Abstracts, SROP 2004 scholars - Graduate College

2007 SROP Scholars' Abstracts

Cyprian Alaribe Truman State University

How Fair is Fair Value Accounting

Mentor: Dr. W. Bruce Johnson
Accounting
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Quantitative financial reporting of asset values and liabilities using a single financial instrument has been debated and brought to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) attention for a number of decades. FASB’s mission is to improve and establish new standards of financial accounting and reporting. The debate of fair value versus historical cost accounting is intrinsic to the evolution of financial reporting. Historical cost accounting requires that the numbers reported on accounting financial statements be recorded at the amount actually paid for an asset. Opponents question the relevance of this measurement convention. Fair value accounting, on the other hand, reports the current market values of assets and liabilities. Opponents of fair value question the reliability of the measurements. The purpose of this research is to present the opposing views on this important accounting policy debate, due to the trend of America’s economy and its increasing demand on fair value measurements in financial reporting. The debate involves conflicting views pertaining to the more accurate measurement of financial assets and liabilities. The research encompasses an array of literature regarding the debate of fair value measurement and it will be left for readers to decide which measurement convention better suits America’s companies.

Michael Alvarez University of Puerto Rico at Humacao

Investigating the Regulation and Function of CyclinG2 Expression during Stress-Response Signaling Induced Cell Cycle Arrest

Mentor: Dr. Mary Horne
Pharmacology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Premature senescence, the induction of long term growth factor irreversible cell cycle arrest, is induced by the oxidative effects of reactive oxygen species and high level expression of certain oncogenes such as activated Ras. This arrest response is thought to be important for prevention of cellular transformation and carcinogenesis. Given that gene chip microarray studies indicate that CCNG2, the gene encoding the unconventional cyclin, cyclin G2, is upregulated upon oxidative stress and transient transfection with oncogenic RAS, we predict that cyclin G2 protein is upregulated by these cellular stresses. Furthermore, as CCNG2 is a direct transcriptional target of the forkhead box O (FOXO) family of transcription factors required for oxidative stress response induced cell cycle arrest, and ectopic expression of cyclin G2 induces withdrawal from the cell cycle, we hypothesize that cyclin G2 upregulation promotes the cell cycle arrest program of premature senescence. We are initiating investigations into the relationship between upregulated cyclin G2 expression and premature senescence. To further examine the cyclin G2 expression to cellular growth during senescence inducing stresses. Here we test whether cells transfected with oncogenic Ras elevate cyclin G2 protein expression at levels comparable to FOXO activation of cyclin G2. In addition we are examining the sub-cellular localization pattern of endogenous cyclin G2 induced by the two regulators, and the contribution of cyclin G2 to cell cycle control during premature senescence. Through these studies we seek to determine whether cyclin G2, as one of the gene products positively regulated by the FoxO1 and Foxo3 transcriptional activity, facilitates premature senescence programs.

Clarissa Brown University of Central Missouri

Identification of Viral Surface Proteins by Different Imaging Technologies

Mentor: Dr. Charles Grose
Microbiology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Surface viral proteins are visualized to investigate their location, prevalence and size. These are important viral protein characteristics because they can illuminate viral protein functions. Varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and shingles, has proteins that can be visualized by different technologies. The virus has glycoproteins on its surface that have functions which include fusion, egress, and attachment. This project examines different technologies used to view viral surface proteins to determine which is most effective at detecting the presence of Varicella-zoster virus glycoproteins. Three different viral protein visualization techniques were used; fluorescent confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and western blot.

Domonique Casper Grambling State University

Outcome Data for Teen Parents: A Longitudinal Study

Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Gerken
School Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

In 1990-1992, our mentor Dr. Kathryn Gerken and some of her colleagues interviewed over 70 teen parents. Some had participated in intervention programs and others had not, so we will investigate to find out if there is a difference in long term outcomes between those who did participate in the intervention program and those who did not. The purpose of this study is to interview the same parents (mothers and fathers) to determine the long term effects teen parenting has had on their education, health, finances, employment, friendships, family relations, marital status, and emotional status. We will also ask questions related to the health and education of the parents' oldest child. For the first part of our study Dr. Kathryn Gerken, Shannon Hutcheson, and I have created a 185 question questionnaire which will be administered via a phone interview. In the second part of the study we will administer the Parent Stress Index, the Child Behavior Checklist, and the SCL-90-R.

Lavonna Connell Oakwood College

The Association of Adolescent Victimization and Substance Use

Mentor: Dr. James hall
Social Work
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Adolescent substance use is a growing public health problem that is associated with increases in criminal activity, school attendance and performance, and other problems (Wall & Kohl, 2007). A number of drugs have shown declines in usage in the findings of the 2006 Monitoring the Future data. However, the use of substances especially among adolescents is still a widespread issue. Approximately 48% of the young people in schools have tried an illicit drug by the time they graduate from high school. The use of substances especially among adolescents has the potential to be dangerous to society and be extremely damaging to the teens. In addition to substance use and abuse, many adolescents are victimized physically, emotionally, or sexually. As of 2005, an estimated 899,000 children were reported to be victims of abuse (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2005). Of this number, 16.6 % were physically abused, 9.3 % were sexually abused, and 7.1 % experienced emotional maltreatment. A recent study done by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) in adolescents found that females who have been sexually or physically abused are twice as likely to smoke, use alcohol, and/or use drugs than girls that have not been abused. Therefore, research on the association of adolescent substance abuse and victimization is very significant.

Courtney Cornick Iowa State University

Racial Differences in the Processes of Forgiveness

Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Altmaier
Counseling Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

An interpersonal transgression can be a significant event in an individual's life. How individuals forgive after the transgression is something that has been studies for decades. However the literature has not considered diversity and racial differences in forgiveness. The current study considers racial differences in the process of forgiveness, and seeks to understand whether the race of the transgressor or the severity of the event plays a larger role in the processes of forgiveness.

Dorian Cowan Wake Forest University

The Role of Identity on Social and Self Perception

Mentor: Dr. Michael Lovaglia
Sociology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

The study describes how identity is a defining factor in social perception. The report addresses several concepts of stereotype formation and how it relates to identity. A person’s identity is a composite of several factors. Some basic and most visible features of an individual are gender, race and skin-tone. The study is a multilevel observation of self perception and social perception using participants of various backgrounds. Properties such as the participants’ skin-tone, race, ethnicity, and gender were taken into account. The first part of the study measures self-perception by how many positive affirmations the participants could list about themselves. The second part of the study tests the implicit and explicit preferences of the participants. Implicit attitudes are a measure of automatic preferences of race and skin-tone. The explicit attitudes are a measure of overt race and skin-tone preferences. The third part of the study measures the assignment of faces to gender-biased jobs and matching income. The study touches on explicit in-group favoritism, implicit attitudes, and categorization of stereotyped groups.

Rachel Cuevas California State University, Long Beach

The Association Between Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Unplanned Pregnancy

Mentor: Dr. Michael O'Hara
Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Background Considering the negative health outcomes associated with unplanned pregnancies it is important to identify risk factors associated with such pregnancies. the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which symptoms of depression predict pregnancy planning, controlling for sociodemographic factors (age, education, marital status, living with partner, number of children living in the home, income, and ethnicity) and obstetric history variables (parity, number of full term pregnancies, and number of abortions). Method Our sample consisted of 386 pregnant women who were recruited from Maternal Health Centers across the state of Iowa and the UIHC OB clinic. These women completed a demographic questionnaire, the Contextual Assessment of the Maternity Experience Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Results suggest that when important demographic factors and obstetric history variables were controlled for in the logistic regression, women experiencing depressive symptoms during pregnancy were more likely to report that their pregnancy was unplanned.

Chelsey Daniels Elizabeth City State University

A Design for the Integration of Sensors to a Mobile Robot

Mentor: Dr. Geb Thomas
Industrial Engineering
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

The robot “localization” problem is the challenge of accurately tracking robots’ position. When the robot rolls along a surface, wheel slip causes the uncertainty in the robot’s position to increase. The longer the path, the more the errors increase. If several robots cooperate, they may be able to use each other and natural landmarks to measure their position as they move within a region. If they accurately determine their positions as they move, they will be able to create an accurate map of the environment. This research deals with the integration of sensors for a robot exploration team. These sensors recognize natural landmarks and assist in determining the robot positions relative to these landmarks. Four sensors on each robot send out beams in a sequential fashion orchestrated by the range-finding sensor circuit. The time it takes for a beam to leave the sensor and a reflected beam to return from a landmark will provide the robot with the range. This information will be used in providing data necessary for the construction of an accurate aerial map, as well as determining each robot’s position within the region.

Amy Epps University of Miami

Service Learning in Community Participation in Research

Mentor: Dr. Pamela Noel
Social Work
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Students in a service learning research course will be trained to utilize community participation in research methods to investigate the impact of parents' engagement in substance abuse treatment on their children's (ages birth to five years) social-emotional development. This will entail creating and maintaining a mutually beneficial collaborative partnership between the University of Iowa School of Social Work,, Area Substance Abuse council (ASAC), and Heart of Iowa child care center.

Irisbel Guzman Sanchez University of Puerto Rico
at Humacao

Calmodulin Interactions with the NR1 Subunit of the NMDA (N-methyl D-aspartate) Receptor

Mentor: Dr. Madeline A. Shea
Biochemistry
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Personality disorder can be traced back at least to adolescence. Previous research indicates that personality disorder found in adolescents is often linked to personality disorder when they become adults. The DSM defines personality disorders as having their origins in adolescents (APA, 1994). However, there are few studies of adolescent personality disorder, so our understanding of it is limited. The 478-item, true-false format Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent version (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) was developed for use with adolescents to assess personality relevant to clinical conditions. The 390-item, true-false format Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Youth version (SNAP-Y; Linde, 2001) was designed to assess traits using a dimensional approach to personality disorder with adolescents. Relations between these two instruments' scales have been investigated only in the SNAP-Y normative sample. The purpose of this study is to examine relations between the MMPI-A and the SNAP-Y scales, and to investigate scale differences due to age and gender in a clinical sample. Data previously collected on approximately 108 patients who took the MMPI-A and the SNAP-Y as part of the routine intake battery at the Seashore Clinic at the University of Iowa was used for this study. Findings included several correlations between negative temperament and age. Older adolescents were lower in Mistrust, lower in Aggression, and lower in Eccentric Perceptions. Girls scored higher on Hypochondriasis, Depression and Psychasthenia than boys. MMPI-A and SNAP-Y were related on several scales.

Asale Hubbard Iowa State University

Ethnic Minority Students' Perceptions of Honors Programs

Mentor: Dr. Malik Henfield
School Counseling
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

The goal of this proposed research is to design an conduct a qualitative study, using individual interviewing methods, on ethnic minority students (i.e., Asian-American, African-American, Native American, and Latina(o) who qualify for the Honors Program at the University of Iowa. More specifically, the study is designed to extrapolate their perceptions towards their experience at College X as high-achieving students. Taken as a whole, this study seeks to render qualitative data to better understand the overall educational experiences of ethnic minority students who have been identified as worthy of participating in the Honors Program at College X.

LeMorris Hunt Delta State University

Music Therapy to Support Language Development in Young Children with Autism

Mentor: Dr. Mary Adamek
Music Therapy
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

The researcher reviewed literature concerning the goals, outcomes, and interventions used by music therapists to help young children with autism develop language skills. Young children with autism typically have problems in developmental rates, responses to sensory stimuli, speech skills, language skills, cognitive skills, and capacities to relate to people. Three primary approaches to language development are the developmental language approach, the naturalistic behavioral language approach, and the didactic behavioral approach. Music therapy capitalizes on language development in helping to improve language/communication, increase behavioral skills, support perceptual motor skills, and enhance cognitive skills. Music therapy has taken these approaches and incorporated music to support non-music goals and aid the developmental process for young children with autism. Some of these interventions include singing, instrument playing, movement, listening/relaxation, improvisational music and the use of sung social stories. Music therapy has been shown to be an effective intervention tool to promote language/communication skills and positive behavioral skills in your children with autism.

Shannon Hutcheson Ohio State University

Outcome Data for Teen Parents: A Longitudinal Study

Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Gerken
School Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Brittany Jackson University of Wisconsin at Whitewater

Personality Differences Related to Marital Status in Community and Clinical Samples

Mentor: Dr. Lee Anna Clark
Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

This research compares and contrasts personality differences in older and younger, single and married people, and among people of different races/ethnicities. Individuals in a university Clinical sample and a community sample completed the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP). This study examines whether unmarried individuals are higher or lower than married individuals in personality traits related to negative temperament, positive temperament, and disinhibition. Regarding race/ethnicity, we will examine whether African-Americans, Hispanic, and Native Americans have higher or lower negative temperament, positive temperament, and disinhibition traits compared to Caucasians. Furthermore, previous research has shown that personality does change with age; therefore in this study by utilizing existing data sources to identify the comparison groups for statistical analysis we will use age as a control factor when we examine whether there are personality differences between married and single individuals and between individuals of different races/ ethnicities.

Milissia John-Baptiste Southern University/Baton Rouge

Relations Between the SNAP-Y and MMPI-A in a Clinical Sample

Mentor: Dr. Lee Anna Clark
Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Josue Alcantara Marte University of Puerto Rico
at Mayaguez

Neural Substrates Supporting Acquisition and Use of Common Ground: A Comparison of Two Lesion Populations

Mentor: Dr. Dan Tranel
Neuroscience
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Previous work with patients with hippocampal damage and profound declarative memory impairments using a collaborative referencing task that requires social interaction and constant communication with a familiar partner reported collaborative learning at an equal rate to comparison participants for referential labels resulting in rapid and efficient communication or “common ground” (Duff et al., 2006). Here, we test the hypothesis that a key aspect of the collaborative learning is intact social-emotional communication, and that individuals with damage to social-emotion-related brain areas (e.g., right hemisphere (RH)), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC)) will be impaired in the acquisition and use of common ground in communication with a familiar partner. Participants included 3 patients with RH damage and 6 patients with VMPC damage, and 8 healthy comparison participants, each interacting with a familiar partner. Results indicated that both patient groups were impaired on measures of time-to-completion and in card placement accuracy, particularly early in the task. The patients with VMPC damage performed superior to the right hemisphere patients. The findings provide preliminary support for the notion that neural systems involved in social-emotional processing are important for the acquisition and use of common ground in social communication.

Cristal Martinez University of Texas at El Paso

Auditory Categorization by Pigeons

Mentor: Dr. Ed Wasserman
Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Categorization is one of the ways that humans make sense of the world. Putting things into groups gives structure and a sense of predictability to our lives. Cognition in this form causes actions and interactions with certain objects, sounds, people, and places to become meaningful. Our question is: is this ability unique to humans? To answer this question, we studied categorization in pigeons, using highly controlled sounds and a four-key forced-choice discrimination procedure. In daily sessions, two pigeons had to classify each of 40 sounds into four basic-level categories (primate calls, birdsongs, horns, and bells) from two super ordinate categories (natural and artificial). So far, one pigeon has been in training for 10 days. The other pigeon is in the pre-training phase of the experiment; this involves pecking at the screen for food reward while being habituated to the sounds. We predict that, because this is an acoustic test for highly visual animals, the pigeons will be slow to learn the different sound categories. Nevertheless, we predict that the pigeons will eventually classify the stimuli into the correct basic-level categories. It is still too early to tell if pigeons can master this complex categorization task.

Tanee Mason Roanoke College

Mum is the Word: Increasing Vocalizations in a Child With Selective Mutism

Mentor: Dr. Stewart Ehly
School Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Selective mutism is a psychological disorder that is characterized by the lack of speech in some social situations while in other situations speech remains unaffected. There are two hypotheses regarding the etiology of selective mutism. One hypothesis suggests that selective mutism is the result of increased anxiety and extreme shyness while the other hypothesis suggests that selective mutism may be the result of oppositional behavior. The purpose of this study was to increase the vocalizations in a selectively mute participant. The participant was six years old at the start of the treatment, which took place at the University of Iowa children's Hospital. The results showed that during post treatment Eliza had a higher vocalization rate with novel individuals than all other conditions tested. However, other explanations are also possible, including an increase in the amount of people in the room allowing for fewer opportunities to speak, may be also be possible.

Kevin Montes California State University at
Dominguez Hills

Student Gambling at The University of Iowa

Mentor: Dr. Anne Helen Skinstad
Public Health
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

There re 16 million college students currently enrolled in four year universities. Of those 16 million, over 160,000 students will have problems due to gambling. Along with problems directly related to gambling, student gamblers re at an increased risk of developing co-occurring disorders like major depression, alcohol abuse/dependence, and anxiety. Specifically, students that are male, twenty years old, and have parents without college degrees have a greater likelihood of becoming problem gamblers. Additionally, studies have shown that binge drinking an student gambling are highly related. A binge drinking study as conducted in 2003 at Iowa to gather descriptive data on student's binge drinking habits. The results indicated that 75% of the students binge drank at least once in the past two weeks prior to taking the survey. The percentage of students who binge drink at the University of Iowa is almost the national average (44%).To survey the 797 students about gambling, 8 items were inserted into the 100 item Student Health Survey. The purpose of the study was to gather descriptive gambling data from students at the University of Iowa. This baseline assessment will be used to compare future assessments in order to find trends in student gambling.

Osarumen Okunbor University of Missouri/Columbia

Evaluation of Light Diagnostics Human Metapneumovirus Direct Immunoflourescene Assay on clinical Specimens

Mentor: Dr. Greg Gray
Epidemiology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Human metapneumovires (hMPV) is a newly discovered respiratory pathogen with limited epidemiological data available. currently, the only available method to diagnose hMPV is by cell culture followed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The purpose of this clinical trial is to test the performance of a new diagnostic method. Light Diagnostics Human Metapneumovirus Direct Immunoflourescence Assay (DFA), in comparison to RT-PCR for the diagnosing of possible hMPV infection in random clinical specimens.

Rosaura Orengo University of Puerto Rico
Rio Piedras

Do Conflict Recovery Skills Buffer the Effects of Marital Conflict on Marital Satisfaction?

Mentor: Dr. Erika Lawrence
Clinical Psychology
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Almost half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. Marital discord and dissolution have been shown to have a negative impact on the emotional and physical well-being of spouses and their children. There is a wealth of evidence documenting the negative effects of poor conflict management skills (also known as poor problem solving skills) on marital satisfaction and existing prevention programs target problem solving skills almost exclusively. However, such efforts are only moderately effective at preventing marital distress and divorce. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether couples' recovery behaviors after an argument ("conflict recovery skills") buffered the impact of poor problem solving skills on marital satisfaction. In the first 6 months of marriage, husbands and wives (N=103 couples) completed self-report measures of (a) problem solving skills used during their disagreements, (b) marital satisfaction, and (c) two types of conflict recovery skills (length of time toward recovery and the extent to which the couple was able to return to pre-argument functioning). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the interaction term (conflict skills x conflict recovery skills) predicted marital satisfaction over and above the main effects of conflict skills and conflict recovery skills. Husbands' and wives' variables were analyzed simultaneously to control for interdependence among spouses. Conflict recovery skills significantly predicted marital satisfaction (t = 2.19, p < .05 and t = 3.87, p < .01, respectively).

Suncerrae Perry University of Wisconsin at Whitewater

Ethnic Minority Students' Perceptions of Honors Programs

Mentor: Dr. Malik Henfield
School Counseling
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

This qualitative research study uses individual interviewing methods, on ethnic minority students (i.e., Asian-American, African-American, Native American, and Latina ((o)) who qualify for the Honors Program at an institution in Iowa. More specifically, the study is designed to extrapolate their perceptions towards their experience at an institution in the state of Iowa as high-achieving students. In January 2008, twenty online and interactive interviews with ethnic minority honor students, from the state of Wisconsin, will be completed to supplement roughly twenty interviews that were completed during July 2007. Taken as a whole, this study seeks to utilize qualitative data to better understand the overall educational experiences of ethnic minority students who have been identified as worthy of participating in the Honors Program. This project has the potential to assist educators and families, in improving the educational services offered to gifted ethnic minority students all across the United States.

Ayanna Porter McKendree College

The Relationship Between Personality Variables and Pain Perception During a Dynamic Fatigue Task

Mentor: Dr. Laura Frey Law
Physical Therapy
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

My research project for the next eight weeks consists of examining individuals personalities using various psychological questionnaires and determining how personality effects a persons perception of exertion and pain. I will be collecting data using human subjects who will perform a repeated series of isokinetic elbow flexion contractions through a normal range of motion (5-100 degrees) trying to achieve a peak torque of 75% of their initial maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). The participant will continue this cycle until they can no longer reach the 75% MVC level (signifying 25% fatigue). The purpose f this study is to investigate if we can determine which individuals differences, i.e. normal personality trait and genetic phenotype contribute significantly to inter-individual variability in the perception of pain during dynamic muscle fatigue. Psychological individual differences, particularly neuroticism or negative affect have been consistently demonstrated to be associated with symptom reporting and pain perception in patient populations. The long term goal of this line of research is to determine factors responsible for inter-individual differences in normal psychological traits contribute to the wide variability observed in musculoskeletal pain perception.

Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera University of Puerto Rico
at San Juan

Psychosocial Stress: Sex Differences in Cortiosl Response and Speech Productivity

Mentor: Dr. Dan Tranel
Neuroscience
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Psychosocial stress causes physiological responses in the body. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST; Kirschbaum et al., 1993) is a psychological procedure that allows experimenters to induce stress under laboratory conditions. The procedure allows experimenters to investigate test subjects’ stress levels across multiple measures (cortisol, heart rate & subjective reports), and to investigate sex differences in stress responses (Kudielka & Kirschbaum, 2006). Our pilot study used the Speech Analysis for Psychosocial Stress (SAPS), a technique developed in our laboratory to analyze a variety of speech variables from speech samples. The speech variables assessed by SAPS include: total words, total syllables, pauses, and an index of speech productivity. We collected salivary cortisol, heart rate, and ratings of negative affect in response to the TSST from 29 participants, 14 women and 15 men. In our analysis we divided groups by gender and into sub-groups depending on their cortisol response. The subgroups were divided into high cortisol responders (n=6 women, n=8 men) and low cortisol responders (n=8 women, n=7 men). Our preliminary data suggest a difference in the pattern of word productivity in the first minute of the TSST as a function of gender and cortisol response.

Antu Schamberger Loyola Marymount University

Development of Common Ground in Social Communication in Patients with Right Hemisphere Damage

Mentor: Dr. Dan Tranel
Neuroscience
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Recent studies on communication have demonstrated that to be able to participate in effective high level communication, the usage of short-hand is commonly developed. Short-hand is based on this idea of “common ground” (Clark, 1992). Our study tests the hypothesis that subjects with right hemisphere damage (RHD) will be impaired in the acquisition and use of common ground in the social interactions with a familiar communication partner. Subjects with RHD have cognitive impairments and communicative disorders revealing the complexities of communication and learning in context through the barrier task. Three subjects with RHD (2 males, 1 female; mean age = 56; mean education = 13 yrs.) and three none lesion damaged comparison subjects participated, each with a familiar communication partner. Subjects sit at a table across from their partner with a barrier in between them so as to allow them to see each other, but not their partner’s boards or tangram cards. This task was designed for a director (subject) to communicate with a matcher (partner) instructing them where to place all 12 cards on the numbered board.

Tonia Tiewul Hunter College

The Blood Supply of the Human Insula

Mentor: Dr. Sergio Paradiso
Neuroscience
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

The insula is a cortical structure within the brain that lies buried underneath portions of the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. Functional imaging studies have implicated it in a number of different brain functions, including addiction, emotion, visceral pain, and olfaction. Due to the deep location of the insula within the brain, the most common method of studying it is via functional imaging. Imaging studies recently have attempted to subdivide the insula to better delineate functional differences. The most widely accepted anatomical division of the insula is into anterior and posterior parts, with the separation marked by the central sulcus of the insula (CIS). Imaging studies use the CIS as a landmark for attributing function to anterior or posterior parts of the insula. However, the CIS does not appear to define a transition in cytoarchitecture and hence is a questionable marker of a functional division. The current research aims to examine whether the microvasculature of the region is in line with this gross morphological division or reflects the underlying cytoarchitecture.

Angela Watkins DePaul University/Chicago

Zora Neale Hurston: Memory, Identity, and Performance

Mentor: Dr. Fred Woodard
English
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Memory, Identity, and Performance make up the key conceptual framework for describing and analyzing selected works of Zora Neale Hurston. All three elements in this framework emerge as critical components in Hurston’s work as an anthropologist, and as a writer of fiction and non-fiction. The objective of my research is to develop and utilize a methodological process which will allow me to categorize emerging themes that are marked by Hurston’s memory, identity, and performance of “Negro culture” in her works.

Tasha Williams Pepperdine University

Intercultural Communication

Mentor: Dr. Kristine Fitch
Communication Studies
University of Iowa, Summer 2007

Intercultural relations grow in importance as society expands into a global community. A key aspect in the successful growth of the global community is interpersonal relationships between people from different cultures. Scholars have studied intercultural friendship related to relational dialectic theory and conflict while creating approaches to understand the dynamics of intercultural friendships. I propose a study to examine how conflict episodes affect or alter intercultural friendships and how conflict is enacted in intercultural friendship dyads. By conducting hour-long interviews with 15 intercultural friendship dyads, an in-depth analysis is available for the examination of possible patterns in intercultural friendships.