The Student Showcase promises an engaging display of the original research and creative endeavors of USAO students. The showcase will feature presentations, displays and performances, offering something for everyone to enjoy. With a diverse array of projects spanning various disciplines, attendees will have the opportunity to witness firsthand the innovation and talent cultivated within the university's academic community.
These topics are on the 2025 schedule to be presented in the Ballroom:
Matija Malenovic and Leonardo Schneider
A web app that helps USAO students monitor their meal swipes, flex balance, and transaction history in real time. It simplifies budgeting and meal planning, ensuring students stay informed.
Jenna Hamburger
Soils are one of the largest carbon reservoirs on Earth, storing more than plants and animals combined as organic matter. Soil texture is a key component of carbon storage as the clay particles provides sites for organic matter to bind to. In this experiment, we sought to establish a relationship between clay and organic matter concentration.
Trinity Albao-Cozad
Using agar plate identification and gram staining, microbial differences were measured. Preliminary results show individuals on a gluten-free diet display unique bacterial strains.
Harry Cracknell
A survey-based study to determine factors in which influence potential donors from students qualified to give blood. The goal is to provide research backed recommendations to USAO leadership that may increase the blood giving culture at this university.
Aslan Taylor
My piece is about the attempt to take back control in a situation where you have none. The lamb is made out of carboard, masking tape, and hot glue. All textile elements are hand-stitched with secondhand fabric.
Jaden Johnston
Katherine Hoover uses a variety of extended flute techniques, uncommon notation methods, and musical ornaments in order to imitate Native American flute music in her work Spirit Flight. Prior analysis has been done regarding Hoover’s other Native-inspired works, Kokopeli and Winter Spirits, but there has been little study completed over Spirit Flight, as it is the most recently composed of these three works. This project included a literature review of extended techniques, characteristics of Native American flute music, and the use of extended techniques in contexts of religious/cultural works, as well as complete theoretical analyses of Spirit Flight. These were then cross-examined to determine how the compositional aspects of Spirit Flight coincide with traditional Native American flute music. The findings of this study indicate that Hoover’s compositional tactics are unconventional when compared with most Western musical works, but excel at imitating Native American customs due to the nature of traditional Native music, including cultural standards and the anatomy of the Native flute. This paper and demonstration will provide an informed analysis of extended techniques to aid in the performance of this work, as well as provide a platform on which Native American music is uplifted and examined from a contemporary view.
Jace Hollingshed
The goal of this research study is to determine if growth and stress mindset can predict statistical performance in high school basketball athletes. The mindset measures are used to determine a score for these athletes in surveys given pre- and post-season. These surveys are analyzed to see which mindsets are pivotal in predicting the performance of athletes.
Tylan Hamilton
This study explores how the anticipation of death shapes meaning through psychology and meta-ethics. Rather than despair, mortality can inspire authenticity. Drawing from Frankl, and Frankfurt, it argues that love is the antidote—whether in partnership, family, selflessness—that transcends existential absurdity, offering purpose and courage in facing death.
Elyanne Kenney
This research seeks to explore how creative outlets, such as music, exercise, and art affect emotions in undergraduate students. Participants will be randomly assigned to groups for a five-day experiment. We hypothesize that participants will have more positive emotions with the addition of daily creative outlets.
Abbey Ummel
Three oil paintings will be displayed for the Student Showcase.
Devon Locke
This study examines how the First-Year Seminar course impacted freshman mindset development at the University of Science and Arts in the fall of 2023. Pre- and post- Likert Scale surveys were used. Statistical analysis assessed the mindset shifts. Results indicate significant changes in first-generation students' enrollment rates based on mindset shifts.
Kaleb Naylor
Abigail McNabb
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are increasing, creating a need for alternatives like silver polymers, which are effective against bacteria in some cases. This study investigates the efficacy of a novel silver polyaniline polymer using a disk diffusion assay with E. coli to assess its potential as an antibiotic alternative.
Leslie Randall
In this video, I share my perspective as a secondary English teacher on the pressing issue of book banning and how AI can play a role in preventing it. I discuss my research on utilizing AI to help inform parents and students about book challenges and the importance of understanding the legal landscape surrounding this issue. I encourage everyone to think about how we can leverage AI to ensure that all voices are heard in the conversation about education and access to literature. Please consider sharing your thoughts on this topic!
Showcase Photos
