STUDENT SYMPOSIUM

FOR INNOVATION RESEARCH & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES (SSIRCA)

Friday, April 21, 2023

ABOUT

Schedule

Time Activity Location
8:25 am AM Session 1: Oral UC Jetty 123, UC Oso 221, UC Marlin 317, UC Bayview 320
10:05 am Break
10:25 am AM Session 2: Oral/Video UC Jetty 123, UC Oso 221, UC Marlin 317, UC Bayview 320
10:25 am AM Session 2: Live Performances UC Anchor Ballroom
12:05 am Lunch Break
1:00 pm SSIRCA Keynote Address: VALUING RESEARCH AS A HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICE FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND SOCIETY, Dr. Jillian Kinzie UC Lonestar Ballroom
2:00 pm PM Session: Poster & Art Gallery UC Anchor Ballroom
3:30 pm SSIRCA Cross-Pollination Mixer UC Lonestar Ballroom, UC Tejas Lounge
4:15 pm SSIRCA Awards Ceremony UC Lonestar Ballroom

Purpose

The annual TAMUCC Student Symposium serves as a platform for supporting student research and creative work, thereby helping them achieve their academic and career goals. Participation encourages students to showcase their research ideas, discoveries, and creative work, and receive meaningful feedback from an evaluation panel of established TAMU-CC faculty members and researchers. In addition, participation prepares students for presentations in national and international events.

Organizing Committee

Name Unit Represented
Sharmeen Ahmed (Co-Chair) Research and Innovation
Chris Bird (Co-Chair) College of Science
Jose Baca College of Engineering
Michelle Evans Honors Program
Jennifer Garza-Cuen College of Liberal Arts
Justin Guajardo Research and Innovation
David Gurney College of Liberal Arts
Alexa Hight Mary and Jeff Bell Library
Kelly Lee College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Daniel Newmire College of Education and Human Development
Thomas Oldham College of Liberal Arts
Mark Olson College of Science
Collin Scarince College of Liberal Arts
Peggy Valdes McNair Scholars Program
Anissa Ybarra Research and Innovation

EVALS, AWARDS, PRIZES, ETC

EVALUATION OF PRESENTATIONS

If you are an evaluator, you are in the right place.

Evaluations will occur digitally using the Evaluation Form . You are expected to use your computer, phone, tablet, or other electronic device with wifi. You should become familiar with the form before you attend your first presentation.

QR Codes will be hung at symposium venues. Instructions are included in the digital form. You can provide ratings and written feedback which will be relayed to the student presenters. Importantly, there’s a 10 star rating system with 5 stars is average (50th percentile) and 10 stars being 99th + percentile. See the Evaluation Form for more details.

The Evaluation Form is designed to be filled out as an oral presentation is occurring. It is critical that you use the Symposium Program to fill in the first few questions on the form so that your evaluation is properly matched to the presentation and you obtain the correct evaluation questions when you click next. I suggest that when you submit an evaluation, you check the “Send me an email receipt of my response” box.

All evaluators will receive an email with their assigned presentations and instructions. Search your email for "Student Symposium Evaluation Assignments".

All performances, video, and oral presentations are in the morning. There are two AM sessions from 8:30 AM- 10:00 AM and 10:30 AM – 12:00PM.

All posters and art exhibits are in the afternoon from 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM. Most poster/art evaluators will have 5 posters/art works to visit, so you shouldn’t spend more than 10-15 minutes on each assignment.

All evaluations are due at 3:30 PM.

This webpage (the one you are reading now) contains info on all of the presentations, their id number, their location, the award category they fall under, and the presenters. If there are multiple presenters on the same presentation and at least one is a postbac or a grad student, then it falls under the grad student award category.

PRESENTATION AWARDS

There are 13 monetary awards for the highest rated presentations.

  • Postbac & Graduate Students

    • Posters & Art Exhibits 1st, 2nd, 3rd

    • Performances, video, and oral presentation 1st, 2nd, 3rd

  • Undergraduate Students

    • Posters & Art Exhibits 1st, 2nd, 3rd

    • Performances, video, and oral presentation 1st, 2nd, 3rd

  • People’s Choice Award

    • Overall attendee favorite

    • Look for QR Code at venue or click link above to vote

If there are multiple presenters on the same presentation and at least one is a postbac or a grad student, then it falls under the grad student award category.

You can consult the evaluation form for your presentation type to prepare. See EVALUATION OF PRESENTATIONS in this page.

STUDENT PASSPORT PRIZE

Students that completely fill in their passport will be entered to win a $100 prize (TAMUCC students only).

QR codes for the passport are hung in or outside of every room where presentations are occurring. Use your phone to access the passport. To fill in the passport, attend an Oral 8min, Oral 15min, Performance/Video, the keynote address, 2 posters and one art exhibit and document each by taking a picture or video to upload into your Passport. Submit it by 3:30 pm to be entered to win.

ORAL ORGANIZATION & MODERATION

Each oral/video presentation session will have a moderator to introduce speakers, facilitate questions, and keep the sessions on time.

Each presenter should go to their session 15 minutes before it starts and be sure that their slide show is loaded on the computer.

Moderators will make an opening announcement 2 minutes prior to the first presentation in each section.

Presentations will start promptly at the time listed in the program. There are 3 types of presentation in the oral session:

  • Oral 15: 12 minute presentation, 3 minutes for questions, 1 minute buffer

  • Oral 8: 5 minute presentation, 3 minutes for questions, 2 minute buffer

  • Video: 20 minutes, 3 minutes for questions, 1 minute buffer

The moderator will signal the presenters with 2 minutes left, stand with 1 minute left, and then move to the podium to facilitate questions.

Presenters, if you keep presenting until the end of the questioning period, we will cut the projector. So that the next presenter has their full time slot.

ADVICE FOR PRESENTERS

  1. Consult your mentor

  2. View and click through the evaluation form{target ="_blank"}

    1. I suggest you put in the information for your own presentation then click next to see the evaluation form for your type of presentation, please don’t click “submit”.

  3. Read through the symposium program

  4. Oral / video presenter tips

    1. Arrive 20 minutes before your session and make sure your presentation file is on the computer in your room

    2. All presentations will start promptly at the time listed in the program

      1. The moderator will introduce you: “and the next presentation is…”

    3. 8 min presentations are supposed to be 5 minutes long, try to finish at 5 minutes so you have 3 minutes to answer questions from the audience

    4. 15 min presentations are supposed to be 12 minutes long, , try to finish at 5 minutes so you have 3 minutes to answer questions from the audience

    5. For the videos, there are 20 minutes for the video and 3 min for questions

    6. There will be moderators to signal you when your time is up

      1. When they stand, there’s one minute left before the question period.

      2. When they’re standing next to you, you’re the question period has begun

      3. If they inform you that your time is up, please leave the podium or we will cut the projector

      4. Please respect the moderator, it’s a difficult job

  5. Poster / artwork presenter tips

    1. Hang your posters/ set up your artworks between 7am and 12:50 pm on Friday April 21 in UC Anchor

      1. Consult the map: go here then click the map tab to see where you poster should be hung

    2. Try to not clog up the poster area with your bags. There’s not much room

    3. Stay near your poster/artworks during the poster/art gallery. Evaluators will be visiting you between 2 and 3:30. You can’t win if you don’t get evaluated

    4. I tell my students to be prepared to tell the whole story of your project in 1 minute. This gets the ball rolling with your audience and can kick off a 2-way discussion, rather than a one-way presentation from you to the audience.

      1. If your mentor suggests you take a different approach, I suggest you go with your mentor’s advice

    5. For artists with artwork, consult your mentor

  6. Live performances

    1. Arrive early to get set up

    2. Consult your mentor

  7. Consult your mentor

AM 1: TITLES BY SUBJ/RM

The Environment and Climate Change 1

8:30-10:05 UC Bayview 320

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

08:30 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

1 MODELING SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Madison Riba1*, Lei Jin1 & Xinping Hu2, 3

1Department of Mathematics & Statistics, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Life Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Harte Research Institute

Keywords: TIME SERIES ANALYSIS, APPLIED STATISTICS, SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

08:46 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

2 EXAMINING MICROPALEONTOLOGY TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO LONG - TERM PROCESSES IN THE WESTERN AMUNDSEN SEA, ANTARCTICA

Magkena Szemak1*, Dr. Lindsay O. Prothro1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, CLIMATE CHANGE, POLAR REGIONS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:02 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

3 MARINE MEDAKA (ORYZIAS MELASTIGMA) AS A DEVELOPMENTAL IMMUNOTOXICITY MODEL FOR PFAS EXPOSURE

E. DiBona1*, D. Duran1, M. Brown1, D. Harder-Neely1, F. Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: FISH, IMMUNE, DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:18 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

4 IN SILICO ASSESSMENT OF ANCESTRAL BENZO(A)PYRENE INHIBITION OF EPIGENETIC MACROMOLECULES.

R. Labeille1*, K. Lee1, J. Hoang1, H. Kulesz1,C. Marquez1, F. Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: HISTONE MODIFICATIONS, METHYLTRANSFERASE, COMPUTATIONAL, BIOCHEMISTRY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:34 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

5 GENDERED LANGUAGE IN ONLINE CONVERSATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, CAPITALISM, AND MARXISM

Shane Armstrong*, Sinae Lee

Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: GENDER, TWITTER, ENVIRONMENTALIST, INTERNET, TWEETS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:50 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

6 NOX SOURCE APPORTIONMENT AND OXIDATION CHEMISTRY IN A COASTAL URBAN AIRSHED USING STABLE ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES

Kaiya Shealy1,2*, J. David Felix1,2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, 2Center for Water Supply Studies College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: *KEYWORDS: AIR QUALITY, AIR POLLUTION, EMISSION, ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY, PHOTOCHEMICAL, AIRSHED

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

Biodiversity and Ecology

8:30-10:05 UC Jetty 123

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

08:30 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

7 MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF THE TEXAS DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN (MALACLEMYS TERRAPIN LITTORALIS)

Garrett Guzoski1*, Loretta Battaglia1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: TERRAPIN, MOVEMENT, ECOLOGY, SALINITY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

08:46 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

8 PHAEODACTYLUM TRICORNUTUM AS A FOOD SOURCE FOR TEXAS OYSTERS

Elena K. Barrada

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: UPWELLER, WILD HARVEST, SUSTAINABLE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:02 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

9 A LOOK INTO THE DIVERSITY OF BACTERIAL ROOT ENDOPHYTES IN BATIS MARITIMA

Grace Rush1*, Candice Lumibao1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS, HOST ABUNDANCE, MICROBIAL DIVERSITY, PERENNIAL SUCCULENT SHRUB, PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:18 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

10 BREEDING DISTRIBUTION AND NONBREEDING FIDELITY OF COASTAL LITTLE BLUE HERONS (EGRETTA CAERULEA) WINTERING IN THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO.

Sharp, Alexander R.* 1,2, Gawlik, Dale E. 2, Petersen, Michelle 3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, 2Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869, Corpus Christi, Texas 78412, 3Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33431.

Keywords: GPS, WADING BIRD, FLORIDA, NESTING, SPACE USE

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:34 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

11 FISHDIVE PROJECT: ASSESSING MARINE FISH BIODIVERSITY AND DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY OF LOCAL RESEARCHERS IN THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

Kevin L. Labrador1,2*, Maybelle A. Fortaleza2, Joemarie J. Lanutan2, Joey P. Cabasan2 & Cleto L. Nañola, Jr.2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies, College of Science and Mathematics, University of the Philippines Mindanao

Keywords: BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, GENETIC BARCODING, INTEGRATIVE TAXONOMY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:50 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 8min

12 THE PRICE OF NEGLIGENCE

Brian Owens ¹*, Sarah Salter ²

McNair Scholars Program; ¹ Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; ² Department of Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: POLITICS, AWARENESS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, ALGORITHMS, SOCIAL MEDIA,

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

Short Presentations 1

8:30-10:05 UC Oso 221

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

08:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

19 DIFFERENTIATED TUTORING AND BRIDGING THE GAP WITH TEXAS HOUSE BILL 4545

Dani Hayek*

Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION, ADAPTED INSTRUCTION, TUTORING, HOUSE BILL 4545, HB4545

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

08:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

20 TEACHER BURNOUT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS.

Flor Elizondo1*, Kimberly Reinhardt2

Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords:  COVID19 (CORONAVIRUS)

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

08:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

21 ACHIEVING HEALTH EQUITY THROUGH ACCESSIBILITY: AN EXAMINATION OF FQHC PLACEMENTS, PATIENT POPULATIONS, AND PROXIMITY TO CONTINUING CARE

Charity McCoy

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER, HEALTHCARE, UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS, CLINICS, HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:00 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

22 COVID-19 PANDEMIC EFFECT ON NURSING STUDENTS: HOW THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED NURSING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE NURSING PROFESSION

Emma Gibbs, Dr. Marge Benham-Hutchins

Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: IMAGE OF NURSING, STAFFING, EDUCATION, NURSING OCCUPATION, NURSING SCHOOL

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:10 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

23 A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF NANOSILVER AND ITS EXTENSIVE USE IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS 

Kyra Kaiser1*and Ioana E. Pavel1

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Keywords: *ANTIBACTERIAL MECHANISM, CELL MEMBRANE DAMAGE, ROS, PUBLIC HEALTH, WOUND DRESSINGS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:20 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

24 DEVELOPING AND TESTING AN ANALYTICAL-BASED ASSAY FOR THE RAPID QUANTIFICATION OF THE ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL INGREDIENT IN OVER-THE-COUNTER ASPIRIN TABLETS

Brent Kirkland*, Nick Shropshire, Victoire Delattre, Remi Labeille, and Ioana E. Pavel

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Keywords: UV-VIS ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETRY, FRAUDULENT LICIT DRUGS, ASPIRIN, AND PHARMACEUTICAL ASSAY.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

25 WHY THE NEED FOR QUALIFIED MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS

Esther Clouse

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: WHY THE NEED FOR QUALIFIED MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS , THE RECENT PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN US THAT IN THE UNITED STATES, MORE THAN EVER, WE HAVE AN URGENT NEED FOR MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS AND A NEED TO SOLVE OTHER FACTORS THAT ARE CLOSELY LINKED TO LANGUAGE ACCESS, SUCH AS HOSPITAL DISCRIMINATION, LACK OF QUALIFIED TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS, WRONGFUL PRACTICES, CULTURAL BARRIERS, AND PROPER APPLICATION OF LAWS. IN THIS PRESENTATION, I INTEND TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE SERVICES SINCE IN MANY CASES THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF THE PATIENT ARE AT RISK, DUE TO MISINFORMATION OR LANGUAGE BARRIERS.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

26 CHARACTERIZING THE VALUE OF AGROFORESTRY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF TROPICAL BIRD SPECIES

Rebecca Davis1*, Shawn McCracken1-6

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Third Millennium Alliance; 3Rufford Foundation Small Grants; 4The Van Tienhoven Foundation; 5IUCN – Netherlands; 6Saving Nature.

Keywords: BIOACOUSTICS, CONSERVATION, FOREST FARMING, REFORESTATION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

27 AUTONOMOUS GROUND VEHICLE NAVIGATION

Mohit Mathew - Under Mentorship of Eric Ponte, Dr. Scott King, Dr. Dulal Kar, and Mahmoud Eldefrawy

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SMART, CLEAN, TRAVEL, COMPUTING, OBSTACLE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

AM 2: TITLES BY SUBJ/RM

Performing Arts

10:30-12:05 UC Anchor Ballroom

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

11:00 AM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Performing Arts, Performance

28 JOYFUL MEMORIES

Mckenzie Mclendon, Joan Albor*, Kole Dornseifer*, Mason Bowling*, Korey Sayre*, Nic Sears*, James Williams*, Nico Montalvo*, Kamryn Lewis*, Julia Massey*, Mitchell Zillmer*

Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi

Keywords: MODERN DANCE, TRIUMPH, GROWTH, EXPRESSION, REMINISCE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

11:30 AM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Performing Arts, Performance

29 ANGER AS A MEANS FOR CHANGE: THE PASSIONATE ANGER WITHIN A PLAY ABOUT DAVID MAMET WRITING A PLAY ABOUT HARVEY WEINSTEIN

Nico Montalvo1*, Hannah Anderson1*

1Department of Theatre & Dance – Acting/Directing

Keywords: DEVISED THEATRE, LIVE PERFORMANCE, AVANT-GARDE, FEMINIST WORK, EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

The Environment and Climate Change 2

10:30-12:05 UC Bayview 320

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

10:30 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

30 MAPPING WATER QUALITY INDICATORS USING REMOTE SENSING DATA

Meghan Bygate, Mohamed Ahmed

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: WATER QUALITY, CONSERVATION, LANDSAT 8, ECOSTRESS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:46 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

31 GROUNDWATER EXPLORATION USING GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES: A CASE STUDY FROM SOUTH SINAI, EGYPT

Muhamed Elshalkany1,2*, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Keywords: ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY, SEISMIC REFRACTION, GPR, GROUNDWATER, BASEMENT TERRAINS.

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:02 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

33 IMPACT OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF MONTIPORA CAPITATA 

Eleanor TenBrink 1*, Abigail Tripler 2, Conall McNicholl, Ph.D. 2, Keisha Bahr, Ph.D. 1 

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, USA; Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, 2University of Hawaiʻi, Kāneʻohe, HI, USA

Keywords: SYMBIOSIS, CALCIFICATION, ZOOXANTHELLAE, SKELETON DENSITY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

35 ANALYSIS OF SEASONAL CHANGES IN COMMUNITY COMPOSITION OF SEAGRASS EPIPHYTES IN ARANSAS PASS, TEXAS

Samantha Maupin1* and Dr. Kirk Cammarata2

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: HUMAN IMPACTS, SEASONALITY, WASTEWATER EFFLUENT

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:50 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

34 DOCUMENTARY ACTIVISM UPDATED: HOW AWARENESS IS MADE IN MEDIA TODAY

Emily Salazar, Dr. Ethan Thompson

Department of Communication and Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: CITIZEN JOURNALISM, ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARIES, INTERACTIVISM, ACTIVIST DOCUMENTARY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

Geoscience and Costal Mapping

10:30-12:05 UC Jetty 123

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

10:30 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

36 SUBSURFACE CHARACTERIZATION OF PADRE ISLAND USING ELECTROMAGNETIC GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES

Ramadan Abdelrehim1,2*, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Geophysical Exploration Department, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

Keywords: BARRIER ISLANDS, DUNE MORPHOLOGY, STORM IMPACTS, FREQUENCY DOMAIN ELECTROMAGNETIC, ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:46 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

37 INFLUENCES OF THE FILLING PHASES OF THE GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM ON THE NILE RIVER’S DOWNSTREAM RESERVOIRS

Mohamed Abdrabou1, 2* , Mohamed Ahmed1

1Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA. [^\*^mmousa@islander.tamucc.edu]{.underline} 2Geophysics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, P.O. Box 12613, Giza, Egypt.

Keywords: NILE RIVER BASIN, GERD, LANDSAT, SENTINEL, GRACE

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:02 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

38 INTEGRATING ECOSTRESS THERMAL IMAGES AND GIS TECHNIQUES FOR MAPPING GROWTH FAULT SYSTEMS IN THE CORPUS CHRISTI BAY, TEXAS.

Ahmed Omar1, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Physical and Environmental Department; Corpus Christi

Keywords: ECOSYSTEM SPACEBORNE THERMAL RADIOMETER EXPERIMENT ON SPACE STATION, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM, GROWTH FAULT SYSTEMS.

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:18 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

39 AUTONOMOUS UAVS NAVIGATION CONSIDERING FIXED/MOVING OBSTACLES AND NO-FLY-ZONES

Syed Izzat Ullah1*, Dr. Jose Baca2, Dr. Pablo Rangel 2

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, TX; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE, UAV, PATH PLANNING, NAVIGATION, NO-FLY-ZONES

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:34 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

40 UAV SWARM-BASED SYNCHRONOUS ARRAY IMAGING FOR COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS

Josh Boyd1,2,4, Dr. Jose Baca2 & Dr. Michael Starek 3

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, and Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying & Science, 4Research and Innovation, Lone Star UAS Center, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, FORMATION FLIGHT, IMAGE SYNCHRONIZATION, DRONE SWARM

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

11:50 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

41 EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT GNSS SOLUTIONS ON UAS-SFM ACCURACY FOR SHORELINE SURVEYING

José Pilartes-Congo1,2*, Michael J. Starek1,2, Damian Manda3, Jacob Berryhill2

1Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2MANTIS Laboratory - Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Mapping; 3Office of Coast Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Keywords: UAS, SHORELINE MAPPING, REMOTE SENSING, GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS, GEOMATICS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

Health and Wellness

10:30-12:05 UC Marlin 317

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

10:30 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

42 IDENTIFYING GEOGRAPHIC-SPECIFIC PRIORITY GROUPS FOR COVID-19 BOOSTER VACCINE UPTAKE FROM A COUNTY-WIDE POPULATION-BASED VACCINE RECORD DATASET

Md Mahabubur Rahman (1) *, Lucy Huang (1)

1. Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA

Keywords: COVID-19 VACCINE, BOOSTER, SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS, SOCIAL VULNERABILITY INDEX (SVI), GEOGRAPHICALLY WEIGHTED REGRESSION (GWR)

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:46 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

43 COASTAL COMMUNITY RESILIENCE: A PILOT STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MENTAL HEALTH IN A SOUTH TEXAS ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITY.

Ana Guerrero1*, Yuxia (Lucy) Huang2

Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi1; Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology1; Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi2; Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology2; Center for Geospatial and Environmental Informatics, Modeling and Simulation2;

Keywords: COVID-19, POST-PANDEMIC, COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, POST-DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:02 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

44 DEATH COMES FOR ALL

Julianna Ortiz

Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: BORDERLANDS, CATHOLICISM, CANONIZED SAINTS, MEXICAN AMERICANS, CARTEL.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:18 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

45 THE GRACE OF LOSS: A NON-FICTION VISUAL POEM READING

Sarah Bellanger*, Dr. Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: POEM, GRIEF, DEATH, ACCEPTANCE, HOSPITAL

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

46 WHAT IMPACTS HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SYSTEMS HAD ON TEACHING AND TEACHING RETENTION IN THE POST PANDEMIC WORLD?

Julie Light1 & Kimberly Reinhardt2

1Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: EDUCATION, POLICY CHANGE, TEACHER SATISFACTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:50 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

47 ANALYZING THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THOSE THAT SHOW NEED FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND THOSE THAT UTILIZE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN NUECES COUNTY

Cherish Burks*

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christ

Keywords: HEALTHCARE, PSYCHOLOGY, RACIAL-ETHNIC MINORITIES, MENTAL ILLNESS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

Potpourri

10:30-12:05 UC Oso 221

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

10:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

48 EMOTION DETECTION USING FEDERATED LEARNING.

Katta Yamini, Mehdi Sookhak

Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

Keywords: FEDERATED LEARNING, EMOTION RECOGNITION, CENTRALIZED SERVER, GLOBAL MODEL, SUICIDE DETECTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

49 EXAMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STEADY TEEN WORKBOOK FOR IMPROVING PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH IN ADOLESCENTS

James Ikonomopoulos & Yunyun Zhang*

Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ADOLESCENTS, STEADY, DEPRESSION, MENTAL WELL-BEING

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

50 WAIT FOR IT: THE INFLUENCE OF DELAYED INFORMATION ABOUT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ON DATING INTENTIONS

Rose Rodriguez1*, Yuliana Zaikman1,2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2McNair Scholars Program, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ATTRACTION, BIAS, SOCIAL ATTRACTION, PHYSICAL ATTRACTION, DATING PROFILES, ONLINE DATING

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:00 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

51 DON’T STAY HOME: WHAT WONDER WOMAN CAN TELL US ABOUT 1970S GENDER ROLES

Annika Linguist

Department of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: TELEVISION, POP CULTURE, WOMEN’S HISTORY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:10 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Video

52 WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

Adrian Martinez

Department of Communication & Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CINEMA, MOVIE, LATINX, COMMUNICATION, VIDEO

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 15min

53 “YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY LITTLE SHE/HER”: EXPLORING THE ERASURE OF NONBINARY GENDER IDENTITIES

Bailey Otter* and Daniel Bartholomay

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: LGBT+, TRANSGENDER, NONBINARY, GENDERQUEER, GENDER IDENTITY.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 15min

54 INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF NANO CARBON BLACK ON ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, RESISTIVE HEATING, AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE: POTENTIAL FOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL APPLICATIONS

Daniel Garcia 1*, Paige Martinez 2, Amina Nawaz 2, Mahmoud Badawi1 & Nancy Soliman 2

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SUSTAINABILITY, INFRASTRUCTURE, CONSTRUCTION, NANOTECHNOLOGY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

PM 1: KEYNOTE ADDRESS

1:00 PM, UC LONESTAR BALLROOM

Jillian Kinzie, Ph.D.

VALUING RESEARCH AS A HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICE FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND SOCIETY

National Survey of Student Engagement, Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University

Research activities, particularly undergraduate research, and independent creative opportunities extend across disciplines, taking many forms and offering benefits across majors. These experiences have been identified as “high-impact practices” (HIPs) for their benefits to student learning and success, and for their contributions to the problem-solving and creative thinking skills desired by employers and that the world needs.  This presentation celebrates these practices and suggests opportunities for enhancing and expanding access in undergraduate education and beyond.

Biography: Jillian Kinzie, Ph.D. is Interim Co-Director of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) at the Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University School of Education. She conducts research and leads project activities on the effective use of student engagement data to improve educational quality and issues of teaching and learning, and serves as senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) project.

She is co-author of Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices: Research and Models for Achieving Equity, Fidelity, Impact, and Scale (2022), Assessment in Student Affairs (2016); Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015); One Size Does not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice, Second Edition (2014), and Student Success in College (2005/2010). She is co-editor of New Directions in Higher Education, is on the editorial board of Innovative Higher Education and the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success, and serves on the boards of the Washington Internship Institute and the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. She is a peer reviewer for several accreditors and regularly consults with colleges and universities about assessment, effective educational practice, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and support for student success.

Her scholarly interests include the assessment of student engagement, how colleges use data to improve, student and academic affairs partnerships and the impact of programs and practices to support student success, as well as first-year student development, teaching and learning in college, access and equity, and women in underrepresented fields. She has published on these topics and translated this scholarship at hundreds of institutions and higher education member organizations to increase the use of assessment results to inform improvements in undergraduate education and to enhance conditions for student success. She is currently PI on the Lumina Foundation funded “Assessing Quality and Equity in HIPs”; a Strada Foundation study, “Learning about Undergraduates’ Preparation for Work and Careers” an assessment of college students career and workforce preparation, and an NSF supported project studying the implementation of scaffolded research-rich curriculum in STEM fields.

Kinzie earned her PhD from Indiana University in higher education with a minor in women’s studies. Prior to this, she served on the faculty of Indiana University and coordinated the master’s program in higher education and student affairs. She also worked in academic and student affairs at Miami University and Case Western Reserve University.

PM 2: TITLES BY SUBJ/RM

Poster

2:00-3:30 UC Anchor Ballroom

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

68 JUST A GIRL: FEMINISM IN NO DOUBT ANTHEM

Amber Click

College of Education and Human Development, Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: EMPOWERMENT, FEMALES, WOMEN, GWEN STEFANI, ROCK BAND, THEORY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

69 ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF COLORADO RIVER DELTA IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE MATAGORDA BAY SYSTEM

Daunte Gaiter1,Greg Stunz,2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi;

Keywords: BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, FISH, MATAGORDA BAY, CHANNELS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

71 GROUND BASED HAIL REPORTS AND PROPERTIES OF A RADAR DERIVED CONVECTIVE FEATURE DATABASE

Edward Vasquez1* & Chuntao Liu1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CLIMATOLOGY, THUNDERSTORM

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

72 DEVELOPMENT OF A MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEM FOR DETECTING THE ATMOSPHERIC POTENTIAL OF WILDFIRE-DRIVEN THUNDERSTORMS

Evan Krell 1,2*, Chuyen Nguyen4 , Jason Nachamkin3, David Peterson3, Edward Hyer3, Scott King1,2, Phillippe Tissot1,2, Beto Estrada1,2, Kelvin J. Tory5,6 & James Campbell3

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; 2NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate and Coastal Oceanography; 3U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL-MRY), Monterey; 4American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); 5Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne; 6Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre

Keywords: METEOROLOGY, FORECASTING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, REMOTE SENSING, WEATHER

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

73 THE IMPACT OF THE KOGNITO SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM ON THE CAMPUS OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY CORPUS-CHRISTI

Maike Holleck

Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SUICIDE PREVENTION, STUDENT SAFETY, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH, MENTAL HEALTH, SUICIDE INTERVENTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

76 BIOCHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF VIBRIO VULNIFICUS AND VIBRIO OSTREICIDA FROM THE COASTAL BEND REGION.

Brian Kostoch*1, F. Itzanami Valdez1, Huy N.T. Le2, Gregory W. Buck1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, TAMUCC; 2 Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing & Health Sciences, TAMUCC

Keywords: VIBRIO VULNIFICUS, DIFFERENTIATION, PHENOTYPE, V. OSTREICIDA; BIOCHEMICAL TESTING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

78 TOWARDS LONG-TERM MONITORING OF PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE MATAGORDA BAY SYSTEMS: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND FTIR CHARACTERIZATION OF MACROPLASTICS.  

Casey Gallagher1*, Oluniyi O. Fadare1, Jeremy L. Conkle1,2, and Hussain Abdulla 1. 

1Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, TX; 2Delaware River Basin Commission, Trenton, NJ.

Keywords: COASTAL HEALTH, FTIR, MACROPLASTICS,PLASTICPOLLUTION,MATAGORDA BAY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

81 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PATIENT EDUCATION ON FREQUENCY OF PAP SMEARS: AN EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE PROJECT 

Eryn Saunders*, Valeria Tamez*, Lakyn Mingst, Faith Savage, Pamela K. Greene PhD, RN

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: PAP SMEAR, CERVICAL CANCER, CERVICAL SCREENING, WOMEN’S HEALTH, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

82 DRONE2DRONE: A SEARCH AND RESCUE FRAMEWORK FOR FINDING LOST UAV SWARM AGENTS.

Abhishek Phadke1,2, F. Antonio Medrano1,2

1Department of Computing Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi; 2Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi.

Keywords: *UAV, SWARM, SEARCH AND RESCUE, RESILIENCY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

83 A MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT-SEEKING ATTITUDES AND INTENTIONS IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

Raven K. Gipson-Washington* & Amy E. Houlihan, Ph.D

Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: TREATMENT SEEKING, MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY, INTERVENTION, AFRICAN AMERICAN, BLACK

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

92 THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF VERY OLD ADULTS LIVING IN A SENIOR FACILITY DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Therese Gumban1*, Sydney Sandoval1* & Kyoung Eun Lee2

1Department of Undergraduates, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, SOCIAL ISOLATION, SENIOR FACILITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

93 PHENOTYPIC STUDIES OF VIBRIO VULNIFICUS AND VIBRIO OSTREICIDA FOR BIOCHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION AND SENSITIVITY TO PLANT TINCTURES USED FOR ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY.

Huy NT Le1, Hinal Arvind Patel2, Mary Jean Sparks3, Gregory W. Buck2

1Nursing and Health Sciences Department, TAMU-CC; 2Department of Life Sciences, TAMU-CC; 3Clinical Laboratory Science Program & Health Sciences Department, TAMU-CC

Keywords: BIOCHEMICAL, DIFFERENTIATE, VIBRIO, PLANT TINCTURES, ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

94 DOUBLE STANDARDS IN RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP AND TRANSGRESSIONS IN CHRISTIAN COOPERATE WORSHIP

Allison Alford*, Yuliana Zaikman, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: GENDER, RELIGION, TRANSGRESSIONS, PERCEPTIONS, CHURCH

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

96 POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TEXAS DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN FOOD WEBS

Laurynn J. Thompson-Torres, Loretta L. Battaglia

Marine Biology Dept, College of Sciences, Center for Coastal Studies

Keywords: BIOLOGY, FEEDING ECOLOGY, RESOURCE USE, TURTLES, SOUTHERN REPTILE SPECIES

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

97 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BONE AND OTOLITH MINERALIZATION AND TRANSCRIPTOME CHANGES DUE TO ANCESTRAL BAP EXPOSURE

Dylan Mack1*, Frauke Seemann1,2, Benjamin Walther1,3, & Christina Loftin4,5

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal & Marine Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Marine Science Institute, University of Texas – Port Aransas; 4Division of Research and Innovation, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 5Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences, Mississippi State University

Keywords: GENE REGULATION, TRANSGENERATIONAL TOXICOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

98 ASSESSING INHERITED POST TRANSLATIONAL HISTONE MODIFICATIONS IN OSTEOBLAST SUBPOPULATIONS BY IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY AND FLUORESCENT MICROSCOPY

Alexis Trujillo1, Rijith Jayarajan1, Frauke Seemann1, 2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA

Keywords: TRANSGENERATIONAL, ECOTOXICOLOGY, EPIGENOME

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

99 REDUCING CENTRAL LINE BLOODSTREAM INFECTIONS (CLABSIS) IN THE PEDIATRIC POPULATION WITH NURSING INTERVENTIONS

Jenna Coleman1*, BS, Sean Dinh1*, BS, Danielle Meador1*, BS, Baileigh Toenes1*, BS, MPH, M. Benham-Hutchins, Ph.D., MSN, RN, FAMIA, Heather DeGrande, Ph.D., MSN, RN

1Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: HOSPITAL ACQUIRED INFECTIONS (HAI), CATHETER-RELATED INFECTIONS, CLABSI INFECTION CONTROL, CENTRAL LINE COMPLICATIONS, CLABSI INCIDENCE RATES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

101 ONLINE LEARNING AND SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING: PREPARING NURSING STUDENTS FOR DEEPER, PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT WITHIN THEIR REMOTE LEARNING TIME

Sameera Massey1*, David Squires1, Julie Fomenko2, & Brayton Amidon2

1Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2College of Nursing, The University of Oklahoma

Keywords: SIMULATIONS; ELEARNING; NURSING & CLINICAL LEARNING, COGNITIVE LOAD

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

102 INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF NITRIC OXIDE IN THE SYNAPTIC FACILITATION THAT UNDERLIES LONG-TERM SENSITIZATION IN THE MOLLUSK APLYSIA

Ayleen Chen1*, Marcy Wainwright1 & Riccardo Mozzachiodi1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: MEMORY, NEUROPLASTICITY, LEARNING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

103 THE IMPACTS OF MEDITATION VERSUS MINDFULNESS ON STRESS LEVELS OF NURSES IN HOSPITALS POST-COVID-19

Reesen Caster*, Melissa Leal, Patrick Guadalupe, Zeinhelle Quezon, & Leanna Rodriquez

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: MEDITATION, MINDFULNESS, BURNOUT, IMPROVED PATIENT OUTCOMES, STRESS REDUCTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

104 EFFECTIVENESS OF SELF-CARE IN THE HEALTHCARE SETTING INFLUENCING THE QUALITY-OF-CARE PATIENTS RECEIVED BY REGISTERED NURSES

Kayla Blankenship*, Ashlynn Lobrecht*, Analis Leal, Abigail Velazquez, and Pamela K. Greene PhD

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: MENTAL HEALTH, COVID-19, RESILIENCE, SAFETY, PATIENT OUTCOMES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

105 SOCIAL EXPERIENCES OF GENDER NON-CONFORMITY: DOES SIBLING GENDER AND SIBLING FEEDBACK PREDICT HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY IDEOLOGY AND MASCULINE CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG SEXUAL MINORITY MEN?

Alisha R. Cowan1*& Steven Seidel, Ph. D.1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SOCIAL ROLES, GENDER ROLES, HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY, HOMOSEXUALITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

106 AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF STORMWATER FLOW: COMBINING MULTI-SENSOR OBSERVATION AND HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS IN THE TEXAS COASTAL BEND REGION

Hannah Garcia1*, Ian Goulden-Brady2, Lapone Techapinyawat 2, Aaliyah Timms 2, Nathaniel Galvan 3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, 3Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: STORMWATER RUNOFF, WATERSHED MANAGEMENT, COASTAL URBANIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

107 ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF IMMUNE AGING ON GENE EXPRESSION AND IMMUNE FUNCTION ON JAPANESE MEDAKA

Daniel Duran1*, Elizabeth DiBona1, Frauke Seemann1,2 

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal & Marine Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi 

Keywords: EPIGENETICS, ECOTOXICOLOGY, IMMUNOSENESCENCE

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

108 INCREASING THE ANALYTICAL WINDOW OF MARINE DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER FOR ORBITRAP MASS SPECTROMETRY

Justin Elliott1*, Hussain Abdulla 2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CHROMATOGRAPHY, UNTARGETED MS, METABOLOMICS, SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION, CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

110 CHECK ONCE, CHECK TWICE: IMPLEMENTING INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE MEDICATION ERRORS IN THE PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Dana Sides, B.S.*, Brenda Garcia, B.S.*, Dollie Nunez, B.S., Paige Robinson, B.S., Vanessa Napoles, B.S., Dr. M. Benham-Hutchins, PhD, MSN, RN, FAMIA & Heather DeGrande, PhD, RN

Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ADVERSE EVENTS, EMERGENCY ROOM, SAFETY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

111 PRIVILEGE AND INTERSECTIONAL AWARENESS: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIVERSITY COURSES

Hanna Benkowski* and Dr. Lisa Comparini

Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: PSYCHOLOGY, INTERDISCIPLINARY, HIGHER EDUCATION* 

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

113 PERSONALITY TRAITS AS A PREDICTOR FOR EMERGING ADULT SEXUAL BEHAVIORS

Shealyn Tomlinson*, & Dr. Yuliana Zaikman.

1Department of Psychology & Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi

Keywords: NA

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

114 WHAT ARE SEA-MONKEYS?

Sara Maher

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ARTEMIA, BRINE SHRIMP, DNA, BARCODING, HYBRIDIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

115 INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF SURFACE IMPERVIOUSNESS ON RUNOFF GENERATION THROUGH LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS BASED ON AN ADVANCED HYDROLOGY APPARATUS

Aaliyah Timms1*, Ian Goulden-Brady1, Lapone Techapinyawat1, Hannah Garcia2, Wen Zhong1

1Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: HYDROLOGY, RAINFALL-RUNOFF, LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, IMPERVIOUSNESS, URBANIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

116 NURSING INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ERRORS IN THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT  

Kate de los Santos, B.A.*, Angel Cuevas Ramirez, B.B.A.*, Grecia Sanchez, BS, Jeffrey Whorton,BS, Marge M. Benham-Hutchins, PhD, RN & Heather DeGrande, PhD, RN 

Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi 

Keywords: NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, PREVENTION, MEDICATION ERROR, CRITICAL CARE, REGISTERED NURSES, AND MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ERROR. 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

120 EXAMINING THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS ALONG AN ELEVATIONAL GRADIENT ON THE WESTERN COAST OF ECUADOR

Ryce Hailes 1*, Rebecca Davis1, Shawn McCracken1,2

1Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, College of Science, Department of Life Sciences; 2Third Millennium Alliance

Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE, ECOLOGY, BIOACOUSTICS, BIODIVERSITY, SPECIES RICHNESS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

121 FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MIR-199A AS REGULATOR OF BAP-INDUCED TRANSGENERATIONAL BONE DEFORMITIES IN JAPANESE MEDAKA

Rijith Jayarajan1*, Erik Gonzales1, Alexis Trujillo1, Daniel Duran1, Remi Labeille1 & Frauke Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi

Keywords: MICRORNA, BENZO[A]PYRENE, MEDAK, GENE REGULATION, OSTEOPOROSIS

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

122 CHANGES IN BLOOD CELL MORPHOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH HBA1C LEVELS IN DIABETES MELLITUS

Gabriel Flores*1, Arthur Nguyen*2, David Chessher III1, Jean Sparks2, Felix Omoruyi1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Health Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: BLOOD SUGAR, GLYCOSYLATED HEMOGLOBIN, RBC MORPHOLOGY, MICROSCOPY, A1C

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

123 AN ANALYSIS OF EL NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION EFFECTS ON TROPICAL CYCLONES

Madalyn Lilljedahl*, Chunato Liu, Thomas Lavigne

Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Keywords: ENSO, TROPICAL CYCLONES, PRECIPITATION, GPM, MEI

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

124 ESTIMATE GLM-OBSERVED FLASH RATE IN PRECIPITATION FEATURES BY APPLYING AI NEURAL NETWORK MODELS TO THE GMI PASSIVE-MICROWAVE BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES

Florian Morvais* & Chuntao Liu

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: MACHINE LEARNING, REMOTE SENSING, TENSORFLOW, SHAPLEY VALUES.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

125 MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION IN TWO SYMPATRIC, REPRODUCTIVELY ISOLATED, CRYPTIC POPULATIONS OF A BROADCAST-SPAWNING SHELLFISH, CELLANA EXARATA

Kinley Cate1*, Keenan Larriviere1, Luz Ángela López De Mesa Agudelo1,2, Chris Bird1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: INVERTEBRATE, MORPHOLOGY, INTERACTION, SELECTION, DISPERSAL.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

126 DECREASING EYEWITNESSES VULNERABILITY TO THE MISINFORMATION EFFECT AND INTERROGATIVE SUGGESTIBILITY VIA REINFORCED SELF-AFFIRMATION 

Kaila N. Jameson1* & Collin Scarince2

2Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: EYEWITNESS ACCURACY, EYEWITNESS CONFIDENCE, ESTIMATOR VARIABLES, SYSTEM VARIABLES.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

127 SHELL SURFACE AREA OF A TROPICAL INTERTIDAL PATELLOGASTROPOD (CELLANA EXARATA) VARIES WITH SHORE TYPE

Keenan F. Larriviere*, Kinley L. Cate, Christopher E. Bird

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: ACCLIMATION, ADAPTATION, HEAT BUDGET, PHENOTYPE, ADAPTIVE CAPACITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

128 EMULATING BRIDGE DECK AEROELASTIC FORCES UNDER FORCED VIBRATIONS VIA MACHINE LEARNING

Ashutosh Mishra1,2*, Miguel Cid Montoya1, Sumit Verma1 & Wenlu Wang2

1ASTRO Lab, Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: BRIDGE RESILIENCE, AEROELASTIC FORCES, MACHINE LEARNING, AERO-STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

129 INTERACTION BETWEEN NITRIC OXIDE AND SEROTONIN IN THE FORMATION OF LONG-TERM SENSITIZATION IN THE MOLLUSK APLYSIA

Landrue Richards*, Marcy Wainwright, Riccardo Mozzachiodi

Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: DEFENSIVE BEHAVIORS, MEMORY, NEUROTRANSMITTERS

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

130 THE ROLE OF GAIT VARIABILITY AND NONLINEAR ANALYSIS WITH A FOCUS ON FOOTWEAR INFLUENCE

Dawei Guan, Bryon Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX

Keywords: FOOTWEAR IMPACT, GAIT VARIABILITY, SAMPLE ENTROPY, NONLINEAR ANALYSIS, LOWER EXTREMITY JOINTS.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

131 CELLULAR AND TISSUE LEVEL ASSESSMENT TO IDENTIFY BAP-INDUCED TRANSGENERATIONAL BONE DEFORMITY IN MEDAKA FISH

E Gonzalez1, R Jayarajan1, F Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA

Keywords: BAP, MEDAKA, OSTEOPOROSIS, TRANSGENERATIONAL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

132 PERCEPTIONS, ATTITUDES, AND IMPROVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYERS PARTICIPATING IN VISUAL SKILLS TRAINING

Emily Paulison* & Dr. Frank Spaniol

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SPORTS VISION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

133 TELEOPERATION OF A MECHANICAL ARM WITH MACHINE VISION AND IOT

Brandon Riley Musial*, Ruby Mehrubeoglu

College of Engineering, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Keywords: INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT), MACHINE VISION, MECHANICAL ARM, TELEOPERATION, STIMULI

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

134 PREVALENCE OF VIBRIO IN SEA SPRAY AEROSOLS DURING A SAHARAN DUST STORM

Charley Garrett1*, Jacqueline Nicolay1, Nicole C. Powers1 Jeffrey W. Turner1, Julie Dinasquet2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 2Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego

Keywords: SEA SPRAY AEROSOLS, VIBRIO, SAHARAN AIR LAYER, SAHARAN DUST

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

135 PARENTAL BAP EXPOSURE INDUCES BEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN ADULT MALE F1 MEDAKA OFFSPRING

Hunter Kulesz1, Rijith Jayarajan1, Hunter Chung1, Rachel Roday1, Kerri L. Ackerly1, Kristin Nielsen1, Frauke Seemann1, 2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: BENZO[A]PYRENE, BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS, LOCOMOTION, BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

136 COOL(ING) IDEA: MANAGING HEAT TRANSFER WITHIN AN ENCLOSED SYSTEM WITH IOT DEVICES

Luis Hernandez1,2*, Julie Romano1*, & Dr. Ruby Mehrubeoglu1

1Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi;2The Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Center of Excellence & Innovation (LSUASC), Corpus Christi, TX

Keywords: HEAT REGULATION, SENSOR DATA FUSION, INTERNET OF THINGS, COOLING SYSTEM, AUTOMATED SYSTEM

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

137 IMPROVING VOLTAGE AND LIFETIME IN AQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES UTILIZING THE ORGANOMETALLIC [FE(BPY)3]2+/3+

Alexis Burghoff *1 & Nicolas Holubowitch 2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Chemistry, New Mexico Tech University

Keywords: ELECTROCHEMISTRY, CATALYSIS, ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

138 PROCEDURES FOR COMPOUND-SPECIFIC NITROGEN ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACIDS AND ITS POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Marysa McAllister1*, Jesus Baca2, Wing Man (Charlotte) Lee1, Lin Zhang2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: COMPOUND-SPECIFIC ISOTOPE ANALYSIS, AMINO ACIDS, BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY, ECOLOGY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

139 ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF SELECT SHORT-READ GENOME ASSEMBLY SOFTWARE FOR DOWNSTREAM GENOMIC ANALYSES IN FISHES

Roy L. Roberts1*, Eric Garcia1,2, Brendan Reid3, Rene Clark3, Jem Baldisimo2, John Whalen2, Abner Bucol4, Christopher E. Bird1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, and Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, 2Old Dominion University, 3Rutgers University, 4Silliman University

Keywords: DE NOVO ASSEMBLY, BIOINFORMATICS, HIGH-THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING, FISHERIES CONSERVATION, ASSEMBLY RESOURCES

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

141 REGULATING DRONE FLYOVERS BASED ON AUTHORIZATION POLICIES AND GEOSPATIAL RESTRICTIONS

Ahmed Saad*, Carlos Rubio-Medrano

Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: UAS TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT (UTM) – UAV SAFETY - UAV FLIGHTS REGULATION - GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM – GEOSPATIAL MODELING.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

142 DEVELOPMENT OF BIS-BIPYRIDINIUM-BASED GEMINI SURFACTANTS FOR TEMPLATE-DIRECTED SELF-ASSEMBLY

Vandan Jakharia1*, Ha Tran1 & Mark A. Olson1

1Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: AMPHIPHILE, SELF-ASSEMBLY, SUPRAMOLECULES, CHARGE TRANSFER (CT),* Π-ELECTRONS DONOR-ACCEPTOR INTERACTIONS*.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

143 EFFECT OF DIAMINE CARBON CHAIN ON AGGREGATION OF AMINO ACID SURFACTANTS

Xitlali Gallegos-Cruz1*, Shayden Fritz1, Dr. Fereshteh Billiot1, & Dr. Eugene Billiot1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SURFACTANTS, AMINO ACIDS, MICELLES, DICARBOXYLATE ANIMO AICDS, DIAMINES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

144 APPLICATION OF UNCREWED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS) SURVEYING AND GEOSPATIAL AI TO DETECT AND MONITOR PALM TREES.

Pratikshya Regmi1* & Michael J Starek1

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi;

Keywords: UAS, SFM, GEO-AI, DEEP LEARNING, OBJECT- DETECTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

145 SYNTHESIS, PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL BIFURCATED AMINO ACID- BASED MOLECULAR ASSEMBLIES

Angelina Garcia*, Eugene Billiot, Fereshteh Billiot

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Life Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Keywords: UNDECYL GLUTAMIC, SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY, BRANCHED SURFACTANTS, GLUTAMIC ACID, CRITICAL MICELLE CONCENTRATION (CMC)

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

146 COMPARISON OF TEXAS COLONIAS WATER AVAILABILITY TO COASTAL UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S.

Laura Button*, Dorina Murgulet

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: COLONIAS, GROUNDWATER, UNINCORPORATED

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

147 FINE-TUNED LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL FOR IMPROVED CLICK-BAIT TITLE CLASSIFICATION

Vuppala Pavan Sai1*& Sekharan Chandra2

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MACHINE LEARNING, NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING (NLP)

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

148 ALKANE COMPOSITION OF THE MICROLAYER IN CORPUS CHRISTI BAY: IMPLICATIONS OF HAB FORMATION

Wayne Hodge*, James Silliman1,2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2

Keywords: ALGAE, OCEAN, ENVIRONMENT, CARBON, SPECTROMETRY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

149 INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE VENTILATOR ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA

Adrian Rosales, Krista Burns, Alyssa Delgado, Owen Foxhall, Mary Benham-Hutchins PhD., Heather DeGrande PhD.

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: VENTILATOR, PNEUMONIA, PREVENTION, INTERVENTION, ICU

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

150 SYNTHESIS OF ASPARTIC ACID-BASED BIFURCATED TRIPEPTIDE SURFACTANTS

Roslyn Swonke1*, Angelina Garcia1, Dr. Eugene Billiot1, Dr. Fereshteh Billiot1, Dr. Mark Olson1 & Dr. Chandra Azad1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Keywords: SURFACE ACTIVE AGENTS, GREEN SURFACTANTS, SUPRAMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY, PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS, PURIFICATION.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

151 TITLE: THE ACCUMULATION OF MICROPLASTICS IN THE SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER (SML) OF CORPUS CHRISTI BAY, TEXAS

Maira Afzal 1*, Dr. James Silliman 1,2

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: MICROPLASTICS; AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS; SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER; MICROBEADS; MICROFIBERS; FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED MICROSCOPY; UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

152 COMPOUND-SPECIFIC RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACIDS (CSRA-AA) AN AID TO BETTER UNDERSTAND BLUE CARBON ECOSYSTEMS

Jason Barrera1*, Jesus Baca1, Wing Man (Charlotte) Lee2, Lin Zhang1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: BLUE CARBON, COMPOUND-SPECIFIC RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS, GLOBAL WARMING, CO2, AMINO ACIDS, ISOTOPES, RADIOCARBON, CLIMATE CHANGE, DEFORESTATION.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

153 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR APPROXIMATING THE SOLUTIONS TO NONLINEAR ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Mara Martinez

Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, MACHINE LEARNING, DEEP LEARNING, NEURAL NETWORK

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

154 IOT BASED SMART HOME

Amanda C. Villarreal*, Lawrence Davila*, Ruby Mehrubeoglu

McNair Scholars Program; *Department of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: IOT, CLOUD-ENABLED, SENSORS, MICROCONTROLLERS, FUSION, CONNECTIVITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

155 THE EFFECTS OF CULTURE AND COLLABORATION

Hilliary Herrera*

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CROSS-CULTURAL COLLABORATION, HYBRID VISUAL SEARCH TASK, CULTURAL GROUP, DIVERSITY, DEMOGRAPHY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

156 USE OF STANDARDIZED DISCHARGE TEACHING AND FOLLOW-UP PHONE CALLS TO REDUCE HEART FAILURE READMISSIONS

Melanie Milner

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: STANDARDIZED DISCHARGE EDUCATION PROGRAM, HEART FAILURE, READMISSION RATE

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

157 DEVELOPMENT OF A BEST PRACTICES WORKFLOW OF A MOBILE LIDAR SYSTEM FOR MONITORING NATURAL AND BUILT COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Isabel A. Garcia*,1,3, Michael J. Starek2,3, Jacob Berryhill3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, College of Engineering Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: LIDAR, REMOTE SENSING, COASTAL SURVEYING

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

158 FOOTWEAR’S INFLUENCE ON POSITIONAL PARAMETERS IN THE STATIC POSTURE OF CHILDREN

Megan E. Perkins, & Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: BIOMECHANICS, CENTER OF PRESSURE, POSTURAL STABILITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

159 ANALYSIS OF SEAGRASS GENOTYPIC DIVERSITY ON WARD ISLAND

Amanda Burton1*, & Patrick Larkin2

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi1, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi2

Keywords: HALODULE WRIGHTII, MICROSATELLITE, GENETIC, PLANT, DIVERSITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

160 THE IMPACT OF FOOTWEAR ON THE POSITIONAL PARAMETERS OF STATIC POSTURE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Breanna R. Morales*, Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: POSTURAL CONTROL, CENTER OF PRESSURE, FOOTWEAR

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

161 AN ABSTRACT INTERPRETATION OF CRITICAL EDTECH THEORY

Aurelia O’Neil

Department of Curriculum & Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, QUANTUM PHYSICS, CRITICAL EDTECH THEORY, EDTECH, EDUCATION, CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

162 THE EFFECT OF FOOTWEAR ON SPATIOTEMPORAL GAIT VARIABILITY IN HEALTHY COLLEGE AGED INDIVIDUALS

Katherine F.A. Colburn* & Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: LINEAR GAIT VARIABILITY, SHOES, BIOMECHANICS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

163 THE INFLUENCE OF DISTANCE ON THROWING KINEMATICS IN YOUNG HEALTHY BASEBALL PLAYERS

Omar Arizpe1*, & Bryon C. Applequist1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.

Keywords: BASEBALL TRAINING, UCL INJURIES, LONG-TOSS SAFE, BASEBALL MOTION CAPTURE, PITCHING KINEMATICS.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

165 ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL PHYSIQUE ANXIETY WITH FATIGUE DURING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Vishwa Parikh*, Dr Liana Davis, Dr Ron Snarr

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: EXHAUSTION, PSYCHOSOCIAL MEASURES, EXERCISE PERFORMANCE, BODY IMAGE, BODY PERCEPTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

166 THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE (UHPC)

Paige Martinez*

Department of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CONCRETE, INDENTATION, UHPC, MATERIALS, CIVIL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

Service-Learning Poster

2:00-3:30 UC Anchor Ballroom

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

74 ACCESSING HEALTHCARE: THE UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED

Lauren Reyna

TAMU-CC Honors Program; Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation

Keywords: SERVICE, COMMUNITY, HEALTH, INSURANCE, CARE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

75 A NUECES COUNTY DAYCARE ALTERNATIVE

Nike VanZandt

Honors Program, College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, CHILDCARE, FAITH BASED, BIBLE STUDY, MINISTRY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

77 ISSUES REGARDING LITERACY IN ADULTS

Brenna Wingate1& Emily Miksch2

1Honors Program, Department of Social Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, Department of Communication and Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, EDUCATION, ECONOMY, ESL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

80 SERVICE-LEARNING AT THE WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER

Guadalupe Barrera1 & Lesly Zarate2

1Honors Program, Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, Department of Health Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, SERVICE, UNDERPRIVILEGED

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

84 FIELD-BASED LEARNING WITH FRIENDS OF REDHEAD POND: NATIVE SPECIES DIVERSITY IN FLOUR BLUFF

Kamilla Anderson¹, Amine Khodja², Aryn Rodriguez¹, Justin Vanderweg³

¹ Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; ² Honors Program, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; ³ Honors Program, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, WATER QUALITY, INSECTS, ECOLOGY, ECOSYSTEM, SUSTAINABILITY, OUTREACH

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

85 CONNECTING SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM RECIPIENTS TO RESOURCES AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET.

Julia Stinson 

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University -Corpus Christi 

Keywords: MALNUTRITION, FOOD DESERT, HIDDEN HUNGER, FOOD STAMPS* 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

86 EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN SOUTH TEXAS: RAPE CULTURE’S IGNITION IN THE EPIDEMIC OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Marigail Reyna

Honors Program, Department of Social Science, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: RAPE MYTH, SEX CRIMES, ADVOCACY, CRIME PREVENTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

87 FIELD-BASED SERVICE IN THE UPPER LAGUNA MADRE

Riley SoRelle1* Daniel Nye2*

1Honors Program, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, FISHERIES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

88 UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT STATE OF LITERACY OF ADULT TEXANS THROUGH SERVICE

Elena K. Barrada

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: READING, ECONOMY, FIELD-BASED LEARNING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

89 FINANCIAL LITERACY OUTREACH TO LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Paige Rogers1*, Diego Alvarez2*

1Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, GOALS, SAVING, SPENDING, MONEY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

90 THE VOICES OF THE COLONIAS OUTREACH PROJECT

Gabriel Flores

Honors Program; Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Natural Resource Center, Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, PUBLIC HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

91 LEARNING HOW TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE

Karis Flores

Honors Program, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, AT-RISK POPULATION, LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

95 COMMUNITY-BASED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN FLOUR BLUFF

Isai Rodriguez

Honors Program, Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, ENGINEERING, PARKS, RECREATIONAL ACCESS, PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

100 CLEAN WATER FOR OSO BAY RESIDENTS

Valerie Jones

Honors Program; Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Natural Resource Center, Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: SERVICE, GROUNDWATER, CLEAN WATER ACT, CONTAMINATION, WATER ADULTERATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

109 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING WITH FRIENDS OF REDHEAD POND

Madison Hallmark1*, Austin Carey1*

1Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: CONSERVATION, POPULATION, COSTAL, SERVICE, TOURISM

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

118 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING WITH TEXAS SEALIFE CENTER

Nya Hernandez, Layla Nice

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: MARINE HABITAT SANCTUARY, PRESERVATION, ANIMAL RESCUE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

140 NUECES COUNTY CHILD ABUSE AWARENESS AND RESOURCE OUTREACH

Alexander Villela

Honors Program, Department of Elementary Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING,RISK MANAGEMENT, CHILD WELFARE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

164 SERVING COASTAL BEND TEENS BY TEACHING SELF RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE

Emma Fields1*, Amanda Calhoun2*

1Honors Program Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi;2Honors Program, Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Keywords: INTEGRITY, HONESTY, GROWTH, SELF-RESPECT, AND ROLE MODEL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

PM 3: CROSS POLLINATION MIXER

3:30 PM, UC TEJAS LOUNGE & LONESTAR BALLROOM

Before the Awards Ceremony, enjoy some light refreshments and a variety of programming from the School of Arts, Media, & Communication. This includes interactive demonstrations from campus artists and a full performance from The Breakers Improv Troupe.

FULL PRESENTATION DESCRIPS

* denotes presenting student

People’s Choice Voting Evaluation Form

08:30 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

1 MODELING SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE IN THE GULF OF MEXICO: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Madison Riba1*, Lei Jin1 & Xinping Hu2, 3

1Department of Mathematics & Statistics, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Life Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Harte Research Institute

The Gulf of Mexico is known for its rich biodiversity and numerous coral habitats. This sensitive region is of high interest for environmental prediction as the effects of changes in sea surface temperature (SST) have been felt around the globe. In literature, many different methods have been used to model SST over time, while it is not clear which method works best. In this project, different statistical models including traditional linear models, cyclic splines, SARIMA, and Bayesian models, with or without dependent errors, will be implemented. In addition, simulation studies will be conducted to compare their performance, and the ‘best’ model for SST in the area is to be determined.

Keywords: TIME SERIES ANALYSIS, APPLIED STATISTICS, SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

08:46 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

2 EXAMINING MICROPALEONTOLOGY TO GAIN INSIGHTS INTO LONG - TERM PROCESSES IN THE WESTERN AMUNDSEN SEA, ANTARCTICA

Magkena Szemak1*, Dr. Lindsay O. Prothro1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is highly vulnerable to changes in Southern Ocean hydrography, specifically that of heat transport. The outlet glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) have exhibited the highest rates of change, primarily due to the influx of relatively warm (\>1°C), and extremely dense Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). Around Antarctica, coastal polynyas contribute to dense shelf water (DSW) formation. DSW formation by the Amundsen Sea polynya today is complicated by mixing with glacial meltwater and impinging CDW, but little is known about these complexities during the entirety of retreat since the Last Glacial Maximum. We can use micropaleontological records of diatoms to interpret the relationships between water masses and the polynya to better understand the natural long-term history of CDW movement and its relationship to ice retreat. This is critical for better understanding the oceanographic controls on the stability of this sector of Antarctica, especially with fear this sector could trigger future WAIS collapse. To investigate the long-term glacial and ocean conditions and processes in the Amundsen Sea, we sampled 10 archived sediment cores collected from the Dotson-Getz Trough in central ASE. These cores represent the top 31-277 cm of sediment and are reflective of recent environmental conditions on the inner, middle and outer continental shelf. Quantitative diatom counts and species identification were completed to identify spatiotemporal environmental trends in productivity and sea ice.

Keywords: PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, CLIMATE CHANGE, POLAR REGIONS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:02 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

3 MARINE MEDAKA (ORYZIAS MELASTIGMA) AS A DEVELOPMENTAL IMMUNOTOXICITY MODEL FOR PFAS EXPOSURE

E. DiBona1*, D. Duran1, M. Brown1, D. Harder-Neely1, F. Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Rising concerns regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure through drinking water has led to restrictions on legacy PFAS due to their immunotoxicity. Yet, it remains unclear if replacement PFAS induce a similar environmental hazard. The developmental origins of health and diseases hypothesis argues that environmental exposure during immune system development in embryos, newborns, and children may trigger immune pathologies. To evaluate potential immunotoxic effects of legacy and replacement PFAS during critical windows of immune system development, we propose the use of marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma, OM) as a model for exposure to PFAS levels found in prenatal and postnatal human blood serum (0.5-5 ng/ml). Preliminary research has outlined three major critical immune developmental windows at 7-11 days post fertilization (dpf), 3-5 days post hatching (dph), and 12-19 dph in OM. Legacy PFAS (PFOS & PFOA) and their replacements (PFHxS, PFBS, PFHxA & GenX) are compared based on direct immunotoxic impacts at the organismal level via host resistance assay (HRA). After PFAS exposure at low (0.5 ng/ml) or high (5 ng/ml) concentrations, OM larvae were exposed to the fish pathogen Edwardsiella piscicida (5x107cfu) to evaluate host immune response. The 7-11 dpf critical window revealed lower survival after exposure to PFHxA (5 ng/ml). Critical window 3-5 dph revealed a trend for lower survival after PFOS (0.5 & 5 ng/ml), PFHxS (0.5 & 5 ng/ml), PFBS (0.5 & 5 ng/ml), PFOA (0.5 & 5 ng/ml), and GenX (0.5 & 5 ng/ml) exposure. These critical windows encompass different immune development milestones including lymphocyte progenitor cell migration and thymus colonization (7-11 dpf), medulla development in the thymus (3-5 dph), and establishment of immune competence of the thymus (12-19 dph). The preliminary data presented here demonstrates the variability of PFAS immunotoxicity during specific critical windows implying different mechanisms specific to different PFAS.

Keywords: FISH, IMMUNE, DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:18 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

4 IN SILICO ASSESSMENT OF ANCESTRAL BENZO(A)PYRENE INHIBITION OF EPIGENETIC MACROMOLECULES.

R. Labeille1*, K. Lee1, J. Hoang1, H. Kulesz1,C. Marquez1, F. Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Ancestral exposure to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and its metabolite benzo[a]pyrene dihydrodiol epoxide (BPDE) has been demonstrated to affect epigenetic profile inheritance. This raises new concerns about the risk of BaP exposure for environmental and human health. Only one study so far reported histone post translational mechanism (PTM) alterations upon BaP exposure. We predict that epigenetic macromolecules may be a targeting point in the toxicological mechanism of BaP. In silico computational modeling of BPDE stereoisomers to epigenetic macromolecules has been conducted using AutoDock vina to study functional impacts on the nucleosome and reported transcriptionally impacted epigenetic enzymes upon BaP exposure (PRC2, MLL1, MLL3, KDM5B, DNMT3B-DNMT3L, HDAC7). Ligand modeling was generated in Avogadro and charges were assessed using density functional theory. Within the nucleosome many conformations from heterochromatin and euchromatin are susceptible to docking of an electrophilic molecule like BPDE. Therefore, docking was done on a dynamic nucleosome in key histone tail motif regions including the histone 3 and histone 4 tail. In the case of the epigenetic enzymes docking boxes were segmented to properly cover the full enzyme. Cross examination of the epigenetic enzyme resulted in BPDE pocket identification occurring repeatedly in the conserved regions WD40 and SET. The nucleosomes H3-latch and H4 tail also revealed pockets forming competitive intermolecular interactions between the histone tail, BPDE, and DNA. Histone 3 pockets showed greater binding affinities with the greatest increase from -6.8 kcal/mol in heterochromatin to -8.6 Kcal/mol in euchromatin. It is possible that BPDE produces a pseudo-epigenetic signal mediated by macromolecules at specific sites in the epigenome. Therefore, BaP exposure is impacting a wide variety cells in a unique and independent manner, and affects biological epigenetic rewriting events essential in gamete formation. This in-silico study draws attention to the epigenome in toxicological studies of BaP exposure to address ecosystem and human health.

Keywords: HISTONE MODIFICATIONS, METHYLTRANSFERASE, COMPUTATIONAL, BIOCHEMISTRY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:34 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

5 GENDERED LANGUAGE IN ONLINE CONVERSATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, CAPITALISM, AND MARXISM

Shane Armstrong*, Sinae Lee

Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Robin Lakoff\’s Language and Woman\’s Place investigated the differences in the language used between men and women. She discovered a number of features characteristic of women\’s language that were used much less frequently in men\’s language, such as hedging, superpolite forms, tag questions, empty adjectives, etc. This study utilizes Lakoff\’s model to investigate the language used by 300 Twitter users in discussions of climate change, capitalism, and Marxism. Throughout roughly one month, the tweets created by these users were collected, only being accepted if they explicitly used the terms \“climate change,\” \“capitalism,\” and \“Marxism.\” The present study discovered that there were no significant differences between the language used by male and female users, while the pool of non-binary users was not large enough to draw substantial conclusions. This study hopes to illuminate more surrounding the language used by those of different genders and work towards creating an online space in which all perspectives and voices may be heard.

Keywords: GENDER, TWITTER, ENVIRONMENTALIST, INTERNET, TWEETS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:50 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 1, Oral 15min

6 NOX SOURCE APPORTIONMENT AND OXIDATION CHEMISTRY IN A COASTAL URBAN AIRSHED USING STABLE ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES

Kaiya Shealy1,2*, J. David Felix1,2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, 2Center for Water Supply Studies College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

NOx (NO + NO2) emissions decrease urban air quality, and its subsequent deposition can be a significant source of excess nitrogen loading to coastal waters. Photochemical reactions between volatile organic compounds, and NOx in the atmosphere create ozone (O3). Previous studies suggest coastal urban airsheds tend have a NOx limited ozone regime, so an increase in NOx would lead to an increase in O3. The first step to NOx emission mitigation and thus ozone reductions in these regions is to quantify the contributions of NOx sources. These sources have unique nitrogen isotopic compositions (δ15N-NOx) or “source signatures”, which allow the use of isotope mixing models to aid in determining emission source contribution. The corresponding oxygen isotopic composition (δ18O-NO2) of NO2 can be used to estimate the NO oxidation chemistry after emission from the sources. To investigate NOx dynamics in a representative coastal urban air shed, NOx and NO2 passive air samplers at four City of Corpus Christi NOx and ozone monitoring stations each month for one year and the nitrogen and oxygen isotopic composition (δ15N, δ18O) of each sample will be measured. We will use stable isotope techniques to estimate point and nonpoint NOx sources (i.e. vehicles, biogenic soils, biomass burning, lightning and natural gas combustion) in the air shed and determine NO oxidation chemistry (i.e. peroxy radical vs ozone pathway). Results will provide a greater understanding of NOx and ozone dynamics in coastal urban airsheds and will directly aid in the modifying of the City of Corpus Christi ozone action plan. Results will also aid in better understanding of atmospheric oxidative chemistry. Effective source apportionment will be extremely useful for creating air quality regulations, and ozone mitigation.

Keywords: *KEYWORDS: AIR QUALITY, AIR POLLUTION, EMISSION, ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY, PHOTOCHEMICAL, AIRSHED

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

08:30 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

7 MOVEMENT ECOLOGY OF THE TEXAS DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN (MALACLEMYS TERRAPIN LITTORALIS)

Garrett Guzoski1*, Loretta Battaglia1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is a unique turtle, being the only species to inhabit brackish coastal waters in North America. It is found throughout the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, from Massachusetts to south Texas. Once on the verge of extinction due to overharvesting in the early 1900’s, its populations have since rebounded; however, the turtle remains listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Of the seven subspecies found throughout their distribution, the Texas Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin littoralis) is the least studied, warranting research into their movement patterns and habitat usage. When compared to habitat in the rest of their distribution, terrapin habitat in south Texas is not considered optimal. Salinity preferences range from 5–20 ppt, but Texas waters can reach as high as 50 ppt. When exposed to highly saline water (≥30 ppt), the turtle abstains from eating and juveniles have stunted growth rates compared to those in optimal salinity ranges. To understand how terrapins survive in these harsh environments, we will capture 16 terrapins and attach GPS enabled Nano Enhanced tracking backpacks from Telemetry Solutions. HOBO conductivity loggers will be placed across the salinity gradient in the Nueces River and Nueces Bay. Tracking movements and habitat usage will provide an improved understanding of Texas Diamondback Terrapin ecology and insight into whether this subspecies is adapted to extreme conditions in this part of its range or if it gravitates towards lower salinity waters. As climate change and sea level rise will eventually expose south Texas terrapins to more extreme conditions, this research is the first step in creating a conservation management plan to protect these brackish water dwelling turtles.

Keywords: TERRAPIN, MOVEMENT, ECOLOGY, SALINITY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

08:46 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

8 PHAEODACTYLUM TRICORNUTUM AS A FOOD SOURCE FOR TEXAS OYSTERS

Elena K. Barrada

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Over the course of approximately two months, the algae Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a diatom that is more resilient in colder weather, was used in the determination of its viability as an adequate form of nutrition for seed oysters of the species Crassostrea virginica, that inhabit water sheds along the Texas coastal bend. The two watersheds of interest are the hypersaline Laguna Madre in which the “Southern Oysters” of this experiment originate and the Copano Bay area, where the “Northern Oysters” originate. In this study there were 5 tanks (Tank 1 - Tank 5), eachcontaining 100 Southern seed oysters and 20 Northern seed oysters from the same spawning period, filled to 25.4 centimeters with Laguna Madre water. Each tank was provided algae rations based on animal size as described by the Food and Agriculture Organization manual. When comparing the recorded size data in correlation to each treatment –(0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% replacement). It was found that the 0% and 25% replacement outperformed the others with the 25% treatment providing the largest percent size change at 203.2%.. The 25% replacement incorporated P. tricornutum as 25% of the diet in combination with Chaetocerous muelleri as 37.5% of diet, and Tetraselmis chui as 35.7% of diet. This information is important in that it could provide a more cost-effective and less labor-intensive solution for nutrition sources in cooler weather, in turn leading to a potentially more productive and profitable year for oyster farms and hatcheries.

Keywords: UPWELLER, WILD HARVEST, SUSTAINABLE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:02 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

9 A LOOK INTO THE DIVERSITY OF BACTERIAL ROOT ENDOPHYTES IN BATIS MARITIMA

Grace Rush1*, Candice Lumibao1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Plants are known to associate and interact with diverse microbes, including those that colonize and live within their root tissues (endophytes), that perform key functional roles for the plants, such as salinity and drought tolerance. A variety of biotic (e.g., plant host abundance) and abiotic factors (e.g., soil pH) can influence to a varying degree, the rates and patterns of endophyte colonization on roots of plants; however, current knowledge is still limited, especially for coastal marsh plants. We investigated the relative influences of biotic and abiotic factors that shape the fine-scale diversity patterns of bacterial root endophyte colonization communities associated with the coastal marsh succulent plant Batis maritima (saltwort) using a culture-based approach. We set up five experimental blocks, each containing four plots: 90% B. maritima, 50% B. maritima with woody plants, i.e., mangrove, 50% B. maritima without woody plants, and 10% B. maritima dominated. For each plot, we collected three plant samples and measured environmental factors such as pH, salinity, and light availability. For each sample, we cultured bacterial endophytes, then extracted, amplified, and sequenced their DNA for identification. We expect that salinity and host plant abundance will influence the diversity of bacterial root endophyte communities. Additionally, the presence of woody plants and plant communities with a higher diversity will harbor a high endophytic diversity. In contrast to our expectations, our preliminary results indicate that the plots without woody plants yield the highest number of culturable bacterial growth (72.67%). Plots with low B. maritima abundance (10%) has the smallest number of growing bacterial cultures (53.33%). Our project gives insight into what host plant diversity, abundance, and local environmental processes influence plant-microbe colonization and distribution in coastal marshes.

Keywords: COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS, HOST ABUNDANCE, MICROBIAL DIVERSITY, PERENNIAL SUCCULENT SHRUB, PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:18 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

10 BREEDING DISTRIBUTION AND NONBREEDING FIDELITY OF COASTAL LITTLE BLUE HERONS (EGRETTA CAERULEA) WINTERING IN THE EASTERN GULF OF MEXICO.

Sharp, Alexander R.* 1,2, Gawlik, Dale E. 2, Petersen, Michelle 3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, 2Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869, Corpus Christi, Texas 78412, 3Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33431.

Understanding landscape use patterns during the nonbreeding period is critical for the conservation of coastal waterbirds because both migratory and residential individuals spend most of their lives on their nonbreeding grounds. Moreover, coastal habitats are becoming areas of high human activity, with approximately 75% of the human population living within coastal watersheds. However, little is known about how individual birds utilize coastal wetlands during the nonbreeding season, and thus how they could be affected by management practices and other anthropogenic activities for much of the year. Therefore, we quantified nonbreeding space use and winter site fidelity, along with the breeding distribution of two coastal Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) populations. We attached satellite transmitters to 30 Little Blue Herons (Egretta caerulea) in the lower Florida Keys (Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, FL, USA) and the Charlotte River Estuary (J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, FL, USA) during the nonbreeding season of 2021-2022. To date, we have collected approximately 15,900 GPS locations from our sample of tagged herons, with an average of 450 points per heron. Comparison of the home range overlap between concurrent winters will provide an understanding of individual site fidelity to nonbreeding locations for this species. Ten birds were classified as residents of their respective study site (n=9 from Ding, n=1 from GWH), 15 were long-distance migrants (n=4 from Ding and n=11 from GWH), and migration status could not be determined for the remaining five. Nesting colony location was highly variable between individuals from both study sites, with herons travelling to West Cuba (n=2), North Florida (n=8), South Georgia (n=3), and South Carolina (n=2). Data collection is ongoing and the results will be used to inform future management for this species and the habitats they occupy throughout the entire annual cycle.

Keywords: GPS, WADING BIRD, FLORIDA, NESTING, SPACE USE

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:34 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 15min

11 FISHDIVE PROJECT: ASSESSING MARINE FISH BIODIVERSITY AND DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY OF LOCAL RESEARCHERS IN THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES

Kevin L. Labrador1,2*, Maybelle A. Fortaleza2, Joemarie J. Lanutan2, Joey P. Cabasan2 & Cleto L. Nañola, Jr.2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies, College of Science and Mathematics, University of the Philippines Mindanao

The Philippines is rich in marine fish biodiversity, and assessing it is a research priority of the national government. There is also a shift towards integrating molecular tools, such as DNA barcoding and population genetics, to augment survey-based assessment methods that tend to underestimate biodiversity. However, insufficient capacity and infrastructure in the southern Philippines have hindered the use of molecular tools in assessing biodiversity in the region. Therefore, the FishDive Project was launched to (1) intensify biodiversity assessment in the Sulu-Celebes marine biogeographic regions, and (2) develop the capacity of local researchers in studying reef fish diversity. The project’s first year resulted in the documentation of 324 reef fish species, 204 of which have been genetically barcoded, from three coastal provinces within the Celebes Sea based solely on market surveys. Species that were previously unreported in Philippine waters were identified using integrative taxonomy, and some were flagged as potentially new to science. The project also supported six students from two universities in obtaining their undergraduate degrees and conducted six training-workshops for partner institutions. For the remaining years of implementation, market surveys will expand to provinces in the southern Sulu Sea, and collection efforts will include pelagic and non-target reef fishes. Population connectivity of selected species within and between the two biogeographic regions will also be assessed based on phenotypic and genotypic variations. Continued collaboration with partner institutions will culminate in the publication of a fish diversity atlas complete with taxonomic information and genetic barcodes.

Keywords: BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, GENETIC BARCODING, INTEGRATIVE TAXONOMY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:50 AM, UC Jetty 123, Biodiversity and Ecology, Oral 8min

12 THE PRICE OF NEGLIGENCE

Brian Owens ¹*, Sarah Salter ²

McNair Scholars Program; ¹ Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; ² Department of Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Having seen multiple socio-informational trends appear and disappear since 2000, there have been incredible changes in data transmission and media. Particularly, the frequency of data distribution and reception on social media has skyrocketed. According to Dr. Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, an economist at the University of Oxford, the total number of Facebook users has risen from 100 million in 2008, to 2.26 billion in 2018 (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019). The same can be said for other platforms, such as YouTube. Due to this change, citizens across the world have the power to voice their opinions and express themselves. Although this expansion of free speech connects people and nations, the covert impact of social media algorithms grows everyday. But, what are algorithms? And, what are they responsible for? Algorithms are “the building blocks for programming, and they allow things like computers, smartphones, and websites to function and make decisions” (GCF Global, 2022). Algorithms are responsible for Google search results, You-Tube suggestions, and Tik-Tok For-You pages. They manage the data most-people consume daily, which is why algorithmic awareness and equity is gradually becoming a greater issue. Safiya Umoja Noble, a scholar of critical internet inquiry and the author of Algorithms of Oppression, supports this claim. According to Safiya, “on the Internet and in our everyday uses of technology, discrimination is…embedded in computer code and, increasingly, in artificial intelligence technologies that we are reliant on” (Noble, 2018). Now, more than ever, it is important to question algorithmic bias. Thus, this proposal aims to evaluate the effects that social media algorithms have on the general awareness of current events and social justice issues. Hopefully, the results will inspire inquiry and curiosity among social media users.

Keywords: POLITICS, AWARENESS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, ALGORITHMS, SOCIAL MEDIA,

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

08:30 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

13 DOES CASUAL EXPOSURE TO SPANISH INCREASE MEASURABLE SPANISH PHONOTACTIC AWARENESS IN ADULT ENGLISH MONOLINGUALS?

Sofia Mings,1*, Miguel Moreno2

1Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi;

Research suggests that infants acquire the ability to recognize and utilize differing phonotactic rules (e.g., Spanish words cannot begin with an /sp/ or /st/ sound) to discriminate between their native language and a foreign language simply through exposure to the native language (Kajikawa et al., 2006; Jusczyk et al., 1994; DeCasper et al., 1994; Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés, 2001). Less research tests whether this ability continues in adulthood although, Gullberg (2012) and Oh et al. (2020) show adults can implicitly acquire linguistic knowledge of an unknown language through exposure. This study aims to measure evidence of implicit phonotactic awareness in non-Spanish speakers. Two groups – Spanish speakers and Non-Spanish speakers – made wordlikeness judgements on a sample of nonwords with varying Spanish phonotactic probabilities. Both groups showed a significant correlation between the nonwords’ phonotactic probability and their wordlikeness ratings such that nonwords that better conform to Spanish phonotactic rules were rated more Spanish-like. As expected, the correlation was stronger for the Spanish-speakers; however, the significant correlation in both groups suggests that non-Spanish speakers share Spanish phonotactic knowledge similar to Spanish speakers. These results are consistent with the conclusion that adults maintain the ability to implicitly acquire linguistic knowledge through environmental exposure.

Keywords: PHONOTACTIC PROBABILITY, NONWORD, WORDLIKENESS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

08:46 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

14 IMPROVING FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION METHODS WITH GREATER CONSIDERATION FOR GENDER IDENTITY

Hunter Austin*

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Due to a variety of social, political, and economic factors, transgender people in communities around the globe are often subject to disease and disease sequelae with disproportionate access to effective, regulated treatment. The multinational distribution of transgender communities necessitates recognition of the marginalization they face, how it affects their long-term health, and what role societal context plays in creating or mitigating these conditions. Further, due to the vulnerability experienced by transgender individuals and the current anthropological sex estimation methods based in traditional binary (male/female) skeletal morphology, the chances of a transgender person dying unidentified and remaining unidentified for decades increase. For transgender women, the focus of this piece, the syndemic effects of certain infectious diseases such as HIV have been explored as possible transgender indicators, but a wider scope of health issues, including hormone treatments for transgender feminization, is yet to be fully investigated. Detection of hormone treatment sequelae, and how they may vary in the presence of other common syndemic effects in the skeleton can inform forensic analysis of an unidentified decomposed or skeletal transgender individual and provide information for use in identification efforts.

Keywords: TRANSGENDER, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY, SKELETAL ANALYSIS, HORMONE THERAPY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:02 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

15 PROCTORING MODELS AND THE INFLUENCE ON HESI E2® SCORES, A COMPARISON OF TWO NURSING COHORTS

Amy McClure1*, Bethanie Pletcher2

1College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Nurse educators must ensure their students are prepared to take the national licensing exam. Many nursing programs utilize the standardized test, HESI Comprehensive Exit Exam (E2). This comprehensive exam is predictive of first-time pass rates on the national licensing exam, the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®). Students must pass this exam to be able to practice as Registered Nurses (RNs) competently and safely. Individual State Boards of Nursing (BONs) set benchmarks for first-time pass rates ranging from 75% to 90%, with Texas requiring 80%. The spring of 2020 brought many challenges to educators around the world because of COVID-19. Institutions of higher education were mandated to transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT). During ERT, ensuring secure testing was one of the challenges educators faced. Proper equipment, as well as adequate internet access, was imperative for testing remotely. The purpose of this proposal is to examine the scores of two groups of senior Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students at a public university in South Texas who took the HESI E2®. This will be a non-experimental retrospective descriptive study looking at the HESI E2® test scores of two cohorts, the summers of 2019 and 2020, and the proctoring models used (in-person versus a remote proctoring service, ProctorU®). The area in which this university is located has to be prepared for the possibility of transitioning to emergency remote teaching (ERT), as it is on the gulf coast and has the potential for natural disasters, namely hurricanes. Thus, it is important to determine if the use of online proctoring is sustainable for the future.

Keywords: COMPUTER ADAPTIVE TESTING; DISTANCE EDUCATION; NATIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE BOARDS OF NURSING (NCSBN)

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:18 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

16 IMPROVING NURSING STUDENT OUTCOMES: AN INITIATIVE TO IMPLEMENT CONSISTENT TEACHING STRATEGIES IN CLINICAL SETTINGS

Karen LaNasa MSN, RN*, Pamela K. Greene Phd, RN

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Graduate

Upon entry into practice, only 23% of newly graduated nurses from 140 registered nursing programs across the United States demonstrate essential nurse competencies and practice readiness (Kavanagh & Szweda, 2017). The lack of uniformity and structure in faculty engagement with students in the clinical setting has resulted in inconsistent student performance in simulations, student/faculty interaction in clinical, and didactic course test performance. The aim of this quality improvement project is to use identified best practices found in literature for engaging nursing students and clinical faculty at the project site. Doing so will promote critical thinking and analytical judgement during clinical experiences to increase competencies for entry into practice. An integrative literature review was performed to identify best practices to promote student nurse clinical judgement through clinical faculty support and interactions. The results acquired through the literature analysis found use of structured clinical questions assist in advancing student/faculty engagement and elicit higher-order thinking. Implementation of Seibert’s (2022) structured clinical question tool (CQT) will be used as the project intervention. Student performance on simulations and course exams will be evaluated to determine if the use of structured objectives and CQT by faculty improve student performance compared to students who receive traditional clinical instruction.

Keywords: NURSING STUDENTS, CLINICAL JUDGEMENT, ACTIVE-LEARNING, PRACTICE READINESS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:34 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

17 BEYOND THE WRITING: A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE OF THE CASA WRITING CENTER

Brenda Riojas

Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

As an MA student in English studying writing center theory, I planned my thesis project around the CASA Writing Center services and the students who seek assistance with papers, projects, reports, and other writing needs across disciplines. In this IRB approved study, I gathered qualitative data from students who visited the CASA Writing Center to answer the research question, How do students understand the assistance and functionality after experiencing a tutoring session at the CASA Writing Center? I gathered qualitative data because I wanted to explore what led students to the writing center and how they felt after receiving assistance from a tutor. I surveyed 71 participants that met the following requirements: that they must be 18 years or older, must be enrolled as a full-time student, and made a tutoring appointment during fall 2022. Participants were asked the same nine questions in the same order while gathering data. While analyzing the data, I used a thematic approach because it allows a deeper understanding for each participant’s reasoning for visiting the writing center. Therefore, I will present the two major themes that appeared in my qualitative data, which were the writing center’s physical environment and the writing development of students. For the physical environment theme, students expressed interest with the setup and amenities. Within this theme, the variants include the lounge area, computer section, and provided snacks and coffee. As for the writing development theme, variants detected in the data include students self-proclaiming themselves as “writers,” participants that sought assistance with APA format, and the writing resources provided to participants. The benefit of this study is to further understand how the writing center assists its students across disciplines and adds to writing center literature concerning the physical environment.

Keywords: COLLABORATION, WRITING CENTER, OPINION POLL, CONSENT, VOLUNTARY.

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:50 AM, UC Marlin 317, Trends and Topics in Education, Oral 15min

18 BILINGUAL EDUCATION

Marlen Morin

Department of Science, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Bilingual education is a key component for any student, many countries have this practice, and the success is great for students’ future. Texas has certain implementations but not enough sources to fully accommodate a bilingual environment in its classes. Many people don’t fully understand the importance of being bilingual, whether it’s English and Spanish or any other two combinations of languages. This has many great benefits in future careers and is vital to being a well-rounded person. The purpose of this qualitative study will be to understand why bilingual education is important. Our school systems need to view the past educational levels they have been offering to our students. Looking into what we did as educators can better equip us to provide our diverse students with a broader range of teaching.: It has been shown that being bilingual has benefits not only in a student’s educational life but also in how their brain functions. This demonstrates why bilingual education should be given a lot more importance than it has been getting. Bilingualism is usually seen as hard to get by schools because with this comes the fact that classes will be taught in the languages elected to teach. Some schools not only don’t have the resources, but they also don’t have the required educators for this change in education. Around the world, it has been shown that students have a much greater range in educational learning because of this crucial part of their everyday learning. This research will explain why bilingual education something shouldn’t be what we hope to happen but something we are presently working towards, so our teachers and student are correctly equipped for a notable future. I would address the 20th century because based on that past we can correct work towards this time in date for the upcoming times.

Keywords: ELEMENTARY, BILINGUAL, EDUCATION, TEXAS, HISTORY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

08:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

19 DIFFERENTIATED TUTORING AND BRIDGING THE GAP WITH TEXAS HOUSE BILL 4545

Dani Hayek*

Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Everyone’s lives were affected, and everything changed almost overnight due to COVID. This includes the education of all students in the United States. Administration and teachers overhauled the entire education system with spectacular speed and students were online and distanced learning within a week. However, this caused a gap in the student’s education because some didn’t have access to the internet, while other students didn’t have the necessary supervision to check for progress and understanding. Students have missing knowledge that is imperative to have to continue with higher education. With Texas Governor Greg Abbot informed of these concerns, he implemented House bill 4545, which created a policy for Accelerated Instruction for students who failed the Texas STAAR (Strunc et al.,2022). Since House bill 4545 was implemented in the fall of the 2022-2023 school year, there is not much research on its application and the effects of the tutors with students on STAAR Scores. This case study will aim to understand the effects of a tutor for students who failed the 6th grade Math STAAR test at Gregory – Portland Middle School. Investigating this can be paramount to its effectiveness and could potentially assist in re-examining and amending the House bill to pinpoint and diagnose the specific items that will benefit the students the most.

Keywords: ACCELERATED INSTRUCTION, ADAPTED INSTRUCTION, TUTORING, HOUSE BILL 4545, HB4545

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

08:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

20 TEACHER BURNOUT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS.

Flor Elizondo1*, Kimberly Reinhardt2

Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

^I\ will\ be\ discussing\ the\ ongoing\ issues\ and\ statistical\ points\ about\ teacher\ burnout\ during\ the\ Coronavirus.\ Teacher\ burnout\ has\ become\ a\ highly\ talked\ about\ topic\ in\ most\ recent\ years.\ However,\ according\ to\ my\ research,\ because\ of\ the\ continuation\ of\ the\ Coronavirus\ (COVID-19)\ the\ amount\ of\ teachers\ who\ are\ feeling\ burnout\ has\ been\ sky-rotting.\ My\ study\ will\ include\ the\ issues\ that\ are\ recurring\ as\ to\ why\ educators\ are\ first\ feeling\ this\ type\ of\ burnout,\ second,\ what\ leads\ up\ the\ burnout\ and\ lastly,\ the\ exact\ numbers\ on\ how\ COVID-19\ has\ affected\ educators\ in\ the\ classroom.\ I\ will\ also\ be\ providing\ resources\ that\ educators\ can\ reference\ to\ when\ needing\ support\ if\ they\ are\ feeling\ a\ teacher\ burnout.^

Keywords:  COVID19 (CORONAVIRUS)

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

08:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

21 ACHIEVING HEALTH EQUITY THROUGH ACCESSIBILITY: AN EXAMINATION OF FQHC PLACEMENTS, PATIENT POPULATIONS, AND PROXIMITY TO CONTINUING CARE

Charity McCoy

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), also known as Community Health Centers (CHCs), exist to provide affordable and quality healthcare to underrepresented populations. These facilities utilize government funds and grants in order to subsidize the cost of care, in effort to eliminate barriers to health access and the increasing health disparities that result from it. According to the National Institute of Health, the 5 A’s of accessibility to care include affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability. Being that the underrepresented populations served are often poor people of color, strategic placement of these Health Centers are crucial to effectively delivering equitable care. The purpose of this study serves to examine (a) the proximity Texas FQHCs are to the communities they aim to serve, and (b) determine how accessible these facilities are to PT/OT facilities providing continuity of care. This project will be completed utilizing preexisting data sets. The data sets will be utilized to create a multi-layered heat map of Texas FQHCs and the demographic characteristics of the surrounding areas. Assistant Professor, Miguel Perez III, PhD, will be helping guide the direction and scope of the health equity and accessibility research. The research activities of this study will deal solely with quantitative and qualitative data collected from previous studies and existing databases. Therefore, the study will not require trainings for human or animal subjects, biosafety, DNA, or nanotechnology. For this study, an ethics training will be completed. In my research, I expect to find that Texas FQHCs are placed in communities with the greatest need, however, I expect that there aren’t enough of them to handle the sheer volume of TX patients, especially from major TX cities like Houston. The findings of this study will be a helpful indicator of the needed improvements to the 5 A’s of health in the state of Texas.

Keywords: FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTER, HEALTHCARE, UNDERREPRESENTED POPULATIONS, CLINICS, HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:00 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

22 COVID-19 PANDEMIC EFFECT ON NURSING STUDENTS: HOW THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS AFFECTED NURSING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE NURSING PROFESSION

Emma Gibbs, Dr. Marge Benham-Hutchins

Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the working environment for nurses, making the environment new graduates are entering different than the one they thought they would be entering into when they began nursing school. This change could have positively or negatively affected nursing students’ perception of the profession. The purpose of this project is to find out what perception nursing students have of the profession and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed it. This project aims to explore the influence of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic on pre-nursing students’ and students enrolled in a nursing program perception of the nursing profession. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic the public perception of the nursing profession has been glorified, but the profession has started to see staffing shortages as the pandemic has gone on. Through this project I will be able to see if the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nursing students’ perception of the profession. This project will use the method of a survey to determine students’ perception and compare the perceptions of the various cohorts. The findings of this project are important because they can identify the perception of the profession of the next generation of nurses. The findings of this study can also give an idea to nursing students about how they can improve the environment that they are entering into by changing what they have negative outlooks on.

Keywords: IMAGE OF NURSING, STAFFING, EDUCATION, NURSING OCCUPATION, NURSING SCHOOL

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:10 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

23 A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF NANOSILVER AND ITS EXTENSIVE USE IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS 

Kyra Kaiser1*and Ioana E. Pavel1

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Silver (Ag) has been used to fight bacterial infections for thousands of years and is currently incorporated into numerous antibacterial consumer products such as wound dressings, wound gels, sanitizers, facial masks, textile fibers, dental materials, and coatings of surgical tools. Lately, silver in nano form such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver ions (Ag+) released by AgNPs have received increased attention due to their potential to deal with the modern scourge of antibiotic and antiviral resistance. The two Ag forms (AgNP and Ag+) were found to work synergistically by causing damage to all cell membrane layers and by interfering with the cell metabolism through the dysregulation of the intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels. This leads to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage DNA, inhibiting cellular replication, and denature cellular proteins, disrupting enzymatic activity. These mechanisms are governed by the physicochemical properties of AgNPs (e.g., size, surface chemistry and surface charge) that can be further manipulated to enhance their activity within both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. 

Keywords: *ANTIBACTERIAL MECHANISM, CELL MEMBRANE DAMAGE, ROS, PUBLIC HEALTH, WOUND DRESSINGS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:20 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

24 DEVELOPING AND TESTING AN ANALYTICAL-BASED ASSAY FOR THE RAPID QUANTIFICATION OF THE ACTIVE PHARMACEUTICAL INGREDIENT IN OVER-THE-COUNTER ASPIRIN TABLETS

Brent Kirkland*, Nick Shropshire, Victoire Delattre, Remi Labeille, and Ioana E. Pavel

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Aspirin is one the most used nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs in the world and on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. Thus, incidents involving the illegal manufacture or administration of fraudulent aspirin formulations, which posed a threat to human health, particularly in children, have been reported worldwide. In this undergraduate research project, a UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry-based assay was successfully developed and tested for the rapid (within \~2 hours) quantification of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)) in over-the-counter aspirin tablets (e.g., Equate, Walgreens, and Bayer). The limit of detection (LOD) was established at \~45 µM, while the specificity was ≥ 90% for n = 3 independent trials on each tablet brand. Blind controls included in-house prepared, fraudulent aspirin formulations of no or limited ASA content. Herein, the detection of ASA was achieved through its catalyzed hydrolysis to salicylate, which then bound Fe3+ forming a spectrophotometrically active iron (III) salicylate complex (\~523 nm) for both field and lab bench applications. ASA concentrations were then determined through interpolation using an external calibration curve (R2 of 0.9992) of n = 10 standards and a blank control.

Keywords: UV-VIS ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETRY, FRAUDULENT LICIT DRUGS, ASPIRIN, AND PHARMACEUTICAL ASSAY.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

09:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

25 WHY THE NEED FOR QUALIFIED MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS

Esther Clouse

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The recent pandemic has shown us that in the United States, more than ever, we have an urgent need for medical interpreters and translators and a need to solve other factors that are closely linked to language access, such as hospital discrimination, lack of qualified translators and interpreters, wrongful practices, cultural barriers, and proper application of laws. In this presentation, I intend to raise awareness of the importance of these services since in many cases the health and lives of the patient are at risk, due to misinformation or language barriers.

Keywords: WHY THE NEED FOR QUALIFIED MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS , THE RECENT PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN US THAT IN THE UNITED STATES, MORE THAN EVER, WE HAVE AN URGENT NEED FOR MEDICAL INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS AND A NEED TO SOLVE OTHER FACTORS THAT ARE CLOSELY LINKED TO LANGUAGE ACCESS, SUCH AS HOSPITAL DISCRIMINATION, LACK OF QUALIFIED TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS, WRONGFUL PRACTICES, CULTURAL BARRIERS, AND PROPER APPLICATION OF LAWS. IN THIS PRESENTATION, I INTEND TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE SERVICES SINCE IN MANY CASES THE HEALTH AND LIVES OF THE PATIENT ARE AT RISK, DUE TO MISINFORMATION OR LANGUAGE BARRIERS.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

09:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

26 CHARACTERIZING THE VALUE OF AGROFORESTRY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF TROPICAL BIRD SPECIES

Rebecca Davis1*, Shawn McCracken1-6

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Third Millennium Alliance; 3Rufford Foundation Small Grants; 4The Van Tienhoven Foundation; 5IUCN – Netherlands; 6Saving Nature.

The Pacific Forest of Ecuador is one of the most biologically important ecosystems in Latin America and is host to 22 endemic bird species. It is also an important area for agriculture and successful conservation efforts in this area must address the needs of both humans and wildlife. Agroforestry is a land-use system that has potential to balance human and wildlife needs by growing crops amongst trees, thereby providing food and income while keeping the forest mostly intact. Potential benefits of agroforestry to conservation are due to its structural complexity (variety of vertical vegetation strata). However, the threshold structural complexity that will benefit birds in the Pacific Forest is not known. Therefore, I propose to compare the species assemblages in agroforestry plots of varying ages and structural complexity. My study is in the Jama-Coaque Reserve along the western coast of Ecuador. I will monitor the bird species assemblages using AudioMoths, electronic devices used in Passive Acoustic Monitoring, and measure forest structural complexity. I will place 27 AudioMoths in 9 transects representing various land use types, including fallow pastures, newly planted agroforestry plots, and older agroforestry plots; and three AudioMoths in undisturbed forest as a control. Every six months the forest\’s structural complexity will be measured by percent canopy cover, canopy height, and density of the understory. Song spectrogram analysis will be done with RFCx Arbimon to identify recorded birds. I will calculate the species richness and diversity in each land type. I predict that the assemblages of low forest complexity (pastures and young agroforestry) to have lower species diversity, while the assemblages of higher complexity (older agroforestry and undisturbed forest) will contain higher diversity. By comparing early-stage agroforestry plots to later-stage, this study will identify the structural complexity needed for the greatest benefit to native birds, and therefore overall biodiversity.

Keywords: BIOACOUSTICS, CONSERVATION, FOREST FARMING, REFORESTATION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

09:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Short Presentations 1, Oral 8min

27 AUTONOMOUS GROUND VEHICLE NAVIGATION

Mohit Mathew - Under Mentorship of Eric Ponte, Dr. Scott King, Dr. Dulal Kar, and Mahmoud Eldefrawy

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Automation is a major part of today’s world, automation can potentially save both time and resources in this fast paced world. It took a while for automation to become a mainstream part of everyday life, and there were many small steps made towards this goal. Incremental step that we have made towards automating small tasks is a GPS guided unmanned ground vehicle that can eventually be the groundwork for automating many small monotonous tasks. Small ground vehicles can be an extremely dynamic tool in terms of automation. They can assist in hauling, gardening, gathering information, and etc.. There is a nearly limitless amount of tasks that a ground based drone can perform. There are a few setbacks though, how accurate the location system is, what algorithm it uses to move, and battery life. This study will test the accuracy of the drone as well as which algorithm works the best for a real drone. The goal of this paper is to find which algorithm works the best and how accurate is possible within these hardware limitations. The secondary goal is to be employed in farms as a small field hand noting occurrences in the fields. Eventually being outfitted with machine learning and a possible limb to allow for manipulation of its surroundings to allow for the drone to do tasks.

Keywords: SMART, CLEAN, TRAVEL, COMPUTING, OBSTACLE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

11:00 AM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Performing Arts, Performance

28 JOYFUL MEMORIES

Mckenzie Mclendon, Joan Albor*, Kole Dornseifer*, Mason Bowling*, Korey Sayre*, Nic Sears*, James Williams*, Nico Montalvo*, Kamryn Lewis*, Julia Massey*, Mitchell Zillmer*

Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi

This piece, Joyful Memories, is a live dance performance that showcases the theme of “Stepping into Joy” through the movement and acting of ten dancers. When I first started brainstorming a storyline that fit into the theme of joy, I wondered where joy comes from, which led me to the people in my life and the connections I have created with them. This dance focuses on the emotional state that memories can create, and how even in the darkest times, a fond memory can bring a glimpse of joy. I focused on showing the differences in the movement during the sad and lonely emotional state compared to the joyful and hopeful movements that come in later during the piece. For example, the beginning of this dance features slower movements that are almost longing for more to happen, whereas when the memories start to flood in, the movements pick up speed and intensity so that the dance becomes lively. I used the element of cannons throughout this dance to show the storyline of how each moment and memory were connected by starting with one dancer and adding in the other dancers one by one to lead into a big group number towards the end. I also focused on the quality and weight of the movement so that at the beginning of the piece the movements are very small, light, and isolated but as the piece continues the movements begin to grow into big, connected, and meaningful movements. The movement within this piece changes and develops throughout the dance which helps express the emotional journey a person can go through when looking back on life. With this dance I hope to remind the audience that joy can be found within the memories of the little moments in life.

Keywords: MODERN DANCE, TRIUMPH, GROWTH, EXPRESSION, REMINISCE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

11:30 AM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Performing Arts, Performance

29 ANGER AS A MEANS FOR CHANGE: THE PASSIONATE ANGER WITHIN A PLAY ABOUT DAVID MAMET WRITING A PLAY ABOUT HARVEY WEINSTEIN

Nico Montalvo1*, Hannah Anderson1*

1Department of Theatre & Dance – Acting/Directing

Within the emerging theatrical academic field entitled “theatre of anger”, spectators become confronted with a story demanding to be heard. In a collection of scenes from Mathilde Dratwa’s play A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein, characters discuss the meaning of theatre, discover the cruelness of honesty, and confront a spectator’s notions about whose stories deserve to be told. Finding roots within the 1990s wave of “in-yer-face” theatre, mature language and graphic violence is physicalized onstage to provoke a primal catharsis within a spectator. The show calls into question the very nature of theatre, defining every rule and then breaking them within seconds. Spectators become actors, actors switch roles onstage, all while obscenely comic violence ensues. The selection of scenes is designed to provoke the spectator and make them truly experience the anger that permeates the text. By breaking the world of the play, the story attempts to break the society in which it was created in.

Keywords: DEVISED THEATRE, LIVE PERFORMANCE, AVANT-GARDE, FEMINIST WORK, EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

10:30 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

30 MAPPING WATER QUALITY INDICATORS USING REMOTE SENSING DATA

Meghan Bygate, Mohamed Ahmed

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Since the early 20th century, Matagorda Bay has faced a decline in oyster populations due to overharvesting and poor water conditions. Remote sensing data products offer a unique opportunity to extract water quality indicators such as salinity, turbidity, chlorophyll-a, and temperature that could be used to monitor the health of these populations. Landsat 8 (Level 2 Collection 2) surface reflectance was utilized to obtain salinity, turbidity, and chlorophyll-a data from 2014 to present over Matagorda Bay. In addition, ECOSTRESS was used to extract sea surface temperature (SST) from 2018 to present. Machine learning models (Gradient Boosting Machine [GBM], Distributed Random Forest [DRF], Generalized Linear Model [GLM], and Deep Learning [DL]) were developed and used to map relationships between surface reflectance and measured salinity, turbidity, and chlorophyll-a values. In addition, 37 linear regression models (salinity: 3, turbidity: 23, chlorophyll-a: 11) have been developed for several bays and estuaries were also used to generate salinity, chlorophyll-a, and turbidity. Preliminary results indicated that (1) ECOSTRESS-derived SST showed a high correlation (R2= 0.70) with in-situ measurements over Matagorda Bay, (2) a relatively low correlation was found between in-situ measurements and Landsat-8-derived salinity (R2= 0.01), turbidity (R2= 0.001), and chlorophyll-a (R2= 0.55) estimates using previously published linear regression models, these models are site specific and are greatly driven by local environmental factors, and (3) DL models provided the most significant results for both salinity (R2= 0.71) and turbidity (R2= 0.99). Current findings indicate that remote sensing data products provide significant hydrologic data products that could be used to generate long-term data sets.

Keywords: WATER QUALITY, CONSERVATION, LANDSAT 8, ECOSTRESS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:46 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

31 GROUNDWATER EXPLORATION USING GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES: A CASE STUDY FROM SOUTH SINAI, EGYPT

Muhamed Elshalkany1,2*, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

Groundwater resources are the only long-term solution for the local Bedouin community living in South Sinai, Egypt. However, this community lacks a basic understanding of how these resources are developed, distributed, and protected, and how to use them sustainably. An integrated geophysical campaign including vertical electrical sounding (VES), seismic refraction (SR), and ground penetrating radar (GPR) was used to examine the structural controls on groundwater accumulation and to define optimal locations for drilling sustainable groundwater wells. Findings indicate that: (1) groundwater-bearing zones (saturated/conductive zones) were restricted to fractures, faults, shear zones, and wadi networks along which groundwater flow is controlled by gradient; (2) electrical resistivity of unsaturated sediments, saturated sediments, and basement rocks ranges between 890 – 25000 Ω⋅m, 220 – 480 Ω⋅m, and 1850 – 80000Ω⋅m, respectively, (3) SR velocities of unsaturated sediments, saturated sediments, and basement rocks ranges between 405 – 576 m/s, 1170 – 1680 m/s, and 1700 – 4810 m/s, respectively, (4) the depth and thickness of the saturated zones were in the range of 2–36 m and 3.5–58 m, respectively, (5) higher thicknesses (range: 30–58 m) and shallower depths (range: 2–4 m) for saturated layers were found to be correlated with the intersections of faults and shear zones trending in NW-SE, NE-SW, and N-S directions, and (6) attitudes of faults and shear zones relative to groundwater flow direction affect the thickness and the depth of the saturated zone. Our results signal the urgent need of improved understanding of structural controls on groundwater accumulation and flow.

Keywords: ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY, SEISMIC REFRACTION, GPR, GROUNDWATER, BASEMENT TERRAINS.

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:02 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

33 IMPACT OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF MONTIPORA CAPITATA 

Eleanor TenBrink 1*, Abigail Tripler 2, Conall McNicholl, Ph.D. 2, Keisha Bahr, Ph.D. 1 

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, USA; Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, 2University of Hawaiʻi, Kāneʻohe, HI, USA

In Kāne’ohe Bay Hawai’i, the second most dominant coral species, Montipora capitata is an ecologically important reef-building coral that has shown resilience to environmental changes. However, ocean acidification (OA) may compromise the structural integrity of the coral\‘s skeleton, threatening the species’ resiliency. Therefore, this project analyzed multiple biological response variables of M. capitata under ocean acidification conditions. OA is a change in ocean water chemistry due to an increase in the absorption of atmospheric carbon, which decreases seawater pH and aragonite saturation state. This also increases the concentration of hydrogen ions in the water, which will impact the total alkalinity, or the ability of the water to neutralize ions. Previous research has stated that a lower concentration of carbonate impacts the coral’s ability to calcify under OA conditions. Contrarily, the Proton Flux Hypothesis states that the increase in hydrogen ions limits coral calcification under OA. To better understand coral growth under OA conditions, corals will be exposed to a control and three experimental treatments varying in pH and total alkalinity levels, over a month-long experiment. Following experimentation, biological response variables from each coral will be measured. These variables include the density and chlorophyll concentrations of the symbiotic algae, along with the protein content and changes in skeletal density of the coral. It is hypothesized that the combination of low pH and total alkalinity will have a synergistic effect on the coral\’s skeletal density. However, the symbiotic algae will experience an antagonistic effect from the changes in water chemistry. The result of this work aims to further our understanding of OA and its impacts on coral calcification.

Keywords: SYMBIOSIS, CALCIFICATION, ZOOXANTHELLAE, SKELETON DENSITY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:50 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

34 DOCUMENTARY ACTIVISM UPDATED: HOW AWARENESS IS MADE IN MEDIA TODAY

Emily Salazar, Dr. Ethan Thompson

Department of Communication and Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

We live in a world where environmental activism is more visible and easier to participate in online than ever before. This study investigates how activism has changed in documentary film. This allows for an updated look into documentary activism as explained by media scholar Daniel Marcus in 2016. Marcus showed that raising awareness for important issues went beyond explaining them through the course of an hour-and-a-half documentary film but created opportunities for the audience to interact with the subject matter after they watched the film. To answer research questions: what different models of documentary activism have evolved in documentary film? And what emerging practices are being used for environmental awareness? I explore recent environmental documentaries and social media environmental influencers. Documentary films 2040 and I am Greta serve as two recent and popular examples of environmental activist documentaries. Social media environmental activist influencers Greta Thunberg, Bonnie Wright, and Gittemary Johansen provide examples of current multimedia content creators who have created online communities around their environmentalist lifestyles. This study finds that interactivity that started as a fleeting link to websites with additional resources in the end credits of a documentary has turned into online influencers who advocate across mediums. Understanding the actions of environmental activists today will allow for a better understanding of other kinds of activism in the media.

Keywords: CITIZEN JOURNALISM, ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARIES, INTERACTIVISM, ACTIVIST DOCUMENTARY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Bayview 320, The Environment and Climate Change 2, Oral 15min

35 ANALYSIS OF SEASONAL CHANGES IN COMMUNITY COMPOSITION OF SEAGRASS EPIPHYTES IN ARANSAS PASS, TEXAS

Samantha Maupin1* and Dr. Kirk Cammarata2

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Generally, the type, and number of epiphytes found on seagrasses varies based on the time of year and the nutrient load of water, including man-made nutrient sources such as wastewater effluent. This study will examine the changes in community composition of epiphytes found on T. testudinum as a function of porewater nutrients and other environmental factors. Epiphytes will be removed from seagrasses collected seasonally from the ICW RV Park in Aransas Pass, Texas. Sites within the study area were chosen based on their proximity to the release point of wastewater effluent from the Aransas Pass Wastewater Treatment Plant. Comparative analysis of fluorescence was done using four wavelengths: 415nm and 680nm were used to determine the amount of green pigments in the sample associated with green algae and 530nm and 576nm were used to determine the amount of red pigments in the sample associated with red algae. These measurements were then compared to determine the ratio of red to green pigments within the samples. Samples will also be run through a full pigment analysis. This will be done using acetone to extract the color from the samples and then analyzing the solution produced in a spectrophotometer. Preliminary results show that both summer and winter samples had higher levels of red algae than green algae when comparing fluorescence analysis. However, individual sites differ, with some showing decreases in red pigment domination and others showing increases from summer to winter. However, further analysis and sampling needs to be done before any final patterns can be suggested. This project will allow for a better picture of the seasonal changes in epiphyte composition on T. testudinum and provide some comparisons between sites with differing nutrient inputs, especially those influenced by wastewater effluent.

Keywords: HUMAN IMPACTS, SEASONALITY, WASTEWATER EFFLUENT

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:30 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

36 SUBSURFACE CHARACTERIZATION OF PADRE ISLAND USING ELECTROMAGNETIC GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES

Ramadan Abdelrehim1,2*, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Geophysical Exploration Department, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

Padre Island is an important natural ecosystem that plays a critical role in the health and sustainability of coastal communities. The island’s dunes serve as a natural buffer, protecting the mainland from the impacts of extreme events such as hurricanes and storms. The island and dune morphology (e.g., height, shape, and volume) however, depends on the subsurface geologic framework that includes lithology, stratigraphy, structures, and soil water content and chemistry. It is essential to have a clear understanding of how the subsurface geologic framework controls the island/dune morphology to maximize their preservation and protection efforts. This research utilized frequency domain electromagnetic (FDEM) and time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) geophysical surveys to map the subsurface geologic framework. Topographical surveys using GPS techniques were used to map the dune and island morphology. The geologic framework was then correlated with the dune morphology. Preliminary results indicate that (1) highest electric conductivity values were observed near the Gulf of Mexico (374±23.3 mS/m; 1.3±0.07 m) and Laguna Madre (197±22.4 mS/m; 0.97±0.09 m) where dunes were absent, (2) dunes with high elevations (5.4±0.76 m) were correlated with the lowest electric conductivity values (9.8±1.9 mS/m), this could be attributed to fresh precipitation, deep water table, and infrequent saline water flooding, (3) dunes with lower elevations (1.7±0.16 m) were correlated with relatively higher electric conductivities (26±1.7 mS/m), this could be attributed to shallow water table, and (4) in the area over the paleochannel, the dune elevation was lower (0.91±0.34 m) and the electric conductivity higher (315 ±47 mS/m) compared to areas north to the paleochannel, where the elevation was 1.91±0.24 m and the conductivity was 134±46 mS/m. Our findings suggest that a comprehensive characterization of the subsurface geologic framework is crucial for understanding the Padre Island and dune morphology, as well as their responses to extreme events.

Keywords: BARRIER ISLANDS, DUNE MORPHOLOGY, STORM IMPACTS, FREQUENCY DOMAIN ELECTROMAGNETIC, ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:46 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

37 INFLUENCES OF THE FILLING PHASES OF THE GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM ON THE NILE RIVER’S DOWNSTREAM RESERVOIRS

Mohamed Abdrabou1, 2* , Mohamed Ahmed1

1Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA. [^\*^mmousa@islander.tamucc.edu]{.underline} 2Geophysics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, P.O. Box 12613, Giza, Egypt.

The Nile River Basin’s (NRB’s) water resources are vulnerable to hydrologic alteration projects. Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a hydroelectric power project on the Blue Nile, is expected to improve living standards in Ethiopia. However, the effects of the GERD on water resources of downstream countries (Sudan and Egypt) have been a source of concern. In this study, eight types of remote sensing data and products were used to assess the impacts of the GERD reservoir’s filling process on Ethiopia’s, Sudan’s, and Egypt’s surface and groundwater resources. Specifically, spatiotemporal variability in surface area, volume, rainfall, and water storage for five reservoirs located in Ethiopia (GERD), Sudan (Roseires and Merowe), and Egypt (Lake Nasser and Toshka) for the period 2013 to 2022 were examined. Results indicate that (1) the GERD reservoir’s three filling phases started in July 2020, July 2021, and August 2022, respectively, (2) at the onset of these three phases, the GERD reservoir covered an area (volume) of 110 ± 7 km2 (1.87 ± 0.07 km3), 233 ± 31 km2 (4.30 ± 0.48 km3), and 544 ± 126 km2 (11.79 ± 2.18 km3), respectively, (3) a reduction in the GERD reservoir’s area (24%-49%) observed at the end of the first two fillings is attributed to enhanced infiltration and evaporation rates at the GERD site, (4) no significant changes observed in the Roseires and Merowe reservoir’s surface areas, although both Nasser and Toshka reservoirs saw a slight increase in surface area during the investigated period, and (5) the observed increase in water storage over the five reservoirs is attributed mainly to increased rainfall rates (6% 10%) and heavy flooding during the GERD filling period. This study emphasizes the critical need for Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt to work together to effectively manage the water resources of the NRB.

Keywords: NILE RIVER BASIN, GERD, LANDSAT, SENTINEL, GRACE

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:02 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

38 INTEGRATING ECOSTRESS THERMAL IMAGES AND GIS TECHNIQUES FOR MAPPING GROWTH FAULT SYSTEMS IN THE CORPUS CHRISTI BAY, TEXAS.

Ahmed Omar1, Mohamed Ahmed1

1Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Physical and Environmental Department; Corpus Christi

The Gulf Coast of Texas has numerous growth faults which provide pathways for groundwater discharge. The contrast in the sea surface temperature (SST) between the groundwater discharge locations and their surroundings was used to spatially delineate these locations. The main purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using the freely ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) SST data as an investigation tool for identifying growth fault locations in Corpus Christi Bay. Locations of growth faults were mapped using the following steps: 1) temporal (from 2018 to 2022) ECOSTRESS images were used to visually identify contrast in SST over growth faults identified from previous studies, 2) statistics (e.g., mean, median, standard deviation, range, etc.) for SST over these area were quantified in a GIS environment, 3) the mean SST value were used to detect other area across the entire Corpus Christi Bay with SST similar to that mean, 4) this exercise was repeated for SST images collected over the same season, and same time of the day, and 5) new SST-derived areas were assembled from different seasons and times over the entire Corpus Christi Bay. Results indicated the mean SST temperature quantified in the summer at morning time was 24.9 °C. The percentage of success in identifying growth fault systems in Corpus Christi Bay was more than 50 %. This study demonstrates that freely available ECOSTRESS SST data is a helpful tool for identifying fault systems in coastal areas.

Keywords: ECOSYSTEM SPACEBORNE THERMAL RADIOMETER EXPERIMENT ON SPACE STATION, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM, GROWTH FAULT SYSTEMS.

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:18 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

39 AUTONOMOUS UAVS NAVIGATION CONSIDERING FIXED/MOVING OBSTACLES AND NO-FLY-ZONES

Syed Izzat Ullah1*, Dr. Jose Baca2, Dr. Pablo Rangel 2

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, TX; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

The adoption of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) beyond research and recreational purposes is projected to grow exponentially in the future as technology advances and regulation evolves. These purposes include, for instance, surveying and mapping, search & rescue, goods delivery, spraying pesticides and fertilizers over agricultural fields, and surveillance. Most of the research regarding UAVs has focused on their mechanical design, communication, control, and navigation. However, an important loophole that has been observed is that these UAVs, lack the capability of avoiding fixed/moving obstacles/objects and sensitive spaces (a.k.a., No-Fly-Zones) in their flight mission. Allowing the UAVs in the space especially over the No-Fly-Zones such as airports, military bases, schools, etc., may cause a considerable danger because of software/hardware malfunction, privacy intrusion, security concerns, or collisions with the surrounding and/or among themselves. Hence, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has set certain protocols and principles to ensure safe navigation of UAVs. To alleviate this concern, we are developing an ecosystem based on the state-of-the-art techniques such as multi-UAVs motion planning coupled with geospatial information, to enable a UAV or group of UAVs, to autonomously carry out their tasks while avoiding the No-Fly-Zones and collisions with any fixed or moving obstacles. As proof of concept, we plan to implement No-Fly-Zones in a realistic simulation framework such as the Airsim in the Unreal engine and develop a decentralized multi-UAV navigation system within the simulation framework. The results of this work will advance the state-of-the-art path planning and navigational techniques incorporating the No-Fly-Zones for the UAVs. This work will also have significant impact on the long awaiting realization of the drone delivery system and provide a pathway to safe and autonomous navigation for multi-UAVs goods transportation systems.

Keywords: UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE, UAV, PATH PLANNING, NAVIGATION, NO-FLY-ZONES

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:34 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

40 UAV SWARM-BASED SYNCHRONOUS ARRAY IMAGING FOR COASTAL ENVIRONMENTS

Josh Boyd1,2,4, Dr. Jose Baca2 & Dr. Michael Starek 3

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, and Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying & Science, 4Research and Innovation, Lone Star UAS Center, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Satellites can provide images with a spatial resolution of 30cm/pixel that cover large remote areas that allow us to observe large geospatial features. However, if a deeper analysis is required (e.g., measuring pollutants such as trash, chemicals, oil spills, shape of smaller waves, etc.), then higher resolution images are required. Nowadays, capturing high-resolution images can be achieved by getting closer to the area of interest with better equipment. One option is to use an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with cameras to fly over the area and take a series of pictures with spatial resolutions up to 1cm/pixel. Thereafter, images can be unified via software to display one single picture containing better information. The outcome is good if the area presents a static environment (i.e., no movements). Merging imagery from Coastal environments is challenging due to the continuous movement of ocean waves and gusts of wind. A team of UAVs could capture a synchronized array of images and cover a larger area in a fraction of the time it would take for a single UAV. This research objective attempts to develop a strategy for controlling a UAV swarm to navigate a specific area and capture a synchronized array of images. Three overarching goals are proposed: 1) allow a UAV swarm to fly and keep a formation using flocking techniques, 2) increase image detail over a large area by developing and implementing a synchronized image capture technique with multiple UAVs, and 3) provide image geolocation by utilizing the GPS and IMU, along with the Remote ID (RID) from each UAV. Remote ID (RID) enables a UAV to broadcast location and identification information for safe flight operations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires RID capability for UAVs, effective September 16, 2023, making it necessary to combine these considerations into new research.

Keywords: AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, FORMATION FLIGHT, IMAGE SYNCHRONIZATION, DRONE SWARM

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Proposal

11:50 AM, UC Jetty 123, Geoscience and Costal Mapping, Oral 15min

41 EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT GNSS SOLUTIONS ON UAS-SFM ACCURACY FOR SHORELINE SURVEYING

José Pilartes-Congo1,2*, Michael J. Starek1,2, Damian Manda3, Jacob Berryhill2

1Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2MANTIS Laboratory - Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Mapping; 3Office of Coast Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The use of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) equipped with digital cameras and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry has proven an effective surveying technique for high resolution topographic mapping of exposed shorelines within coastal zones. Traditionally, UAS-SfM surveys that require high accuracy georeferencing are conducted with the use of rigorous ground control point (GCP) networks. However, this approach is tedious, can be costly due to human labor and resources needed for long stretches of coastline, and may be impractical along inaccessible and remote regions of coastlines. In this study, solutions are investigated to achieve high-accuracy point clouds and digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from UAS-SfM without GCP networks using different types of real-time and post-processed global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning techniques onboard the UAS. The study consists of a wave dominated, sandy beach environment located on Mustang Island, Texas, USA. GNSS methods explored include Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) corrections using local and remote base stations, and Precise Point Positioning (PPP). Multiple UAS platforms are evaluated and SfM accuracies results compared to ground control surveys using a total station, RTK GNSS, and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Results from this study are aimed at optimizing UAS photogrammetric data acquisition workflows along coastlines in support of the NOAA Office of Coast Survey and will benefit other UAS users in the surveying community.

Keywords: UAS, SHORELINE MAPPING, REMOTE SENSING, GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS, GEOMATICS

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:30 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

42 IDENTIFYING GEOGRAPHIC-SPECIFIC PRIORITY GROUPS FOR COVID-19 BOOSTER VACCINE UPTAKE FROM A COUNTY-WIDE POPULATION-BASED VACCINE RECORD DATASET

Md Mahabubur Rahman (1) *, Lucy Huang (1)

1. Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA

It has been proven that vaccination is the most effective way a person could help prevent COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death. The purpose of this study is to identify geographic-specific priority groups for COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake from a population-based vaccine record dataset in Nueces County, located in south Texas with substantial sociodemographic diversity. The dataset was obtained from the Nueces County Public Health Department which contained all residents over the age of twelve that received at least one COVID-19 vaccine from December 2020 through the end of August 2022. We included a total of 228,097 residents, which represents 65% of the total respective population of Nueces County. To investigate how the impact of sociodemographic factors on COVID-19 non-boosted residents varied over the county, we applied Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). The percentage of non-boosted individuals among the fully vaccinated (different age and racial/ethnic groups) was the response variable. Various factors (socio-demographic status; household composition and disability; minority status and language; and housing type and transportation) from the latest 2020 Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) from CDC were used as the explanatory variables. According to the results individuals living below the poverty line, without a high school diploma, males, Hispanics, youth, and senior are less likely to receive booster shots. Our findings will help determine geographic-specific priority groups for COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake, which will contribute to the evaluation, assistance, and improvement of our community’s COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake rate.

Keywords: COVID-19 VACCINE, BOOSTER, SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS, SOCIAL VULNERABILITY INDEX (SVI), GEOGRAPHICALLY WEIGHTED REGRESSION (GWR)

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:46 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

43 COASTAL COMMUNITY RESILIENCE: A PILOT STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MENTAL HEALTH IN A SOUTH TEXAS ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITY.

Ana Guerrero1*, Yuxia (Lucy) Huang2

Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi1; Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology1; Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi2; Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology2; Center for Geospatial and Environmental Informatics, Modeling and Simulation2;

Good mental health is central to the well-being of people. Both large-scale natural or environmental disasters are always accompanied by increases in depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among residents in Nueces County, Texas, during the summer of 2022 to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on depression and anxiety. Nueces County’s population is over 64% Hispanic, making it the most common ethnic group. A total of 177 participants have been surveyed. The survey questions include basic socio-demographic information and self-reported depression and anxiety before COVID-19. In addition, to evaluate the participants’ depression and anxiety, we adopted respectively the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires. According to a statistical power analysis using G\*Power we conducted, 165 participants would make the regression model with 32 independent variables sensitive enough to detect an effect size of f2=0.18 (α=0.05; power=0.80). ) By applying ordinal logistic regression, our findings highlighted those who had depression and/anxiety before COVID-19 were impacted significantly and their depression and/or anxiety disorders were getting worse due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adults with less education are more likely to have depression and/or anxiety compared with those who had received higher education. Surprisingly, compared to non-Hispanic adults, Hispanic adults in Nueces County were impacted less by both depression and anxiety due to COVID-19. These findings will help determine what populations to target for improvement of mental health, which will contribute to evaluation, assistance, and improvement of our community’s physical, behavioral, and social health after COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19, POST-PANDEMIC, COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, POST-DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:02 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

44 DEATH COMES FOR ALL

Julianna Ortiz

Department of History, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This presentation will explore the increase of Mexican immigrants in the 1940s, and the rise of Narco Culture in South Texas during the early and late 90s, all of which have resulted in folklore and customs that are derived from Catholicism. These are factors which contribute to the apprehensive conversation that Mexican Americans tend to have regarding death and superstition. Folk Saints like Santisma Muerte and Jesús Malverde have been beloved by many Hispanic communities, and despite being regarded as saints they may never gain recognition from the Catholic Church due to what they represent. These folk saints represent the idea that death comes for all regardless of factors like class, religion, or career choices, as well as being prayed to for protection against the law. Folk Saints have been ostracized from the Catholic Church and feared by many Mexican Americans. Conducting more research historically will allow us to comprehend why Mexican Americans and the Catholic Church tend to be fearful of certain groups and entities that they have deemed immoral or frightening. We can also learn and understand how these entities have helped to shape different communities throughout Hispanic culture within South Texas.

Keywords: BORDERLANDS, CATHOLICISM, CANONIZED SAINTS, MEXICAN AMERICANS, CARTEL.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:18 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

45 THE GRACE OF LOSS: A NON-FICTION VISUAL POEM READING

Sarah Bellanger*, Dr. Lizbette Ocasio-Russe

Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

I am proposing a fifteen-minute oral reading of my non-fiction visual poem. One week after my birthday last year, my grandmother died of stomach cancer. She did not want a service, so my family just had a burial for her. Before her burial though, my mom and aunt decided to put my grandmother on a ventilator, so everyone could say goodbye. This visual poem is about the two days I spent in the hospital before she died. The reason why I wrote this poem was because, I knew that I could turn this experience into something beautiful, and also make sense of what had happened. The goal of the visual poem is to have the listener feel like they are in the hospital with me. To achieve these feelings, I turned my poem into a heart monitor, not only because it was the one thing that was making noise in the room, but because it also represents my grandmother’s body, gradually declining. I use a mixture of rhyming and prose to mimic her heartrate. The rhyming represents the active heartrate, and the prose represents the flatline—the aspects of death that shouldn’t rhyme because there is no way to sugarcoat a loved one dying. I decided to use PowerPoint as my medium because I wanted the poem to feel alive; I accomplish this by using transitions which contributes to the actionality of the poem. The main focus of this poem was to concentrate on abstract imagery, connotating the sounds and emotions I was feeling while watching the event of my grandmother’s death.

Keywords: POEM, GRIEF, DEATH, ACCEPTANCE, HOSPITAL

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

46 WHAT IMPACTS HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SYSTEMS HAD ON TEACHING AND TEACHING RETENTION IN THE POST PANDEMIC WORLD?

Julie Light1 & Kimberly Reinhardt2

1Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Teachers are leaving the educational field at a much higher rate than before. Since the Covid Pandemic in 2020, retention rates for teachers have begun to lessen and it is becoming more difficult to fill available teaching positions at many schools. This study seeks to find the reason behind why so many teachers are leaving and if administrative support would be able to fix this. This study uses peer-reviewed articles and qualitative research to find out why teachers are leaving their field and if there is a way to reverse this.  To find a link between administrative support and teacher retention rates, I researched many articles and other research studies to see how administrative support affects teaching. Many studies showed the result that administrative support had a direct effect on whether a teacher wanted to continue with their profession or leave. If administrative support was high and benefited teachers, teachers would stay at their school for many years. If administrative support was low and the teachers were not treated as they wished, many teachers left before they had been at the school for more than 5 years. To see if teachers in Corpus Christi Independent School District feel that administrative support was important in their position, I will be using qualitative research in the form of a survey. I will be emailing teachers and administrative staff a survey to find their concerns and thoughts toward administrative support in different schools. This survey will allow teachers and administrators to come forward with how they can be better supported and how they can help teachers want to stay in their profession. The survey results are pending. The results of the survey could indicate the need for possible administrative or school policy changes.  

Keywords: EDUCATION, POLICY CHANGE, TEACHER SATISFACTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:50 AM, UC Marlin 317, Health and Wellness, Oral 15min

47 ANALYZING THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THOSE THAT SHOW NEED FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND THOSE THAT UTILIZE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN NUECES COUNTY

Cherish Burks*

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christ

In 2020, the Texas Statewide Behavioral Health Coordinating Council revealed its vision to ensure that Texas has a unified approach to the delivery of behavioral health services that highlighted access to appropriate care at the right time and place. In the same year, Nueces County received the results of a comprehensive behavioral health community needs assessment. The information collected provided a strong foundation on how to address service needs from a stakeholder perspective but lacked the view from the possible user of services. In this project, we propose to complete a descriptive cross-sectional survey of the residents of Nueces County, Corpus Christi and gather information on the community’s understanding and utilization of behavioral health services. Further, we aim to identify if social determinants of health impact understanding and/or utilization of behavioral health services. The goal of the project is to obtain information that can be utilized by stakeholders engaged in behavioral health for improving access and utilization of services. Similar research has been done, most of it focusing on students or student athletes, but not many studies have focused on the general public. A survey tool was utilized to assess the community in relation to understanding and utilization. The survey was offered in high-traffic areas including, but limited to health fairs, churches, community events, and on-campus events at TAMUCC and Del Mar. The results of the survey were categorized by gender, age, race/ethnicity, annual income, whether the participant has health insurance, and other aspects. The data collected by this service will offer an unbiased perspective into the accessibility of mental health services in Nueces County to the stakeholders of the county that can implement the changes necessary to fight this known disparity.

Keywords: HEALTHCARE, PSYCHOLOGY, RACIAL-ETHNIC MINORITIES, MENTAL ILLNESS

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:30 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

48 EMOTION DETECTION USING FEDERATED LEARNING.

Katta Yamini, Mehdi Sookhak

Department of Computer Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA

Nowadays, early identification and accurate diagnosis of mental and emotional health challenges, including depression, panic disorder, phobia, and isolation, play a critical role in the humans’ physical health, education, and social life. The emotional well-being of an individual can be assessed by identifying emotional states from various physiological data. Interest has grown in the area of affective computing, which employs both hardware and software to identify emotional states. Although a few machine learning based methods (i.e., deep learning) have been developed to detect the human emotion using images, video, and speech recognition frameworks, the majority of such methods are not considering the users’ privacy as a critical factor. However, the users must share the data with a centralized server (i.e., cloud or high-performance computing) which is responsible to perform the diagnosis. To overcome this issue, we proposed a new emotion detection model on the basis of federated learning wherein the users have capability to locally train the model without jeopardizing their privacy. The main idea behind the proposed method is to develop a novel aggregation model by considering the weights of all the emotions and combining all the local models based on the mean and median values of the weights. The result of our federated learning framework clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed method with an accuracy of 83.6% in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods. Our further work will be an extension for this work, which will be the suicide detection.

Keywords: FEDERATED LEARNING, EMOTION RECOGNITION, CENTRALIZED SERVER, GLOBAL MODEL, SUICIDE DETECTION

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

10:40 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

49 EXAMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STEADY TEEN WORKBOOK FOR IMPROVING PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH IN ADOLESCENTS

James Ikonomopoulos & Yunyun Zhang*

Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

An estimated 15.08% of youth experienced a major depressive episode in 2020 and less than 40% of youth with major depression received mental health treatment (Reinert et al., 2021). Youths suffering from depression presented a higher risk of disease, comorbid psychiatric conditions, and suicide attempts. Additionally, youth with depression were more vulnerable to experiencing social, behavioral, juridical, academic, and substance abuse issues (Stikkelbroek et al. 2013). Therefore, it is important that that depression is treated in an early stage with an effective treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the STEADY teen workbook for improving mental well-being and reducing depressive symptoms in adolescents. Using a single-case research design (SCRD), two participants were recruited to participate in this study. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) were administered to participants at the beginning of each counseling session. We collected 11 data points from each participants with 3 data points at the baseline phrase and 8 data points at the treatment phrase. The findings are mixed in the two participants and the assessments. The percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND) of participant one (PND = .75) in the WEMWBS indicated that the STEADY workbook was effective to increase participant’s mental well-being. However, the PND of participant one (PND = .38) in the CES-D indicated that the STEADY workbook was ineffective to decrease participant’s depression. On the contrary, an analysis of WEMWBS and CES-D in participant two showed different results compared to participant one. It is worth noting that participant one mainly presented anxiety and participant two depression, which might explain the different results in different assessments among the two participants.

Keywords: ADOLESCENTS, STEADY, DEPRESSION, MENTAL WELL-BEING

Award Category: grad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

10:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

50 WAIT FOR IT: THE INFLUENCE OF DELAYED INFORMATION ABOUT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ON DATING INTENTIONS

Rose Rodriguez1*, Yuliana Zaikman1,2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2McNair Scholars Program, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

In online dating, quick judgments are often made based on appearance as photos take centerstage on dating applications. Research has indicated that traditionally attractive individuals have benefitted from first impressions and are often perceived as having positive characteristics due to their appearance. This phenomenon is often referred to as the halo effect. The present study investigated the impact of delaying information about physical appearance on attraction and dating intentions. Specifically, the present study employed a 2 (physical attractiveness) by 2 (order presentation: photo then description and photo or description then description and photo) by 2 (rating 1 vs. rating2) mixed subjects design. We controlled for participants’ gender, sexual orientation, and age. We hypothesized that delaying information about physical appearance would benefit only the physically attractive targets. For the study, 450 participants were recruited through Prolific and were randomly assigned one of the four conditions. Participants were asked to review the profile and then indicate their attraction and dating intentions toward the described individual. Our results illustrate that delaying information is beneficial for attractive individuals while detrimental for unattractive individuals.

Keywords: ATTRACTION, BIAS, SOCIAL ATTRACTION, PHYSICAL ATTRACTION, DATING PROFILES, ONLINE DATING

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:00 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 8min

51 DON’T STAY HOME: WHAT WONDER WOMAN CAN TELL US ABOUT 1970S GENDER ROLES

Annika Linguist

Department of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Wonder Woman is a superhero from the comic book, Wonder Woman, created by William Moulton Marston and published through DC Comics. DC Comics started the publication of Wonder Woman in the 1940s and in the 1970s was adapted into a Tv series starring Lynda Carter. The Tv series ran from 1975 to 1979 for three seasons. During this time, the woman’s rights movement gained momentum, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed to Congress, the gay liberation movement had started, and the Vietnam War had just ended. In addition to this, women’s roles were changing as more women were entering the workforce and started straying from traditional gender roles. The Tv Series, Wonder Woman, shows the changing gender roles of the 1970s in a feminist light by highlighting women’s newer roles in society. However, what the show portrays as a feminist ideal, was far from reality. The reality of 1970s gender roles were patriarchal in nature, and housewifery was still considered to be ideal for women. However, during this time, women started protesting this and feminism was reflected in the media throughout the 1970s with Wonder Woman being one of them.

Keywords: TELEVISION, POP CULTURE, WOMEN’S HISTORY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:10 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Video

52 WELCOME TO THE FAMILY

Adrian Martinez

Department of Communication & Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Welcome to the Family is a dramatic short film that was created as part of the Intermediate Narrative Production class here at TAMUCC. Welcome to the Family is the story of a young struggling Latina single-mother, in order to make ends meet amid ever growing poverty, decides to become a debt collector for a local gang but soon, and painfully, realizes she may in over her head as the line between right and wrong becomes blurred. The film is 15-minutes long and was shot entirely throughout the various locations of Corpus Christi. Already this film has screened at multiple film festivals and won multiple awards, including Best Student Film at the 2022 Rockport Film Festival, Best Short Narrative Film at the TAMUCC Media Showcase, Outstanding Narrative Film at the 2022 SAMC Awards, and its director won the Up & Coming Filmmaker Award at the 2022 South Texas Underground Film Festival. Welcome to the Family is the directorial debut of its director, Adrian Martinez, who also produced, co-wrote, co-edited, and production designed the film. It is a Latino crime drama, that was heavily inspired by the aesthetics of 70s Blaxploitation films and themes of 90s Hood films, in order to tell not an exploitative story, but rather a humanistic one that explores the intersections of class, race, and gender to tell the story of how far oppressed people will go in order to survive.

Keywords: CINEMA, MOVIE, LATINX, COMMUNICATION, VIDEO

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Completed

11:34 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 15min

53 “YOU'LL ALWAYS BE MY LITTLE SHE/HER”: EXPLORING THE ERASURE OF NONBINARY GENDER IDENTITIES

Bailey Otter* and Daniel Bartholomay

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

The nonbinary (NB) community is a unique subgroup of the LGBTQ+ population widely underrepresented in academic studies. Most current research on NB people does not distinguish the ways in which their identities are distinct from the transgender community at large. Additionally, there are limited studies that examine how nonbinary individuals cultivate their gender expression. Expanding upon the limited research of NB individuals will allow for more visibility and understanding of this marginalized group within sociology, other fields, and for the public. Through semi-structured interviews with NB people throughout the United States, this project will address the gaps in literature by developing an idea of how NB individuals utilize the gender binary and the concept of “doing gender” within their gender expression. As of now, the project is recruiting participants and has started interviews, with a target of 30 participants. Utilizing an interactionist approach, this project will allow for a deep dive into the expression of NB individuals and their experiences throughout the United States. Studying and understanding the expression of NB people will allow for greater interdisciplinary discourse and make room for the NB community both within and outside of academia.

Keywords: LGBT+, TRANSGENDER, NONBINARY, GENDERQUEER, GENDER IDENTITY.

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

11:50 AM, UC Oso 221, Potpourri, Oral 15min

54 INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF NANO CARBON BLACK ON ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, RESISTIVE HEATING, AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE: POTENTIAL FOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL APPLICATIONS

Daniel Garcia 1*, Paige Martinez 2, Amina Nawaz 2, Mahmoud Badawi1 & Nancy Soliman 2

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Electron conducting bulk composite materials, in which insulating bulk materials are doped with highly electron conductive constituents, offer new design opportunities for engineers to harvest novel functionalities of classical insulating bulk materials, such as concrete. These functionalities range from generating heat through current flowing through a conductor, known as the resistive heating or Joule effect, to the storage of electric energy by using these materials as electrodes for electrical energy storage systems. In this research, we investigate the effects of incorporating nano carbon black (nCB) into ultra-high-performance concrete to create nanomodified electron conductive ultra-high-performance concrete NEC-UHPC composites. The research investigates the electrical conductivity, resistive heating, and mechanical properties using multiscale engineering approach of the NEC-UHPC composite. The results show that the addition of nCB significantly enhances the electrical conductivity and resistive heating of the NEC-UHPC at low voltage but reduces its macro-mechanical strength due to two competing nano-to-microscale mechanisms. These mechanisms include macroscale decohesion due to the loosening of the packing density of nano-sized CSH particles and a frictional enhancement due to the filler effect of nCB filling capillary pores. However, the filler effect leads to an increase in fracture toughness due to crack deflection. These scale-bridging functional relations can eventually be fine-tuned to avoid macroscopic strength loss in structural electrodes and have the potential to become a basis for science-enabled engineering of true multi-functional cement-carbon-based composites.

Keywords: SUSTAINABILITY, INFRASTRUCTURE, CONSTRUCTION, NANOTECHNOLOGY

Award Category: undergrad_oral-video-performance; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

56 A TALE OF TWO LOVERS

Gabriella Hoss

Department of Art + Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This dinner set illustrates the one-sided nature of love shown through two distinct lenses of a couple. Recollections of the relationship have been captured and memorialized into the crockery via sgraffito. The yellow and blue colors show the perspective of the individual. The color changes as they grow into each other\’s lives. The viewer sees them become more comfortable with each other as they explore their love through words of affection and drawings that represent specific moments.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

57 EXPLORING PERSONAL NARRATIVES THROUGH MANIPULATED OBJECTS, AND NATURAL ELEMENTS AND THE HUMAN FIGURE.

Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz

1College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Through sculptural mediums I blur the line between real and fictional by overlapping, distorting, and manipulating the human figure, common objects and natural elements. I am interested in creating surreal narratives to communicate my individual experiences, emotions, psychological struggles, and relationships with the self, others, and the environment. 

Keywords: NA

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

58 RITUAL REUNION

Adam Haney1*

Department of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The process of making pots allows me to be in the moment, slow down a bit and reconnect with what I consider to be “real” in life. Making utilitarian pots gives the opportunity to more easily share this process with others by replacing store bought vessels with something made by hand with natural ingredients. The simple rituals of eating and drinking provide regular opportunities to bring people together. Picking up and observing a handmade vessel prompts questions like “how” and “why” that are unlikely with something produced in a factory.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

59 PURO CHINGON EL ZINE: 100 YEARS OF ZINE MAKING

Noah Melendez* & Alexandria Canchola

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Art & Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Zines are small independently-published printed forms of expression. Authors of zines use limited materials to communicate ideas at mass scale. From printing to distribution, zines have historically been affordable, expedient, and easy to share. Throughout the mid-late 20th century zines covered a wide range of topics from fandom to protest. Throughout this research I came to understand how this small format disseminated ideas that dispelled misinformation. Acting on a sense of nostalgia, I specifically gravitated toward the 1990s era of zine making. The zines I created represent a reaction to the research completed and exist as creative collections of thought.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

60 HYBRID PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICE

William Burkholder (presenting as William VB)

Art and Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M Corpus Christi

I want to present fine art photography prints created during my first year in the interdisciplinary studio practice MFA program. My art practice is an ongoing dissection of the suburban experience, aesthetic, and ideal. I want to display various inkjet prints shown with a digital camera and lumen prints made through a traditional analog process. My presentation will show how working with older processes can create viable artwork and how contemporary digital imaging and editing technology can be used alongside older techniques. I would also like to speak about my work for five minutes during the speech sessions.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

61 LOCAL LANDSCAPES

Daniel De Leon

Computer Science, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

I want to display prints of local landscapes that spoke to me as a child. I am an undergrad student getting a degree in Computer Science who has a love for photography and keeping memorabilia for myself. My work challenges various cliches found within the photography community and tradition.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

62 PERSONAL PROJECTS/ WORK FROM PHOTOGRAPHY 1

Kenya Outley

Department of Art & Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

I’ll be presenting images and paintings that I made personally throughout the year as well as in my Photography 1 class this semester.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

63 WORK FROM PHOTOGRAPHY I

Derek Smith

1Department of Art + Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

I will be presenting my work from Photography I so far. There are various genres and academic concepts explored through the frames.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

64 EXPLORATION OF 2D WORKS

William Livingston

Department of Art + Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

As a student in the fine art program working on homing my skills in various categories of 2D art, I will be displaying my best 2D works from photography 1, printmaking, and painting. The works will be centered around my personal experiences and my perspective of daily life.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

65 GEN Z MOSS

Danielle Avinger Russell

Department of Art + Design, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Gen Z Moss Sea Moss wellness brands made by Gen Z, and created for everyone. I’ve integrated graphic design, and performance into an ensemble that modernize an age-old superfood. I believe that a cohesive visual identity, combined with representation of Fine Art’s, will capture the attention of our target audience and pique their interest in our products. Our theme, \“Gen Z On the Block,\” reflects my roots in Chicago\’s vibrant culture, where murals on street walls ooz with legacy and history. I’ve created an immersive experience that highlights the importance of sea moss for a healthy lifestyle of everyone.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

66 SANITARY

Alyssa Valdez

Department of Art, College of Liberal Arts

Sanitary \“Lather Rinse Repeat. Lather Rinse Repeat. Touch Doorknob. Lather Rinse Repeat. Brushed against the table. Lather Rinse Repeat\….Trapped in an endless loop. Don\’t touch the Red: door-handle, table, chair, dog\…. Only touch the Green: bed, sink, shower, desk. Follow the Rules: \Cannot touch door-knobs once you wash your hands \Only the towels in the downstairs closet are clean \*Once you are in your pajamas you must stay \“clean\” or you will contaminate your bed. Trapped in an Endless loop

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Gallery

67 WASHED

Alyssa Quezada

Department of Art & Design, Graphic Design Program, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Suffering / Pain // Grace // Torment // Forbearance // Agony / Weeping //Forgiveness// Bondage / Gnashing of teeth // Joy /// A Conviction /// An atonement /// A sacrifice /// A surrogate /// Sorrow // Cleanliness // Death // Restoration // Freedom // And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)

Keywords: NA

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

68 JUST A GIRL: FEMINISM IN NO DOUBT ANTHEM

Amber Click

College of Education and Human Development, Curriculum & Instruction, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This research poster discusses feminist theory. It relates feminist theory to pop culture by relating it to a song by the rock band No Doubt. The lyrics of the song was analyzed by using in vivo coding to help the researcher to understand the meaning and story behind the lyrics. After the lyrics were analyzed, six themes related to feminist theory were found within the song. The presentation presents how feminist theory is seen in this 1995 song sung by the band No Doubt.

Keywords: EMPOWERMENT, FEMALES, WOMEN, GWEN STEFANI, ROCK BAND, THEORY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

69 ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF COLORADO RIVER DELTA IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE MATAGORDA BAY SYSTEM

Daunte Gaiter1,Greg Stunz,2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi;

The Matagorda Bay ecosystem is home to a variety of habitats that are vital to the health of The Colorado River Delta. This Delta plays a critical role in the Gulf of Mexico since it is one of the few Deltas that continues to expand. The Colorado River Delta is a sanctuary to numerous estuarine organisms ranging from Plankton, Crabs, Shrimp, Trout, and Redfish. Our objective is to achieve a broad ecological health assessment of the Matagorda Bay System, by collecting benthic samples across the Matagorda Bay System. This data will be used to build a cohesive plan for maintaining the overall health of the Matagorda Bay system.

Keywords: BIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, FISH, MATAGORDA BAY, CHANNELS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

71 GROUND BASED HAIL REPORTS AND PROPERTIES OF A RADAR DERIVED CONVECTIVE FEATURE DATABASE

Edward Vasquez1* & Chuntao Liu1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Hail contributes a substantial amount to the severe weather-related economic losses in the United States each year. The ability to observe such storms have markedly improved in recent decades. Radar remains one of the principal ways hail is detected in real-time. Validation of ground-based radar observations are done with reports typically originating from directly measuring hail stones. These reports are aggregated within the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Storm Database. The criteria for inclusion in the Storm database are hail ¾ inches or larger, or any hail that causes damage to property or results in casualties. To supplement the NCEI Storm Data, the Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) crowd source project data are used for hail reports with sizes down to ¼ of an inch. The NCEI Storm Data and mPING reports are paired with convective features derived from MultiRadar/Multi-Sensor System (MRMS) products from January 2018 through June of 2022. Collocation of reports are conducted every six minutes and include a timestep before and after the report and within a convective feature ellipse area or within five kilometers of a report. We investigate the relationships between the characteristics of convective features and the hail sizes in collocated reports. The environmental properties from ERA-5 reanalysis are used to explore how thermodynamic environments potentially influence the relationships between the radar reflectivity of convective features to the size of hail reaching the ground.

Keywords: CLIMATOLOGY, THUNDERSTORM

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

72 DEVELOPMENT OF A MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEM FOR DETECTING THE ATMOSPHERIC POTENTIAL OF WILDFIRE-DRIVEN THUNDERSTORMS

Evan Krell 1,2*, Chuyen Nguyen4 , Jason Nachamkin3, David Peterson3, Edward Hyer3, Scott King1,2, Phillippe Tissot1,2, Beto Estrada1,2, Kelvin J. Tory5,6 & James Campbell3

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; 2NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate and Coastal Oceanography; 3U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL-MRY), Monterey; 4American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); 5Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne; 6Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre

Under favorable atmospheric conditions, intense heat from a large, hot wildfire can generate deep, smoke-infused storms resembling conventional thunderstorms called pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb). We have developed a machine learning pipeline for detecting the atmospheric potential of wildfires in producing pyroCbs. This is challenging because pyroCbs are extreme events; machine learning typically struggles to learn from relatively few examples and highly imbalanced datasets. Our pipeline involves fusing input data sources to assemble a training dataset, applying feature selection and data balancing techniques, and training with several machine learning algorithms. The alignment stage matches expert-identified pyroCb coordinates with fire locations detected from the Terra and Aqua satellites. PyroCbs are matched to the nearest fire within time and distance thresholds. We analyze the unaligned pyroCbs to identify alignment error sources. We prune non-pyroCb cases based on the distribution of pyroCb fire data. This reduces class imbalance and removes potentially problematic cases. The training data contains many weak fires, whereas pyroCb cases are strong fires. Because of cloud cover, many strong fires are detected as lower strength which adds confusing training samples. Our goal is to learn atmospheric conditions favorable to pyroCb development. So, we use pyroCb data to threshold the non-pyroCb cases to only those comparable to pyroCbs. We train models for pyroCb detection including Random Forest and Neural Networks. We use these to look for consistencies in how, for example, additional features or different choices of pruning thresholds affect model performance. We analyzed the impact of pyroCb geographic distribution and the choice of satellite, atmospheric model data, and features used for training. We use XAI to assess a model’s ability to learn relationships among input features. We show that relying on conventional pre-training feature importance techniques can lower performance by removing features with low information individually but that are important in combination.

Keywords: METEOROLOGY, FORECASTING, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, REMOTE SENSING, WEATHER

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

73 THE IMPACT OF THE KOGNITO SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM ON THE CAMPUS OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY CORPUS-CHRISTI

Maike Holleck

Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Suicide is affecting university campuses all over the United States with approximately 1037 attempted suicides in the college student population yearly (Healthy Minds Network, 2021). University administrators, staff, and faculty are at the forefront of suicide prevention, in their classes, and on their campuses. One way suicide prevention has been implemented on the campus of Texas A&M University Corpus-Christi, is by utilizing the online, videogame and avatar-based program Kognito in classrooms, with student organizations, and as assignments. This poster presentation is aimed at informing stakeholders about the prevalence of suicide on college campuses, the impact and effectiveness of Kognito on students’ willingness to intervene and their self-efficacy around the topic on the campus of Texas A&M University Corpus-Christi, as well as providing ways to further incorporate the Kognito program into suicide prevention strategies, for faculty and staff, as well as the university community at large. Research reported in this presentation was collected as part of the Islander Suicide Prevention through Education, Awareness, and Knowledge (I-SPEAK) grant project. The project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services of the Department of Health and Human Services under award number 1H79SM084118-01.

Keywords: SUICIDE PREVENTION, STUDENT SAFETY, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH, MENTAL HEALTH, SUICIDE INTERVENTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

74 ACCESSING HEALTHCARE: THE UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED

Lauren Reyna

TAMU-CC Honors Program; Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation

The goal of this project is to investigate and to understand the implications of barriers to health care on individuals and the community of the Coastal Bend. This work is important because it will educate me about the different types of barriers that exist in receiving healthcare. To learn more about this problem, I volunteered at the Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation (CBWF), observing and assisting case managers with helping their patients access needed care. My experience shows that there are a variety of methods and resources available to those in need for the variety of problems they face. This is significant for my personal growth and development, as it will make me a more empathetic person and able to connect with people from all walks of life, which is important to me as a future healthcare provider.

Keywords: SERVICE, COMMUNITY, HEALTH, INSURANCE, CARE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

75 A NUECES COUNTY DAYCARE ALTERNATIVE

Nike VanZandt

Honors Program, College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of my service is to caretake for children free of charge. One of six people in Corpus Christi live in poverty according to Nueces County’s 2022 report so by giving parents a free place to send their young ones other than paying for daycare, a nanny, or even leaving children home alone (Nueces County Community Action Agency, Board Governance Approval, 2022). I am helping families take one thing off their shoulders: the finance of their child’s well-being. Statistically, Texas’ pre-k system meets only 2 of 10 quality standards, ranking 28 out of 50 nationally. This overcrowding in the classrooms leaves parents with an alternative: daycare (Nueces County Community Action Agency, Board Governance Approval, 2022). I am partnering with Third Coast Church in Corpus Christi to learn better caretaking for young kids. I expect to use this experience to prepare me for serving kids on my mission trip in the developing country. I have been chosen to serve on a 4-week internship in Antigua, Guatemala, this summer as a sports ministry athlete serving kids. I will be even more prepped for my mission trip as I learn how to serve kids of the same age, but across the border. My community will benefit from my service at Third Coast Kids by giving parents a free child-care option.

Keywords: SERVICE, CHILDCARE, FAITH BASED, BIBLE STUDY, MINISTRY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

76 BIOCHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION OF VIBRIO VULNIFICUS AND VIBRIO OSTREICIDA FROM THE COASTAL BEND REGION.

Brian Kostoch*1, F. Itzanami Valdez1, Huy N.T. Le2, Gregory W. Buck1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, TAMUCC; 2 Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing & Health Sciences, TAMUCC

Vibrio vulnificus (Vv) and Vibrio ostreicida (Vo) are Gram-negative, halophilic bacteria that inhabit marine and estuarine waters. Vv may cause septicemia or necrotizing fasciitis, potentially leading to fatalities. Vo is pathogenic to bivalve mollusk larvae but little is known about potential pathogenicity in humans. This study focused on characterizing phenotypes between Vv and Vo isolates found in the Coastal Bend region. The significance is to differentiate Vv and Vo so that any infections resulting from flooding due to hurricanes may be better treated. The hypothesis was that Vo would be negative for ornithine and lysine decarboxylases, amygdalin and citrate, but Vv would be positive for all four. Using the Vv type strain ATCC 27562 and isolates collected from Bird Island (BI 0607-1 Vo and BI 0607-2 Vv), bacteria were inoculated into broth cultures of lysine, ornithine and amygdalin (0.5 M), streaked onto Simmons Citrate media slants of 7 mL, and incubated at 35oC for 24-48 hr. Experiments were performed three times. Results showed that Vo BI 0607-1 was ornithine and citrate negative as hypothesized but the two Vv strains were either positive or negative. Both Vv strains were citrate positive. All strains were lysine positive, but Vo was predicted to be lysine negative. Amygdalin tests are currently in progress. The results revealed phenotypic differences between V. vulnificus and V. ostreicida, and they are presumptively characterized as separate species. Future studies will involve whole genome sequencing to confirm that the isolates are different species.

Keywords: VIBRIO VULNIFICUS, DIFFERENTIATION, PHENOTYPE, V. OSTREICIDA; BIOCHEMICAL TESTING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

77 ISSUES REGARDING LITERACY IN ADULTS

Brenna Wingate1& Emily Miksch2

1Honors Program, Department of Social Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, Department of Communication and Media, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Literacy Texas (2002) identifies Corpus Christi as one of the most illiterate cities in the United States. In this day and age, reading comprehension is more crucial than ever before due to developing technologies. Literacy is widely known as a key factor to ensuring both academic and personal prosperity (Rothwell, 2020). Furthermore, Limage (1990) found that those who lack literacy skills often feel too ashamed to ask for assistance due to their economic status. Therefore, we have decided to designate my Agents of Change Project toward teaching individuals of the community of what it means to become literate. Specifically, we would like to primarily focus on those who are classified as “economically disadvantaged,” as their access to such resources is scarce compared to their wealthier counterparts. This is because households that are economically disadvantaged statistically have a sharp decrease in access to literature. In Texas, specifically, impoverished individuals make up 43% of those who identify as illiterate (Literacy facts, 2022). For this reason, we would like to assist the Corpus Christi Literacy Council in their work to provide reading comprehension skills to lower-income individuals, thus assisting in breaking the cycle of poverty in Corpus Christi and effectively lowering the literacy rate in the region.

Keywords: SERVICE, EDUCATION, ECONOMY, ESL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

78 TOWARDS LONG-TERM MONITORING OF PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE MATAGORDA BAY SYSTEMS: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND FTIR CHARACTERIZATION OF MACROPLASTICS.  

Casey Gallagher1*, Oluniyi O. Fadare1, Jeremy L. Conkle1,2, and Hussain Abdulla 1. 

1Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, TX; 2Delaware River Basin Commission, Trenton, NJ.

The ecosystem services provided by Texas\‘s coastal bays and estuaries are highly prized assets that fuel the region\’s economy. Tourism, recreational and commercial fisheries in coastal Texas contributed a total of \$24.3 billion to the region\’s economy in 2014 alone, supporting 33,880 jobs. Texas’s coastal zone economic viability of recreational and commercial fisheries is tied to the water quality of our rivers and coastal bays. Plastic debris in rivers, streams, and coastal bays is a growing threat to Texas\’s economy; first, it is unsightly, potentially reducing tourism, and second, it affects aquatic organisms’ health. We monitored and assessed the ubiquitous macroplastic debris within Matagorda Bay as part of our ongoing research on plastics and mercury interaction. From only July 2022 survey, a total of 568 plastic items were collected. The total plastic weight per site ranged between 0.14 and 813.25 g. The sites North and South of the causeway in Point Comfort recorded the highest and lowest macroplastics. Using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the most abundant plastic-type across all sites were polyethylene (33.5%), polypropylene (20.9%), and polystyrene (10%).  Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a positive correlation between the polymer type, plastic color, and sampling location revealing post- consumer plastic discharge. The final outcome of this monitoring program is expected, among others, to provide comprehensive data on plastic litter sources, driving factors, and major contributors that need to be targeted in a litter-minimization strategy to protect Matagorda Bay systems from plastic pollution, reduce the negative effect of mismanaged plastic debris and ensure sustainable recreational and commercial fisheries within bays.

Keywords: COASTAL HEALTH, FTIR, MACROPLASTICS,PLASTICPOLLUTION,MATAGORDA BAY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

80 SERVICE-LEARNING AT THE WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER

Guadalupe Barrera1 & Lesly Zarate2

1Honors Program, Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, Department of Health Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The Wesley Community Center focuses on serving families of low socioeconomic status in Corpus Christi. Our purpose for this community-based project is to learn from these families about their access to health care and ways we can encourage primary care in our future professions. Healthcare is not easily accessible to low-income families due to many factors which include environmental, financial, and cultural that can endanger their health (Porepa et al., 2009). To address this issue, we wanted to obtain a better understanding of our community and its needs, by volunteering at a community center that serves low-income families. We hope to use this opportunity to learn how to be better caregivers and form better relationships within our community.

Keywords: PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, SERVICE, UNDERPRIVILEGED

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

81 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PATIENT EDUCATION ON FREQUENCY OF PAP SMEARS: AN EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE PROJECT 

Eryn Saunders*, Valeria Tamez*, Lakyn Mingst, Faith Savage, Pamela K. Greene PhD, RN

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

A Papanicolaou smear, commonly referred to as a Pap smear, is an evaluation of cervical and vaginal health through physical examination by a healthcare provider certified through the medical board or board of nursing in gynecology. The process can include external visualization of the vaginal and cervical area as well as removing of cervical cells for microscopic examination to identify one of eight commonly seen characteristics of malignant cells that are pathognomonic of carcinomatous changes (Swailes, 2019). Changes such as these suggest the cells present on the patient\’s cervix may have developed cancerous abnormalities that can require a variety of interventions depending on staging and severity. Through this performed examination, women are screened for health conditions such as cervical cancer, “yet, despite advances made in developed countries, it cannot go without mention that worldwide, cervical cancer remains the leading gynecologic malignancy and the fourth most common malignancy affecting women” (Swailes, 2019).  Current research was collected, analyzed, and used to make recommendations in efforts to determine if patient education regarding Pap smears was effective in increasing the incidence of performed examinations.  Being called into question is whether, in women of childbearing years, patient education on Pap smears influences the amount of Pap smear screenings performed annually as compared to patients who did not receive education on the topic and how it relates to their health.  Acquired information through the analysis of the research literature provides an answer to the question raised from which recommendations to promote patient education can be made.  

Keywords: PAP SMEAR, CERVICAL CANCER, CERVICAL SCREENING, WOMEN’S HEALTH, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

82 DRONE2DRONE: A SEARCH AND RESCUE FRAMEWORK FOR FINDING LOST UAV SWARM AGENTS.

Abhishek Phadke1,2, F. Antonio Medrano1,2

1Department of Computing Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi; 2Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi.

The usage of UAV swarms has gained popularity in recent years due to reduced UAV costs and their ability to accomplish tasks as a swarm more quickly and effectively than with a single UAV. Advancements in aircraft design and control, communication topologies, and battery systems have made coordinated UAV swarms possible. One of the most important functions for UAV swarms is Search and Rescue. Here UAVs use onboard sensors to detect missing targets, such as searching for survivor victims after a disaster. This Search and Rescue technique has also expanded to other categories such as animal and forest fire detection, finding survivors at sea, to name a few. However, any disruptions in the dynamic work environment of UAV swarms can lead to the loss of swarm agents themselves. Existing swarm deployments have limited capabilities to track, locate, and rescue their own fallen agents. In this study, we present our recent progress in module development of the Drone2Drone framework, which is a swarm critical framework dedicated to rescuing disabled agents of the swarm during mission progress.

Keywords: *UAV, SWARM, SEARCH AND RESCUE, RESILIENCY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

83 A MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY INTERVENTION TO IMPROVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT-SEEKING ATTITUDES AND INTENTIONS IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

Raven K. Gipson-Washington* & Amy E. Houlihan, Ph.D

Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

African Americans are disproportionately less likely to receive treatment for their mental illness(es) (37.1%) than their European American counterparts (51.8%; NAMI, 2022). This is a public health problem. To confront this problem, it is necessary to address the issue of treatment-seeking. Typically, the first step in the treatment life-cycle is to decide to seek psychological treatment. For African Americans, this decision is often complicated by a significant number of barriers to treatment, unique to the Black experience, including systemic-level barriers, cultural barriers, individual-level barriers, and psychological barriers. The present study will address the psychological barriers. The primary aim of the study is to increase formal psychological treatment-seeking attitudes and intentions by increasing mental health literacy, reducing internalized stigma, and redefining the Black strength schema. To do this, a single-session, online mental health literacy intervention, has been developed specifically for African Americans: the Black Mental Health Education Program - Anxiety and Depression (BMHE-AD). The participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the non-intervention group. It is hypothesized that the intervention group will demonstrate more favorable formal treatment-seeking attitudes and intentions and more informal help-seeking than the non-intervention group. It is also predicted that the intervention group will demonstrate greater mental health literacy, less internalized stigma, and less endorsement of the Black strength schema than the non-intervention group.

Keywords: TREATMENT SEEKING, MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY, INTERVENTION, AFRICAN AMERICAN, BLACK

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

84 FIELD-BASED LEARNING WITH FRIENDS OF REDHEAD POND: NATIVE SPECIES DIVERSITY IN FLOUR BLUFF

Kamilla Anderson¹, Amine Khodja², Aryn Rodriguez¹, Justin Vanderweg³

¹ Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; ² Honors Program, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; ³ Honors Program, Department of Theatre and Dance, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of this project is to volunteer with the Friends of Redhead Pond to better understand species diversity in two ponds, Redhead Pond and Duncan Pond in Flour Bluff, a suburb of Corpus Christi, Texas. Duncan Pond is fed directly from tidal water of the Laguna Madre, Redhead Pond was originally freshwater but due to erosion and storm surges, seawater from the Laguna Madre began to enter the system and raise the salinity. Recently, a low water crossing was constructed to prevent Laguna Madre waters from routinely washing into Redhead Pond and the salinity is slowly decreasing. Salinity influences the growth of native species populations depending on their particular salinity tolerances. Therefore, we expect to find a difference in the pollinator and plant species of the two ponds despite their relative proximity. Using our observation, we will construct a presentation to communicate our results to Flour Bluff elementary school students that go to school adjacent to the ponds. Through field-based service, we will further our understanding of the effects of salinity on habitats. This is an important experience for our future careers as we will practice performing field work as well as our science communication skills.

Keywords: SERVICE, WATER QUALITY, INSECTS, ECOLOGY, ECOSYSTEM, SUSTAINABILITY, OUTREACH

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

85 CONNECTING SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM RECIPIENTS TO RESOURCES AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET.

Julia Stinson 

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University -Corpus Christi 

Areas with an abundance of poverty and lower incomes have increased rates of obesity and poorer health than higher-income communities (Cunningham, 2018). Poverty creates unstable conditions and financial hardships, making it difficult to afford nutritious food. There are two primary situations in which the lack of accessibility to healthy food and nutritional resources can cause poor health. The first is a lack of food consumption. Many people cannot afford to consume the amount of food needed to sustain their daily lives. The second is through the consumption of high-energy, high-caloric foods with inadequate nutritional value. This is usually through fast food or “junk food” that is cheaper and more accessible than fresh produce (Siddiqui, et al. 2020). However, lower-income families can have assistance with buying fresh produce through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP provides funds to individuals or households with a limited income, over the age of 60, or who are disabled (Texas Health and Human Services). Working with my community partner, Grow Local South Texas, I will work to provide the means to purchase and access food for those who are lacking in Corpus Christi. At the weekly Farmers’ Market, customers who utilize SNAP can purchase coupons that can be used similarly to cash at the market’s vendors. This is incredibly important to improve the health and lifestyle of those living in low-income communities. Furthermore, it provides accessibility to cost-efficient, healthy food from local growers. Through this service, I expect to better understand the impact of poverty on the community and the health of those inflicted. Secondly, I hope to provide resources to help in the present and educational skills for the future. 

Keywords: MALNUTRITION, FOOD DESERT, HIDDEN HUNGER, FOOD STAMPS* 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

86 EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH IN SOUTH TEXAS: RAPE CULTURE’S IGNITION IN THE EPIDEMIC OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Marigail Reyna

Honors Program, Department of Social Science, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Rape culture stems from the issue of a community-wide, blissful ignorance and transforms itself into a worldwide epidemic of sexual violence. The prevalence and normality of rape culture brings about the well-known ideology of victim-blaming and misunderstanding that many individuals, including those within our own community of South Texas, must confront every single day. The blame could be placed upon faulty education systems and local societal structures; however, the ultimate solution lies within the mindsets of each singular individual. The concept then becomes a decision, to avoid or to become aware. Educating the people of our community on topics of safety and self-defense is essential in protecting them. Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish rape as a morally wrong act without a previously clear definition of what the act itself looks like in real-world situations (Valentini, 2014). The goal of this project is to increase awareness and approach hard-set beliefs within the communities of South Texas. Whether it is the education of safety procedures or the deconstruction of sexual stigmas, this and everything in between is necessary in lowering the cases within our communities and protecting victims that live alongside us. My work will be done in the form of 24+ hours of community service with The Purple Door, located in downtown Corpus Christi. This is where I will be assisting with presentations at surrounding high schools for the month of February, Teen Dating Violence month, and where I will craft my own educational outreach methods.

Keywords: RAPE MYTH, SEX CRIMES, ADVOCACY, CRIME PREVENTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

87 FIELD-BASED SERVICE IN THE UPPER LAGUNA MADRE

Riley SoRelle1* Daniel Nye2*

1Honors Program, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Upper Laguna Madre is a valuable resource to the Corpus Christi waterfront and understanding and managing fish populations in the Upper Laguna Madre is important ecologically and economically (NOAA, 2021). This area has had depleting fish populations over the years due to high salinity and temperature fluctuations over the seasons (SoRelle, 2022). Determining the fish populations in an area can help fisheries be sustainable and to help population growth in the ecosystem (Environmental Defense Fund, 2021; Fujiwara et al. 2016). Our service through the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) will allow us to gain a firsthand perspective on these issues by surveying fish populations and conditions in the Upper Laguna Madre. We will also be able to learn from TPW biologists about the issues facing this area and how they can best be combatted. The focus of our project is to document how the philosophy of service learning can impact our learning outcomes and how it takes our education and service into the community around me. This style of learning is what we are participating in through our service with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We anticipate these experiences to greatly impact our learning. The reason we believe it will have an impact upon our learning is because we have the chance to have hands-on work with topics that we are passionate about, but to also apply our passion for conservation which should stick with us as an unforgettable experience.

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, FISHERIES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

88 UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT STATE OF LITERACY OF ADULT TEXANS THROUGH SERVICE

Elena K. Barrada

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Over the course of approximately 3 months, I will be participating in a community service-based educational program through the Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi’s Honors Program. In my service project I will be focusing on the current state of literacy of adult Texans, specifically in Nueces County, Texas. With help from the Corpus Christi Literacy Council, I was connected with a student whom I will be working with throughout the course of 3 months (totaling 25 hours of service) to help develop their literacy skills and oral communication skills. The goal in working with this student is to not only understand the statistical significance of the state of literacy in Texas, but also to immerse myself in the community in which those statistics describe.

Keywords: READING, ECONOMY, FIELD-BASED LEARNING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

89 FINANCIAL LITERACY OUTREACH TO LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Paige Rogers1*, Diego Alvarez2*

1Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Honors Program, College of Business, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of this project is to engage with high school students in the Corpus Christi area to increase their financial literacy knowledge. To do this, we will first gain adequate knowledge of finances ourselves by training with Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Financial Aid staff and through an online training program the University uses called WhichWay. We will discuss these topics with students at local high schools in a group setting to educate them about budgeting, paying for college, and loans. We will offer incentives to encourage students to retain the knowledge over covered topics. We hope this project and our experience in the community will help more young adults understand how to manage their finances and to navigate college finances. Our experience will also help us increase our own financial literacy and to learn how to communicate with younger students in a way that makes complex topics easier to understand.

Keywords: SERVICE, GOALS, SAVING, SPENDING, MONEY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

90 THE VOICES OF THE COLONIAS OUTREACH PROJECT

Gabriel Flores

Honors Program; Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Natural Resource Center, Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

The Voices of the Colonias is a non-profit organization dedicated to the well-being and support of underserved people from specific regions in South Texas. I will be serving with this group primarily in the food distribution network in Aqua Dulce, Texas. The group works closely with faculty and staff from Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi to offer resources for personal care and education to residents of colonia communities. Educational services such as guidance in water quality and disease prevention are also provided. The lack of education in these areas, particularly water quality, is a primary concern and education to the residents about maintaining their water quality is a main component of the project. The project\’s main objective is to provide support to these underprivileged groups, educate them on the significance of maintaining adequate water quality and foster more outreach to these populations that are often neglected. This project will provide me with the experience of communicating care education to underserved populations which will support my future career as a healthcare professional.

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, PUBLIC HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

91 LEARNING HOW TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE

Karis Flores

Honors Program, Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

The goal of this project is to explore methods that connect Corpus Christi high school students with college readiness opportunities. This work is important because many students that come to TAMU-CC are high school students from the surrounding areas of Corpus Christi. To learn more about the problem I am serving with Upward Bound, a federally funded program that works with first-generation and low-income students at Moody, West Oso, Miller, and Coles high schools, to ensure they are college ready. Through this service, I expect to learn how high school students in Corpus Christi learn to become college ready by the time they enter their first semester of college. By doing this project and working with Upward Bound, I will be able to learn more about my career field as an education major.

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING, AT-RISK POPULATION, LOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

92 THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF VERY OLD ADULTS LIVING IN A SENIOR FACILITY DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Therese Gumban1*, Sydney Sandoval1* & Kyoung Eun Lee2

1Department of Undergraduates, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Nursing Education, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

While a growing body of literature has explored the psycho-physical impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, few studies have explored the experience of the marginalized population, particularly of the very old adults living in a senior facility. This study aims to explore the lived experiences of very old adults residing in a senior facility in Corpus Christi during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the communal themes relating to how their lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 and the coping mechanisms they adopted to adjust to the changes. This study utilizes qualitative case studies to explore very old adults’ lived experiences from their own voices using semi-structured one-on-one interviews with participants who meet the inclusion criteria: who are old adults aged 80 and older, have no cognitive impairment, and were isolated in a senior facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative thematic data analysis will be used to identify the key themes regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their physical, mental, and social well-being. The faculty mentor for this study, Dr. Kyoung Eun Lee who is an expert in qualitative research, will be assisting with the recruitment of the participants. Dr. Lee will also be advising us in the process of IRB approval and the research process in general. As future nurses, it will become our duty to care for patients facing both physical and mental challenges that come with their health status. The vulnerable population of very old adults, especially those living in a senior facility, has been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in many ways. The results of this study will help us better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the mental and physical health of the very old adults living in a senior facility who have been isolated from the local community and their families.

Keywords: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, SOCIAL ISOLATION, SENIOR FACILITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

93 PHENOTYPIC STUDIES OF VIBRIO VULNIFICUS AND VIBRIO OSTREICIDA FOR BIOCHEMICAL DIFFERENTIATION AND SENSITIVITY TO PLANT TINCTURES USED FOR ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY.

Huy NT Le1, Hinal Arvind Patel2, Mary Jean Sparks3, Gregory W. Buck2

1Nursing and Health Sciences Department, TAMU-CC; 2Department of Life Sciences, TAMU-CC; 3Clinical Laboratory Science Program & Health Sciences Department, TAMU-CC

The bacterial genus Vibrio consists of several members of Gram-negative, halophilic bacteria that normally exist in marine and estuarine waters. Several species, such as V. Vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus, may cause septicemia if ingested in raw seafood or can result in necrotizing fasciitis through entry into wounds, leading to morbidity and mortality. Recently, V. vulnificus isolate from the Coastal Bend region (BI 0607-1) was reclassified as V. ostreicida, and the pathogenicity of this isolate to humans has not been characterized. The other Vibrio species have increased likelihood of causing septicemia or necrotizing fasciitis in persons who may have liver or kidney disease, diabetes, cancer or are immunocompromised. Exposure of persons to flood waters from hurricanes is a major concern, especially with reports of increased antimicrobial resistance in members of genus Vibrio. Alternative therapies for treatment of vibriosis are critical for dealing with the potential rise in antibiotic resistance of Vibrio bacterial strains. The first part of the project was to confirm that BI0607-1 would differ phenotypically than the V. vulnificus clinical isolate, ATCC 27562. The hypothesis Ha was that BI 0607-1 would be negative in fermenting ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and lysine decarboxylase (LDC), which differentiates V. ostreicida from V. vulnificus. Cultures of commercially-prepared ODC and LDC media were inoculated with either BI0607-1 or ATCC 27562 and grown 24 and 48 hours. Results showed that BI0607-1 were negative for ODC but positive for LDC. While sequencing data confirmed BI 0607-1 as V. ostreicida, local isolates may differ from the type of strain PP-203T found in Spain, and future aims will be to perform additional biochemical characterizations. The second part of the project will be to focus on creation of ethanolic plant tinctures of five plants, and then to use these tinctures in Kirby Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility testing.

Keywords: BIOCHEMICAL, DIFFERENTIATE, VIBRIO, PLANT TINCTURES, ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

94 DOUBLE STANDARDS IN RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP AND TRANSGRESSIONS IN CHRISTIAN COOPERATE WORSHIP

Allison Alford*, Yuliana Zaikman, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Previous research on the gender double standard has explored it in a variety of different fields (politics, business, academia), however, it hasn’t been examined in the field of religious leadership. Given the obstacles that female religious leaders often face, this topic is valuable for how churches combat this gender bias in the future. The current study will explore the gender double standard in religious leadership by examining the perceptions of male and female religious leaders. The study will also examine whether leaders will face similar consequences post transgression. Two hundred participants will be recruited from Prolific. Participants will be asked to read brief descriptions of a male or female religious leader and then a fictitious news article describing the leader committing a transgression (financial or personal). Participants will evaluate the leader and indicate their intentions to attend the church led by the transgressor once before being exposed to the transgression and once after. By the time of the symposium in April, we will have collected and analyzed data from the 200 participants. We anticipate that prior to the transgression, female leaders will be evaluated less favorably, and participants will have lower intentions to attend the church. Additionally, we anticipate that following the transgression, participants will evaluate the male leader more severely after the financial transgression, while the opposite pattern will emerge for female leaders following the personal transgression. The anticipated findings will demonstrate that the gender double standard is also pronounced among Christian religious leaders and more substantial consequences of a transgression incur on female religious leaders, especially when the transgression is of personal nature.

Keywords: GENDER, RELIGION, TRANSGRESSIONS, PERCEPTIONS, CHURCH

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

95 COMMUNITY-BASED DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN FLOUR BLUFF

Isai Rodriguez

Honors Program, Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The city of Corpus Christi approved the Flour Bluff Development Plan in June of 2021, creating the plan for a hike and bike trail that crosses the Oso Bay and connects to the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve (The City of Corpus Christi, 2021). This plan will take several years including designing, building, and maintaining the environment and trail and trailheads. Part of the development plan involved surveying the community and showing that the majority of people had issues with a lack of entertainment in the area. In recent elections, voters approved bonds funding the Flour Bluff Development Plan and the Flour Bluff Citizen’s Council is playing a role in the design process. The goal of this project is to develop a mockup/layout for the entrance area of the Oso Bay Trestle Bridge Hike & Bike trail. Over the next semester, I will complete my project working with the Flour Bluff Citizen’s Council. I expect to learn how I can help a community like Flour Bluff and the city of Corpus Christi in furthering their development plans.

Keywords: SERVICE, ENGINEERING, PARKS, RECREATIONAL ACCESS, PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

96 POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TEXAS DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN FOOD WEBS

Laurynn J. Thompson-Torres, Loretta L. Battaglia

Marine Biology Dept, College of Sciences, Center for Coastal Studies

Climate change is rapidly modifying food web structure and function of coastal wetland food webs. In the semi-arid landscape of South Texas, hypersaline conditions are common, and salt/brackish marshes are extensive. Malaclemys terrapin littoralis, a subspecies of diamondback terrapin endemic to the Texas Gulf Coast, is dependent on these marshes for primary foraging ground as they support staple diet items, including the saltmarsh periwinkle snail (Littorina irrorata). A warming climate has led to expansion of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) at the expense of marsh vegetation. South Texas is also prone to extreme freeze events, which can drive mortality in cold-sensitive mangroves and colonization by cold-hardy marsh vegetation where mangroves fail to recover. Terrapin responses to these state transitions are unexplored and little is known of the terrapin’s prey base, particularly in south Texas mangrove stands. Research from south Florida indicates divergence in prey item composition between mangrove and marsh habitats, suggesting that prey shifts may be significant when marsh-state transitions unfold. We hypothesize that climate-driven state changes will generate food web changes as mangrove distributions expand and contract at the interface with marsh communities. We will investigate trophic relationships at the salt marsh-mangrove-ecotone in coastal south Texas, how these relationships are responding to climate change using an established mangrove chronosequence and shifts in diamondback terrapin diet between these two dominant vegetation types. Results of this work will be critical to understanding the trophic ecology and habitat use of diamondback terrapins with climate change.

Keywords: BIOLOGY, FEEDING ECOLOGY, RESOURCE USE, TURTLES, SOUTHERN REPTILE SPECIES

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

97 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BONE AND OTOLITH MINERALIZATION AND TRANSCRIPTOME CHANGES DUE TO ANCESTRAL BAP EXPOSURE

Dylan Mack1*, Frauke Seemann1,2, Benjamin Walther1,3, & Christina Loftin4,5

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal & Marine Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Marine Science Institute, University of Texas – Port Aransas; 4Division of Research and Innovation, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 5Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences, Mississippi State University

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and well-known carcinogen, is produced by the burning of organic materials such as oil and wood. Parental BaP exposure has been associated with developmental bone defects and increases risk factors for late-onset osteoporosis and hearing loss in offspring. While previous research repeatedly indicates that BaP has significant impacts on several body systems, additional research is warranted to unravel its impacts on calcified bone structures. The objective of this research is to examine the effects of ancestral BaP exposure on mineral composition and gene expression of the spine and otoliths using Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) as a model organism. For this study, mRNA will be extracted and analyzed for the spine (Col10a1, Col2a, Osterix, and Twist) and otoliths (chm1, Col2a, Osterix, Otolin1a, and Sparc). Mineral quantity assessment (Ba, Ca, Mg, Mn, P, K, Na, Sr) will be conducted by using a LA-ICP-MS for both tissues. We expect parental BaP exposure to influence both the gene expression and mineral quantities of the calcified tissues with male medaka showing greater differences between the control and experimental groups. We also expect to see greater differences in minerals more heavily influenced by endogenous factors, specifically Ca, Mg, P, K, and Na as well as strong positive relationships between the two tissues. The genes that heavily influence mineralization pathways are expected to be deregulated, especially Osterix as seen by previous research. We anticipate this information will influence public health policy and enhance therapeutic interventions. Additionally, information may also help improve the management and regulatory practices of coastal and freshwater fisheries in response to limiting BaP exposure.

Keywords: GENE REGULATION, TRANSGENERATIONAL TOXICOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

98 ASSESSING INHERITED POST TRANSLATIONAL HISTONE MODIFICATIONS IN OSTEOBLAST SUBPOPULATIONS BY IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY AND FLUORESCENT MICROSCOPY

Alexis Trujillo1, Rijith Jayarajan1, Frauke Seemann1, 2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA

Environmental stressors, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), have been repeatedly associated with increased chances of developmental bone defects in offspring and are considered a risk factor for later life-stage osteoporosis. Prior research revealed that parental exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) modulates offspring bone development. This may result in adult osteoporotic bone with deregulated gene expression induced through changes in the miRNA expression and gene-specific methylation pattern, but further research is required to explain the inherited bone phenotype. It is hypothesized that histone modifications in parentally BaP exposed offspring may play a dominant role in the epigenetically inherited bone phenotype. Recently published bone transcriptome data from adult male medaka highlighted the downregulation of several histone enzymes (HDAC6, HDAC7, KAT6B, KDM5B, JARID2, SMYD3) as well as the upregulation of PRMT1 and PRMT2. To understand the role of histone modification changes in osteoblasts, immunohistochemistry experiments will be conducted with selected histone modification antibodies for H3 tail methylation and H4 tail acetylation to assess their contribution to an osteoblast subpopulation-specific histone profile upon parental BaP exposure. F1 generation embryos, larvae, and adults from transgenic medaka strains (Oryzias latipes) will be assessed at three critical bone development timepoints. This experiment will yield novel data on the histone code of osteoblasts at selected differentiation stages during development and allow quantification of parental environmental pollutant exposure’s interference with chromatin structure regulation. Understanding the relationship between epigenetic modification and bone health will improve assessment of ecological risk and public health impact of BaP/PAH pollution and further address the hypothesis that BaP-induced histone modifications are inherited over generations and involved in bone formation in an osteoblast-subpopulation specific manner.

Keywords: TRANSGENERATIONAL, ECOTOXICOLOGY, EPIGENOME

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

99 REDUCING CENTRAL LINE BLOODSTREAM INFECTIONS (CLABSIS) IN THE PEDIATRIC POPULATION WITH NURSING INTERVENTIONS

Jenna Coleman1*, BS, Sean Dinh1*, BS, Danielle Meador1*, BS, Baileigh Toenes1*, BS, MPH, M. Benham-Hutchins, Ph.D., MSN, RN, FAMIA, Heather DeGrande, Ph.D., MSN, RN

1Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Central venous catheters (CVC) allow for the administration of life-sustaining interventions to patients. CVCs provide access to a patient\‘s circulation for extended periods of time to administer medications, fluids, or blood products, take blood samples, provide nutrition, and access hemodialysis. However, the invasive nature of CVCs is an essential risk factor for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) through the contamination of the central line with bacteria or other microorganisms. This complication significantly impacts patient morbidity and mortality, particularly in the pediatric population. A literature review of primary research articles published in peer-reviewed journals was performed to examine nursing interventions and CLABSI rates in pediatric populations. In this literature review, the nursing interventions included line type and anatomical placements, locking solutions, needleless connectors, and line removal interventions. Based on the preliminary research conducted in this literature review, current practices need to elicit clear protocols or procedures for preventing and reducing CLABSI rates. Further research is necessary to determine nursing interventions’ effectiveness and create more explicit guidelines and recommendations for preventing and reducing CLABSI rates in hospitalized patients.

Keywords: HOSPITAL ACQUIRED INFECTIONS (HAI), CATHETER-RELATED INFECTIONS, CLABSI INFECTION CONTROL, CENTRAL LINE COMPLICATIONS, CLABSI INCIDENCE RATES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

100 CLEAN WATER FOR OSO BAY RESIDENTS

Valerie Jones

Honors Program; Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, College of Liberal Arts, Natural Resource Center, Center for Coastal Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

The goal of the Oso Creek Watershed Model & Outreach & Education Project at the Center for Coastal Studies is to show residents of Oso Bay the areas with contaminated water (Job, C. A., & Simons, J. J.) and where it flows throughout their residences. The goal of this outreach program is to facilitate the organization of individuals and to communicate with community leaders in order to implement positive and necessary changes in the Oso Bay watershed to create a safer living environment (River Network). This work is important because the Oso Bay area receives most of the run-off water and pollutants from the city of Corpus Christi and from the Barney Davis Power Plant (Center for Coastal Studies). This, coupled with the lack of environmental training for community members leads to safe water shortages and poor conditions for those living in the affected areas. The study aims to cultivate an outreach program that will teach residents the importance of preserving good water quality. After working on this project, I will gain valuable experience in speaking with community officials; setting me up for my future in local law or legislation on the state level. I will also gain meaningful connections to individuals that can, not only, provide me with an example of real professionals in the career I plan to be a part of, but also help make a lasting impact on the Oso Bay area.

Keywords: SERVICE, GROUNDWATER, CLEAN WATER ACT, CONTAMINATION, WATER ADULTERATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

101 ONLINE LEARNING AND SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING: PREPARING NURSING STUDENTS FOR DEEPER, PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT WITHIN THEIR REMOTE LEARNING TIME

Sameera Massey1*, David Squires1, Julie Fomenko2, & Brayton Amidon2

1Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2College of Nursing, The University of Oklahoma

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for effective virtual learning design for clinical nursing students that replace traditional hands-on clinical training for students with virtual simulations yet yield high levels of self-efficacy and transferrable skills. In response, an online innovation project was developed at a South Texas University designed to simulate clinical experiences. We hypothesized that custom, personalized online learning simulations may reduce cognitive load and promote online students’ self-efficacy, potentially impacting associative information processing. By examining participants’ learning experiences and cognitive load in online scenario-based simulations, we explore the learner’s content acquisition, their recognition and application of the skills, and the impact the learning experience has on their self-efficacy and motivation. Participants accessed modules from various platforms and locations and revisited the modules to engage in the scenarios. Participants reported that the skills practiced in the simulations were transferable to the face-to-face setting and believed they would be successful when transferring skills. Participants reported low levels of frustration and high levels of support in the modules. This suggests that students\’ self-efficacy and associative skill transfer are positively impacted when students are engaged in personalized, scenario-based online modules that plan for a reduced cognitive load.

Keywords: SIMULATIONS; ELEARNING; NURSING & CLINICAL LEARNING, COGNITIVE LOAD

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

102 INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLE OF NITRIC OXIDE IN THE SYNAPTIC FACILITATION THAT UNDERLIES LONG-TERM SENSITIZATION IN THE MOLLUSK APLYSIA

Ayleen Chen1*, Marcy Wainwright1 & Riccardo Mozzachiodi1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Two mechanisms are known to sustain long-term memory (LTM): intrinsic plasticity (modulation of neuronal excitability) and synaptic plasticity (facilitation/depression of synaptic responses; Mozzachiodi and Byrne 2010). However, the degree to which each mechanism contributes to LTM is not fully understood. A ubiquitous form of LTM is long-term sensitization (LTS), in which repeated noxious stimuli strengthen defensive responses. In the model organism Aplysia, LTS is meditated by long-term increased excitability (LTIE) of sensory neurons and long-term synaptic facilitation (LTF) of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) at the sensorimotor synapses (Cleary et al. 1998). Recent studies revealed that the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO) is required for LTS but not for LTIE (Farruggella et al. 2019), suggesting that LTF might be NO dependent and the main contributor of LTS. To test this hypothesis, in this ongoing study, the role of NO in LTF is investigated in an isolated nervous system preparation, in which NO synthesis is blocked by incubating preparations with the inhibitor L-NAME (0.37 mM dissolved in vehicle), prior to the delivery of an in-vitro training that produces LTF. This training consists of repeated electric shocks to afferent nerves, which mimics the noxious stimuli that induces LTS in vivo (Weisz et al. 2017). Four groups of preparations are being utilized: trained/vehicle, untrained/vehicle, trained/L-NAME, and untrained/L-NAME. For each preparation, EPSP peak amplitude and area are obtained before (pre-test) and 24-h (post-test) after training /no training. Percent changes are calculated as [(post-pre)/pre] x100 and compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Although statistical significance has not yet been achieved, current trends indicate that LTF is blocked in the trained/L-NAME group, suggesting that LTF might be NO dependent and have a larger contribution than LTIE to LTS. If confirmed, these findings will provide essential information to clarify the individual roles of intrinsic and synaptic plasticity in LTM.

Keywords: MEMORY, NEUROPLASTICITY, LEARNING

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

103 THE IMPACTS OF MEDITATION VERSUS MINDFULNESS ON STRESS LEVELS OF NURSES IN HOSPITALS POST-COVID-19

Reesen Caster*, Melissa Leal, Patrick Guadalupe, Zeinhelle Quezon, & Leanna Rodriquez

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Stress is a common occurrence in the lives of adults. In the field of nursing, stress levels can vary on a day-to-day, even hourly basis. The COVID-19 pandemic had many nurses under higher-than-normal levels of stress, which led to hospitals reporting high turnover rates, meaning a nurse that was hired on and trained voluntarily chose to leave the organization. Some hospitals initiated the use of meditation or mindfulness programs to help reduce stress and turnover of nursing staff. The question was raised, “For nurses in a hospital setting, how does an activity of practicing mindfulness for 15 minutes/day compared to meditation for 15 minutes/day affect stress levels?” A literature review was conducted of 6 online articles out of which 5 were selected, 2 monthly journal subscriptions were selected, and 4 articles were recommended to us of which 2 were chosen for this project, totaling 9 articles in our review. Results among the various articles did not directly compare effects of meditation versus mindfulness, however both were shown to have a positive impact on management of and response to stress. Meditation showed improved focus, attention, and awareness levels as well as improved mental states. Mindfulness activities showed improvement in attention, self-awareness, anxiety, burnout, and overall mood. For further recommendations based on what worked best for prior research: shorter mindfulness/meditation programs of about 10-15 minutes, a flexible time separate from lunch breaks, access to such resources through electronic methods, implementing an end-of-shift reflection requirement, or further research comparing feedback from different types of stress-reducing activities to see what activities can provide the most benefits.

Keywords: MEDITATION, MINDFULNESS, BURNOUT, IMPROVED PATIENT OUTCOMES, STRESS REDUCTION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

104 EFFECTIVENESS OF SELF-CARE IN THE HEALTHCARE SETTING INFLUENCING THE QUALITY-OF-CARE PATIENTS RECEIVED BY REGISTERED NURSES

Kayla Blankenship*, Ashlynn Lobrecht*, Analis Leal, Abigail Velazquez, and Pamela K. Greene PhD

College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Registered Nurses (RN) are understaffed in high demanding, high stress jobs that require frequent lifesaving interventions and critical thinking skills. Coupled with other stress factors that occur in one’s personal life, emotional exhaustion is an ongoing issue in the nursing community. It is vital to address this topic of why Registered Nurses should practice in self-care activities to decrease the incidence of compassion fatigue and burnout in the workplace setting. This raises the question, in Registered Nurses’ does engaging in self-care affect the quality of the care they provide, compared to those who don’t? An integrative literature review was conducted in which the studies were analyzed and used to provide recommendations regarding self-care measures for nurses. The results acquired through the analysis of the literature provided beneficial ways registered nurses can engage in self-care to reduce the occurrence of compassion fatigue and burnout, ultimately improving patient care. 

Keywords: MENTAL HEALTH, COVID-19, RESILIENCE, SAFETY, PATIENT OUTCOMES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

105 SOCIAL EXPERIENCES OF GENDER NON-CONFORMITY: DOES SIBLING GENDER AND SIBLING FEEDBACK PREDICT HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY IDEOLOGY AND MASCULINE CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG SEXUAL MINORITY MEN?

Alisha R. Cowan1*& Steven Seidel, Ph. D.1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Evidence from home videos of gender non-conforming behavior performances during childhood and adolescence has been used to predict homosexuality in individuals (Reiger et al. 2008; Rosario et al. 2014), although not all researchers agree that deviation from traditional gender roles is indicative of sexual identity or preference (Gottshalk, 2005). Social role theory (Eagly et al. 2004; Eagly, 1987) suggests that individuals who strongly conform to traditional gender roles uphold the hierarchy of the hegemonic male\–a model of power, status, and strength—to reap the social benefits of inclusion. Inversely, violations of these roles can cause multiple negative effects of being socially outcasted, being a victim of physical violence, and suicidal ideations (Fiske et al. 2002; Vaughn et al. 2017), which may lead to a heightened salience of masculine consciousness—consistent presentation of masculinity—for greater social approval (Taywaditep, 2001). This study aimed to explore a gay man’s perspective of their sibling’s social feedback during his performance of gender non-conforming behaviors to determine whether a greater proportion of male siblings or negative feedback would be related to a greater adherence to hegemonic masculinity ideology or a higher degree of masculine consciousness. Results of the study failed to provide evidence that negative feedback by siblings affected homosexual male\’s level of hegemonic masculinity or masculine consciousness.

Keywords: SOCIAL ROLES, GENDER ROLES, HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY, HOMOSEXUALITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

106 AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF STORMWATER FLOW: COMBINING MULTI-SENSOR OBSERVATION AND HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS IN THE TEXAS COASTAL BEND REGION

Hannah Garcia1*, Ian Goulden-Brady2, Lapone Techapinyawat 2, Aaliyah Timms 2, Nathaniel Galvan 3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, 3Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Urbanization increases the total area of impervious cover, leading to profound changes in local hydrological processes. In particular, impervious surfaces prevent rainfall from percolating into soils, resulting in enhanced stormwater runoff and decreased groundwater recharge. To better understand this rainfall-runoff relationship at the event scale in coastal urbanized watersheds, this study employs a multi-sensor observation in a 240-acre watershed located in the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC). The observation has collected hydrological and weather data using Van Essen and Davis devices over a five-month period. The deployed hydrological sensors include a Van Essen CTD–Diver that continuously an outfall. Raw data collected from the sensor include water temperature, pressure, and electrical conductivity at three-minute intervals. The data is transmitted daily to an online data portal: Diver-HUB. Precipitation data is collected continuously from a wireless weather station and is managed using WeatherLink. Missing weather data are filled in using records from a nearby weather station from the Conrad Blucher Institute. The collected data allows for hydrograph analysis, including several steps. First, the total volume of precipitation and runoff for each rainfall-runoff event is calculated based on the hydrograph and hyetograph. The observed rainfall and runoff peaks are compared to determine the watershed lag. With high-resolution HxGN aerial imagery and GIS tools, the runoff generation is quantitatively linked to different impervious surfaces (i.e., rooftops and pavements) and pervious surfaces in the study watershed. Overall, the combination of multi-sensor observation and hydrograph analysis can help determine the spatial and temporal patterns of runoff generation. Such results can provide essential data to support hydrological modeling efforts and improve the design and management of stormwater infrastructure systems.

Keywords: STORMWATER RUNOFF, WATERSHED MANAGEMENT, COASTAL URBANIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

107 ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF IMMUNE AGING ON GENE EXPRESSION AND IMMUNE FUNCTION ON JAPANESE MEDAKA

Daniel Duran1*, Elizabeth DiBona1, Frauke Seemann1,2 

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal & Marine Studies, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi 

Prevalence of chronic inflammation increases with age, and may be aggravated by environmental exposures. Inflammatory disease incidence increases as protective immunity begins to decline during immune aging. To demonstrate the effects of age on the innate immune system, Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) are used as a model organism to examine if immune aging has sex-specific effects on innate immune gene expression associated with activity changes of phagocytes. Real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is used to assess changes in expression of immune initiators (CRP, TLR5-soluble, TLR5-membrane, TCRb, MHCII), immune mediators (MYD88, NF-kb, C3, IL1b), and immune effectors (Lysozyme C, C8). A phagocytosis assay employing flow cytometry (FCM) is used to evaluate changes in phagocytic activity of Japanese medaka leukocytes. Data presented here demonstrates a critical decrease in expression of key immune initiators (CRP, TLR5-soluble, TCRb, MHCII), mediators (MYD88, NF-kb, C3, IL1b), and effector (Lysozyme C) in both female and male medaka after 11 months post hatching (mph). However, after 23 mph these expression levels are not different from younger ages (3, 4, 5, 6, 7 mph) in female medaka. Interestingly, both males and females had an upregulation for the immune effector, C8, during this older age range (11-13 mph). No differences in immune gene expression between males and females of the same age were observed. A reduction of the monocyte population with age is expected from FCM leukocyte population assessment. A decline in phagocytic activity during this age range (11-13 mph) of reduced immune gene expression is predicted. However, we do expect to see a difference between male and female leukocyte populations and phagocytic activity. Together these data will provide a cellular and molecular profile for immune aging in medaka, a useful tool for future immunological studies considering age as a factor affecting disease susceptibility.

Keywords: EPIGENETICS, ECOTOXICOLOGY, IMMUNOSENESCENCE

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

108 INCREASING THE ANALYTICAL WINDOW OF MARINE DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER FOR ORBITRAP MASS SPECTROMETRY

Justin Elliott1*, Hussain Abdulla 2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a major carbon pool comparable to the atmospheric carbon pool and serves important roles in long term carbon storage. Elucidating the chemical composition of DOM is necessary to improve our understanding of its roles in global biogeochemical cycles. Most studies utilize solid-phase extraction (SPE) to concentrate and desalinate samples, followed by high-resolution mass spectrometry to characterize DOM composition. The conventional SPE method achieves up to 70% dissolved organic carbon (DOC) extraction efficiency; however sample acidification prioritizes the extraction of organic acids creating an incomplete chemical profile. Although a robust methodology, many compounds are not retained by the non-polar SPE resin constraining the analytical window creating a hidden fraction of DOM. This study aims to generate a method to elucidate the DOM fraction previously uncharacterized by targeting DOM constituents with basic functional groups. Surface seawater samples were processed by two distinct SPE procedures; the conventional acidified SPE procedure and the modified acid-free procedure. Extracts were analyzed with ion chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled to a high resolution, mass accuracy Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid mass spectrometer. Samples were analyzed by data-dependent acquisition in negative and positive modes, and databases were used for tentative structural identification of Individual DOM compounds. DOC extraction efficiencies of the acid-free SPE method were around 40%, even though it recovered lower DOC; still, it shows significant chemical composition differences relative to the conventional SPE procedure, indicating it extracts a distinct DOM fraction. These results suggest that utilizing both the conventional SPE procedure and the acid-free SPE procedure on seawater samples provide a more comprehensive chemical profile of marine DOM, overcoming the current bias towards acidic constituents. This method better represents marine water samples and has the potential to become a routine method for future marine DOM characterization.

Keywords: CHROMATOGRAPHY, UNTARGETED MS, METABOLOMICS, SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION, CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

109 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING WITH FRIENDS OF REDHEAD POND

Madison Hallmark1*, Austin Carey1*

1Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

For this project we are volunteering with the Friends of Redhead Pond, who will be observing the impact of human population and tourism on shore bird population. We will be observing how the project is set up and what skills the organization will be using to perform this work. Members of the Friends of Redhead Pond will go to four separate locations in the Flour Bluff area, two having a high human activity and the other two having low human activity. We will also be observing the overall impact that this work has on the community. The goal of this project is to understand how to conduct field-based projects and to learn how community-based work impacts the whole community. We expect to learn about the importance of helping the environment and how we can use our education in service to the community. This contributes to my community and personal growth as we can learn from the Friends of Redhead Pond how they approach their work and their commitment to their community.

Keywords: CONSERVATION, POPULATION, COSTAL, SERVICE, TOURISM

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

110 CHECK ONCE, CHECK TWICE: IMPLEMENTING INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE MEDICATION ERRORS IN THE PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Dana Sides, B.S.*, Brenda Garcia, B.S.*, Dollie Nunez, B.S., Paige Robinson, B.S., Vanessa Napoles, B.S., Dr. M. Benham-Hutchins, PhD, MSN, RN, FAMIA & Heather DeGrande, PhD, RN

Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This poster aims to analyze interventions that could reduce medication errors in the pediatric emergency department, including interprofessional collaboration. The pediatric population in the emergency department is at higher risk of adverse events related to medication errors. There is an increase in potential injury and higher mortality in the pediatric population related to medication errors. Identifying and taking measures to prevent errors plays a crucial role in nursing. Articles were selected to analyze, synthesize, identify nursing implications, and make future recommendations for nursing interventions. The literature review provided evidence that integrating interventions such as double-checking dosages, the proper use of dispensing medications, including bar code medication, incorporating hard-stops into the electronic medical record, and integrating interventions by the pharmacy staff in nursing practice would improve medication-related adverse events in the emergency department. More research is needed to evaluate the effects of interventions in the pediatric setting and assess patient outcomes.

Keywords: ADVERSE EVENTS, EMERGENCY ROOM, SAFETY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

111 PRIVILEGE AND INTERSECTIONAL AWARENESS: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIVERSITY COURSES

Hanna Benkowski* and Dr. Lisa Comparini

Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Privilege is defined as unearned advantages that individuals are afforded based on their gender, race, sexuality, social status, ethnicity, and ability (McIntosh, 1988). Studies of developing privilege awareness have demonstrated brief exposures to privilege material can increase a single area of privilege but do not address intersectional awareness. The goal of this study is to compare students’ understanding of privilege and intersectionality after taking college courses in a Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGST) program. Participants were college students enrolled in WGST (experimental group, n=45) or General Psychology (control group, n=112) courses at a state university in South Texas. Participants completed a pre-test at the start of the semester and a post-test towards the end on Qualtrics. Hypotheses were that 1) privilege and intersectionality scores will increase from the pre- to post-test for the experimental group and 2) would not increase for the control group. Paired samples t-tests compared privilege and intersectional awareness scores. There was a statistical difference between student’s understanding of intersectional awareness from the pre-test (M= 5.4, SD=.66) to the post-test (M=6.2, SD= .62) for the experimental group, t(44)= -6.7, p \< .001. Though there was no significant difference between pre- and post-test scores, descriptive analyses revealed scores on the privilege scale for the experimental group were generally high at the pre-test and remained high at the post test. The control group demonstrated a statistically significant increase in privilege awareness from the pre-test (M= 5.7, SD= .8) to the post-test (M=5.3, SD= 1.0), t(110) = 5.5, p \< .001. The control group demonstrated a statistically significant increase in intersectional awareness from the pre-test (M=5.0, SD=.83) to the post-test (M=5.9, SD=.75), t(110)= -13.35, p \< .001. Results indicate that students may already understand privilege awareness before taking a WGST course, but that they develop an understanding of intersectionality.

Keywords: PSYCHOLOGY, INTERDISCIPLINARY, HIGHER EDUCATION* 

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

113 PERSONALITY TRAITS AS A PREDICTOR FOR EMERGING ADULT SEXUAL BEHAVIORS

Shealyn Tomlinson*, & Dr. Yuliana Zaikman.

1Department of Psychology & Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi

Emerging adulthood is a lifespan period that begins at 18 and extends to roughly 25. Certain consistencies are common with this demographic, such as mapping out their futures or, relevantly, exploring their sexuality (Arnett, 2000; 2016). Because sexual encounters are prominent features of this demographic, their sexual choices are paramount as they may have lasting effects. Whether personality characteristics in emerging adults are predictive of safe sexual health behaviors is an interesting inquiry. Past studies have found correlations between sexual behaviors and personality characteristics using the Big 5 personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (Allen & Walter, 2018). Conscientiousness correlates to partner commitment (Jirjahn & Ottenbacher, 2011) and sexual variety seeking (Nasrollahi et al., 2022). Agreeableness has been correlated with lower numbers of sexual partners despite having more frequent sexual encounters (Kurpisz et al., 2016). The present investigation assessed whether emerging adults’ personality characteristics correlate to providing or accepting contraceptive protection. A sample of students (N=706) was collected from a South Texas university. Participant gender and other value constructs (e.g., religiosity) were also assessed. Regression analyses were performed to see if correlations between the personality dimensions and contraceptive behaviors were significant. Two-thirds of the sample had engaged in sexual intercourse within the month leading up to data collection—demonstrating the markedly important aspect of sex in emerging adults’ lives. Emerging adults high on agreeableness and extroversion were found more likely to engage in sexual activity. More agreeable individuals were found more likely to have their sexual partner provide condoms. Oddly, individuals with higher levels of contentiousness are less likely to provide condoms for sexual encounters. This investigation not only delivers academically interesting insights on the sexual health behaviors of emerging adults, but also affords an opportunity to elaborate on valuable information on safe sexual health practice.

Keywords: NA

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

114 WHAT ARE SEA-MONKEYS?

Sara Maher

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The commercialization of brine shrimp as novelty pets began with Harold von Braunhut with his invention of Sea-Monkeys in 1957. Brine shrimp is the collective name for the Artemia genus, which includes small aquatic crustaceans tolerant of saline conditions. The Original Sea-Monkeys marketed the brine shrimp’s biological property of cryptobiosis of cysts that allow for hatching under preferred conditions, under the tagline “instant life”. The Original Sea-Monkeys represent Sea-Monkeys as Artemia NYOS, an engineered hybrid of brine shrimp. The intent of this proposed experiment is to clarify the speciation of Sea-Monkeys by barcoding methodology. By cultivating colonies of artemia species including Artemia salina and Artemia franciscana and comparing extracted DNA sequences to the Original Sea-Monkeys. The process of DNA barcoding individuals would confirm genetic characteristics between species to determine if Sea-Monkeys is a unique or undocumented species. DNA barcoding investigations involve rapid identification of DNA sequences to identify an organism as belonging to a species. The process of barcoding involves four steps, starting with isolating DNA from the individual. The sampled DNA will then be amplified using polymerase chain reactions before being sequenced. The DNA sequences will then be compared against other samples and samples uploaded to DNA databases. This observational scientific investigation would answer the specific question of “what are Sea-Monkeys?”, where results would be documented in an informal communication format to engage a non-specialized audience.

Keywords: ARTEMIA, BRINE SHRIMP, DNA, BARCODING, HYBRIDIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

115 INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF SURFACE IMPERVIOUSNESS ON RUNOFF GENERATION THROUGH LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS BASED ON AN ADVANCED HYDROLOGY APPARATUS

Aaliyah Timms1*, Ian Goulden-Brady1, Lapone Techapinyawat1, Hannah Garcia2, Wen Zhong1

1Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Impervious areas play a critical role in the urban water cycle, particularly in terms of the partition of rainwater between runoff and infiltration. Laboratory rainfall-runoff experiments provide a flexible and efficient way to address the hydrological effects of different levels and patterns of surface imperviousness. In this study, laboratory experiments are designed and implemented to characterize the change in rainfall-runoff relationship with different imperviousness patterns. We aim to develop an improved understanding of the rainfall-runoff relationship to help us understand the connections between the degree of urbanization and the quantity of stormwater runoff. The experiments are based on the Advanced Hydrology and Rainfall Apparatus (TecQuipment H313V). It is contained in an enclosed metal bin (approximately 2.4 meters long and 1 meter wide) used as the water catchment with eight overhead sprinklers used to replicate rainfall. The apparatus only needs an electrical source to operate and record data. The experiments are designed to simulate rainfall in a controlled environment that allows for the investigation of multiple variables that affect rainfall-runoff relationships such as land cover, slope, and rainfall. The variability of rainfall is simulated by using different combinations of the eight sprinklers; the slope is simulated by adjusting the longitudinal inclination between 0 and 10%. Different levels of surface imperviousness are simulated by placing rubber tiles over the permeable medium (sand). Data collection is done through software integrated into the apparatus. When connected with a computer, real-time data can be recorded and analyzed. The results show an increasing level of surface runoff as rainfall continues but streamflow slows when rainfall stops. The results also indicate the variability of hydrographs caused by the different combinations of environmental conditions. An improved understanding of the rainfall-runoff relationship could help us understand the connections between the degree of urbanization and the quantity of stormwater runoff.

Keywords: HYDROLOGY, RAINFALL-RUNOFF, LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, IMPERVIOUSNESS, URBANIZATION

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

116 NURSING INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ERRORS IN THE NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT  

Kate de los Santos, B.A.*, Angel Cuevas Ramirez, B.B.A.*, Grecia Sanchez, BS, Jeffrey Whorton,BS, Marge M. Benham-Hutchins, PhD, RN & Heather DeGrande, PhD, RN 

Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi 

Our research focuses on interventions that could be implemented within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to reduce the occurrence and severity of medication errors as well as other potential leading causes of error. Approximately 20% of hospital errors are medication administration errors (MAEs); discrepancies that occur between the medication intended by a prescriber and the medication received by a patient. Whether the error be the incorrect medication, route, time, patient, or even a 0.1mL error in dosage, they could have detrimental effects on a population as vulnerable as neonatal infants. Comprehensive nursing and medical databases, including PubMed and CINAHL, were utilized to find credible articles in reference to studies related to medication errors in the hospital setting, specifically in NICUs within the United States. Additional research between nurse workload and missed care may allow for tailored interventions in responding to variations within units and during shifts.  

Keywords: NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, PREVENTION, MEDICATION ERROR, CRITICAL CARE, REGISTERED NURSES, AND MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ERROR. 

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

118 COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING WITH TEXAS SEALIFE CENTER

Nya Hernandez, Layla Nice

Honors Program, Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Sea turtles are becoming regular victims of fishing companies\’ unsafe fishing practices, plastic pollution, climate change, and many other natural and manmade occurrences (Hetherman, 2019). Researchers are reporting more turtles ending up in rehabilitation centers due to these occurrences and some are never even allowed to leave due to the heavy damage that their bodies have taken (Lamont, Mollenhauer, & Foley, 2021; Ashford, Watling, & Hart, 2022). In this service project, we will gain firsthand experience rehabilitating these sea turtles and understand what is causing harm to them. We will complete this project by serving at the Texas Sealife Center in Corpus Christi, over the Spring semester. We will assist the staff with the daily work of the Center and participate in their outreach and awareness efforts in the community. We are hoping to receive a greater knowledge of sea turtles and conservation efforts in our community. Through this service we also hope to explore possibilities for our future career paths.

Keywords: MARINE HABITAT SANCTUARY, PRESERVATION, ANIMAL RESCUE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

120 EXAMINING THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS ALONG AN ELEVATIONAL GRADIENT ON THE WESTERN COAST OF ECUADOR

Ryce Hailes 1*, Rebecca Davis1, Shawn McCracken1,2

1Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, College of Science, Department of Life Sciences; 2Third Millennium Alliance

On the western coast of Ecuador, the remaining Pacific Forest ranges from dry tropical forests to rainy cloud forests, with elevations reaching up to 650 meters. The deciduous dry forest receives an annual precipitation of 100-200cm, the wet forest receiving \>200 cm annual, and the cloud forest receiving \>450 cm of precipitation. This research hopes to examine the distribution of insectivorous birds along this elevational and habitat gradient, and how that distribution changes due to rainy or dry seasons. Currently, the research focuses on two species, the Black-headed Antthrush (Formicarius nigricapillus) and the Plain-brown Woodcreeper (Dendrocincla fuliginosa). Audio data from March and October of 2020, as well as data from March and October of 2021 is being examined, with March being in the middle of the rainy season and October being during the dry season. There are four study sites located within the Three Forests Conservation Corridor and Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve, with one site located in the dry forest habitat at 130 m, one in wet forest habitat at 396 m, and the last two located in cloud forest habitat at 456 m and 632 m. At each site, an automated recording unit, known as an AudioMoth, a game camera, and a Kestrel temperature monitor were installed. For this study, we use the audio data to apply pattern matching recognition techniques on the RFCx Arbimon cloud-based acoustic analytic tool. Pattern matching for the Black-headed Antthrush has been created and tested on the data from October 2021. A template call for the Plain-brown Woodcreeper is still being searched for in the dataset. The goal is that through this research, we can gain a better understanding of how a changing climate might push species further up in elevation, outside of their normal ranges.

Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE, ECOLOGY, BIOACOUSTICS, BIODIVERSITY, SPECIES RICHNESS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

121 FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MIR-199A AS REGULATOR OF BAP-INDUCED TRANSGENERATIONAL BONE DEFORMITIES IN JAPANESE MEDAKA

Rijith Jayarajan1*, Erik Gonzales1, Alexis Trujillo1, Daniel Duran1, Remi Labeille1 & Frauke Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi

Bone diseases like osteoporosis are of global concern, as they increase the risk of fractures in the elderly. The ubiquitous environmental toxicant benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) can cause bone thinning in a transgenerational manner. Ancestral exposure to BaP is suspected to alter the epigenetic profile in bone tissue through modifications of miRNA, DNA methylation and histone tails. Previous transcriptomic assessment in vertebral tissue of adult male Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) indicated a role of miR199a in the generation of the ancestral BaP exposure-induced bone phenotype. To further characterize the role of miR-199a on bone development, mineralization and osteoblast differentiation, the effects ofmiR199a-3p agonists and antagonists injection (700 pg) at the beginning of bone formation in medaka embryos (3 days post fertilized (dpf)) have been studied. The area and intensity of calcification have been assessed in wild-type medaka. Medaka transgenic lines - twist:dsred/col10a1:gfp and col10a1:gfp/osx:mCherry have been used to assess changes during osteoblast differentiation. A reduction in the calcified area and bone thickness upon agonist injection at 24-30 dpf was identified. Whereas the antagonists increased the area and thickness of calcification at 24-30 dpf. The spatial distribution and the cellular density of twist+ mesenchymal stem cells were reduced at 30 dpf. A significant reduction upon agonist injection was noted in the cellular density of col10+ osteochondro progenitor cells. Spatial distribution and density of osx+ premature osteoblasts were reduced upon agonist injection. Assessment of bone gene expression levels in 25 dpf old medaka larvae revealed a likely inhibitory effect of miR199a-3p on bone development. Overall, the tissue, cellular and molecular level experiments confirmed the role of miR199a-3p in bone maturation and osteoblast differentiation. This functional study can potentially contribute to the marker development for assessing the risk of BaP-induced bone deformities to improve the targeted prevention and treatment strategies.

Keywords: MICRORNA, BENZO[A]PYRENE, MEDAK, GENE REGULATION, OSTEOPOROSIS

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

122 CHANGES IN BLOOD CELL MORPHOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH HBA1C LEVELS IN DIABETES MELLITUS

Gabriel Flores*1, Arthur Nguyen*2, David Chessher III1, Jean Sparks2, Felix Omoruyi1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Health Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by impaired glucose utilization leading to chronic hyperglycemia. It is an endocrine disorder that presents severe clinical and public health problems worldwide, including in South Texas. Blood glucose levels are commonly used in the diagnosis of diabetes. Microvascular and macrovascular complications are common in patients with uncontrolled diabetes. However, HbA1c is a simple blood test that measures the average blood glucose levels over the past 2 to 3 months and is used to diagnose and effectively manage diabetes mellitus to prevent diabetic complications. In this study, we evaluated changes in red blood cell morphology with varying HbA1c levels in diabetic patients versus nondiabetic patients. Blood samples were collected from Driscoll and Shoreline hospital labs in Corpus Christi, Texas. Sample collections are still ongoing at clinical sites. Peripheral blood smears were prepared from the unidentified patients’ blood samples and examined under the microscope for the number and kinds of cells present and other morphologic abnormalities. The collected blood samples were categorized based on HbA1c levels -group 1 (\< 5.7%- nondiabetic); group 2 (5.7 - 6.4% - prediabetic); group 3 (\>6.5% - diabetic) and by pediatric and adult groups. The pediatric control group indicated the highest number of ovalocytes (94%), anisocytosis (78%), and echinocytes (76%), the prediabetic group (80%, 90%, 60% respectively) and the diabetic group (83%, 83%, 67% respectively). The adult control group showed 53% ovalocytes, 58% anisocytosis, and 83% echinocytes, the prediabetic group showed 75%, 0%, 75% respectively, and the diabetic group showed 67%, 43%, 65% respectively. Surprisingly, the adults with the highest HbA1cs showed few morphological alterations. Overall, the numbers of anisocytosis, echinocytes, and ovalocytes in both pediatric and adult diabetic samples did not correlate with HbA1c levels, the observed few morphological changes may be attributable to the clinical care.

Keywords: BLOOD SUGAR, GLYCOSYLATED HEMOGLOBIN, RBC MORPHOLOGY, MICROSCOPY, A1C

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

123 AN ANALYSIS OF EL NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION EFFECTS ON TROPICAL CYCLONES

Madalyn Lilljedahl*, Chunato Liu, Thomas Lavigne

Department of Physical and Environmental Science, College of Science, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) refers to the consistent, and occasionally extremely strong, fluctuations in surface air pressure, rainfall, sea surface temperature, and atmospheric circulation that take place across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. In ENSO there are three different phases in general: El Niño, La Niña and Neutral. These refer to the warm and cool anomalies of the recurring climate patterns in the tropical Pacific. To assess the variation of Tropical Cyclones (TC) under different ENSO scenarios, the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) V2 data are used to classify TCs in the IBTrACS TC tracks dataset. TC tracks with a corresponding MEI index greater than -1 is considered a strong La Niña, anything between -1 and -0.5 is considered weak La Niña. A neutral phase is anything between – 0.5 and +1. A weak El Niño is anything from +0.5 to +1 and anything greater than +1 is considered strong El Niño.  The track densities of different conditions are analyzed geographically and in different basins. There are clear differences in the TC track densities among different ENSO conditions around the globe with more TC activity under the La Niña phase.  To further understand the influences from the TCs under different ENSO scenarios, the precipitation contributions from TCs are summarized with the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) dataset from 2001-2020. First, the TC tracks are interpolated into 0.5-hour temporal resolution. Then IMERG precipitation rates on 0.1o x0.1o grid are accumulated within ±10o longitude and latitude of TC centers for each storm. The contribution from TC and major TC to total precipitation under different ENSO conditions are calculated and shown geographically. These results could help us to understand the interannual variations of TCs and their regional impacts. 

Keywords: ENSO, TROPICAL CYCLONES, PRECIPITATION, GPM, MEI

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

124 ESTIMATE GLM-OBSERVED FLASH RATE IN PRECIPITATION FEATURES BY APPLYING AI NEURAL NETWORK MODELS TO THE GMI PASSIVE-MICROWAVE BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES

Florian Morvais* & Chuntao Liu

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Lightning coverage around the world is sparse. Mostly located in the most developed countries, sometimes only around densely populated areas. With an almost non-existent coverage of the oceans and underdeveloped countries. The satellite passive-microwave Brightness Temperature (TB) observations, with a global coverage and a high revisiting rate, have been mainly used in surface precipitation retrievals. However, these observations can also be used to indicate the intensity of convective systems. This study attempts to relate TBs to the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) aboard the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite R-series (GOES-R). By using 4 years (02/2018 – 04/2022) of the GPM Precipitation Feature (PF) database, passive microwave TBs from GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) are collocated to the GLM lightning information, and to the ERA5 reanalysis air temperature at 2 meters in PFs. A total number of 3 AI Neural Network Models (AI-NN) are trained to estimate which PFs are likely to produce lightning in a 20-minutes window respectively for land, oceanic, or coastal PFs. The flash rate of the predicted Lightning producing PFs (LPFs) is then quantified by a set of 3 other AI-NNs, each trained for one of the 3 locations. Though the models clearly capture the global geographical distribution of LPFs, the use of TB only introduces a False Alarm (FA) issue in the LPF prediction, with a False Alarm Rate (FAR) of 49.9% over land, up to 91.5% over the ocean. The importance of TB at each passive microwave channels varies regionally, corresponding to the different microphysical properties in various precipitation systems. The results are compared to literature lightning climatology, suggesting that the use of passive microwave TBs can lead to the filling of the gaps in lightning monitoring thanks to their global coverage.

Keywords: MACHINE LEARNING, REMOTE SENSING, TENSORFLOW, SHAPLEY VALUES.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

125 MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION IN TWO SYMPATRIC, REPRODUCTIVELY ISOLATED, CRYPTIC POPULATIONS OF A BROADCAST-SPAWNING SHELLFISH, CELLANA EXARATA

Kinley Cate1*, Keenan Larriviere1, Luz Ángela López De Mesa Agudelo1,2, Chris Bird1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

While many marine biologists suspect that natural selection plays a prominent role in driving speciation in the ocean, even without physical isolation, “airtight” examples of the processes of reinforcement and sympatric speciation remain elusive. The endemic Hawaiian limpets (Cellana spp.) are one curious example of adaptively differentiated broadcast-spawning marine invertebrates that diversified within the confines of the Hawaiian archipelago where sympatric speciation cannot be ruled out due to few opportunities for geographic isolation and geneflow facilitated by pelagic larval dispersal. Two sympatric, cryptic populations of C. exarata were discovered on Maui in 2017 with a small degree of differentiation (FST = 0.03) suggesting a recent split, but a there was a substantial degree of reproductive isolation indicating that reinforcement was approaching completion. One population was more abundant on the north shore and the other on the south, suggesting local adaptation. Here, we tested for differences in shell morphology between the two cryptic populations because shell morphology is related to predation avoidance (height) and thermal tolerance (surface area). The shell spire height, aperture length and width were measured and normalized to remove the effect of size on shape, and we estimated the surface area using the equation for an elliptic cone. Pure north and south-adapted individuals were identified using \~1200 SNPs. For both height and surface area, there was a significant interaction between location and population where one population tended to be better adapted to resist predation (flatter shell) and the other better adapted to thermal stress (greater surface area), but the relationships reverse depending upon location. Overall, the results suggest that selection is driving the populations apart, but more specific surveys of environment, morphology, genetics, thermal tolerance, and predation resistance are necessary to test the role of selection in driving isolation and the predictions of reinforcement.

Keywords: INVERTEBRATE, MORPHOLOGY, INTERACTION, SELECTION, DISPERSAL.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

126 DECREASING EYEWITNESSES VULNERABILITY TO THE MISINFORMATION EFFECT AND INTERROGATIVE SUGGESTIBILITY VIA REINFORCED SELF-AFFIRMATION 

Kaila N. Jameson1* & Collin Scarince2

2Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The misinformation effect and interrogative suggestibility are two of the most common threats to eyewitness testimony and identification accuracy. Both phenomena are influenced by information presented to witnesses after an event and often include misleading information. Research on a novel procedure, reinforced self-affirmation (RSA), has found evidence to support that a person’s self-confidence can be increased through a process of self-affirmation and positive feedback. With this boost in self-confidence, RSA could allow witnesses to trust their own memories rather than relying on information presented after an event or crime. The current study establishes the validity of RSA as a mediator for decreasing the effects of misinformation and interrogative suggestibility and determines the extent to which self-affirmations are correlated with resistance to memory distortions. The results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between participants who did not receive the RSA procedure and those who did. Similarly, there was no statistically significant difference between participants who were not given false suggestions and those who were. While there was no interaction effect, there appears to be a ceiling effect where most of the participants scored at the maximum value on the memory tests. Furthermore, while the results were not statistically significant, the suggestibility trends followed the patterns that were anticipated for this study. Those in Suggestibility group had the largest shift in scores between the two tests, indicating that they were more susceptible to the misinformation effect and interrogative suggestibility. 

Keywords: EYEWITNESS ACCURACY, EYEWITNESS CONFIDENCE, ESTIMATOR VARIABLES, SYSTEM VARIABLES.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

127 SHELL SURFACE AREA OF A TROPICAL INTERTIDAL PATELLOGASTROPOD (CELLANA EXARATA) VARIES WITH SHORE TYPE

Keenan F. Larriviere*, Kinley L. Cate, Christopher E. Bird

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

Advancing our understanding of the biology and environmental pressures affecting marine life in a changing world is important to the management and conservation of living marine resources and biodiversity. Hawaiian intertidal patellogastropods (limpets, Cellana spp., ’opihi) comprise a crashed multispecies fishery and hold substantial cultural value as an important resource. In a range-wide study it was found that the shells of C. exarata are adapted to avoid visual predators, putatively humans, at the expense of thermal tolerance with substantially flattened shells on inhabited islands. Flatter shells have less surface area which reduces that ability to shed heat, like a radiator. Here we investigated the variation in shell morphology with respect to shore type at different locations on a single inhabited island, Maui. \~50 adults were collected from boulder shores with thermal refuges beneath rocks and solid basalt shores with fewer and less effective thermal refuges. We measured the shell aperture length and width, as well as the spire height and normalized them to the mean length using the allometric growth equation to remove the effect of size on shape. The normalized dimensions were used to estimate the shell surface area using the equation for an elliptical cone. Shells on boulder shores generally had significantly less surface area than those on solid basalt shores, but there was an exception where the shore was mostly cliffs and slopes. Sites with flat benches, which are characterized by the highest solar irradiance, had shells with significantly greater surface area than the other sites. These results indicate that phenotypic plasticity remains in a predation-adapted population of C. exarata to allow some degree of specialization to thermally extreme conditions. Understanding how substratum type affects C. exarata shell morphology is crucial to better manage this resource.

Keywords: ACCLIMATION, ADAPTATION, HEAT BUDGET, PHENOTYPE, ADAPTIVE CAPACITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

128 EMULATING BRIDGE DECK AEROELASTIC FORCES UNDER FORCED VIBRATIONS VIA MACHINE LEARNING

Ashutosh Mishra1,2*, Miguel Cid Montoya1, Sumit Verma1 & Wenlu Wang2

1ASTRO Lab, Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The design of long-span bridges is mainly governed by their performance under the action of wind. The deck cross-section geometry is a fundamental design variable for controlling wind-induced and structural responses. In order to effectively design bridge decks, the relationship of their aeroelastic characteristics with their cross-section geometry under different wind velocities must be accurately modeled. Flutter derivatives are the shape-dependent fluid-structure interaction parameters that drive the bridge flutter and buffeting responses. They can be extracted from forced vibration simulations and wind tunnel tests using sectional models. In both cases, the high computational burden of the simulations and the expensive and time-consuming tests restrain designers from carrying out a reasonable number of simulations to properly tailor the bridge deck geometry, either using heuristic techniques or optimization algorithms. In this context, machine learning techniques are a promising alternative to emulate the aeroelastic force time histories traditionally extracted from numerical simulations or wind tunnel tests. An ML-enabled framework for emulating the time-variant aeroelastic forces of alternative deck geometries under different wind velocities is presented in this study. The preliminary results of this ongoing project will be discussed. After properly analyzing the input parameters and specifics of the data, potential models have been selected, like LSTM networks, ARIMA Model, and few more. Ultimately, the choice of the model for the final framework will depend on the performance of these models, which will be discussed in this study.

Keywords: BRIDGE RESILIENCE, AEROELASTIC FORCES, MACHINE LEARNING, AERO-STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

129 INTERACTION BETWEEN NITRIC OXIDE AND SEROTONIN IN THE FORMATION OF LONG-TERM SENSITIZATION IN THE MOLLUSK APLYSIA

Landrue Richards*, Marcy Wainwright, Riccardo Mozzachiodi

Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Learning is a process by which all animals modify their behaviors to ensure increased fitness (Nordell, 2021). Long-term sensitization (LTS) in the invertebrate Aplysia is a well-known example of learning in which defensive responses, such as the tail-siphon withdrawal reflex (TSWR), are heightened for prolonged periods following repeated exposure to noxious stimuli (i.e., aversive training; Kandel, 2001). The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) mediates LTS formation in Aplysia (Kandel, 2001). In vivo, 5-HT exposure alone can induce LTS (Levenson et al., 1999). However, recent findings indicate that the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO) is also necessary for LTS formation (Farruggella et al., 2019). Therefore, an experiment was designed to position NO on the 5-HT-mediated biochemical pathway. TSWR durations were initially recorded (pre-tests). Then animals were injected with either artificial seawater (ASW) as vehicle, or with the NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME. L-NAME concentration was 20 mg/mL, and injections consisted of 1 mL / 200 g of body weight. Animals were subsequently either trained, exposed to 5-HT, or left untrained. Aversive training consisted of five trials of noxious stimuli spaced 30 min apart. 5-HT exposure consisted of submerging animals in ASW containing 500-µM 5-HT for 5 min, five times, at 25-min intervals. TSWRs were post-tested 24 h after the end of training / 5-HT treatment. Six groups of animals were utilized: ASW-untrained, ASW-trained, ASW-5-HT, L-NAME-untrained, L-NAME-trained, L-NAME-5-HT. Post-pre changes in TSWR duration were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by the Student-Newman-Keuls post-hoc comparison. Results revealed no significant difference between ASW-trained and ASW-5-HT groups, indicating the occurrence of LTS. However, the L-NAME-5-HT group was statistically lower than the ASW-trained and ASW-5-HT groups, indicating that L-NAME blocked 5-HT-induced LTS. These findings indicate that NO is required for 5-HT-induced LTS and positions 5-HT upstream of NO signaling. These outcomes will significantly contribute to our understanding of learning.

Keywords: DEFENSIVE BEHAVIORS, MEMORY, NEUROTRANSMITTERS

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

130 THE ROLE OF GAIT VARIABILITY AND NONLINEAR ANALYSIS WITH A FOCUS ON FOOTWEAR INFLUENCE

Dawei Guan, Bryon Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX

Extensive research investigated the impact of footwear on adult walkers and runners\’ gaits. However, a consensus on the underlying factors that affect gait still requires investigation. Traditionally, gait has been evaluated using spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic measures. This established that gait variability is crucial for maintaining healthy movement patterns. However, the impact of footwear on healthy gait variability has yet to be studied. The nonlinear variability sample entropy evaluates intrinsic fluctuations in stride-to-stride cycles, indicative of normal gait. Our study explores the influence of footwear and barefoot conditions on gait variability in healthy college-aged individuals. Specifically, we used sample entropy to analyze lower extremity joint angle time series during walking to compare nonlinear gait variability between two conditions to provide insight into the potential impact of footwear on gait variability. Four healthy young adults (mean age 19.8 ± 0.9 years, height 64 ± 3 in, weight 128 ± 9 lbs) were placed on Retro-reflective markers on anatomical locations on the lower limbs, pelvis, and trunk. Motion capture data were collected at 100 Hz, and hip, knee, and ankle joint angles were calculated using Visual 3D software. Participants completed two three-minute walking trials on a treadmill, one with shoes and one barefoot. Sample entropy was calculated for the joint angle time series for the ankle, knee, and hip for both legs using Matlab. SE analysis showed significantly higher left knee and left. Right hip SE in the barefoot condition compared to the shod condition (p \< .05). No significant differences were observed in other variables. Overall, SE was higher for all analyzed joints in the barefoot state, indicating footwear may limit the dimensionality of gait and create a more rigid pattern. Further research is needed on the impact of chronic use of rigid footwear on gait complexity.

Keywords: FOOTWEAR IMPACT, GAIT VARIABILITY, SAMPLE ENTROPY, NONLINEAR ANALYSIS, LOWER EXTREMITY JOINTS.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

131 CELLULAR AND TISSUE LEVEL ASSESSMENT TO IDENTIFY BAP-INDUCED TRANSGENERATIONAL BONE DEFORMITY IN MEDAKA FISH

E Gonzalez1, R Jayarajan1, F Seemann1,2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, is emitted into the environment due to the insufficient combustion of organic substances such as tobacco, gas, and charred foods. Preliminary data demonstrates that ancestral BaP induced skeletal deformities in Japanese Medaka due to reduced osteoblast differentiation and activity. (Oryzias latipes). Using the unique twist:rfp/collagen10a1:gfp transgenic medaka strain, the osteoblast progenitor differentiation from onset of bone development (6 days post fertilization (dpf)) towards full mineralization (30 dpf) was assessed. In vivo fluorescence images of the anterior middle and posterior vertebrate segments taken every 6 days until 30dpf were analyzed for spatial and temporal distribution and density of the osteoblast progenitor cells. Ancestral BaP exposure significantly decreased fluorescence in the anterior, middle, and posterior regions of the vertebrae between 18-24dpf These changes occurred before a dorsal-ventral vertebral compression was observed at 28 dpf, thus indicating that ancestral BaP exposure reduces osteoblast differentiation and as a consequence bone mineralization. These data indicate that the risk for environmental BaP exposure needs to be re-assessed and may be more fare-reaching than presently anticipated.

Keywords: BAP, MEDAKA, OSTEOPOROSIS, TRANSGENERATIONAL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

132 PERCEPTIONS, ATTITUDES, AND IMPROVEMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYERS PARTICIPATING IN VISUAL SKILLS TRAINING

Emily Paulison* & Dr. Frank Spaniol

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes, perceptions, and visual skills of high school baseball players participating in visual skills training. Thirty-three male high school baseball players aged 15-18 engaged in Vizual Edge Performance Training (VEPT), a commercial software program designed to assess overall visual skills which included eye alignment, depth perception, convergence, divergence, visual recognition, and visual tracking. After an initial VEPT assessment, participants attended 1-2 training sessions per week for an average of 18.07 ± 2.90 minutes per session for an average of 17.16 ± 2.73 weeks. Subjects completed a post-training VEPT assessment and a twenty-five question Likert-scale survey to examine the perceived effectiveness of VEPT. Results from the survey indicated 80% of the athletes agreed or strongly agreed that visual skills play an important role in baseball performance and 65% believed that VEPT training enhanced their visual skills. However, only 38% of the players felt visual training crossed over to improve their sport performance, taking an average of 6.95 ± 4.25 weeks to notice. Forty four percent of athletes believed that VEPT training benefited their batting performance and 37% believed their fielding improved. Improvement was also reported in 23% of pitchers. Fifty percent of players thought training improved their ability to “focus on the ball” and 41% of players believed training improved their ability to “see the ball earlier.” While over half of the players perceived their visual skills as improved, post training scores were significantly higher than baseline scores (t(32) = 2.04 , p \< .001, d = 1.22), with an average improvement of 8.46 ± 6.37 points. Overall, the results of this investigation indicate visual skills training improves actual visual skills and perceived visual skills which translates to a potential to enhance performance.

Keywords: SPORTS VISION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

133 TELEOPERATION OF A MECHANICAL ARM WITH MACHINE VISION AND IOT

Brandon Riley Musial*, Ruby Mehrubeoglu

College of Engineering, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

This project consists of developing a mechanical arm that receives stimuli using the IoT, or Internet of Things. The device will follow hand motions using machine vision and transmit the motion to be mimicked by the mechanical arm to the control unit of the arm. The project is divided into four parts, with the first part being the development of programmable code along with the implementation and testing of motors. Next part involves the design of a mechanical arm that will house the motors and sensors within a casing. The third part consists of the IoT portion, which will allow for the sensors located in the arm to be able to transmit the stimuli back from the mechanical arm to the end user, and display the data received through the IoT on a display that will be made for the computer. The final step will revolve around bringing everything together and tying each step together by using the machine vision program from step one to control the mechanical arm in step two, that will be housing the sensors that will be connected using IoT, to display the stimuli for the end user. This work describes the initial efforts towards the research and development (R&D) of this project.

Keywords: INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT), MACHINE VISION, MECHANICAL ARM, TELEOPERATION, STIMULI

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

134 PREVALENCE OF VIBRIO IN SEA SPRAY AEROSOLS DURING A SAHARAN DUST STORM

Charley Garrett1*, Jacqueline Nicolay1, Nicole C. Powers1 Jeffrey W. Turner1, Julie Dinasquet2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 2Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego

Aerosols from sea spray make up the majority of atmospheric particle levels in coastal areas. Sea spray aerosols can act as a vehicle for the transport of bacteria over long distances. Therefore, sea spray could have important implications for public health and the spread of infectious diseases, if pathogenic bacteria can survive and remain viable in sea spray for extended periods of time. Vibrio are a Gram-negative genus of bacteria found in marine environments worldwide, particularly in warmer climates. Although many species are not pathogenic, several species cause illness in humans (e.g., V. parahaemolytics, V. cholerae, V. vulnificus) and marine life (e.g., V. coralliilyticus, V. harveyi, V. anguillarum). Due to climate change and increasing sea surface temperatures, the geographic range of Vibrio is expanding, leading to an increase in cases of Vibrio-associated illness worldwide. Extensive research has increased our understanding of Vibrio in aquatic habitats, but the possibility of atmospheric transport and survival has yet to be determined. The primary objective of this study was to determine if Vibrio could be cultured directly from the atmosphere. Additionally, as Saharan dust storms are known to contribute to marine Vibrio blooms, we investigated the impact of a Saharan dust storm on the prevalence of atmospheric Vibrio. Results demonstrate a direct correlation between presumptive Vibrio colony forming units (CFUs), sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), as well as an inverse correlation between CFUs and nitrogen dioxide. Sea spray transport of Vibrio could have a major impact on its biogeography and further disrupt human and environmental health

Keywords: SEA SPRAY AEROSOLS, VIBRIO, SAHARAN AIR LAYER, SAHARAN DUST

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

135 PARENTAL BAP EXPOSURE INDUCES BEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN ADULT MALE F1 MEDAKA OFFSPRING

Hunter Kulesz1, Rijith Jayarajan1, Hunter Chung1, Rachel Roday1, Kerri L. Ackerly1, Kristin Nielsen1, Frauke Seemann1, 2

1Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; 2Center for Coastal and Marine Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is an environmental toxicant known to induce transgenerational modifications in the bone integrity of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes). Previous research conducted on larval O. latipes suggests that ancestral BaP exposure may also induce modifications to larval swimming behavior, brain development, neurotransmitter activity and neuronal gene expression. It is hypothesized that these neuronal impacts are persistent in adult fish. To characterize the transgenerational behavior changes resulting from BaP exposure, a series of behavior experiments were performed using F1 adult male and female medaka. Individuals from five tank replicates containing two males and two females were introduced to three different experimental set-ups in 10-minute increments and recorded for software-based behavioral analysis. Lateral & diving swimming patterns as well as light/dark preference were assessed. The data indicate an increased affinity for darker environments and display increased patterns of lethargy in adult male fish with a parental exposure history. This is consistent with patterns previously observed in the larvae and is indicative of an increased stress response in the parentally exposed fish. Supplementary transcriptome will further inform about deregulated molecular pathways associated with neuronal signaling and brain integrity. Together with reduced swimming performance due to reduced bone mineralization, parental BaP exposure induced behavioral changes may render the individual more susceptible to predation, resulting in long-term decline of the population. Thus, the environmental impact of BaP exposure likely has a larger scope than currently reflected in the risk assessment.

Keywords: BENZO[A]PYRENE, BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS, LOCOMOTION, BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

136 COOL(ING) IDEA: MANAGING HEAT TRANSFER WITHIN AN ENCLOSED SYSTEM WITH IOT DEVICES

Luis Hernandez1,2*, Julie Romano1*, & Dr. Ruby Mehrubeoglu1

1Department of Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi;2The Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Center of Excellence & Innovation (LSUASC), Corpus Christi, TX

Sensing and regulating heat transfer within systems is challenging especially when one needs to contend with internal heat generation from an enclosed system. The problem is compounded when external weather conditions contribute more heat to a system. This research focuses on integrating IoT (or Internet of Things) sensors within a heated system to gather, send, and process data to automate heat management within the system through sensor data fusion. IoT is a useful tool when capturing live data and subsequently analyzing it to optimize workflows for organizations. This tool has applications for monitoring systems such as satellite weather stations for unmanned aircraft situational awareness where the real time wind speed data can have an impact on the mission’s success. The project uses Peltier coolers and fans to transfer heat from an enclosure containing various sensors and actuators. The sensors monitor both internal and external conditions. Based off this data, the system feeds power through a series of power relays to simultaneously manage power and toggle Peltier coolers. This cooling project will help build more robust and automated systems where the external environment could negatively affect the lifetime of the sensors if those sensors were in direct exposure to such environmental factors.

Keywords: HEAT REGULATION, SENSOR DATA FUSION, INTERNET OF THINGS, COOLING SYSTEM, AUTOMATED SYSTEM

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

137 IMPROVING VOLTAGE AND LIFETIME IN AQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES UTILIZING THE ORGANOMETALLIC [FE(BPY)3]2+/3+

Alexis Burghoff *1 & Nicolas Holubowitch 2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Chemistry, New Mexico Tech University

With the increase of renewable wind and solar energy, there is a need for long-term, low-cost energy storage systems to buffer their variable output. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) have the potential to store large amounts of energy for on-demand power generation and long-duration discharge. RFBs consist of two soluble redox couples stored in separate tanks that are flowed through a stack during charge/discharge, decoupling the battery\‘s power and energy capacity to meet custom scaling requirements. Despite this flexibility, RFBs currently have low energy densities compared to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries due to poor aqueous solubility of the active species and/or low voltage outputs. Robust, high voltage catholytes are needed in RFBs. The catholyte iron (II/III) tris-2,2’-bipyridine, [Fe(bpy)3]2+/3+, has abundant elements, a high redox potential (\~1 V vs. SHE), and is trivial to synthesize. However, its aqueous solubility is low (\~0.1 M) and its charged form, [Fe(bpy)3]3+, dimerizes into a species, [Fe2O(bpy)4Cl2]2+, that delivers a low discharge voltage. In previous work, we boosted the solubility of [Fe(bpy)3]2+/3+ with the use of isopropanol as a cosolvent. The research question addressed in this presentation is: how can the voltage output be increased? We discovered that increasing the current during charging and the additive activated carbon cloth (ACC) increases the voltage output. We hypothesize that the performance improvement is due to a catalytic mechanism. This presentation will demonstrate RFB battery performance using aqueous [Fe(bpy)3]2+/3+ catholytes as a function of ACC loading, as well as half-cell electrochemical and spectroscopic experiments interrogating the apparent catalytic mechanism of ACC towards dimer reduction. Significantly, the findings show that activated carbon is a low-cost additive that makes redox flow batteries using abundant chemistries up to 12% more efficient.

Keywords: ELECTROCHEMISTRY, CATALYSIS, ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

138 PROCEDURES FOR COMPOUND-SPECIFIC NITROGEN ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACIDS AND ITS POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Marysa McAllister1*, Jesus Baca2, Wing Man (Charlotte) Lee1, Lin Zhang2

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Nitrogen (N) isotope ratios (δ15N) of individual amino acids (AAs) have shown unique patterns in various sample matrices. Some of the AAs keep the initial δ15N of their N source. Other AAs are involved in metabolic processes that change their δ15N values significantly compared to their N sources. These distinct N isotope signatures are passed along throughout the food web. The features allow compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of AAs to be broadly used in a remarkable variety of research fields such as archeology, astro-biochemistry, ecology, forensic anthropology, oceanography, and paleo-sciences. CSIA-N-AA additionally has the potential for several biomedical applications such as, identifying the sources of dietary N, the study of protein turnover, the investigation of metabolic disorders, and the tracing of metabolic pathways. Current analytical techniques for CSIA-N-AA include GC-C-IRMS and HPLC-EA-IRMS, the former require derivatization of AAs which contain compatibility issues with several AAs, specifically poly-N ones, whereas the latter requires a relatively large number of AAs that is difficult to purify and collect. We developed a novel and robust method for CSIA-N-AA combining high-pressure ion-exchange chromatography (IC) with purge-and-trap continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (PT-CF-IRMS). Steps of sample preparation include acid hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction to eliminate liquids within the sample, and column chromatography to remove salts and metal ions. The sample is filtered, separated, and collected using IC coupled with a fraction collector. Collected AA fractions are oxidized to NO2- using NaClO and further oxidized to N2O by azide for subsequent δ15N analysis using PT-CF-IRMS. This work will improve the ability to use CSIA-N-AA in biomedical research.

Keywords: COMPOUND-SPECIFIC ISOTOPE ANALYSIS, AMINO ACIDS, BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY, ECOLOGY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

139 ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF SELECT SHORT-READ GENOME ASSEMBLY SOFTWARE FOR DOWNSTREAM GENOMIC ANALYSES IN FISHES

Roy L. Roberts1*, Eric Garcia1,2, Brendan Reid3, Rene Clark3, Jem Baldisimo2, John Whalen2, Abner Bucol4, Christopher E. Bird1

1Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, and Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, 2Old Dominion University, 3Rutgers University, 4Silliman University

With the advent of next generation sequencing, analyzing whole genomes of non-model organisms has become an obtainable reality, however, to do so can be computationally complex and costly. Shotgun sequencing (150 bp paired end reads) presents a more affordable approach to whole genome sequencing than long read sequencing with a major tradeoff being assembly quality. Despite this, a good genome can be assembled with short reads alone. These genomes can be used for robust population genetic analyses and other sequencing methods such as target capture sequencing. Here we compare and test four short read genome assemblers, ABySS, HipMer, SOAPdenovo2, and SPAdes in assembling short read libraries of 8 species of Philippines reef fishes (one individual per species). Using high sequencing effort libraries (500 ng DNA and combined libraries for each individual), we test for differences in common genome quality statistics such as n50, l50, complete and single copy BUSCO, estimated genome completeness, and contig quality, quantity, and size. We found that SPAdes was the superior assembler. SPAdes libraries produced higher n50 values between and within species (p \< 0.05), higher percent BUSCO complete and single copy genes (p \< 0.05), and more complete genomes than the any of the other assemblers on average (p \< 0.05). Although, SPAdes preformed the best, we observed that when assembling it required more resources to assemble than the any of the other assemblers. ABySS preformed the second best on average and required less computational resources but assembled worse genomes than and produced much larger and variable distribution of values than SPAdes. Because of this we recommend using the SPAdes genome assembler to assemble fish genomes when feasible.

Keywords: DE NOVO ASSEMBLY, BIOINFORMATICS, HIGH-THROUGHPUT SEQUENCING, FISHERIES CONSERVATION, ASSEMBLY RESOURCES

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

140 NUECES COUNTY CHILD ABUSE AWARENESS AND RESOURCE OUTREACH

Alexander Villela

Honors Program, Department of Elementary Education, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This service project with The Purple Door of Corpus Christi, Texas, focuses on the spread of knowledge to adolescents by showing them what mental, physical, and sexual abuse might look like through developmentally appropriate presentations. The aim of The Purple Door’s Prevention and Education team is to connect any potential victims to useful outreach centers that can supply their families and themselves with proper care, while ending the large cycle of misinformation. The Department of Health and Human Services (2003) recognizes that outreach efforts in schools and the community are effective methods for helping youths in abusive relationships. According to Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS, 2022), Nueces County has a comparatively high rate of alleged and confirmed cases of child abuse in all of Texas. My service under the Prevention & Education Manager of The Purple Door will provide middle and high school students with resources and information via their Youth Leadership Presentations. I hope to learn more about the warning signs of abuse in children and how and where children and families in our area can seek help. Through this work, I will gain experience working with more students and families which can help me as a future educator. My goal cannot be to end abuse in Coastal Bend because that is unfortunately improbable, but instead I would like to ensure that when it does happen, our city can provide a safety net for survivors.

Keywords: COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING,RISK MANAGEMENT, CHILD WELFARE

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

141 REGULATING DRONE FLYOVERS BASED ON AUTHORIZATION POLICIES AND GEOSPATIAL RESTRICTIONS

Ahmed Saad*, Carlos Rubio-Medrano

Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Drones are currently involved in a wide variety of applications such as search and rescue and emergency response. It is anticipated that the proliferation in the usage of drones will cause an unprecedented number of drone-flights unsupervised in our national airspace. Unregulated drone flights are raising concerns related to privacy and public safety such as colliding into an engine of a civilian aircraft in an airport. This calls for an automated way of regulating and enforcing policies on drone flights over different geo-objects such as airports and sensitive locations (e.g., restricting flights over airports). In the context of airspace, the Federal aviation administration (FAA) is responsible for releasing policy documents that regulate air vehicle flights in the airspace such as drones. However, these policies are present in the form of natural language and therefore, there is a need for a framework that can effectively evaluate and enforce them in an automated, computer-based system. To address this challenge, we propose the first step towards implementing a novel approach that automates the process of enforcing regulations on drone flights based on FAA regulations and geospatial restrictions. To this end, we will leverage Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC), an authorization framework based on evaluating attributes associated with the different components in a system, such as users, objects being accessed, and other environmental conditions. The proposed approach treats different geo-locations as objects, and drones as users with incorporating environmental conditions such as time. We start by automating the extraction of policies from FAA documents and transforming it into a machine-readable language such as XACML using natural language processing techniques. The extracted ABAC policies will then be defined, evaluated, and enforced contributing to the security of our national airspace in the automated drone era.

Keywords: UAS TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT (UTM) – UAV SAFETY - UAV FLIGHTS REGULATION - GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM – GEOSPATIAL MODELING.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

142 DEVELOPMENT OF BIS-BIPYRIDINIUM-BASED GEMINI SURFACTANTS FOR TEMPLATE-DIRECTED SELF-ASSEMBLY

Vandan Jakharia1*, Ha Tran1 & Mark A. Olson1

1Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

The primary constituents of soaps and detergents are amphiphilic surfactants, which are responsible for their capacity to reduce water\‘s surface tension and dissolve hydrophobic substances. Their ability to undergo a concentration-dependent self-assembly process that produces larger molecular ensembles known as micelles that contributes to their operation in aqueous solutions. The aggregation of these micellar superstructures is governed by the hydrophobic effect. The electrostatic repulsion that develops between the contiguously arranged molecules that make up the micelle itself in the case of charged amphiphiles restricts the size of the micelles that are produced. Yet, it is feasible to create amphiphile systems that use molecular recognition patterns to control the molecules\’ self-assembly in a predetermined way. In order to do this, we have synthesized a number of bis-bipyridinium-based gemini amphiphiles that are alkyl-bridged (5, 7, and 9 carbon long chain) and glycol-bridged (tetraethylene glycol chain). The neurotransmitter melatonin is an example of a chemical that may form donor-acceptor stacked charge transfer (CT) complexes with these amphiphiles\’ bipyridinium units, which are severely π-electron deficient. Melatonin, a donor molecular template rich in π-electrons, acts as \“molecular glue\” in this system, reducing the electrostatic repulsion between the charged amphiphiles. The formation of larger micelles along with a thermodynamically favored self-assembly process, and an overall improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the amphiphile to lower the surface tension of water were all brought about by the addition of the melatonin molecular template to solutions of the bipyridinium-based amphiphiles. A variety of 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, 2D NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and other techniques were used to characterize this supramolecular system. The formation of CT complexes was verified by UV-Vis, 2D DOSY, and 2D ROESY NMR spectroscopies. The results of this study bode well for future research into soft matter that is capable of template-directed self-assembly.

Keywords: AMPHIPHILE, SELF-ASSEMBLY, SUPRAMOLECULES, CHARGE TRANSFER (CT),* Π-ELECTRONS DONOR-ACCEPTOR INTERACTIONS*.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

143 EFFECT OF DIAMINE CARBON CHAIN ON AGGREGATION OF AMINO ACID SURFACTANTS

Xitlali Gallegos-Cruz1*, Shayden Fritz1, Dr. Fereshteh Billiot1, & Dr. Eugene Billiot1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi

Surfactants are widely used for various applications including cleaning supplies, food, medicine, and energy. Due to their versatility, there has been a recent demand for environmentally safe surfactants to replace the harmful, toxic traditional surfactants. Amino acid surfactants are environmentally safe due to their composition of amino acid heads and carbon chain tails. Accordingly, the physical properties of amino acid surfactants are being studied to understand more environmentally friendly surfactants. Surfactants are amphipathic, and form micelles at specific concentrations. The majority of amino acid surfactants have a single charge on the headgroup; however, dicarboxylate amino acid surfactants have two charges. Due to the second charge on dicarboxylate amino acid surfactants there is little research on the physical properties of the surfactant. The carbon chain length of the surfactants plays a critical role in the physical characteristics of the micelles formed at and after the critical micelle concentration is reached. The carbon chain length effects the critical micelle concentration in an indirect proportion. That is, as more carbons are added to the tail, the critical micelle concentration decreases due to its hydrophobic nature. In a previous study, it was found that Glutamate C11surfactants form precipitate. As a result, this study explores concentration of Glutamic C11 with Glutamic 13 to prevent the precipitate from forming. In order to do so, decarboxylated amino acid surfactants are being studied with various diamine alkane counterions. Physical properties such as the critical micelle concentration, micellar size, natural pH, and binding with the counterions are examined. Ultimately, once the physical properties are characterized and well understood, they can be used in the future in place of the current surfactants that are being used. 

Keywords: SURFACTANTS, AMINO ACIDS, MICELLES, DICARBOXYLATE ANIMO AICDS, DIAMINES

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

144 APPLICATION OF UNCREWED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS) SURVEYING AND GEOSPATIAL AI TO DETECT AND MONITOR PALM TREES.

Pratikshya Regmi1* & Michael J Starek1

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi;

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, have undergone significant technological advancements in recent years, particularly in the realm of sensor and camera development, enabling high-resolution imagery and precise measurements. As a result, UAS have become increasingly suitable for various applications, including mapping, surveying, and inspection. In this study, we employed a UAS to capture aerial imagery, which was subsequently processed using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetric software to generate orthomosaics. Geospatial artificial intelligence techniques were then utilized to automate campus vegetation and assess the efficiency of these AI models. The study aims to evaluate and compare the effectiveness and efficiency of both customizable and commercial GIS-based deep learning models on UAS photogrammetric products. Moreover, we intend to assess the impact of ground sampling distance on the overall performance of deep learning models, as well as determine changes in land use over time.

Keywords: UAS, SFM, GEO-AI, DEEP LEARNING, OBJECT- DETECTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

145 SYNTHESIS, PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL BIFURCATED AMINO ACID- BASED MOLECULAR ASSEMBLIES

Angelina Garcia*, Eugene Billiot, Fereshteh Billiot

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Life Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

The purpose of this study is to begin to examine and compare the properties of “linear” amino acid based molecular assemblies (AABMAs) to novel “bifurcated” AABMAs and how factors such as surfactant concentration, surfactant type (linear vs bifurcated), pH, and type of counterion/templating agent affect the size, shape, physical properties, and enantiomeric recognition of AABMAs. In order to study the effect of pH, counterion/templating agent, and surfactant concentration on self-assembly, function, higher ordered structure, and molecular recognition, the AABMAs to be analyzed in this study will be examined under varying conditions such as: surfactant concentrations of 20, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 mM, solution pH values of 7, 9, and 11, with either sodium or select diamine counterion/templating agents. The research utilizes a variety of techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), fluorescence, Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), Small Angle Xray Scattering, Cryo Transmission Electron Microscopy, dynamic light scattering methods, as well as capillary electrophoresis to learn more about the physical properties of the AABMAs formed. The research is currently in a very early stage involving the synthesis and purification of the “bifurcated” AABMAs. Thus, the results are currently limited to evidence of product formation and purification of product which involves characterization with NMR. The results to date are promising and preliminary results suggests significant differences in physical properties as would be expected.

Keywords: UNDECYL GLUTAMIC, SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY, BRANCHED SURFACTANTS, GLUTAMIC ACID, CRITICAL MICELLE CONCENTRATION (CMC)

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

146 COMPARISON OF TEXAS COLONIAS WATER AVAILABILITY TO COASTAL UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES IN THE U.S.

Laura Button*, Dorina Murgulet

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Nueces and Hidalgo Counties in Texas contain unincorporated communities, named colonias, that are typically located along the Mexico-US and include Hispanic, low-income residents who live in self-built homes that do not include proper drinking water, sewage systems, paved roads, and basic city services. Most colonias’ residents rely on shallow groundwater, generally of poor water quality given their proximity to agricultural fields, damp sites, and the lack of infrastructure (i.e., pit latrines and collection of trash on aquifer recharge area). The comparison of soil types, extreme climatic events (e.g., drought, flood), groundwater quality, and proximity to contamination sites will be used to compare the livelihood of the colonias in the two Texas counties to other coastal unincorporated communities located in the US. Although other unincorporated communities in the US may not be termed as colonias, they are facing very similar challenges like relying on groundwater sourced near contaminated land, and the frequency of droughts and floods that limit water quality, and therefore supply. The results will demonstrate the similarities and need for change in unincorporated communities in the US.

Keywords: COLONIAS, GROUNDWATER, UNINCORPORATED

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

147 FINE-TUNED LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL FOR IMPROVED CLICK-BAIT TITLE CLASSIFICATION

Vuppala Pavan Sai1*& Sekharan Chandra2

1Department of Computing Sciences, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Clickbait is a significant problem for online users, as it often leads to low-quality content and can negatively impact user engagement and trust. However, the task of detecting clickbait titles automatically can be challenging due to the wide variance in the wording and structure of titles. Prior studies have used different approaches such as NLP classification, or CNN with varying degrees of success where the accuracy of detection varied from 90% to 95%. As good as these results are, they still need custom-techniques and large amounts of training data to achieve this accuracy. In our research, we fine-tune OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) Ada using an efficient dataset of only 1000 samples of clickbait and non-clickbait titles and be able to get an accuracy of 96% on a test dataset of size 200. Since pre-trained LLMs have shown an inherent capability to understand the meanings of sentences better, the research also examined the use of few-shot learning to detect click-bait titles by using Ada LLM. However, this only resulted in an accuracy of only 80% on the same dataset indicating the need to go beyond a generic LLM.  Furthermore, we believe fine-tuning an LLM is not only effective at a higher rate of accuracy but also quite cost-effective and time efficient due to the use of smaller training data. All our research experiments used OpenAI APIs using Python notebooks on Google Colab.

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MACHINE LEARNING, NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING (NLP)

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

148 ALKANE COMPOSITION OF THE MICROLAYER IN CORPUS CHRISTI BAY: IMPLICATIONS OF HAB FORMATION

Wayne Hodge*, James Silliman1,2

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2

Short-chain n-alkanes (n-pentadecane, n-heptadecane, and n-nonadecane) stem primarily from algae. Long-chain n-alkanes (n-heptacosane, n-noncosane, and n-hentriacontane) originate from terrigenous/land plants and are introduced to coastal waters by runoff. Since alkanes are hydrophobic compounds, they tend to concentrate in the microlayer (air-water interface). This study strives to ascertain the efficacy of using the aquatic-terrigenous ratio (ATR) as a precursor to harmful algal bloom (HAB) formation. Since the ATR is a new HAB parameter, it may further our understanding of HAB formation. Corpus Christi Bay microlayer samples have been collected via the glass plate method. Although algal and terrigenous n-alkanes have been detected in these samples using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), they are present in lower concentrations than expected. As a result, new microlayer samples are currently being collected at larger volumes to increase their n-alkane concentrations. Once adequate concentrations have been achieved, ATRs will be calculated in order to establish a range in baseline values for Corpus Christi Bay. ATR values are expected to increase prior to and during HAB events.

Keywords: ALGAE, OCEAN, ENVIRONMENT, CARBON, SPECTROMETRY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

149 INTERVENTIONS TO REDUCE VENTILATOR ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA

Adrian Rosales, Krista Burns, Alyssa Delgado, Owen Foxhall, Mary Benham-Hutchins PhD., Heather DeGrande PhD.

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of this poster is to determine which nursing interventions reduce the rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in adult ICU patients. A literature review was conducted utilizing the Bell Library and PubMed databases. Search terms included “preventing VAP”, “prevention of ventilator associated events”, and “prophylaxis of ventilator associated pneumonia”. A total of 7 articles were included. An evidence table was used to categorize, analyze, and synthesize findings. From the evidence, the following interventions decreased the rates of VAP in adult ICU patients: (a) 45-degree head of the bed elevation versus 30 degrees, (b) staff education and bundle implementation, (c) chlorhexidine use in oral care, (d) use of polyurethane cuffed endotracheal tubes, (e) subglottic secretion suctioning, and (f) probiotic prophylaxis using Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Bundle implementation includes stress ulcer prophylaxis, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, head-of-bed (HOB) elevation, and daily sedation vacation with weaning assessment. Given VAP is a preventable infection occurring in up to 40% of patients on mechanical ventilation, it is crucial steps be taken to prevent infection. Preventative measures such as head of 45-degree bed elevation, and chlorhexidine use in oral care are simple and cost-effective procedures proven to have profound effects in preventing VAP.

Keywords: VENTILATOR, PNEUMONIA, PREVENTION, INTERVENTION, ICU

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

150 SYNTHESIS OF ASPARTIC ACID-BASED BIFURCATED TRIPEPTIDE SURFACTANTS

Roslyn Swonke1*, Angelina Garcia1, Dr. Eugene Billiot1, Dr. Fereshteh Billiot1, Dr. Mark Olson1 & Dr. Chandra Azad1

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

Amino acid-based surfactants (AABS) are amphipathic molecules composed of an amino acid-based polar headgroup and nonpolar hydrocarbon chain. Surfactants, the truncated name for surface-active agents, are molecules that decrease surface tension. It is this property, along with their amphipathic structure, that imbues surfactants with useful properties, such as encapsulating other compounds and emulsifying insoluble phases. AABS are of particular interest, as they incorporate amino acids, which are the building blocks of life. The incorporation of amino acids as the polar headgroup thus improves bioavailability and biodegradability, thereby increasing the applications of this subset of surfactants. The objective of this study is to synthesize and characterize a group of novel tripeptide bifurcated AABS with aspartic acid as the central amino acid at the polar headgroup. The proposed synthetic route is as follows: (1) synthesis of undecylenic n-hydroxysuccinimide, (2) synthesis of undecylenic aspartic acid, (3) synthesis of undecylenic aspartic n-hydroxysuccinimide, (4) synthesis of undecylenic aspartic acid tripeptide. Purity determination is qualitatively characterized via proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR).

Keywords: SURFACE ACTIVE AGENTS, GREEN SURFACTANTS, SUPRAMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY, PEPTIDE SYNTHESIS, PURIFICATION.

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

151 TITLE: THE ACCUMULATION OF MICROPLASTICS IN THE SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER (SML) OF CORPUS CHRISTI BAY, TEXAS

Maira Afzal 1*, Dr. James Silliman 1,2

Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Microplastics (MPs), such as microbeads and microfibers, are introduced to the marine environment through primary sources (personal care products, wastewater from washers, sewage, etc.) as well as secondary sources that provide larger size plastics which are gradually broken down into smaller particles (plastic bottles, plastic bags, etc.). MPs are a significant environmental hazard in aquatic environments where they are ingested by diverse organisms including invertebrates, fish, and birds. Many common microplastics are less dense than seawater and tend to float at or near the ocean surface depending on their chemical makeup. As a result, they may show increased concentrations in the sea surface microlayer (SML) which is the air-water interface that is generally considered to be the upper 1-1000 µm of the water column. The focus of this study is to identify different types of microplastics contained in the SML of Corpus Christi Bay. The microlayer will be sampled via the glass plate method, a well-established technique commonly used in microplastic studies. MPs will be analyzed using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR). FTIR microscopy will be used to discern between different types of microplastics, such as microbeads and microfibers in order to determine which type is dominant. Moreover, FTIR will be used to identify the chemical composition of microplastics present in the Corpus Christ Bay microlayer samples (polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, nylon, and cellulose based compounds). This research will help characterize microplastics contained in the microlayer of Corpus Christi Bay and provide information to support future efforts in controlling microplastic pollution in its waters and similar bays and estuaries.

Keywords: MICROPLASTICS; AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS; SEA SURFACE MICROLAYER; MICROBEADS; MICROFIBERS; FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED MICROSCOPY; UV-VIS SPECTROSCOPY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

152 COMPOUND-SPECIFIC RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS OF AMINO ACIDS (CSRA-AA) AN AID TO BETTER UNDERSTAND BLUE CARBON ECOSYSTEMS

Jason Barrera1*, Jesus Baca1, Wing Man (Charlotte) Lee2, Lin Zhang1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Blue carbon functions as a highly efficient long-term carbon sink that is a critical component in sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. Described as vegetated marine and coastal ecosystems, blue carbon can serve as a natural solution to mitigate climate change with the ability to sequester more carbon with less per unit area than terrestrial forests. Despite its efficacy, mangrove forests, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows are experiencing diminution and degradation at significant rates caused by anthropogenic activities. To protect these blue carbon ecosystems, marine soil stocks are being quantified to improve evidence-informed policy changes and determine priority conservation areas. To better understand blue carbon storage in the ecosystems, more reliable and accurate radiocarbon (14C) ages of blue carbon in sediments are needed to better estimate sequestering rates and to potentially determine the carbon source (i.e., old vs. new carbon). Currently, most blue carbon radiometric data is generated through bulk 14C sediment analysis by estimating the 14C age based on organic matter and carbon-containing compounds’ total average in the sediment. Unfortunately, due to carbon source mixing, this approach reduces the reliability and precision of sediment age estimations. Expanding into compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) is being explored through concerted efforts to resolve this deficiency. Amino acids (AA) are one of the most promising biomarkers to be used in CSRA by being one of the most identifiable organic carbon pools in marine sediments. With this approach, samples undergo a multistep purification process before being fractionally separated using ion-exchange chromatography, acidified, and placed in silver capsules for analysis using a Mini Carbon Dating System Accelerated Mass Spectrometry (MiCaDaS AMS). CSRA-AA can improve sediment core dating through its increased accuracy and precision capabilities, providing more detailed insight into the timing and magnitude of historical climatic changes, sea level fluctuations, anthropogenic activity, and the contribution of each vegetation type to influence carbon sequestration by identifying individual AA radiocarbon isotopic compositions and distributions.

Keywords: BLUE CARBON, COMPOUND-SPECIFIC RADIOCARBON ANALYSIS, GLOBAL WARMING, CO2, AMINO ACIDS, ISOTOPES, RADIOCARBON, CLIMATE CHANGE, DEFORESTATION.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

153 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR APPROXIMATING THE SOLUTIONS TO NONLINEAR ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Mara Martinez

Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi

In this thesis, we explore a method to solve the nonlinear ordinary differential equations using ANN framework. The overall goal is to design a feed-forward neural network (FFNN) model for the constrained optimization of the total loss-function which is the differential equation error term in L2-sense. We prove that a specific loss function, which does not depend upon the exact solution, is the one suitable for our implementation. The trail solution that we assume for the differential equation consists of two parts: the first part is for the training of FFNN to satisfy the differential equation in its strong form while the second part is to satisfies the initial/boundary conditions. Majority of the ANN models in the literature uses the exact solution for training the networks and back-propagation algorithm for updating the network parameters such as weights and biases. While our proposed method uses a linear interpolation of the discretized domain data points to train the network. Three important stages found in our algorithm are: (i) a priori gradient adjustment using linear interpolation of the data points, (ii) a derivative fitting, and (iii) a calibrate of the network parameters. Our approach is simple and found to be highly accurate compared to the traditional numerical techniques.

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, MACHINE LEARNING, DEEP LEARNING, NEURAL NETWORK

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

154 IOT BASED SMART HOME

Amanda C. Villarreal*, Lawrence Davila*, Ruby Mehrubeoglu

McNair Scholars Program; *Department of Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a method which uses cloud-enabled data sharing to connect physical objects to sensors, processing software, and other technologies via the internet. These sensors create a vast network of communication amongst these physical objects and their corresponding data. In this research, an IoT development board will be studied, calibrated, and equipped with necessary functions to perform sensor data collection, fusion, and analysis. The processing being done by this board, sensors, and the microcontroller will assess the different areas of a building and provide insight to its security. With such information further development and enhancement will be implemented into this IoT building security system in a simple manner for a user to understand. The signals are collected through simulated conditions which can be a risk to a building and internet security. All data will be recorded by a camera and sensors to be analyzed for further improvements. This work reflects the initial efforts in testing the hardware and establishing connectivity with the IoT system towards an IoT-enabled home security system, with a focus on camera data.

Keywords: IOT, CLOUD-ENABLED, SENSORS, MICROCONTROLLERS, FUSION, CONNECTIVITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

155 THE EFFECTS OF CULTURE AND COLLABORATION

Hilliary Herrera*

McNair Scholars Program; Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Cultural differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations have received little attention in cross-cultural research compared to other cultural distinctions (e.g., Western and Eastern culture), especially in the context of understanding collaboration. Collaboration can have numerous factors in how a team reaches their goal. When people collaborate in groups, they are all contributing to the group\’s advancements; they all bring their own ideas and ways to implement them. Introducing various cultural backgrounds into it can make this a more complicated process given cultural differences. The objective of the proposed research is to investigate the effects of culture on collaboration between mixed dyads (Hispanic and non-Hispanic) and non-mixed dyads (both non-Hispanic and both Hispanic) attempting to complete a difficult cognitive task. Participants will be paired with a partner from the same or different culture based on demographic information including identification as Hispanic or non-Hispanic. They will receive instructions for the task and can ask questions before continuing. The participants will then be given a memory set of 50 objects to review that will serve as objects to find in a following visual search task. Following the memory set, the pair of participants will complete a recognition test to assess their memory of the set. The team will then complete a visual search task consisting of 50 trials with 24 objects each presented on a computer. In half of the trials, one of the items from the memory set of 50 will be present. The teams will decide if there is a target in the screen or not as quickly and accurately as they can. After completion, participants will receive an exit survey to assess their overall collaboration experience. Potential implications will be further research on cultural differences and similarities that affect collaboration especially on differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic cultures.

Keywords: CROSS-CULTURAL COLLABORATION, HYBRID VISUAL SEARCH TASK, CULTURAL GROUP, DIVERSITY, DEMOGRAPHY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

156 USE OF STANDARDIZED DISCHARGE TEACHING AND FOLLOW-UP PHONE CALLS TO REDUCE HEART FAILURE READMISSIONS

Melanie Milner

Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Improved coordination and collaboration to ensure continuous care for the chronically ill is needed within rural communities for the improved health benefit of rural patients. A gap exists between current discharge teaching and post-discharge follow-up for patients diagnosed with heart failure. The purpose of the project is to decrease heart failure hospital readmissions in adults 65 years of age and older and increase the patient follow-up visit rate with primary care providers after hospital discharge. Patients will be educated on the purpose of the project and schedule weekly texts containing a video link for heart failure specific self-care management educational sessions, lasting 5-6 minutes, and be encouraged to schedule a follow-up visit with their primary care provider within a week of receiving the final educational text. The impact of the standardized discharge education program will be examined to determine whether a decrease in patients being readmitted to the hospital with heart failure within 30 days of discharge was seen.

Keywords: STANDARDIZED DISCHARGE EDUCATION PROGRAM, HEART FAILURE, READMISSION RATE

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

157 DEVELOPMENT OF A BEST PRACTICES WORKFLOW OF A MOBILE LIDAR SYSTEM FOR MONITORING NATURAL AND BUILT COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Isabel A. Garcia*,1,3, Michael J. Starek2,3, Jacob Berryhill3

1Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 2School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, College of Engineering Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; 3Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The purpose of this study is to assess a lower-cost mobile lidar system (MLS), along with a 360-degree spherical camera for development of a best practices workflow for rapid coastal corridor mapping. A series of rigorous experiments were completed, the results of which contributed to the workflow, which will include recommendations for sensor characterization and setup, survey design, quality assurance and quality control, and post-processing. The system, referred to as the HiWay Mapper, is comprised of a Velodyne HDL-32E, a NovAtel inertial navigation system (INS), and a FLIR Ladybug 360-degree spherical camera. The Velodyne HDL-32E is a lower-cost mobile lidar that contains 32 Class 1, 903 nm laser detector pairs situated in a rotating head, which has a 360° horizontal field of view (FOV) and a 40° vertical FOV. The sensor emits up to \~700,000 pulses per second in single return mode (single, last) and up to \~1,388,928 pulses in dual return mode, with an effective range of 100 m. The INS consists of a 702gg global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and a OEM613 inertial measurement unit (IMU) which has 3 gyroscopes, 3 accelerometers, and collects at 125 Hz. The Ladybug camera contains 6 lenses and records 90% of a full sphere, records up to 30 frames per second, and has an accuracy of 2 mm at 10 m. An optimized framework for collecting and processing data will support production of digital elevation models for mapping and monitoring of sandy beaches.

Keywords: LIDAR, REMOTE SENSING, COASTAL SURVEYING

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

158 FOOTWEAR’S INFLUENCE ON POSITIONAL PARAMETERS IN THE STATIC POSTURE OF CHILDREN

Megan E. Perkins, & Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

In early childhood, motor control is rapidly evolving. The developing neuromuscular system influences the sensory factors that control upright posture.1 Footwear, therefore, can create a drastic impact on postural control during this key time in a child’s life. In fact, certain types of footwear may be detrimental to the child’s normal development of proprioceptive abilities, compared to being able to feel their natural environment while barefoot. Positional parameters of static posture can be utilized to examine the effects of footwear on postural control.2 PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that stiff soled shoes had on the posture of young children between the ages of 4 and 6 years old. METHODS: 13 healthy children between the ages of 4-6 participated in this study. There were 4 males and 9 females. The COP anteroposterior(AP) means, mediolateral(ML) means, and radius means of static upright posture while barefoot and while wearing shoes were evaluated. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the barefoot and shod conditions for COP AP means (Barefoot 4.57±1.14, Shod 4.44±1.11, p\<.05). There were no statistical differences for either COP ML means (Barefoot 15.48±9.14, Shod 11.208±6.836, p\>.05), or COP radius means (Barefoot 16.771±8.085, Shod 12.802±5.632, p\>.05). CONCLUSION: It appears that the stiff soled shoes limit the position variables of static posture compared to standing barefoot, though our data was only significantly different for the AP direction. Thus, the data suggest that the stiff soled shoes are providing a constraint to the organization of the children’s posture. However, there is not enough evidence to conclude there are negative effects to a child’s natural proprioception of their environment when shod with these specific shoes. Further investigation into the effects of footwear on posture in children, particularly the dynamics of posture, should be done.

Keywords: BIOMECHANICS, CENTER OF PRESSURE, POSTURAL STABILITY

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

159 ANALYSIS OF SEAGRASS GENOTYPIC DIVERSITY ON WARD ISLAND

Amanda Burton1*, & Patrick Larkin2

Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi1, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi2

Seagrasses are the only marine angiosperms in the world. They reproduce sexually and asexually through rhizome growth. Seagrass beds are vital ecosystems that harbor the adult and larvae stages of many different marine animals; some of which are seahorses, manatees, stingrays and many other vertebrates and invertebrates. Seagrass plays a vital role in maintaining the water quality of coastal waters, carbon sequestration and protecting the shore from wave energy. Seagrass beds around the world are declining at alarming rates, and research in attempt to understand their dynamics with the intent to help them are becoming increasingly important. This research focuses on the species of seagrass, Halodule wrightii, otherwise known as \“shoal grass\” growing on the east side of Ward Island, Corpus Christi, Texas. Rhizome tissue samples were collected from every other cell in 3 quadrats in H. wrightii beds, which were then processed to extract their DNA. PCR analysis was run on all the samples and the genetic diversity was determined for each plot.

Keywords: HALODULE WRIGHTII, MICROSATELLITE, GENETIC, PLANT, DIVERSITY

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

160 THE IMPACT OF FOOTWEAR ON THE POSITIONAL PARAMETERS OF STATIC POSTURE IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Breanna R. Morales*, Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Posture is an aspect of human movement that plays a key role in the well-being of individuals, particularly children. From 4-6 years old, children experience a critical period for the development of postural control, with footwear being an important factor. For instance, certain types of footwear (e.g., athletic shoes) may impede the development of proprioceptive abilities compared to being barefoot; thus, affecting posture and stability. The stiffness the outsole of shoes may compound the effect of footwear on posture as children rely on proprioception to interact with the ground. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of varying stiffness of footwear on postural control in children compared to being barefoot. Four healthy female children all age 5, participated in this study. Children were asked to stand in a static upright posture for three randomized conditions: barefoot, wearing minimalist shoes, and stiff-soled athletic shoes. Center of pressure (COP) in the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions, COP path length, and 95% confidence area of were evaluated during each condition. There was an effect of footwear for COP ML range (f (2,3) = 19.5, p \< .01). COP ML mean was greater for barefoot compared to minimal and rigid shoe conditions while the minimal shoe condition was greater than the rigid shoe condition (P \<.05). There was also an effect of footwear for COP path length (f (2,3) = 13.7, p \< .01). No other variables achieved a significant effect of footwear (p \> .05). Our results demonstrated shod conditions affect the positional parameters of static posture compared to barefoot. The more rigid the shoe was, the more controlled each child’s posture became. Combining results from previous studies and the current study suggest that children’s ability to maintain postural control can be impeded by footwear. Thus, more investigation is needed to understand the effects of footwear on children\’s physical development.

Keywords: POSTURAL CONTROL, CENTER OF PRESSURE, FOOTWEAR

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

161 AN ABSTRACT INTERPRETATION OF CRITICAL EDTECH THEORY

Aurelia O’Neil

Department of Curriculum & Instruction, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

This study proposes that the essence of Critical EdTech Theory can be explained abstractly through the immersive experiences of Quantum Memories by Refik Anadol. The unique approach of quantum computing data and artificial intelligence developed by Anadol displays the dreams of machine learning as it investigates the evolution of humanity\’s learning and curiosity about its setting. This phenomenological methodology is advantageous for investigating the following research question: How can observing the learning and development of artificial intelligence metaphorically illustrate the claims of Critical EdTech Theory? The findings revealed that Quantum Memories shared themes found in the Critical EdTech Theory literature review. (CET). As technology evolves, it is essential to investigate and expand research within Critical EdTech Theory. According to Refik Anadol, \“we are surrounded by machines.\” (2020). Therefore, it is essential to investigate the effects of technology on the learning and development of students.

Keywords: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, QUANTUM PHYSICS, CRITICAL EDTECH THEORY, EDTECH, EDUCATION, CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

162 THE EFFECT OF FOOTWEAR ON SPATIOTEMPORAL GAIT VARIABILITY IN HEALTHY COLLEGE AGED INDIVIDUALS

Katherine F.A. Colburn* & Bryon C. Applequist

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Gait patterns have matured and are more consistent as one enters adulthood. Gait variability plays a major role and is an indicator of greater overall health. Understanding the effect footwear has on gait variability is important because discrepancies in variability could indicate a pathology or increased likelihood of falling. Measuring spatiotemporal gait variability is one way to evaluate the dynamics of gait and any potential influence footwear may have. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect footwear has on gait variability in healthy college aged adults. Participants walked at self-selected and +/- 15% walking speed on a treadmill while motion capture data of the lower extremity was collected. Stride length variability (mean, sd, cov) measures were computed in Matlab. A 2x3 factorial statistical design was used to determine the effect of speed and footwear and if there was any interaction for the variables. There was a main effect of speed for stride length mean (p \< .05), stride length standard deviation (SD) (p \< .05), and stride length coefficient of variation (COV) (p \< .05). Specifically, the slower condition had significantly lower stride length mean compared to the fast condition (p \< .05) while both stride length SD and stride length COV were significantly greater in the slow condition compared to the fast condition (p \< .05). There was no main effect for footwear (p \> .05) and there was no interaction between the variables (p \> .05). As expected, spatiotemporal gait variability was affected by speed. During the easier, slower condition, participants were able to adapt their gait patterns which created more variability, as opposed to being fixed to an attractor state. In conclusion, shoes have no effect on stride length variability. Nonlinear methods to explore the effect of footwear on gait variability should be explored.

Keywords: LINEAR GAIT VARIABILITY, SHOES, BIOMECHANICS

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

163 THE INFLUENCE OF DISTANCE ON THROWING KINEMATICS IN YOUNG HEALTHY BASEBALL PLAYERS

Omar Arizpe1*, & Bryon C. Applequist1

McNair Scholars Program; 1Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.

To attempt to mitigate the likelihood of developing a throwing arm injury, many baseball players implement a long-toss training program. Due to the breakdown in throwing mechanics and increased stress on the arm, it is important to understand whether throwing long-toss is safe. The purpose of this study was to analyze how the velocities of the throwing motion changed between short and longer distances on flat ground. Ten healthy individuals (20±1.26 years) with previous pitching experience were recruited for this study. Subjects had reflective markers placed in various anatomical locations to quantify the kinematics during the throwing motion using a motion capture system. Subjects completed five throws from two different distance conditions. Conditions included throwing from 18m and 67m distances on flat ground. Pelvic rotation angular velocity (PRV), trunk rotation angular velocity (TRV), shoulder horizontal adduction angular velocity (SHAV), elbow extension angular velocity (EEV), and elbow-pelvis velocity ratio (EPVR) were computed for analysis. Dependent t-tests were conducted to determine difference between throwing from 18m and 67m. PRV was greater in the 67m condition compared to the 18m throwing distance (p \< 0.01). EPVR was also greater for the 67m distance compared to the 18m throwing distance (p = 0.04). We observed that compensation for increased throwing distance by increasing the PRV. EPVR provides similar conclusions with a greater contribution of elbow velocity coming from the pelvis in the 67m distance compared to the 18m distance. The indication is that throwers mechanically increase in pelvic rotation to produce greater throwing velocity. We conclude that long-toss does not increase the load on the throwers arm, instead the thrower utilizes the pelvis to a greater extent, making long-toss safe for throwing programs. Future studies should investigate the role of the lower extremity and forces on throwing from distances.

Keywords: BASEBALL TRAINING, UCL INJURIES, LONG-TOSS SAFE, BASEBALL MOTION CAPTURE, PITCHING KINEMATICS.

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Completed

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Service-Learning Poster

164 SERVING COASTAL BEND TEENS BY TEACHING SELF RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE

Emma Fields1*, Amanda Calhoun2*

1Honors Program Department of Life Sciences, College of Science, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi;2Honors Program, Department of Psychology and Sociology, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

The goal of this project is to serve as mentors for 5th-grade girls by boosting their confidence and helping them understand the consequences of bullying. Our project is with YWCA Teens, a program designed to teach young girls how to respect their bodies, consider current actions and future outcomes and risks; develop strong relationships with their peers and treat people respectfully, especially people who are different from themselves; deal with bullies and how to avoid becoming a bully, as well as alternative methods of resolving problems; become a leader in the peer group; and especially, formulate goals and dreams for their lives, both in the present and in the future. Our overall objective is to encourage and support society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights, and obligations. Our experience supports the conclusion that we can contribute by lifting them up, so they are assured that each girl is beautiful in their own skin.

Keywords: INTEGRITY, HONESTY, GROWTH, SELF-RESPECT, AND ROLE MODEL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

165 ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL PHYSIQUE ANXIETY WITH FATIGUE DURING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Vishwa Parikh*, Dr Liana Davis, Dr Ron Snarr

Department of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Introduction: Social physique anxiety (SPA) refers to the anxiety experienced as a result of poor body image beliefs. A construct within anxiety, SPA combines body image and self-esteem with social anxiety, by measuring the apprehension reported when one worries about the perception of their body structure by others. The measure has been found to be scored higher in women as compared to men, with a greater value observed in crowded areas. Meanwhile, general anxiety has been found to be associated with fatigue perception, but the evidence for a relationship between SPA and fatigue is limited. The role of fatigue in limiting exercise performance for both athletes and other individuals necessitates the study of this correlation. Purpose Statement: This study will examine the association of social physique anxiety, as measured by the revised 9-item SPA questionnaire, with the fatigue experienced during exercise through Borg’s scale of rate of perceived exertion (RPE). The latter will be assessed following time to exhaustion (TTE) testing. Methods: Volunteers will be requested from Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, including both athletes and recreationally active females. Athletes will comprise of women who compete at the D1 level, whereas recreationally active females include those who have not competed professionally for a minimum of 3 years, but perform regular workouts. Exercise testing will be performed in two different sessions through the treadmill running time to exhaustion test, at fixed intensity for each participant. While the first day of testing for each individual would involve only one evaluator in the room, the second testing protocol would be performed in the presence of a group of volunteers. After each session, participants would be requested to fill in the RPE and SPA questionnaires. Spearman’s correlation test will be run on the attained scores, with comparative analysis performed between the two sessions.

Keywords: EXHAUSTION, PSYCHOSOCIAL MEASURES, EXERCISE PERFORMANCE, BODY IMAGE, BODY PERCEPTION

Award Category: grad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Proposal

02:00 PM, UC Anchor Ballroom, Poster & Art Exhibit Hall, Poster

166 THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE (UHPC)

Paige Martinez*

Department of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

The goal of this research is to determine the conductive as well as the mechanical properties of different ultra-high performance (UHPC) concrete. In the experiment carbon black was added to different cement mixtures to reduce emissions and provide a conductive element. Data samples were measured with indentation testing to measure hardness and modulus of elasticity to determine deformations in the material. As carbon black was added it was found that the indentation modulus and hardness of the material decreased. New data is being analyzed to determine why there is a decrease in order to construct concrete for mechanical use.

Keywords: CONCRETE, INDENTATION, UHPC, MATERIALS, CIVIL

Award Category: undergrad_poster-art-exhibit; Project Stage: Preliminary results / Pilot study