freshwater Turtles with Citizen Science Platforms, Svetlana Goloviznina, Gareth R. Hopkins, Trent Farley, Kelby Evans, John Kirk III, Christian Morris, and Lucas Cordova
A Mathematical Approach to Inventory Management at Client-choice Food Pantries, Josh Salsbury
Amicable Numbers, Saud Dhaafi and Ben Cote
An Inspection of the Fibonacci Sequence and the Resulting Spirals, CHRISTA FENTON and Ben Cote'
Anxiety: How Childhood Trauma Leads to Anxiety, Mystie Johnson and Brooke Dolenc Nott
Art & Design Portfolio Presentations, Jonah Henderson, Kasey Larson, Marita Nash, Erin Ross, Carla Oberst, Genevieve Hardin, and Sarah Westlund
Artist Presentation: Sarah Rachel Westlund, Sarah Westlund and Jodie Garrison
Big Brother Big Sister Mentoring Program, Kali Higgins, Lecy Warren, and Brooke Dolenc Nott
Billable, Amber Courtright, Karsten Collins, and Mercedes Ponce
Building an Inclusive and Diverse Classroom Community Through Children’s Literature: My Capstone Project, Jacqueline Brown and Ya-Fang Cheng
Carla Oberst Art & Design Senior Portfolio Presentation, Carla Oberst
Circle Packings, Rosario Vargas and Ben Cote
Coloring Graphs from Knots, Brandon Amerine
Communist Involvement in the French Resistance, Nicholas Werner and Patricia Goldsworthy-Bishop
Cut It Out: Conversations with Professional Editors, Lars Soderlund, Payton Wagner, April Massoni, Atalin Venegas, Natalie Dean, and Sarah Austin
Development of an Exit Survey to Identify the Efficacy of Public Assistance in Polk County, Amanda Sanchez, Daniel Vityukov, Jessica Crocker, Melanie Gardner, Nick Castillo, Noah Chaparro, Paige Merritt, and Susan Parker
Empowering Black & African American Students Using a Mentorship Program, Justin Davis and Marnasha T. Fowlkes-Cetz
Fractal Ferns, Cassondra Neff
Freshwater Turtles in the Willamette Valley: An Investigation on Basking Behavior and Abiotic Factors Contributing to Turtle Presence, Summer Broome, Jennifer Ringo, and Emi Ricci
Frieze Patterns, Lilith Weeks and Benjamin Coté
Frobenius Number, Christopher Olson and Ben Cote
General Artistic Overview of IFS, Chaos Game, and Fractal Flames, Daniel Patterson and Benjamin Coté
Heathens to Christians: Exploring Norse Interactions with Anglo-Saxons and Notions of Medieval Identity, Antonia Scholerman
Implementing Trauma-Informed Care in Pediatric Primary Care Settings, Cheyanne Bumgardner and Brooke Dolenc Nott
Improving Accessibility of Food Resources in Polk County, Kailee King, Patrick Stone, Katherine Helyer, Sophia Tolento, Courtney Roth, Daniella Back, and Mario Rodriguez
Improving Health Literacy in Third Grade Students at Gervais Elementary School (GES), Stephanie Oseguera
Improving Polk County Service Integration Team's Resource Sharing, Shelby Kidd, Annalise Byrne, Jessica Chittim, Sarah Fakhoury, Jamie Chenea, and Rachel Woolley
Increasing Inpatient Autonomy Through Self-Administration of Medications (SAM), Casi Healy, Kevin Wyler, Kelsey Dangaran, Amy Goodwin, Joseph Einri, and Marissa Aguilera
Middle Eastern Oil: A look at how the United States used Iran to gain oil exploits during the Cold War 1953-1979, Michael Storagee
Modoku, Jaquelyn Butson
Moving Community Through Dance, Jesse Johnson, Garett Gangelhoff, Ashleigh Bolling, Chelse Gray, Gabi Hamlin, Anna Rose Deardorff, and Cynthia Garner
Nazi Propaganda & The Beer Hall Putsch: An Examination of the Shift of Nazi Tactics for Political Propaganda from 1920-1933, Martin Hainz and Patricia Goldsworthy
Network Configuration Manager, Alex Decknadel, Xue Bai, Tim Ferrell, and Ted Beers
Preserving Unity: the Threats of Catholicism and National Liberal Support of the Kulturkampf, Lillian Collver
Project-Based Learning, Haley Willmott
Protective Labor Legislation: How Oregon Attached Motherhood to Working Women, Chloe Miller
PS447 Environmental Politics & Policy Zoom Presentations - Session #1, Mary Pettenger, Alexander King, Tiffany Sullivan, Pippa Justice, Yazmin Hernandez Alvarez, Arlette Tapia Lopez, Clair Byrer, Emily Creasy, Jeronimo Flores Palafox, Erin Anderson, and John Wells
PS447 Environmental Politics & Policy Zoom Presentations - Session #2, Mary Pettenger, Stefania Barragan, Natalie Sanchez-Cortez, Matt Worthy, Alex Ped, Liam Birr, Sophia Klahn, Maritza Gabriel-Ruiz, Sandra Heaton, Ana Becerra, Julie Prado, Esteban Ramirez Barraza, Yousef Alsomali, Leo Palacio, Ben Cole, and Lilly Christopher
Rebranding Religion: Religious Manipulation in 15th Century Castile, John Franzwa and Elizabeth Swedo Dr.
Roomies, Magaly Diaz Blas, Aurora Santos, and Joshua Weber
SOS: Send My Location, C. LeNarz, Charles T. Johnston, and Courtney L. Kaplan
Sources of Community for Older Adults: Findings from the COVID-19 Coping Study, Lynelle Bergman, Kennedy Concepción, and Melissa Cannon
Terror in Soviet Industry: Tensions between Managers, Workers, and the Secret Police, 1930s, Brandon Parsons
Testing Tutor: Integrating an Inquiry-Based Learning Approach into Testing Pedagogy, Manuel Larios, Jason Weber, Sam Torris, Nathan Camuso, Jeffrey Carver, Gursimran Walia, and Lucas Cordova
The composition of aerial insect communities varies across habitats in an endangered oak ecosystem, shayla solomon, Ava Howard, Jeff Snyder, and Gareth Hopkins
The correlation between statistics and winning an NBA Championship, Joseph Badege and Ben Cote'
The Greatest Game Ever Played, Katherine Wallace and Ben Cote
The Hairy Ball Theorem and Other Hairy Situations, Corvette Berthold and Corvette Berthold
The Mutual Importance of Intergenerational Relationships: Ties Between Grandfathers & Young Adult Grandchildren, a Dyadic Study., Alysha Bramhall-Bellah
The Treaty of Versailles and the Rise of Nazism in Germany, 1918-1933, Michaela Yonkman and David Doellinger
Track and Field’s Influence on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in the 1930s, Including the 1936 Olympic Games., Neal R. Cranston and Kimberly Jensen Dr.
Trichome Density and Distribution in Quercus garryana (Oregon White Oak), Nichole Hernandez and Ava Howard
Unpacking our impact: teacher educators’ J.E.D.I. journey, Jaclyn Caires-Hurley, Ya-Fang Cheng, Jessica Dougherty, Andrea Emerson, and Cindy Ryan
Visualizing Complex Functions, Edwin Ordex Casas and Ben Cote
WOU Community Health + Polk County COVID-19 Project: Campus-Community Partnership to Prevent Disease and Promote Community Well-Being During a Global Pandemic, Megan M. Patton-Lopez Ph.D., RDN; Emily Vala-Haynes Ph.D., MPH; Jenny Leon-Perez BS; Maddie Dirren BS; Fabiana Palma-Vasquez; Sarah Meyer; Sonia Castaneda-Feliz; and Queenie Agbayani
WOU Community Health + Polk County COVID-19 Project: Contact Tracing Efforts, Queenie Love Agbayani, Sarah Meyer, Maddie Dirren, Jenny Leon-Perez, Emily Vala-Haynes, and Megan Patton-Lopez
WOU Community Health + Polk County Family Thrive Kits: Social Marketing Campaign To Prevent COVID-19 Among Latinx Families, Fabiana Palma Vasquez, Sonia Castañeda Felix, Karissa McClanahan, Jenny Leon, Maddie Dirren, Emily Vala-Haynes, and Megan Patton-Lopez
Submissions from 2020
2020 Academic Excellence Showcase Welcome Video, Rob Winningham and Rex Fuller
Addressing the Academic Achievement Gap, Rachel Bayly
Art & Design Senior Portfolio Presentation: Emma Young, Emma Young
Art & Design Senior Portfolio Presentation - Leila Holt, Leila Holt
Art & Design Senior Portfolio Presentation: Sophia Selleck, Sophia Selleck
Artist Presentation: Nelina Vargas, Nelina Vargas
Artist Presentation: Sculpture and Ceramics, Kyle Doty
Assessing Tsunami Hazards and Developing Strategies to Minimize Risk, Taylor Hojnowski
Astronomical Learning, Joshua Jacob Mauricio, Robert Lochbaum, and Matthew Hibner
Beyond the Tutor: Web Application Developed by Team Khronos, Victoria Rhine, Brandon Linton, and Maksim Stoyanov
Building Positive Peace, Steven Richmond
Cannabis at "Card Again Stationery", Alexandra Quesada, Andres Avila, Ben Ruggles, Christopher Linares-Espinoza, Citlalli Castaneda, Emily Balck, Katarinna Hendricks, Kourtney Sandidge, Lea Sheldone, Rio Cunningham, Sarah Pitz, and Tawnie McAlister
Career Development: Activities that Enhance the Skills of High School Students to Young Professionals, Madalyn Grieb
D&D Tool Kit Website, Randy Caamal, Ian Oberst, and Zaid Alsuwayyigh
Dehumanization, Emily Rabe
Developing Sophisticated Reasoning Through Experiential Cognitive Dissonance, Leslie McLane
Digital Hijinks Capstone - Project Roadtrip, Michael Caldwell, Bradly Christensen, Noah Castle, and Lijian Nian
Education Strategies that Promote Community Awareness about Geologic Hazards, Salvador Garcia Lopez
EDUWheels, Natalie Legras, Daniel Carter, and Kyler Dreyer
Emerging Conflicts for Latina College Students and their Parents, Sandy Cerda-Lezama
Engaging in Growth Mindset through Photovoice, Sandy Cerda-Lezama
Feminism Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Proposal for Thesis Research, Ally Chancellor
FODfinder Website Demonstration, Cassidy Bullock, Gabriel Brehm, Jensen Alquist, and Tanner Hill
Glorious Enhancements, April DeSantis, Yixuan Shi, and Jolaade Nwanze
Improving Health and Wellness of Healthcare Staff, Paige McBride and Maria McCarthy
Katherine Schubert Graphic Design Portfolio Presentation, Katherine Schubert
Keeping Unsheltered Families Together in Polk County, Tracy Sanchez Romero Rios and Kimberly Castro
Let's Talk About It: A Proposal STI Prevention Program Designed for Jefferson County, Oregon, Janeene Perry, Alexandra Salter, Maddie Dirren, and Kayley Kildea
Lily Odegaard AES Graphic Design Portfolio Presentation 2020, Lily Odegaard
Navegando con las expectativas familiares y las responsabilidades universitarias: conflictos emergentes para las estudiantes latinas y sus padres, Sandra Cerda-Lezama
Number Talks Effects on Working Memory, Corvette Berthold
OK Bracket Manager, Ethan Black, Jacob Malmstadt, Ashlyn Santiago, and Zak Keipp
Olivia Martin Art & Design Senior Portfolio Presentation, Olivia Martin