Abstract: Beyond the Blocks with Cedric Buessing: A Deep Delve into a Championship Mindset is a documentary film created to demonstrate the difficult balancing act between academic success and athletic dedication on the University of Indianapolis Swim and Dive team, seen through the lens of Cedric Buessing. The feature length documentary will be premiered for the UIndy community on April 16, 2025. It featured interviews with Buessing, members of the team, head swimming coach, head athletic trainer, and team sports psychologist to get firsthand experiences on the topic. The project also featured footage from meets over the last three seasons, as well as a look into daily student- athlete activities. This project showed the upper limit of student-athletes’ lives, which emphasized the collective attempts to preserve metal health, academic achievement, and injury prevention whilst chasing a National Championship. The documentary intended to understand and recognize the multiple responsibilities these student- athletes have in the pool and the classroom, whilst trying to navigate through waves of burnout, lacking motivation, and injury. As a swimmer myself, this project was my attempt to showcase the ins and outs of our everyday lives, in the hopes of educating and inspiring the audience who watched the documentary. As viewers of sports, it is hard to truly empathize with the athletes you watch unless you have been in their shoes, which is something that this project aimed to resolve.

Abstract: In this project, we used gold (III) chloride solution at varying concentrations to create gold nanoparticles and develop invisible bio-ink and latent fingerprints on different surfaces in order to test how small a concentration can be to still produce observable results. The hope is to potentially lower costs in forensic applications. The results were analyzed under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy to visualize the gold nanoparticle groups and to determine the size of the gold nanoparticles produced. It was found that for porous surfaces, for both the fingerprints and bio-ink, only the 1 mM solution produced viable results, while the 0.5 mM solution could be used as a preliminary screening test for fingerprints, and the 0.1 mM solution did not produce results. For nonporous surfaces, for both the fingerprints and bio-ink, all three concentrations of the gold (III) chloride solutions produced results, but only the 1 and 0.5 mM concentrations could be applied in a forensic setting. The presence of the gold nanoparticles was proved through the use of SEM, and through UV-Vis, the nanoparticles absorbed light at 515 nm, which accounts for the pink/red hue of the nanoparticles on the samples.

Abstract: Republican-led state governments have increased their scrutiny of reform-minded prosecutors, arguing that they are allowing crimes to go unpunished in their districts. These prosecutors’ noncompliance is instead their ability to use discretion to decide whether to pursue particular charges. Departing from previous theories that suggest prosecutors want to appear “tough-on-crime” around Election Day, I hypothesize that partisan prosecutors’ desire for reelection will cause them to address their constituents’ demands more closely in election years. Specifically, I hypothesize that incumbent Democratic prosecutors facing competitive elections in urban districts will pursue the most progressive behavior out of any incumbent prosecutor. To test this, I compiled data from four state courts to assess whether some prosecutors are behaving more progressively closer to Election Day. Based on data analysis, I find mixed support for my hypothesis. My findings suggest that the relationship varies by state and measures of progressiveness. While most prosecutors do not face significant competition in the general election, primary competition may be more indicative of progressive behavior. These results suggest a need for more research on how elected prosecutors demonstrate responsiveness to their constituents.

Abstract:This project serves to provide an analysis of the evolution of new adult literature as a marketing category and introduce a project that will evaluate its impact on and importance to the literary world. Since the conception of the term “new adult” fiction in 2009 by St. Martin’s Press for a literary contest, it has evolved into a marketing category with readership looking to see themselves represented in storylines with main characters between the ages of 18–25. NA (new adult) fiction serves as a transitory category from young adult to adult fiction, similar to how young adult fiction serves people as a transition between children’s fiction and adult fiction. Furthermore, I have chosen the subgenre of new adult romantic fantasy or “romantasy” to research and inform my intended creative project of writing 3–5 chapters of a novel exemplifying the subgenre. I will be surveying and analyzing books within this subgenre that have been published after 2009 (for media relevancy), have spent over five weeks on a NYT Bestsellers list, have complex magic systems, are the first in a three or more book series, have an Instagram and TikTok presence and are marketable for consumption by NA audiences. My literature review presents a look into how new adult fiction was constructed and provides insight into what influences the category—audience, publisher marketing and social media. All of these factors, those controlled and those uninfluenced by the publisher, impact how audiences respond to a particular book and the category as a whole. It is important to understand how genres function and evolve within society as they influence what is being read, who is reading it, and how it is spread for consumption—this is what I will do for the genre of new adult fiction.
Abstract: The purpose of this project was to implement a dance curriculum at Joy’s House and evaluate how that program was received by the participants and their caretakers. This service learning project based on systematic observation was done while volunteering with Joy’s House, a day service for older adults living with cognitive disabilities including dementia and dementia-like conditions. The goals of this project were to (1) implement a dance curriculum into the programming at Joy’s House, (2) observe and evaluate the dance therapy program on social interaction and emotional well-being for older adults with cognitive decline, and (3) leave Joy’s House with a guide to how to implement dance therapy into their curriculum after completion of the project. Beyond these goals, this project worked to provide Joy’s House opportunities for the individuals that they serve to have fun while dancing as well as simultaneously receiving benefits from dance therapy to help these individuals feel value and purpose in their everyday lives. After observing five sessions of dance therapy in February and March of 2024, the effectiveness of this dance curriculum has been evaluated and deemed effective based on observation of the individuals at Joy’s House and conversations with the caregivers.

Abstract: This research study examines parents’ awareness and attitudes towards the environmental impacts on developing premature infants who had a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay. While in the NICU, there are certain measures put in place to protect the premature neonates’ underdeveloped body systems, however, the question remains: do these practices carry over to home care post-discharge? This study presents the different attitudes, feelings, and knowledge that parents have about environmental practices done to minimize stimuli for developing infants. A qualitative approach was selected as the research method for this study, through the use of six semi-structured interviews. The research findings indicate there is a lack of education done at the bedside regarding environmental stimuli, most parents do not understand the impact of sensory stimulation on development, and parents are willing to be taught about the impacts of sensory stimulation and how to reduce it.

Abstract:The linyphiid spider, Neodietrichia hesperia, was described by Crosby and Bishop in 1933 and the genus has held this lone species (was monotypic) for decades. In 2016, Dr. Milne collected spiders at Blossom Hollow Nature Preserve in southern Indiana in a similar genus, Lophomma, that looked similar to N. hesperia. Upon examination, he concluded that morphological evidence supported that this Lophomma belonged in Neodietrichia as a second species in that genus. I used molecular evidence in the form of COI barcoding to determine if these morphological conclusions were backed up by the genetics among closely related species. I extracted, amplified, confirmed via gel electrophoresis, and purified DNA from multiple N. hesperia and N. depressum specimens from various locations around the United States. Additionally, I helped create a phylogeny of Neodietrichia specimens (both from us and from genetic databases) to help confirm their relationship. We confirmed that the collected specimens from Blossom Hollow belonged to the sister species of N. hesperia, just as the morphological evidence had suggested. These data helped us revise the genus and publish our results in the animal taxonomic journal, Zootaxa, in 2023.

Abstract: The use of a very strong high performance polymer (HPP) called polyetheretherketone (PEEK) as a filament for fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is growing in the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical industries. 3D printed PEEK parts can be made with complex geometries at a high precision and low cost that other forms of manufacturing cannot compete with. However, 3D printed PEEK parts have weaker mechanical properties than PEEK parts fabricated using other methods of manufacturing. The parameters used during 3D printing affect the mechanical properties of a print, and several parameters require more research to 3D print parts with maximum strength. This project studies how the ambient temperature of a 3D printer’s build volume and annealing affects the tensile strength of PEEK ASME Type V Tensile Specimens. An industrial 3D printer was modified to print ten samples at ambient temperatures of 90, 95, and 100 °C respectively, and five of the samples were annealed. The results of the study showed that for this small range of temperatures the ambient temperature did not affect the tensile strength to a large degree, and it also showed that the effect of annealing on tensile strength is inconclusive.

Abstract: Best practices in steganography recommend that algorithms used to embed a file within an image cause as few visible alterations to the image as possible. The algorithm developed in this research project uses LSB insertion to alter the least significant bit of each byte in the image and replace them with the bits containing the file to be embedded within the image. The focus of the project was to create a program successfully demonstrating best practices using LSB insertion steganography. A survey was administered after the completion of the program to verify that there was no visible difference between images before and after they had files embedded within them. Results suggest that there was no visible difference for color images.

Abstract: Language barriers refer to difficulties in communication often experienced by individuals who speak different languages or dialects. The healthcare system in the United States (U.S.) has guidelines and procedures to break down these barriers, however, whether these procedures are actually followed properly or are the most helpful methods for the patient are to be determined. These deficiencies in the healthcare system are dangerous and pose a threat to patients who speak different languages than their health care provider. There is a lack of research on the perspective of Spanish speakers and what they feel will best meet their needs. To better understand the patient experience of Spanish speakers, interviews and observations were conducted with staff and patients at the Gennesaret Medical Clinic as well as the Heart and Soul Free Clinic, both located in Indianapolis, IN.Data indicated medical personnel want to provide better care for their Spanish speaking patients, but are unable to due to flaws in the system such as time constraints, funding, and diversity of health care professionals that speak both Spanish and English. Patients were ultimately mostly content with their care, while health care providers were more focused on the flaws within the system. The findings in this study show owners and employees that the patients they are serving are overall happy with their care, but there are certain aspects of the system that have negative effects on the patient and provider’s overall experience. There are advancements that can be made and this information can be passed to other clinics to help alleviate the systematic issues in the healthcare system and open up op-ed and/or policy recommendations.
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