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Poster Presentations

The Decline in Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption in Response to Dietary Nitrate is Eliminated with Concurrent Caffeine Intake
Author(s): Kennedy Marshall, Justin Waller, Haley Fair, Valerie Olzer, & James Smoliga
Mentor: Colin Carriker, Exercise Science
Dietary nitrate has shown to reduce VO2 and caffeine intake increases exercise VO2 and EPOC.
A 3mg/kg dose of caffeine did not elevate exercise VO2 or EPOC. Dietary nitrate reduced EPOC and elevated peripheral and aortic SBP in recovery. The decrease in EPOC was abolished when supplements were consumed together.
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Preparation of Surface-Grafted Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Brushes Using an Easily Cleavable Self- Assembled Monolayer
Author(s): Kaylee Campbell, Soo Min Lee, & Bella Postle
Mentor: Keir Fogarty, Chemistry
Mentor: Elizabeth McCorquodale, Chemistry
Organophosphates are carcinogens and toxic to the human body. They are also commonly found in nail polish, because the FDA doesn’t heavily regulate cosmetics. High-Performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the concentration of three common organophosphates in popular nail polish brands. Results to date will be presented.
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Synthesis and Evaluation of the Unique Antimicrobial Peptide Polyphemusin-1
Author(s): Will Lefever, Mikaela Seemann, & Meghan Blackledge
Mentor: Andrew Wommack, Chemistry
Polyphemusin-1 (PM1) is an antimicrobial peptide naturally derived from horseshoe crabs. The main structural motif of PM1 is a β-hairpin turn produced by two intramolecular disulfide bonds granting PM1 antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria. Antimicrobial assays of native PM1 and derivatives have determined the importance of disulfide bonding to activity.
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Occlusal Dental Variation in Esthonyx (Mammalia: Tillodontia)
Author(s): Ericka Luongo, Hannah Cozart, & Heather Ahrens
Mentor: Heather Ahrens, Biology
The extinct clade Tillodontia includes numerous taxa, including Esthonyx, which were relatively common, specialized herbivores of the Eocene (56 – 33.8 mya). We quantified dental variation in occlusal view by both species and temporal unit (biochron) using geometric morphometrics. Our results indicate a well-conserved dental morphology within the Esthonyxlineage.
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An Uphill Climb
Author(s): Monét Gilmore
Mentor: Tony Kemerly, Exercise Science
This essay analyzes a black woman who enters the culture of fitness and/or sport and the judgement and critique society places on her physical body while comparing it to that of a white woman in an identical role.
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Family Communication Patterns and Young Adult Television Viewing Motivations
Author(s): Ashley Campbell
Mentor: Virginia McDermott, Communication
The social institution of family is central to the lives of every individual, but communication patterns within families vary. The purpose of this research study was to determine whether or not family communication patterns influence young adults’ media choices, and if so, whether this relationship is dependent on geographic location.
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“What’s Under Your Mattress”: Sales Associates’ Views of Consumer Understanding
Author(s): Sara Seaford
Mentor: Joanne Altman, URCW
High Point University, in collaboration with a mattress association, created an online survey to evaluate how relevant the association’s promotion “What’s under the mattress” is to their industry. The survey assessed sales associates’ impressions of the consumer’s knowledge and interest in bed support systems.
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Identification of small molecules with antibiotic activity in M. smegmatis
Author(s): Mikaela Seemann
Mentor: Meghan Blackledge, Chemistry
Mycobacteria have innate immunity to common antibiotics, and antibiotic development remains stagnant. To identify novel scaffolds for antibiotic development, several small molecules with varying structural components were screened for antibiotic activity against M. smegmatis. Through this screening, a structure-activity relationship was developed for a set of compounds.
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Building an Autonomous Vehicle at HPU
Author(s): Michael Welter
Mentor: Jeff Regester, Physics
HPUminds–an HPU student organization made up of physics and computer science students–has replaced a golf cart’s mechanical components with state-of-the-art programmable electronic controls. These controls, paired with environment-monitoring, path and obstacle-detecting cameras and sensors, allow a central computer to elegantly maneuver the vehicle around campus while also actively avoiding collisions.
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Comparing Stigma Toward Behaviors of Psychological Disorders and Disorder Names
Author(s): Megan Deiling, Hannah Hicks, & Sarah Ross
Mentor: Sarah Ross, Psychology
In a college student population, this study compared stigma toward psychological disorder names to stigma toward the DSM-V symptoms associated with a disorder. Results indicate that there is significantly more stigma towards the symptoms of a disorder compared the name for three of the five psychological disorders examined.
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Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Author(s): Allison Patrick & Jon Campbell
Mentor: Sarah Vess, Specialized Curriculum
This research explores the efficacy of utilizing PCIT with children diagnosed with ASD. PCIT is an evidence-based therapy for children with externalizing disorders. The extension of the use of PCIT to families of children with ASD to increase positive parent-child interactions while maintaining the original two-phase protocol will be discussed.
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Misophonia Severity in Relation to Age, Anxiety/Depression Symptoms, and Life Satisfaction
Author(s): Samantha Stevens
Mentor: Deborah Danzis, Psychology
Age, anxiety and depression symptoms, and life satisfaction were assessed to investigate the relationship with misophonia severity. Current age, reported age in which misophonia symptoms began, and life satisfaction were all negatively correlated with misophonia severity. Anxiety and depression symptoms were positively correlated with misophonia severity.
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Romantic Attraction: Personality Traits Most Desired by Narcissists?
Author(s): Janae Baiamonte
Mentor: Kimberly Wear, Psychology
The current study assessed the correlations between scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40 (NIP; Raskin & Terry,1988) and attraction ratings of hypothetical partners. Results indicate both individuals who scored high and low on the NPI found the same three personality traits attractive, thus not supporting the self-orientation model.
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Oral Presentations

Analysis of Thrombin- Treated GerE on Binding to cot Promoters that are Repressed during Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis
Author(s): Alexandria Cedrone & Maria Valverde
Mentor: Dinene Crater, Biology
This experiment evaluates GerE binding to repress transcription during sporulation. Cloned gerE, using pET-28 plasmid, contains an excess histidine tag prohibiting binding. Thrombin was used to allow the native structure of GerE to form to then to bind to the promoter DNA, allowing the repression of transcription during sporulation.
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A Comparison Of Hippocampal Microglia Responses In Aged And Young Rodents Following Dependent And Non-dependent Binge Drinking
Author(s): Isabella Grifasi, Eva Greengrove, Christopher Trevisani, & Scott McIntosh
Mentor: S. Alex Marshall, Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences
Binge-like amounts of ethanol impact the neuroimmune system, specifically eliciting alterations in hippocampal microglia. Both non-dependent and dependent models of alcoholic binge drinking resulted in altered microglia function during intoxication, however, only aged individuals depicted microglial changes persisting through abstinence.
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Affordable Differential GNSS (GPS) for Undergraduate Self-Driving Vehicle Research
Author(s): Ryan Diaz
Mentor: Roger Shore, Computer Science
High accuracy location tracking is vital for the development of self-driving vehicles. We will discuss the results of testing the accuracy of standalone GPS vs Differential GNSS for our project and how we approached the problem.
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The Child’s Empire: Themes of Imperialism in Pre and Post-World War British Children’s Literature
Author(s): Emily Burke
Mentor: Matthew Carlson, English Literature
Children’s literature serves to prepare children to fit into whatever role society has set out for them. In British culture, where the empire is so ingrained into the everyday lives of people, themes of imperialism manifest themselves strongly in children’s books both before and after the World Wars. (Award-Winner)

Defeating Gerrymandering Through a Multi- Party System
Author(s): Sophie Kestner
Mentor: Adam Graham-Squire, Mathematics
We investigated different ways to apply the efficiency gap formula to situations involving more than two parties, as well as whether or not those methods of calculation accurately identify gerrymandering. We have found a method for three party elections that is able to identify gerrymandering with few anomalies.