Welcome to the Spring 2020 Virtual Showcase!
Under each presentation, you will find:
- Student presenter(s)
- Faculty mentor(s)
- Description of the project
- Link to submit feedback via GoogleForms; comments will be shared with our presenters
Thank you for taking the time to engage with our students!
We are excited to highlight the following students and their projects. (Click the link to head straight to your presentation of choice or scroll to view them all)
Oddity Discrimination of Visual Categories by Honeybees
Project by: Leo Yamashita
Increasing Access to Family Planning Services Among Low Income Uninsured Women in the State of South Dakota
Project by: Renee Banks
The Evolutionary Relationships of Cave-Adapted Olarius polyphemus populations from Hawaii Island
Project by: Mikaelah Johnson-Griggs
Classical Culture in Hawaiian Education (1778-1893)
Project by: Camryn Shiroma
Effect of Alternative Ribosomal Proteins on Ribosome Localization in Mycobacterium smegmatis
Project by: Colby Watase, Jayna Wong
Devising Theatre in the Mountain Villages of Western China
Project by: Amanda Allen, Lexi Chong Tim, Emma Torgrimson
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Genome Editing of Ocimum basilicum for Improved Resistance to Plant Pathogenic Oomycete Peronospora belbahrii
Project by: Marc Elias
Oddity Discrimination of Visual Categories by Honeybees
Student Presenter: Leo Yamashita
Mentor: Patricia Couvillon
Description: Despite large differences in phylogeny between honeybees and vertebrates, they show high capabilities of relational learning! My project discusses the experimental methods and results of how honeybees can identify an “odd” object in a group of three stimuli.
Directed Research Senior Project
Increasing Access to Family Planning Services Among Low Income Uninsured Women in the State of South Dakota
Student Presenter: Renee Banks
Mentors: Vanessa Buchthal, Denise Nelson-Hurwitz, Alani Bagcal
Description:Lack of coverage among low-income women is a prominent challenge in the United States especially in states that did not adopt the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion and no longer benefit from Title X funding. South Dakota, with its high prevalence of low-income uninsured residents, has many residents who fall within the coverage gap. Through increasing provider participation, access and funding, health care clinics can connect low-income uninsured women to family planning programs and other viable reproductive health care insurance programs.
Senior Honors Project
The Evolutionary Relationships of Cave-Adapted Olarius polyphemus populations from Hawaii Island
Student Presenters: Mikaelah Johnson-Griggs
Mentor: Rebecca Chong
Description: On Hawai’i island, the endemic planthopper genus Olarius has evolved to live both above ground and in underground lava cave systems. To investigate the evolutionary transition between the two lifestyles, cave-adapted Olarius polyphemus DNA sequences from different aged lava-tube systems were used to produce a phylogenetic tree based on maximum-likelihood. The tree was then analyzed for patterns of genetic similarities and differences based on their geographic location and preference for habitat.
Support provided by UROP
Classical Culture in Hawaiian Education (1778-1893)
Student Presenter: Camryn Shiroma
Mentor: Daniel Harris-McCoy
Description: This project focuses on the presence of Classical education in the curricula of Hawai’i schools founded before the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893. In particular, I will focus on the curriculum at Punahou Schools and how Classical education influenced the development of Hawaiian society as the missionaries enforced Western ideals that placed greater importance in the European and classical languages and culture than that of Hawaiian.
Support provided by UROP
Effect of Alternative Ribosomal Proteins on Ribosome Localization in Mycobacterium smegmatis
Student Presenters: Colby Watase, Jayna Wong
Mentors: Sladjana Prisic, Endrei Marcantonio
Description: Mycobacterium tuberculosis encounters zinc-limited conditions in the human body, at which point it produces alternative ribosomal proteins (AltRPs). AltRPs may play a role in the ability of M. tuberculosis to survive in the human body for many years. Ribosomal proteins in Mycobacterium smegmatis were tagged with yellow fluorescent protein in order to observe localization of the ribosome within the cell during different zinc-replete and zinc-limited conditions.
Support provided by UROP
Devising Theatre in the Mountain Villages of Western China
Student Presenters: Amanda Allen, Lexi Chong Tim, Emma Torgrimson
Mentor: Mark Branner
Description: In July and August of 2019, University of Hawaii at Manoa students traveled to central China to work with Nosu Yi young people to devise theatrical performances that would be shown in their mountain village communities. This process provided leadership development and empowerment opportunities for the participants, enabling them to serve as voices for their ethnic minority group.
Support provided by UROP Faculty Mentoring Grant
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Genome Editing of Ocimum basilicum for Improved Resistance to Plant Pathogenic Oomycete Peronospora belbahrii
Student Presenter: Marc Elias
Mentor: Miaoying Tian
Description: My research involves using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to target and disrupt the pathogen resistance gene NPR3 found in the Ocimum basilicum cultivar Genoveser. The goal is to develop sweet basil plants that display enhanced resistance to disease upon pathogenic infection by the downy mildew causing oomycete Peronospora belbahrii. Previous studies on Arabidopsis have shown that NPR3 mutants displayed enhanced resistance to oomycete infection and my goal is to determine whether similar results may be obtained by editing the NPR3 homolog found in sweet basil.
Support provided by UROP