"Osage with Van Gogh". Nicholas Richards and Katherine Griefen. Art and Design Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

During the Fall 2019 Semester, I have done thorough research on the Post Impressionist Native American artist T.C. Cannon, whose most famous series of woodcuts, from 1973 to 1978, established him at the forefront of Native American artists. T.C. Cannon is an Oklahoma native of Kiowa, Choctaw, and Caddo descent who features natives as his muses from across North America. Cannon, through his art, address the effects of Western Civilization on the Native American population and the many ways the Natives have dealt with conversion either by refusing or embracing the culture alongside keeping customs and traditional apparel in an effort in not departing from their ancient heritage. One of the best examples of being successful at tackling the issue of cultural conflict is T.C. Cannon's masterpiece "Collector #5" or "Osage with Van Gogh." "Osage with Van Gogh" depicts the early 20th Century and plays on historical elements of the Osage people's newfound status and how one Osage Man was able to balance both his Osage culture and the European culture that he can now intake in without betraying himself or disrespecting his culture.

Effects of Sensory Peptide "Adropin" in Liver and Brain. ¹Jordan Graham, ¹Sarbani Ghoshal, ²Umit Muradi, and ³Andrew Bulter. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ³Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Introduction and Background: Adropin is a 76 amino acid peptide encoded by Energy Homeostasis Association (Enho) gene. This peptide was originally identified by Prof Butler as a secreted factor expressed in liver that regulates peripheral metabolic processes affecting diabetic and obese conditions. While adropin may be expressed at various levels in peripheral tissues including liver, analysis of gene and protein expression using mouse and human tissue samples indicate it is most abundant in the nervous system. Rationale: The present study is undertaken to study first the role of adropin in hepatic fat accumulation and secondly inflammation in injured mouse brain. Methods: Liver from AdrLKO (Knock-out) and control mice (WT) were collected and stained in Saint Louis University (SLU). Coded slides were thereafter scored from 1 (least fat) to 5 (most fat) for hepatic fat accumulation using a compound microscope in Queensborough Community College. For injury study, we checked markers relevant to gliosis which is a change in glial cells in response to damage in brain in AdrTG (transgenic) and WT. We manually counted GFAP positive cells in brain illustrations sent from SLU. Results: Our analysis of liver samples shows with Enho gene deletion in liver, mice accumulate more fat than corresponding WT. Secondly, we found fewer GFAP positive cells, indicative of less severe gliosis, in AdrTG mice than in WT. Conclusion: Our data is valuable in indicating a role of adropin in attenuating hepatic fat accumulation and in protecting from injury related inflammation.

Biochemical characterization of the rhomboid protease SCO3855. Kalu Udensi and Monica Trujillo. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Our lab has constructed a S. coelicolor strain that overexpresses SCO3855, a gene that codes for a rhomboid protease; the corresponding control has also been made. Our preliminary results from the phenotypic analysis of the over expression strain have shown differences with the control strain. The aim of this project is to compare the gene expression pattern of the over expression mutant and the control strains using real time PCR. Two time points, corresponding to logarithmic and early stationary phase will be compared. The first step is to prepare RNA from both the over expression and the control strains; using these RNAs the cDNA for each strain will be synthesized and finally we will determine which genes are up or down regulated in the over expression strain. Here we report the isolation of RNA from the over expression and the control strains after growing them for 12 and 48 hours in liquid culture, logarithmic​ and early stationary phase, respectively .

Monitoring Restoration of Vernal Pools in New York City Parks. ¹Ryan Downing, ¹Joan Petersen, ²Khalil Duncan, ²Aidan Fareghbal, ²Johnna Latimore, ²Ashley Mercado, ²Cassandra Quezada, ²Safraz Rasheed, and ²Samantha Rosario. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Vernal pools are ephemeral bodies of water that serve as key habitats for a variety of organisms, including amphibians, aquatic plants, and invertebrates. Our research project involved monitoring several environmental parameters at a vernal pool restoration site within Alley Pond Park. The site includes one natural pool (Reference) and three constructed pools (A, B and C).   Soil and water samples were collected from each vernal pool site. Water samples were tested for pH, dissolved oxygen and the presence of Enterococcus. Soil samples were tested for texture, micronutrients and macronutrients. We also conducted additional microbial analyses, including heterotrophic plate counts, isolation and screening of Actinomycetes, and Biolog identification of soil isolates.   Our results revealed some similarities as well as differences between the vernal pools and the surrounding soils. Similar values for pH and soil texture were obtained. The reference pool and pool A soils had higher levels of nitrate, but low levels of potassium and phosphorus. Pool C had higher amounts of aluminum, magnesium, and manganese than the others.  Pool C had the lowest bacterial plate counts for both soil and water, while pool B had the highest plate count for water. Of the six possible Actinomycetes tested, one tested positive for production of antibacterial compounds.  High levels of Enterococcus were detected in all samples except Pool C, indicating fecal contamination.   NYC Parks will use our data to continue monitoring these natural and constructed vernal pools. This information will help determine the proper conditions for successful restoration of this important habitat.

Comparison of gene expression profiles. Brettania Gordon and Monica Trujillo. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Our lab has constructed a S. coelicolor strain that overexpresses SCO3855, a gene that codes for a rhomboid protease; the corresponding control has also been made. Our preliminary results from the phenotypic analysis of the over expression strain have shown differences with the control strain. The aim of this project is to compare the gene expression pattern of the over expression mutant and the control strain using real time PCR. The first step is to prepare RNA from both the over expression and the control strains; the cDNA for each strain will be synthesized and finally we will determine which genes are up or down regulated in the over expression strain. Here we present the preparation of DNA free RNA for triplicates of the wildtype, the control and the over expression strains.

Aquatic Invertebrate Diversity in Vernal Pools. ¹Michael Antretter, ¹Joan Petersen, ²Roberto Bardales, ²Paige Bouderau, ²Carolina Coy, ²Stef Fabiano, ²Cardi Lam, ²Yuenn Liew, ²Christian Patten, ²Ariyana Russell, ²Matthew Segal, ²Alexander Tilas, and ²Danielle-Alexa Wilkerson. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Vernal pools are defined as bodies of water that: 1) are fed only by snowmelt and precipitation and 2) cycle between wet and dry periods. They support high survival rates of amphibians, insects and other invertebrates due to the absence of fish predation. NYC Parks have created three vernal pools in Alley Pond Park to restore this important habitat. Two of these pools (B and C) were created with liners and have not been drying up seasonally; pool A is unlined and behaves more like a natural vernal pool. The purpose of our project was to: 1) determine the biodiversity of aquatic invertebrates in these vernal pools and 2) compare the abundance of individual taxa between pools. A dipnet was used to collect aquatic invertebrates from the same amount of sediment in each pool. Samples were preserved in 80% ethanol until processed. Invertebrates were sorted and identified to the order level using taxonomic keys. Shannon-Wiener Diversity Indices were calculated for each Pool. Pools A and C had the lowest taxonomic diversity, while Pool B had a high diversity index (similar to the reference pool). Taxa varied greatly between pools: pool A contained predominantly Mollusca, whereas Odonata were the most abundant taxa in pool B. Only two orders (Odonata and Ephemeroptera) were identified in pool C. Our data suggest that each vernal pool has a unique assemblage of aquatic invertebrates. Additional collections and more precise identifications are needed to determine the exact species composition of these pools.

Genes 46-68 of Mycobacterium phage Settecandela. Tausif Bhuiyan and Urszula Golebiewska. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Mycobacterium phage Settecandela was isolated by Daniel Settecerri, a student from Hope College, Michigan, USA. The genome of Settecandella was sequenced at Pittsburgh Bacteriophage Institute, it has 145208 base pairs. We adopted the genome and annotated and analyzed its genes. First, we performed auto-annotations using gene predicting software GeneMark and Glimmer and found that Settecandela has 224 potential protein coding regions. We used DNAMaster, pBLAST, HHpred, GeneMark, Glimmer and phagesdb and seaphages websites to analyze the genes, find homologous genes in various databases and predict their functions. Here, we concentrate of genes 46-68, all of them were in the forward direction. GeneMark showed that all of them had good coding potential. Many genes were homologous to protein coding regions from Settecandela's cousin called Phrappuccino. Phrappuccino and Settecandela are the only members of new cluster of bacteriophages called AA. Specific functions identified are RNA ligase, LysM (lysin motif), capsid protein, and minor tail protein.

Genomic analysis of the Mycobacterium phage Settecandela. Michelle Franco and Urszula Golebiewska. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Settecandela is an AA cluster phage isolated from a compost pit in a backyard by Daniel Setteceri in Holland, Michigan. The Mycobacteriophage was found to have two types of plaque morphology, small, clear plaques as well as comet tail plaques. Settecandela was found to be a lytic phage. Settecandela genome is 145208 bp with 224 predicted genes. 207 of the genes are forward and 17 are reverse. We annotated and analyzed the genome of Settecandela. DNAmaster, GeneMark, Glimmer, pBLAST, HHpred and phamerator were used to describe protein coding sequences and identify their potential functions. Settecandela shares 99% identity with another AA cluster phage, Phrappucino. Possible functions were identified for many of the genes such as tail assembly chaperone, minor tail protein, tape measure protein, baseplate assembly protein, and others.

Genomic analysis of the Microbacterium phage Tempo. ¹Tamara Areizaga, ¹Urszula Golebiewska, and ²Stephanie Landazuri. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Biological Sciences and Geology, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Microbacterium phage Tempo belongs to the EG cluster of phages. We received the sequence of its genome through the "Adopt a Phage" platform of SEA-Phages HHMI program. Tempo's genomic length is 62,869 base pairs and it has a total of 107 predicted genes. The Fall 2019 class annotated the genome working in pairs, each pair analyzed 14 open reading frames. We used GeneMark, DNAmaster, HHpred, BLAST, and other software to gather information about these genes. We found typical features present in the genomes of other EG phages. Cluster EG has seven members, four of them have been annotated and submitted to the GeneBank. The closes relative of Tempo is OneinaGillian. We found typical features of the EG cluster. Genes located in the front are associated with the capsid formation. We further investigated 14 assigned genes and analyzed them as having potential coding regions. We identified head to tail adaptor, tail assembly chaperone, minor and major tail proteins, portal, tapemeasure and membrane proteins. We found interesting pattern of repeats within the minor tail protein coding regions.

Characterization of Plankton Communities in Urban Vernal Pools. Ashley Mercado and Joan Petersen. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Vernal pools are unique seasonal wetlands that serve as important breeding habitats for various species including frogs, salamanders and invertebrates. The recent construction of three vernal pools in Alley Pond Park near a naturally occurring pool are part of a restoration effort by New York City Parks. Preliminary observations reveal that the pools may have different assemblages of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities. For example, two pools appear to have a greater number of zooplankton than the others. Additionally, one pool has a higher abundance of cladocerans than the other three. The variability in taxa in each pool could be an indication of differences in water quality. The purpose of this project is to identify and quantify the major types of phytoplankton and zooplankton in these pools and to look for differences between the natural and constructed pools. Monthly samples will be collected from each vernal pool. Zooplankton samples will be stored in 80% ethanol until processed. Samples collected for phytoplankton identification will be concentrated by sedimentation in Lugol's iodine. Taxonomic keys will be used to identify the major taxa of phytoplankton and zooplankton in each pool. Standard water quality parameters (pH, nitrate, phosphate, etc....) will also be measured to determine any correlation between water quality and plankton community composition. This study will be the first to characterize plankton communities in restored and natural vernal pools located an urban environment. The data will provide New York City Parks with information that will assist in determining the success of their restoration endeavors.

The Influence of Catecholamines in Broken Heart Syndrome. Hannah Rose Toussaint and Rochelle Nelson. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Broken heart syndrome, a stress-derived apical ballooning of the heart found predominantly in post-menopausal women, was thought to be the result of varying sex hormone levels. However, many of these hypotheses have been rejected. This study aims to further the scientific community's knowledge of the cause(s) and mechanism of this syndrome by exploring the possible etiologies linked to the over-expression of certain X-chromosome escapee genes. To do this, primary endothelial cells were exposed to varying amounts of stress hormones. Total RNA and protein were then collected, and samples were analyzed using qRT-PCR. A change in the levels of several X-chromosome escapee genes was observed. This data provides further insight into a new possible mechanism of this syndrome while further elucidating the importance of gene expression balance between females and males. Key words: takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and stress-induced cardiomyopathy, catecholamine, stress hormones.

Examining the function of STAT3 in osteoclast-maintenance of normal bone density. ¹Britney Vasconcellos, ¹Andrew Nguyen, and ²Stephanie Landazuri. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Biological Sciences and Geology Department , Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Healthy bone is maintained by a balance of osteoblasts, which lay down the bone matrix and osteoclasts, which resorb bone. The imbalance is often seen in menopausal women with osteoporosis in which the estradiol level is low. We have recently shown that female mice with Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (stat3) deleted from their osteoclasts exhibited weaker bones with a decrease in osteoclast numbers in the femurs of eight-week old mice when before ovarian maturation. This suggested that STAT3 is involved in the signaling pathway between estrogen and osteoclast apoptosis. One hypothesis is that the decrease in estrogen disrupts the bone homeostasis by increase osteoclast survival. Since treatment options for osteoporosis usually involves the slow-down of bone resorption through usage of bisphosphonates known to induce osteoclast apoptosis, we exploit this idea and examine whether estradiol or alendronate can trigger apoptosis in cell culture. Our preliminary data showed that treatment of pre osteoclastic cell line, RAW264.7 cells with alendronate stimulates cell death. To further examine the function of STAT3 in estrogen and alendronate induced apoptosis, we propose to use the CRISPR-Cas 9 system to knock out stat3 gene in RAW264.7 cells and examine whether STAT3 is required in this pathway.

Phylogenetic analysis of Tbx3 across species. Valentine Uwechue and Sushma Teegala. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

A significant event during embryogenesis is a process called gastrulation during which the three germ layers - ectoderm, mesoderm, and the endoderm are established. T-box family of proteins play a crucial role in patterning the germ layers. T-box protein, Tbx3 has been shown to be essential in the development and is an important player in oncogenesis: it is overexpressed in several cancers, contributes to tumor formation and can drive the proliferation of cancer cells (Willmer et al., 2016). In humans, having one functional copy of TBX3 is believed to cause an autosomal dominant condition called Ulnar Mammary Syndrome (UMS), which is defined by defects of the upper extremities that include hypoplastic or missing ulna (Loyal and Laub, 2014). In the development of the mouse, Tbx3 expression begins in the inner cell mass of the blastocyst and then appears in the extraembryonic mesoderm during gastrulation. Tbx3 plays key roles in both the establishment and maintenance of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent cells (Washkowitz et al., 2012) and can inhibit the differentiation of progenitor cells. While Tbx3 has been implicated in a variety of developmental contexts, the mechanisms by which it functions during development remains unclear. Using Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology techniques, we propose to further understand the mechanism by which tbx3 functions. To this end, we propose to analyze Tbx3 using "in silico" and molecular biology techniques.

Comparing the response of microglia and primary murine macrophages upon exposure to pesticides. Amirabbas Maghsoudi and Mohammad Javdan. Biological Sciences and Geology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The etiology of most neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) is attributed to genetic predispositions and exposure to harmful environmental factors. Limited studies have been documenting the long term/low dose exposure to pesticides as one of the risk factors in development of AD. Microglia within the central nervous system playing a central role in response to chronic injury or inflammation. In response to chronic injury or inflammation microglia become activated contributing to a cycle of toxicity. In these cases, infiltrating macrophages assist microglia to attenuate inflammation in the CNS. Both microglia and macrophages participate in these responses. Since brain macroglia are monocytes, we hypothesized that microglia and infiltrating macrophages have similar responses to inflammatory stimuli. The aim of this study was to compare the cell viability and functional properties of macrophages and microglia in response to challenge with pesticide. Our study was performed using BV2 cell line and peritoneal macrophages. The cells were treated with 1 and 5µg/ml of Permethrin for 24 hours. MTT assay was used for determination of cell viability followed by a phagocytosis assay to measure cell functionality. Our results showed Permethrin significantly reduced cell viability and phagocytic ability of microglia at both 1 and 5µg/ml compared to untreated control cells. Both concentrations of Permethrin did not affect the cell viability and phagocytic ability of peritoneal macrophages compared to untreated control cells. Our results show the importance of further investigating the behavior of different populations of macrophages to detect the mechanism of this discovery.

Examining the presence of Enterococcus spp. in water around NYC using loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), an alternative method to PCR.. ¹Malcolm Fox, ¹Andrew Nguyen, and ²Andrew Nguyen. ¹Biological Sciences and Geology Department, , ²Biology, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Contaminated food and water is a major public health concern.  Monitoring waterborne microorganisms resulting from poor sanitation or sewage run off is essential to prevent future outbreaks.  One microorganism that are commonly examined in the water is Enterococcus spp.  In New York City, there are several wastewater treatment centers which process the sewage and water runoff before flushing the treated water into the East River.  Increase microorganisms in the water would create increase risk of developing gastrointestinal tract infection in those who come in contact with it.  We hypothesize that the runoff from heavy rain in New York City will increase the level of Enterococcus spp. in the water of the East River.  The Standard Fecal Indicator Bacteria (SFIB) is a common test used to detect microorganisms in water.  This test relies on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to amplify several genes found in Enterococcus spp.   This method would require a thermocycler and 3 to 4 hours for completion.    We have used a quicker method which does not require a thermocycler.  The loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was used to test the hypothesis.   Enterococcus spp. was monitored in water samples collected from the East River in New York City over a three-month period and tested for the presence of the 23S gene of Enterococcus spp. using LAMP method.  The sensitivity and specificity of LAMP was compared to the EPA approved IDEXX test.  Amplification products of the 23S gene for the Enterococcus spp. using LAMP method can be detected by ethidium bromide staining, Sybergreen intercalating to amplified DNA and molecular beacon.  Evidence from this work supports the hypothesis that after heavy rain, there was a spike in Enterococcus spp. in the water from the East River of New York City. This work was supported by the Bridge/RIMS program of QCC.  

Synthesis of N-2-Hydroxyethyltrichloroacetamide: Possible Precursor to Polycarbamate. Chang Cui and Jun Shin. Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The reaction of hexachloroacetone (HCA) with 2-aminoethanol gave N-2-hydroxyethyltrichloroacetamide as a white solid in high yield.  The compound was further reacted with HCA to produce the corresponding trichloroacetate derivative, Cl₃CC(O)NHCH₂CH₂OC(O)CCl₃ at room temperature. Both compounds have been spectroscopically characterized, and the later compound has been further reacted with 2-aminoethanol and HCA in sequence to extend the chain which will lead to polycarbamate.

Synthesis of X-shape Molecules as Electron Acceptors in Organic Solar Cells. ¹Feruza Turobova, ¹Sujun Wei, and ²Muhabbat Ahmedova. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The C₆₀ fullerene based acceptor readily accepts electrons from a wide range of donor materials and exhibits high electron mobility. However, fullerene is not an ideal material due to its weak absorption and very deep LUMO level. Therefore there is a clear need for alternative acceptor materials. We propose to synthesize X-shape molecules as electron acceptors via strain and Hückel aromaticity as the driving forces. The molecule's bottom half is a fluorene unit, and the top half is a fused heterocyclic ring. Both motifs are twisted along a central double bond. We have synthesized first two targets in four synthetic steps. These red compounds show intense green fluorescence. Their structures were preliminarily confirmed by H-NMR and C-NMR. With ~500mg of these compounds each in hand, further investigations such as X-ray crystallography and fluorescence quantum yield are set to go.

Impact of Molecular Length on Oligocarbazole Single Molecule Wires. ¹Muhabbat Ahmedova, ¹Sujun Wei, and ²Gina Florio. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²St. John's University, Queens, NY 11439.

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy based Breaking Junction method (STM-BJ) developed in 2003 provides reliable, reproducible generation and measurement of electronic properties of molecular circuits. Encouraged by the great performance of polycarbazole material in electronic devices, we designed three carbazole oligomers---monomer, dimer and trimer. Each molecule is terminated with two methyl sulfides as the gold atom linkers, with an eight carbon chain on nitrogen atoms. We will first investigate the impact of molecular length on electron transport through their backbones via STM-BJ technology. An exponential decay of conductance from monomer to trimer as the molecular length extends is expected. 5 grams of key intermediate 2,7-dibromo-9-octyl-9H-carbazole has been synthesized from commercially available 2,7-dibromo-9H-carbazole by a S_N2 reaction in high yield. With standard Lithium-Halogen Exchange and Suzuki Coupling protocols, we have synthesized three carbazole oligomers and characterize them via H-NMR, C-NMR and Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy. Our initial conductance measurements by STM-BJ are very promising.

Determination of the ionization constant of weak carboxylic acids via freezing point depression measurements. Sophia How and Paris Svoronos. Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Freezing point depression is a colligative property that is directly related only to the number, but not the nature, of particles (ions and molecules) in solution. For the first time, the ionization constant of a weak carboxylic acid is determined in a non-traditional method that does not require the titration of the acid with a standardized base solution. This project uses freezing point depression measurements to calculate this physical property via the Van't Hoff factor as long as the K_a value is above 10^-3. The ionized portion of the solute is measured through a derived equation that corresponds to the freezing point depression temperature. The measured K_a values of various carboxylic acids were determined at various concentrations: 0.100 M, 0.050 M, 0.025 M, and 0.010 M. The experiment is fast, uses extremely low concentrations of the solute, and the results are easily reproducible without leaving too much waste.

Determination of the total amount of antioxidants in coffee beverages using the Folin Ciocalteau microphotospectrophotometric method. Charles Wong and Paris Svoronos. Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Oxidative stress is the process that results from the accumulation of harmful moieties called free radicals, which can lead to diseases such as, but not limited to, skin cancer. Antioxidants are compounds that the human body uses to help prevent or delay cell damage caused by oxidative stress. They are found in many naturally occurring fruits and vegetables and are often consumed in beverages, such as coffee, one of the most common drinks in the world. In this study, the total amount of antioxidants in a commercial coffee beverage will be calculated via the oxidative Folin Ciocalteau method and microphotospectrophotometric measurements using the Beer-Lambert law. The standard reference compound is gallic acid which is commonly used in the wine industry. Regular caffeinated vs. decaffeinated coffee samples of the same brand will be compared and case studies will be presented. The difficulties and limitations associated with this procedure will be highlighted with an emphasis on the reproducibility of the reaction and the limited amount of waste material produced.

Porous microspheres of di-substituted polyaniline and its derivatives prepared from single surfactant W/O/W double emulsions.. ¹Megan Pirtle, ¹David Sarno, and ²David Sarno. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Chemistry, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

We have prepared porous microspheres of polyaniline and several of its mono- and di-substituted derivatives through a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsion method. The double emulsion is generated by the rapid addition of excess 4 M ammonium hydroxide to an acidic dispersion containing the preformed polymer and an amphiphilic monomer such as o-toluidine. The monomer is soluble in acidic solutions, but spontaneously forms immiscible droplets in sufficiently alkaline solution. The polymer dissolves in the monomer droplets to form the spheres and pores are formed by water droplets trapped in the polymer matrix. The monomer serves as a single small molecular surfactant that stabilizes both the oil-water and water-oil interfaces of the double emulsion. This is rare among W/O/W systems, which typically require multiple surfactants and stabilizers. FTIR and NMR spectroscopy confirm the presence of the monomer in the polymer spheres and its absence in non-spherical particles. SEM images reveal that the initially granular polymers can be nearly fully converted into discrete porous spheres. We have applied this method to two di-substituted polyaniline derivatives: poly(2,5-dimethylaniline)and poly(3,5-dimethylaniline). Each material has been optimized by varying the amount of dispersed polymer and dissolved monomer. This has resulted in a catalog of porous conducting polymer microspheres with potential applications including pH and redox-active microreactors, scaffolds for catalysis, and encapsulants for cargo loading and delivery.

Synthesis of Polysubstituted Pyrroles. ¹Biling Chen, ¹Sasan Karimi, and ²Gopal Subramaniam. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens College, Flushing, NY 11367.

Pyrrole, a heterocyclic compound, is found in many natural products that contain biological activity.  We became interested in synthesizing several medicinally active pyrroles that have antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tubercular activities.  To that end, we envisioned an alternative synthesis of pyrroles which has not yet been reported.  Our methodology involved treatment of nitrodienes in the presence of a Molybdenum (Mo) catalyst.  We have illustrated that a number of substituted pyrroles can be synthesized using this approach and are currently applying this method to include the syntheses of the antimicrobial pentabromopseudilin, the anti-inflammatory bimetopyrol, and several anti-tubercular agents.  Several of the anti-tubercular agents we have synthesized are new and will be tested for their biological assay. The total synthesis of the aforesaid molecules and the mechanism involving the Mo catalyzed cyclization will be presented. 

Microwave synthesis of composites of polyaniline nanofibers and ruthenium nanoparticles.. Harpreet Singh and David M. Sarno. Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

We are developing a method to prepare hybrid materials composed of ruthenium nanoparticles (Ru-NPs) and polyaniline nanofibers (PANI-NFs). These will be deployed as catalysts for the degradation of the toxic azo dye congo red, a model compound that is representative of a variety of industrial pollutants. RuCl₃ or RuI₃ is dissolved in water and microwave irradiated at 150 °C in the presence of NaBH₄ and pre-formed PANI-NFs. The NFs serve as a high surface area scaffold to disperse the Ru-NPs and minimize their aggregation. SEM images reveal that RuI₃ more consistently produces well-dispersed NPs compared to RuCl₃. Our current efforts focus on optimizing the deposition of the Ru-NPs by varying irradiation time and reactant concentrations.

Catalytic Activity of Silver and Palladium Bimetallic Nanocomposites. ¹Saleh Jaser, ¹Moni Chauhan, ²Qiaxian Johnson, ²Gurjeet Longia, and ²Bhanu Chauhan. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Chemistry, William Paterson University, NJ.

Bimetallic Pd-Metal (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Au and Ag) nanoparticles are of tremendous interest as critical class of catalyst for heterogeneous reactions because these nanoparticles have higher catalytic activity than that of pure Pd. This is attributed to the synergistic effects between Pd and the metal, which are ideal conditions to investigate the mechanism of the reactions. The standard reduction potential of Ag⁺ ion is 0.80 V and Pd⁺² is 0.95 V, however surface tension of Ag is 0.93 J/m² while Pd is 1.50 J/m². These thermodynamic properties are in favor of formation of Pd nanoparticles over Ag, however in reality Ag nanoparticles are formed faster than Pd. This leads to inhomogeneous bimetallic Ag/Pd alloys where Ag is rich in the core and Pd rich at the surface and detected by SERS. In our lab we have successfully synthesized polyRhodanine (pRh) nano/micro spheres by an oxidation reduction reaction of Rhodanine(Rh) with Cu (II) salt. These core shell structures are first green synthesis of a facile, single step process where metal salts are the oxidizing agent and we have shown 80% degradation of MO (Methyl Orange dye) in 3 hrs. We are investigating polyRhodanine-bimetallic (Ag⁰/Pd⁰) (Cu⁰/Pd⁰) nanocomposites synthesis in different molar ratios of the metals and examining the morphology of pRh (spheres, tubular) under these conditions. SEM, TEM and EDX analysis shows Ag⁰ and Pd⁰ alloy formation. These bimetallic nanocomposites were treated as catalyst for the reduction of p-nitro phenol to p-amino phenol/degradation of methyl orange dye and the rate of these reactions compared with single nanometal (Pd⁰, Ag⁰) catalysis.

Interactions of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with single-walled carbon nanotubes. ¹Zheyong Piao, ¹Tirandai Hemraj-Benny, ¹Sharon Lall-Ramnarine, ²Jasodra Ramdihal, ³Rawlric Sumner, and ⁴James Wishart. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens College, Flushing, NY 11367, ³Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens College, Flushing, NY 11367, ⁴Chemistry Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973.

The development of low-cost renewable energy sources has garnered significant interest. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have shown great potential since they can be fabricated by low-cost solution processes. However, to facilitate the increased commercialization of dye-sensitized solar cells, it is critical to develop more efficient electrolytes. In this study, the specific interactions between single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and imidazolium ILs bearing cations coupled with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide -NTf₂^- or bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide -FSA^- anions were investigated to contribute to the development of optimal electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells. The SWNT-IL mixtures were prepared by an ultrasonic vibration method. The interactions between the ILs and the SWNTs were analyzed by UV-Visible, Mid-IR and Raman spectroscopy. Preliminary data suggest that the ILs do not alter the structural integrity of the SWNTs but do facilitate separation of the bundled SWNTs. Work at BNL was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences under contract DE-SC0012704.

Fabrication and Testing of a Laser-Induced Graphene Microsupercapacitor. ¹Zachary Avrutis, ¹Paul Sideris, ²Michael Lawrence, and ³Paul Marchese. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ³Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Microsupercapacitors (MSCs) containing interdigitated laser-induced graphene (LIG) electrodes have recently attracted attention as potential energy storage units. Supercapacitors, in general, have a few comparative advantages over many battery technologies, such as faster charge and discharge rates as well as longer cycle life. In this work, a computer-controlled CO₂ laser cutter was used to produce graphene electrodes on commercially available Kapton® sheets. Scanning electron microscope images of the electrodes at 2000x magnification reveal a series of bands approximately 60 microns in width with a porous morphology. Two classes of electrolytes were prepared: poly(vinyl alcohol)-based aqueous gel electrolytes and imidazolium-based ionic liquids. The ionic liquids were all synthesized using well-established, microwave-assisted methods. For initial electrical testing, a simple RC circuit, incorporating a signal generator was constructed. A square waveform with an amplitude of 0.50 V was produced across the LIG MSCs for all the tests. Typical capacitor charge-discharge behavior was observed for all the samples, but none of the capacitors tested could charge up to 0.50 V. MSCs containing ionic liquid electrolytes could charge to a higher voltage (up to 0.33 V) than the aqueous gel electrolytes.

Examining how the structures and physical properties of ionic liquids bearing ether side chains correlate with nanoscale interactions. ¹Jasodra Ramdihal, ¹Dr. Sharon Lall-Ramnarine, ²Dr. Edward Castner, ³Dr. Claudio Margulis, and ⁴Dr. James Wishart. ¹Chemistry Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, ³Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, ⁴Chemistry Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973.

The nonvolatile nature of ionic liquids (ILs), their conductivity and other attractive physical properties make them good replacements for traditional media in many applications such as batteries and fuel cells, nuclear waste separation, and enzymatic catalysis reactions. Imidazolium ILs are commonly studied for this purpose, particularly when paired with the fluorine-containing bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (NTf₂^-) anion. Attaching ether side chains to the imidazolium cations has been shown to dramatically reduce IL viscosity, a characteristic that has hindered the large-scale adoption of these liquids. This work focuses on the synthesis of two series of ILs: ether substituted imidazolium NTf₂ ILs and C-2 methylated ether substituted imidazolium NTf₂ ILs, and the characterization of their physical properties (density, conductivity, viscosity and thermal profile) to assess the contributions of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on IL properties. The imidazolium-ether cations were prepared by reacting alkoxyhalides with substituted imidazoles, followed by metathesis to replace the halide anions with NTf₂^-. The structures of the ILs were confirmed using H-1 and C-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Preliminary results indicate that methylating at the C-2 position of the imidazolium ring leads to an increase in glass transition temperatures and viscosity and a decrease in conductivity.  This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences under contract DE-SC0012704.

Compressive Mechanical Propertites of Three-Dimensional Printed Thermoplastics. ¹Michael Orozco, ¹Raymond Lam, and ²Erick Mendieta. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Engineering Technology Department , Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

A research is undertaken to determine compressive mechanical properties of thermoplastics manufactured by three-dimensional printing. Three dimensional printing technologies of Fused Deposition Modeling and Liquid Jet are utilized by multiple printers for the manufacturing of specimens. The test specimens are printed at raster orientation angles of 0 degree, 45 degrees, and 90 degrees, and at build orientations of up-right and flat to determine directional properties of the materials. An universal testing machine is employed to measure compressive force and deformation of test specimens under compression until fracture.  The objective is to determine engineering compressive stress, engineering compressive strain, Young's Modulus, and ultimate compressive strength.

Traffic Light Robot. Berke Inan, Hamid Namdar, Mohamed Sofi, Cesar Carrillo, and Brian Tambaco. Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

A robot is a machine that is capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer. They need sensors to observe and react to the world using feedback systems. The purpose of our project is to demonstrate the operation of an automated robot with a color sensor which will give certain designated outputs depending on the color input. Our robot will stop when it observes red color and go full speed when it observes green color.

Sorting Robot. Valbon Mujovic and Hamid Namdar. Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Robotics are mechanical, electronic and programmable devices that can move, sense and be coded for a task. Robots are called intelligent robot if they can successfully move in a safe interaction with an unstructured environment. In this demonstration project, the robot will rely on the sonar sensor to go towards an object. Once the robot detects an object it will go towards the object and try to lift it up using the built-in claws. The robot will be controlled using the controller. The technology on the robot would work/but not the same as robots on the Amazon warehouse.

The Recycle Bot. ¹Darrien Northington, ¹Dimitrios Stroumbakis, ²Souvik Saha, ²Stephan Brown, ²Javid Roper, and ²Alexander Chu. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Robots are used in many fields to perform tasks that are repetitive or dangerous for people to perform. Also, robots can perform accurate and precise movements that can't be performed by humans. This project demonstrates our use of ROBOTC to program a robot to pick up material using its claw. In addition, the robot can use its sonar sensor to detect objects in front of it. We programmed this robot to autonomously pick up objects and place them in certain destinations. We can also control the robot ourselves with a controller if we need the robot to perform other tasks not included in the autonomous program.

Yielding of Explosive Entities in Tandem. ¹Christopher Ochoa, ¹Hamid Namdar, ²Christopher Ochoa, ²Rana Barua, ²Tahir Mahmood, and ²Jonathan Guaman. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

In technology, technicians can specialize in many fields, anyone can observe robots performing a plethora of tasks. Some of these tasks when observed from afar can seem simple to regular citizens, yet we as technicians know that programming these robots is no simple task. They require knowledge of electronics, mechanics, programming and problem solving skills. Our group will demonstrate how using various robots, simple tasks can become complex activities when used in tandem.

Smart Fashion. Amy Velasco and Huixin Wu. Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The project Smart Fashion is designed to create jewelry such as rings or bracelets that aim to monitor and maintain a general control of the health of the person wearing it. The Smart Fashion jewelry communicates with the user through vibrations, sounds, and/or displays of different types of colors that are associated with specific cardiac activity of the user. The first phase of the research project is to use different sensors to measure the heart rate. The two sensors are APDS-9008 pulse sensor heart rate and MAX30102 blood oxygen sensor. The detected signal from the sensors will be used as input sources to create the control circuit of the Smart Fashion ring or bracelet. The analysis of the results will determine which of the two sensors is more practical and economically affordable for low-income users and users of all ages.

Design of Power Amplifier to Control Rotation of a Servo Motor. Haoyu Niu and Huixin Wu. Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The servo motors have characters of high torque values, high speed reactions in short periods. In the area of robotics, the servo motors are widely used. When the servo motors are simulated by electrical pulses width, they will rotate some vector of angles. In simple words, the servo motors can rotate certain angle by the specific power levels using the duty cycle of a pulse signal. To control the servo motor, I have to design sensor circuits to detect and zoom out the tiny signal from the microprocessor. The circuits of power amplifier will verify the results of the comparison with other similar amplifier circuits that are used to control the servo motors currently. The design will also show how efficient and economical the power amplifier circuits will be like.

Developing GPRS Data Communication of Drone-Aided Remote Sensing data for Various Applications. Nell Flores and Dugwon Seo. Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Remote sensing technology has been used broadly in various fields since it has benefit of obtaining information without the spatial and temporal limitations. Remote sensing uses satellite or aircraft as a platform of electromagnetic spectrum detecting sensors to attain desired properties of the objects. Satellite remote sensing is optimum for the Earth observation due to its larger coverage and continuity. For the smaller spatial coverage in remote sensing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), so-called drone technology can be more practical. It has been already a trend to employ robot or drone as the platform for certain applications including, but not limited to, operation in unsafe areas, environmental monitoring and sensing and disaster management. Communication of data is as important as obtaining data. Transmitting obtained data in timely fashion and efficient way is necessary. In this study, the efficient and prompt way of data transmission between remote sensing platform and a receiver using General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) will be developed. GPRS is mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communication (GSM).

Analyzing N-Body simulations of the Super massive Black Hole in the Milky Way. ¹Joshua Olatunji, ²Jillian Bellovary, and ³Jahmel Saltus. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ³Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The purpose of this study is investigating how the super massive black hole (SMBH) in the center of the Milky Way grows/interacts with the environment by consuming smaller black holes (BH). We achieved this by using a computer simulated version of our Galaxy, from the Big Bang until present day. The simulation uses recorded data to match properties of our current universe. By using Python, we analyze the generated data to observe the growth and activity of the black holes within the Milky Way.  The simulation displays that a small BH merges and gets consumed by the SMBH. Through plotting positions versus time, we observe the spiraling orbit of the small BH around the SMBH.

Creating a transparent UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) using Stratasys J750 3D printer. ¹Naim Rashid, ¹Md.Shahadat Hossain, ²Naim Rashid, ²Forhad Hasan, ²Aaron Rodrigues, and ²Joshua Olatunji. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) generally termed as drone is an aircraft without a human pilot controlled remotely. From the inception of this idea, UAVs were mostly used for military operations. Now a days, their uses have extended to different arena of industry, science, agriculture, photography, drug delivery, surveillance and so on. The goal of this research work is to make a light, transparent UAV using Startasys J750 printer which is working on the principle of Additive Manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing (AM) is the manufacturing process for rapidly creating parts from a 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) models. Parts are formed by adding materials in layers. The initial stage of this research project is to create a prototype UAV using a CAD software such as SolidWorks and the final stage is to print that UAV using Startasys J750 printer and test it for fly.

Creating awards for QCC students' fundraising events using Stratasys J750 3D printer. ¹Forhad Hasan, ¹Md.Shahadat Hossain, and ²Forhad Hasan. ¹Engineering Technology Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The goal of this project is to make gold and silver medals for QCC students' fundraiser events to "Fight Campus Hunger" using Startasys J750 printer which is working on the principle of Additive Manufacturing (AM). Additive manufacturing (AM) is the manufacturing process for rapidly creating prototypes from 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design) models. Models are created by adding materials in layers. The initial stage of this research project is to create prototype medals for different tournaments using a CAD software such as SolidWorks and the final stage is to print those prototypes using Startasys J750 printer, the world's only full color, multi-material high resolution 3D printer.

Patriot Pirates. Briana Brink-Rivera and Emily Tai. History Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Throughout the medieval and early modern era of maritime history, it is found that letters of marque were used to allow merchants a chance at the reprisal of their goods taken at sea. However, the use of these letters began to change as time went on and began to be used to grant licensed permission to citizen mariners allowing them to act as naval soldiers. In fact, during the American Revolution Congress used these licenses of authority to build a much needed naval army through privateers. By using Congress issued letters of marque, and other valuable sources, there's enough evidence to suggest the importance of privateers and how they became a vital operation towards winning the war for independence.

Laplace Integral Transform Method for solving Fractional Differential Equations. Rupakshi Aggarval and Lyubomir Boyadzhiev. Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Fractional Calculus (differentiation and integration of arbitrary order) has developed rapidly during the last two decades due to its numerous applications. This development is still going on as new concepts and strategies continue to emerge. Differential equations of arbitrary order (fractional differential equations) appear more and more frequently in various research areas and engineering applications. This presentation is related to the applications of the Laplace integral transform for solving such equations, and as such, some of the basic properties of the integral transform will be discussed. The focus of this presentation will on the applications of the Laplace integral transform to the two-parameter Mittag - Leffler function as well as on the Laplace transform of the Caputo fractional derivative. Examples of fractional differential equations will also be discussed.

Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference of Stochastic Block Model on Random Graphs. Yanqiu Guo and Wenjian Liu. Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

In this project, the mentee will analyze a classification problem on a deep network, by considering a broadcasting process on random graphs, where information is transmitted from the root of the graph to all the vertices with certain probability of error. The tree reconstruction problem is to collect and analyze massive samples at the n-th level of the regular tree to identify whether there is non-vanishing information of the root, as n goes to infinity. Determining the reconstruction threshold of a broadcast model, as the interdisciplinary subject, has attracted more and more attention from data scientists, statistical physicists, biologists, etc. Its connection to the clustering problem in the setting of the stochastic block model, which has wide applications in machine learning and data mining, has been well established. For the stochastic block model, the hybrid-hard phase appears whenever the reconstruction bound is not tight of the corresponding reconstruction on the tree problem. The mentee's major role is to extend the classical models, like Ising model and Potts model, to stochastic block models with different blocks transition probabilities, and then establish the reconstruction threshold. Furthermore, the mentee will concentrate on the phase transition of the reconstructability of these block models. The last work of the mentee is to apply numerical analysis and MAPLE (math software) to compute a combination of basic arithmetic operations and simulate the signal propagation on random graphs.

High Impact Practices in the Mathematics Classroom. ¹Circe Gedeon, ¹Maria Mercedes Franco, ²Rommel Robertson, and ³Makaila Valley. ¹Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ³Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The purpose of this research project is to collect, digitalize, organize, and analyze data from sections of mathematics courses taught with and without the use of High Impact Practices (HIIPs) and to attempt to capture and compare the student experience in these varied settings. Aspects of the student experience that are being examined relate to student participation and satisfaction with the course (e.g. attendance, withdraw rates, student evaluations, reflections) and student learning outcomes (e.g. final grades, proficiency on final exam questions/topics covered on both traditional and HIP course sections).

Unsupervised Machine Learning for Financial Forecasting of Dow Jones Industrial Stocks. Md Nazif Alam and Yusuf Danisman. Mathematics and Computer Science Department, .

The Dow Jones is a stock market equity index comprised of the 30 largest corporations listed in the US stock market and is a notable representation of the US stock market. The primary aim of this project is to group similar performing stocks into the same cluster and determine the stocks whose price will increase in the ensuing quarter, when the data for the present quarter is given, and then comparing the results with real life DJI data. The research will use some supervised and unsupervised techniques on a training set of data to determine a set of rules, and then apply those rules on a set of testing data to obtain results, which will then be compared to real data.

Do Probiotics Prevent Antibiotic Associated Diarrhea and C. difficile Associated Diarrhea? A Limited Literature Review. Eddy Zhao and Randelle Sasa. Nursing Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Antibiotic associated diarrhea (ADD), specifically Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) is a leading healthcare associated infection in the United States. According to 2017 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 223,900 cases of CDAD in hospitalized patients alone, causing an additional $1 billion in healthcare costs. ADD and CDAD happen when antibiotic therapy disrupts the microbiota of the gastrointestinal system. Probiotic therapy is thought to be a beneficial co-treatment in patients undergoing antibiotic therapy, although guidelines from the American College of Gastroenterology and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases do not specifically recommend probiotic prophylaxis. Similarly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved probiotics for prevention or treatment of CDAD. This led the proponents to ask: "Do probiotics prevent ADD and CDAD?" A limited literature review was conducted to answer this question. 12 studies over the past ten years with a total of 11,442 subjects were included in this review. This literature review supports probiotics as preventive of ADD and CDAD. However, multiple factors need to be considered before considering probiotic therapy, including the strain of probiotics to be used, dosage, and patient factors including age, immunocompetence, and baseline C. difficile infection risk, among others.

Investigation of structure of heavy metal in vegetable leaves by X-Ray absorption. Qi Pan and Sunil Dehipawala. Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Iron is one of the most abundant metals in the soil and occurs in a wide range of chemical forms. Humans receive iron through either meat products or plants. Non-meat eaters depend on plant products for their daily iron requirement. However, plants grown in polluted soil due to industrial activities or overuse of pesticides may absorb harmful chemicals with other minerals. The amount of iron and other heavy metals present in plants grown with different soil compositions will be investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Both of these techniques provide valuable information such as the amount of metals present and their chemical environment. The basic theory of two techniques and their applications will be presented.

Investigating Simple Harmonic Motion Using PHET Simulation. ¹Mi Xie, ¹Rex Taibu, and ²Dennis Vara. ¹Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Physics Education Technology (PHET) provides a vital tool for students to learn physics concepts, principles, and process skills. In this project, we investigated factors that affect the period of oscillation for Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM). We used virtual objects (e.g., masses, springs, timer, and celestial objects) to explore the dependence of period on variables such as, mass, spring constant, amplitude, and gravity. Our emphasis was on the experimental design process. Results indicated that the period of a spring/mass system undergoing simple harmonic motion only depends on mass and spring constant, and not on amplitude and gravitation pull. These findings are consistent with the current understanding of SHM according to physics experts. This project demonstrates how online technology can be used by educators to facilitate scientific inquiry among students. In this presentation, we share experimental design process, results, and experiences going through the project implementation.

Structural Properties of Iron and Nickel in Thin-Film Magnets Prepared by Sol-gel Method. Heesoo Cho and Sunil Dehipawala. Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Small scale magnets have very high technological importance today.  Instead of traditional expensive methods, scientists are exploring new low-cost methods to produce micro magnets.  We are synthesizing thin-film magnets containing iron and nickel oxides using a sol-gel method.  Several different precursor concentrations will be tested to find out the ideal concentrations for stable thin films. Structural properties of iron and nickel oxide particles will be investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy.  Experimental methods used in sample preparation and basic theory and applications in X-ray absorption will be presented.

Tracking and Detecting the Cosmic Ray. ¹Danial Mokhtari Sharghi, ¹Raul Armendariz, and ²Shorn Grant. ¹Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

A cosmic ray is basically a type of energetic radiation which its source generally is outside the Solar System, like distant galaxies. These rays are mainly composed of the high-energy protons, muons, and atomic nuclei. By analyzing the cosmic ray, the more information can be derived regarding their source. This process can be done through a system containing a scintillating sheet and photo-multiplier tubes (PMT), which is called a Scintillating Detector, as a whole. A Scintillating Detector can be mounted on a tracking device. When a muon, which is a charged particle, hits a scintillating sheet, the scintillator absorbs the muon, emits a photon and leads the photon to a PMT to be amplified and then converts it to a high-enough electrical pulse. Then, the output signal is sent to an oscilloscope to be studied in a separate project. To accomplish this goal, the source of the muon must be tracked constantly. The purpose of this research is to keep the tracking devices constantly pointing to either of two main sources of these rays; Sagittarius A* and Crab nebula. Finding the path of these two celestial objects, based on their azimuth and elevation angle during a year, is one of the main steps of this project. The following and more challenging step is to find a software program that conducts such a tracking task automatically with dependable accuracy as long as the two mentioned objects are in the field of view of a local observatory.

Cosmic Ray Muon Detector. ¹Nikola Baci, ¹Raul Armendariz, and ²Radion Kolodyazhnyy. ¹Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Cosmic rays are high energy particles that come from stars and accelerate in supernovae explosions, from regions around black holes, and from active galaxies. A cosmic ray that enters the Earth's atmosphere creates secondary particles, mainly muons, that come to the surface in the form of showers. The team is working to create a muon detector that will identify the muon showers, measure the strength of the muons, and store the data on a cloud platform. The data represents different parameters such as temperature, pressure, time, position relative to the earth, which helps to better analyze and understand the nature of muons. We are using an Arduino Atmega 2560, which is an open-source single-board microcontroller, to read the sensors and receive data from the GPS antenna. The GPS information will be transmitted wirelessly through a radio frequency network using two XBees and make sure that the Arduino program works as efficiently as possible.

Analyzing N-body simulations of the Super Massive Blackhole in the Milky Way. ¹Jahmel Saltus, ¹Jillian Bellovary, and ²Joshua Olatunji. ¹Physics Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The purpose of this study is investigating how the super massive black hole (SMBH) in the center of the Milky Way grows/interacts with the environment by consuming smaller black holes. We achieved this by using a computer simulated version of our Galaxy, from the Big Bang until present day. The simulation uses recorded data to match properties of our current universe. By using Python, we analyze the generated data to observe the growth and activity of the black holes within the Milky Way.  The simulation displays that a small BH merges and gets consumed by the SMBH. Through plotting positions versus time, we observe the spiraling orbit of the small BH around the SMBH.

An Ecological View of the Impact of Language Disorders on Academic Performance. Marisol Flores-Ortega and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Language plays a central role in a child's early cognitive growth, personality development and academic achievement (Danwitz, 1975). There is a high rate of misdiagnosis for speech and language impairments (LDs) (Redmond, 2002; Grimm & Schultz, 2013), leading to poor treatment and educational outcomes. These disorders can impact the health and education of a child as children with learning disabilities or IEPs represent 6% of pediatric appointments, and are documented as missing more days in comparison to other students, and are more likely to repeat a grade (EPI, 2018; NCLD 2017). Children diagnosed with LDs are more likely to experience these negative outcomes as these disorders are not quickly identified with medical tools, like MRIs or X-rays, and require costly and timely assessment and treatment (Morton, White & Horton-Ikard, 2014; Guillory, 2000). The purpose of this study is to display the impact of misdiagnosis of language disorders to educational outcomes on multiple levels, (individual self-image & physical & mental health, educational performance, school interactions, treatment), and to support the development of an educational model for assessment and treatment for students diagnosed with LDs.

The Impact of Social Support and Psychotherapy on PTSD Symptoms of Combat Veterans. Diego Cordova and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Almost twenty percent of U.S. service members suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; U.S. Veteran's Administration, 2016). Recent reports indicate that symptoms of PTSD may contribute to the alarming rate of 20 veteran suicides a day (V.A., 2014). These statistics suggest a need to examine the efficacy of treatment methods for this population. During military service, service members are socialized to value strength and toughness. This value system may contribute to the underutilization of mental health services, especially talk therapy (Mittal et al., 2013). Social support networks have been found to be effective within this population, specifically, family, veteran friends, non-veteran friends, and spouses. (Laffaye, 2008). When psychotherapy is considered, behavioral therapies are proven to be the most efficacious, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy, and Talk Therapy (Goodson, 2011). This study will examine if a combination of psychotherapy and social support is effective for veterans who have PTSD. Given the reported benefits of each mode of treatment individually, this study purports that combination treatment will significantly decrease symptoms of PTSD within this population.

Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors and Race: Is There a Relationship between Racial Stereotypes and Mental Health Stigma in the African American Community?. DeCarlos Hines and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

African-Americans (AA) are less likely to participate in outpatient mental health services than other racial/ethnic groups, 4.7% compared to whites 8.8%, and American Indian or Alaska Natives at 7.7% (SAMSHA, 2015). At the same time, AAs have the highest hospitalization rates for mental health (1.7% versus 0.7 %, Whites), suicide attempts remain highest amongst AA teens (8.3%), and young AA children are now completing suicide more than any other group (JAMA, 2018 & HHS, 2016). When barriers to treatment, such as cost, insurance coverage, or access to providers, are considered, AAs do not differ from other racial groups, suggesting the differences in treatment participation may be directly related to attitudes and beliefs. Patterns of help-seeking are well-established in the literature and indicate that AAs are more concerned about mental health stigma than other racial groups (Ward et al., 2013). Further, some studies identify a correlation between mental health stigma and racial stereotypes (Cheng & Robinson, 2013). Social psychology research identifies a bi-directional relationship between mental health stigma and help-seeking. Specifically, people high in mental health stigma are less likely to seek treatment (Corrigan, 2004). This study will build on Corrigan's theory by examining if racial stereotypes contribute to mental health stigmas and impact African Americans' participation in mental health treatment.

The Relationship between Early Adulthood Trauma and Alcohol Addiction in Later Adulthood. Kerry Aguero and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

In the U.S., over 15 million people are diagnosed with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), and 88,000 people die from alcohol-related deaths annually (CDC, 2015). The relapse rate for AUD is higher than almost every other illicit substances, 88% versus 55% for cocaine (NIDA, 2010). Many people who struggle with AUD identify early experiences of trauma at higher rates than the general population (Lotzin et al., 2016). Several studies have identified the impact of trauma on addiction; however, the timing and severity of the trauma are not understood. This study will focus on the developmental impact by examining the relationship between early adulthood trauma and how it affects the probability of alcohol addiction in later adulthood. This study is significant as early adulthood is a critical developmental period impacting emerging adult functioning, and little is actually known about how exposure to traumas at early adulthood impacts addiction (Rice et al., 2001). The diathesis-vulnerability model will be utilized to identify and describe the impact of experiencing physical or sexual trauma between ages 18 to 25 to developing AUD after the age of 35.

All They Need is a Firm Hand: The Impact of Implicit Bias on School Punishment. Jamar Brown and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

It is well-established in the literature that unconscious beliefs and attitudes towards a particular group, or implicit bias, can lead to negative outcomes in a variety of settings, including education. Implicit bias in the education system may lead to harsh punishments that are proven to contribute to lower academic performance, higher rates of dropout, and future involvement within the criminal justice system (Skiba, et al., 2011). The disparities within the criminal justice system can be attributed to the disproportionate rates of school suspensions of Black students in grades K-12. While research examines both student and teacher behavior, it is important to address the implicit biases held by those in charge. The proposed study will explore the length and severity of the punishment of Black students in grades K-12, in comparison to their White peers. These outcomes will be examined as functions of faculty and staff implicit biases. By comparing the rates of suspensions between Black and White students, we will predict Black students are more likely to receive longer and more severe punishments than their White peers due to the implicit biases of faculty and staff. This study can provide information for education reform and teacher professional development.

Consuming Prose, Passage, and Place in Horatio Alger's Young Adult Novels. Jacquelyn Apostolo and Amy Traver. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

This research relates the Children's Aid Society's 19th-century child emigration program to themes of young-adult mobility in Horatio Alger Jr.'s novels, which, through a "rags-to-riches" narrative, describe poor vagrant boys' transformations into virtuous, middle-class citizens during the Gilded Age. To do so, it integrates contemporary sociological theories on the "culture of migration" with data from a qualitative content analysis of the six novels in Alger's Ragged Dick series. With CRSP support, this research will grow to include an additional 24 Alger novels, as well as primary-source data from the Children's Aid Society, to highlight the manner in which cultural products/media helped to bolster the child-emigration schemes of New York City institutions during the late 1800's.

MELTING POT TO SALAD BOWL TO TOSSED SALAD? THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION EXPERIENCES ON STUDENT EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GOALS. Diego Cordova and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Longstanding research has documented the multiple challenges of immigrants to the U.S., including educational and vocational barriers. The impact of these barriers is complex and intersecting, shaping the socioeconomic and psychological lives of families and individuals (Gushue, G. et al., 2011 & Abrego & Gonzalez, 2010). This research will focus on the relationship between immigration status and career choices. Does one's immigration experiences influence years of education, academic discipline, vocational roles and tasks, and type of post-secondary education? Though numerous data sources have documented the impact of recent immigration policy changes to student enrollment at post-secondary institutions, there are limited descriptive studies exploring college retention and career choices as a function of immigration status, thereby impacted by the current political climate. This study will consider these factors as possible impacts on immigrant students at multiple points in their academic careers, as high-school seniors and QCC second-year students. Survey research will be conducted to learn students' perceptions of structural and individual barriers to achieving vocational goals. Also, inventories assessing socioemotional correlates to career choice and decision-making will be utilized. It is expected that there will be differences between groups and immigration status will be correlated to career choice. Self-efficacy will be identified as a moderating variable for both groups. The findings of this study have the potential to impact models of college advisement and counseling, educational policy, and student recruitment and retention efforts.

Understanding Down Syndrome from an Educational Perspective. Saeedah Weish and Jody Resko. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder in which s person contains an extra chromosome.  Each year, approximately 6,000 babies are born with Down Syndrome in the United States.  It has been well-documented that children with this disorder are affected by a number of disabilities that span physical, cognitive, and social/emotional domains of development.  Down Syndrome children may exhibit hearing and vision problems, delays in motor development, speech and language difficulties, and memory impairment.  These factors can have both direct and indirect effects on learning.  It is of interest to note that while Down syndrome children may exhibit delays and/or impairment in one or more areas of development, these children are able to attend school.  Although there are special programs, there are also early intervention and special education programs that can help Down Syndrome students adapt to a regular classroom.  This project seeks to present information regarding children with Down Syndrome and how they function as students.  It is important that teachers learn how to involve children with Down Syndrome in the classroom to make them feel comfortable and safe so that they can learn.  As such, implications for classroom teachers will be discussed.

Investigating the Relationship Between Social Physique Anxiety and Social Interaction Anxiety in College Students. ¹Monique Fisher, ¹Rommel Robertson, ²Beatriz Guridi, ²Noah Maciver, and ²Tai Mulzac. ¹Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Standards for beauty, including body type ideals, are common place in every culture. Preoccupation with attaining these, sometimes unattainable standards, can have unwanted and negative effects ( i.e.  low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, social withdrawal  or isolation etc.) for individuals who fail to achieve these ideals. The impact of these unwanted and negative effects may affect adolescents and young adults at a disproportionately higher rates when we consider incidences of bullying within both groups. Research shows high body image dissatisfaction, in particular,  is associate with increased social anxiety and this relationship is mediated by a fear of negative evaluation (Pawijit et al., 2019). Similarly, Mills, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, and  Holmes (2014) found that state body dissatisfaction (SBD) and social interaction quality were negatively related and that SBD reliably predicted subsequent avoidance of social interactions.  The present study was designed a part of a class assignment to investigate the relationship between Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) and  Interaction Anxiety (IA) in college students. Social physique anxiety is a feeling of distress associated with the perceived evaluation of one's physical self (Frederick, 1996). Participants completed surveys designed to measure both their SPA and IA levels. Analyses revealed, as predicted, a significantly moderate positive correlation between social physique anxiety and interaction anxiety. No significant gender or age differences were found for both SPA and IA. The findings and the implications, as it relates to the impact on student quality of life,  will be discussed.

The Impact of Time Spent Studying and Listening to Music on Students' Exam Performance. ¹Melika Mothena, ¹Rommel Robertson, and ²Rommel Robertson. ¹Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364, ²Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Over the years, researchers have invested numerous hours investigating factors such as listening to music while studying and/or the amount of time spent studying and their relationship to academic performance. Since the Rauscher et al. (1993) finding that participants listening to Mozart's sonata performed significantly higher on spatial reasoning tasks (i.e. Mozart effect), numerous studies on the topic have produced mixed results (see Ivanov & Geake, 2003; Hetland, 2000; Dolegui, 2013; Mc Cutcheon, 2000; Cartstens & DeFruscio, 1998). Similarly, research on time spent studying and exam performance have yielded mixed results. For example, Doumen, et al., (2014) found that self-study time predicted course grade above and beyond relevant student characteristics in Macro-Economics students. However, other researchers (see Nonis & Hudson, 2006; Plant et al, 2004) were unable to show that study time directly predicts academic performance in college students. This study attempts to investigate the potential impact of both listening to music while studying and amount of time spent studying on student exam performance across two Introduction to psychology classes. As part of UR in the classroom exercise, participants were surveyed about their study habits after every exam. Results found no significant difference in exam performance between students who reported listening to music while studying and those who did not, across both classes. Class 2, not Class 1, showed significantly moderate positive correlation between reported time spent studying and exam performance. These mixed findings are consistent with the literature. The implications for predicting student performance will be discussed.

Gender Disparities in Adolescents Reporting of Perceived Difficulty in Completing Homework. Marisol Flores-Ortega and Rommel Robertson. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Homework continues to be an important educational tool for reinforcing learning that takes place in the classroom and for most school-age children, it is an important part of their daily routine (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006; Corno, 2000). Doing homework presents multiple challenges for many students, even for those students who find their assignments meaningful and interesting (Xu, 2013). Researchers report that adolescent girls spent more time studying and doing homework compared to adolescent boys (Eccles & O'Brien, 1985). However, Kackara et al., (2011) reported that girls, regardless of age, reported greater stress than boys when doing homework alone, and lower stress when doing homework with friends. They also found that high school girls reported lower interest than middle school boys when doing homework alone (Kackara et al., 2011). Other studies show that girls demonstrate awareness of their management skills compared to boys, a quality that should help during homework completion (Xu, 2006; Xu & Corno, 2006). Conversely, boys acknowledged that they usually complete their homework at the last minute or not at all (Xu, 2006). The purpose of this study is to explore the gender disparities in adolescents reporting of perceived difficulties in completing homework in. Analysis of archival data show that gender is significantly associated with reported difficulty in completing homework. The implication of the findings and strategies to help students overcome these challenges will be discussed.

Title: Que Lindo: The Impact of Television Viewing to Obesity in Preschoolers. Masiel Tejada and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Childhood obesity affects both the physical and psychosocial health of children and may put them at risk of poor health as adults and early death. (CDC, 2017). Therefore, it is critical to identify causes of obesity in children. Many studies have identified lack of exercise and movement as the cause of obesity in children between the ages of 7 till 16 (CDC, 2017; Ash et al, 2017). This project will focus on one identified factor, television viewing, as the cause for childhood obesity. It is well known that excessive television viewing for children of all ages contributes to obesity (Ash et al, 2017; Robinson, 2000). This study will build on the current research by focusing on preschoolers and adding parents' physical activity as a factor influencing a child's television viewing. Is a parent who is less active more likely to encourage their child to watch more television than a parent who is active? The main objective of this study is to see if preschoolers are just at risk for obesity due to television viewing as middle-schoolers. Their behavior will be related to their parents' level of activity. It is expected that there will be a relationship between parents' activity level and preschoolers television viewing. This study will contribute to the research on childhood obesity to inform child health and wellness, and media guidelines.

Closeness with One's Mother and Adolescents Belief about Family Reactions to Engaging in Sexual Activity. Monique Fisher and Rommel Robertson. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Adolescents today are faced with a plethora of social pressures from their friends, families and society in general. Adolescent sexual behavior is affected by a wide range of family variables including family processes and relationships (Miller, 2002). Somer and Paulson ( 2000) found that younger adolescents who had low maternal and paternal communication about sexuality had less sexual knowledge and were less likely to engage in sexual behaviors. The strength of the relationship parents have with their children can impact how their children deal with the social pressures of sexual behavior as well as their family's perceived to reactions (i.e. negative or positive) to engaging in sexual activity. This study investigates the relationship between adolescents reported closeness with their mothers and their beliefs about their family's reactions to their engagement in sexual activity. The study analyzed archival data from a National Longitudinal Survey (Add Health) that included 6504 adolescents in grades 7 through 12 and found that closeness to one's mother was significantly related to adolescents' beliefs about whether their sexual activity would upset their mothers and whether their families would be embarrassed if they were pregnant or got someone pregnant. The findings will be used to suggest ways for improving parent-adolescent communication about sexual behaviors.

Communicating Anti-Racist Science: How We Talk about Race and Genetics in the Social Science Classroom. Stuti Sangar and Larisa Honey. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

The introduction of an mtDNA laboratory to the anthropology classroom has been a useful avenue for engaging social science students with the STEM sciences and demonstrating important anthropological concepts. Through this lab students sequence their own mtDNA and compare their sequences with other students in the class and with individuals from a global database. The lab helps illustrate the common ancestry of all humans living today and allows students visualize in a personalized way the political rather than genetic basis of race and racist ideologies. But what are students actually learning from the lab? How can we better communicate these principles to a general audience so that students can arm themselves against scientific racism? Sequencing reports are complex and can be overwhelming. One of the ongoing challenges is to translate these readouts and reports into a language that is accessible to non-STEM majors. This study incorporates ethnographic interviews with students in the anthropology classroom to not only learn what they are comprehending through the lab, but to develop through dialogue teaching materials that are accessible and relatable. We hypothesize that increased student involvement in the implementation and teaching of the lab and a re-working of instructional materials will aid in student comprehension, will instill an interest in STEM sciences more generally and will help them evaluate and critique racist pseudo-science. If successful, we hope these guidelines will help transform this into a sustainable community outreach project to help dispel biological myths about race.

THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ON STUDENTS WITH ASD. Humaira Najib and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Studies investigating learning outcomes of students on the Autism Spectrum (ASD) have focused on the classroom environments. Students with ASD who are capable of achieving academic success are often excluded from mainstream education or homeschooled and repeat courses due to poor treatment and understanding of their disorder (Ashburner, Ziviani, & Rodger, S. 2010). These students often have problems with flexibility, planning, inhibition, self-monitoring, goal setting and working memory (Able et al, 2015; Fleury et al, 2014). Recent studies have indicated that a variety of structured learning environments will help students at different levels of education increase their academic skills by improving task completion, attentiveness, and by approximating the necessary social behavior (Zheng, Z., et al, 2016; Mavropoulou, Papadopoulou, & Kakana, 2010). The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of structured classroom environments on elementary students, grades 3 - 5. As the number of children diagnosed with ASD has drastically increased, focusing on learning styles separate from psychological challenges is critical for their educational success. The implication of findings in this study will be used in increasing the effectiveness of organized and structured teaching to students with ASD.

Analysis of College Student's Knowledge Concerning Sexual Violence. Emely Gutierrez Mora and Celia Sporer. Social Sciences Department, .

Sexism against women has resulted in the belief of rape myths, which is becoming more prevalent in U.S college campuses. (Rollero & Tartagila, 2018). There seems to be a considerable inadequacy of knowledge related to sexual violence against students on a college and university campus (Hackman, et al, 2017). There are potential differences in perceptions of sexual violence in student populations. These different perceptions can affect the occurrence of sexual assault and/or sexual violence between students in college campuses (Rollero & Tartaglia, 2018). This study will utilize data from both surveys and in-depth interviews to assess student's awareness of these issues using scenarios of situations of sexual violence as well as examining their suggestions about what can be done to help assuage the situation. Since existing research suggests that relationship statues between two people can determine how college students may perceive sexual consent relating to sexual violence (Hackman, et al., 2017), rape attitudes are correlated with sex role and stereotyping (Rollero & Tartaglia, 2018) and that student's attitudes towards violence against women can differ and be related to exposure to dehumanizing media such as pornography (Wright & Tokunaga, 2015). These issues will be examined in the student sample for this study. Students' experiences concerning the situations will also be discussed in this study. It is anticipated that the results will help further understand students' knowledge on sexual violence and how they can contribute in suggesting for various methods to help reduce victimization in order to develop better educational and prevention programs aimed at this population.

ROOT CAUSES: MATERNAL SMOKING AS A PRECURSOR TO EARLY AGGRESSION. Daniel Oresanya and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, .

There are many studies proving there is a causal relationship between maternal smoking to pregnancy complications and long-term negative consequences to the fetus (CDC, 2004; AMA, 2010). Current studies are focused on identifying long-term impacts including emotional and behavioral health of children and adults of maternal smokers. This research will continue to focus on the psychosocial by examining the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on behavioral problems in preschoolers. Specifically, this study is examining if early aggression in children is related to maternal smoking. Some studies have shown that maternal smoking is related to neurodevelopmental problems, which then contribute to behavioral problems (Malanchini, et al, 2016; Orlebeke, 1993). This study question is important because it follows the neurodevelopment argument and focuses solely on examining one factor, aggression. The overall purpose of this article was to inform mothers that are pregnant and smokes the effect of smoking on the child and to help reduce the rate of aggressive behaviors in adolescence. Based on the current literature, it is expected that there will be a relationship between maternal smoking and aggressive behaviors in preschoolers, and the strength of this relationship may be impacted by gender.

TOWARD A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF CANNABIS: IS TREATMENT EFFICACY FOR DEPRESSION INCREASED WHEN CANNABIS IS ORALLY INGESTED. Brittany Mighty and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, .

Recent studies have shown that there has been a significant increase in cannabis intake in various forms such as oral, inhalation, and topical (Borodovsk, 2016). The effectiveness of marijuana is no longer in question as many studies document the many curative benefits of cannabis applications from physical ailments to mental health (Aggarwal et al., 2009). The attention is now on specific applications of cannabis, or exhausting the medicinal applications of cannabis (Aggarwal & Blinderman, 2014). This study will focus on mental health to learn if there are different treatment outcomes based on mode of consumption. Though there are many personal accounts of the positive benefits of cannabis to mental health, the primary goal here is to go beyond the anecdotal and document the medicinal benefits. The current studies have found that orally ingestion of cannabis is more beneficial because it does not lead to any harmful adverse effects, takes less time to be effective, and people do not experience euphoria (Killestein & Polman, 2004). These studies have focused on biological symptoms and there are limited studies that focus on mental health. The objective of this study is to combine anecdotal experiences with clinical methods to determine if the mode of consumption of cannabis is makes a difference in treating the symptoms of depression. It is expected that those who report consuming cannabis in a liquid form will report an overall decrease in symptoms of depression and a better quality of life than all other groups of participants who are diagnosed with major depressive disorder, including those who use other modes of consuming marijuana.

DOES CHILDHOOD TRAUMA LEAD TO PHYSICAL ILLNESSES IN ADULTHOOD. Theresa Atkinson and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, .

There are some experiences in life that can affect you for the rest of your life. We know that physical abuse, bullying, and other forms of trauma can cause emotional problems as an adult (CDC, 2017; Young & Widom, 2014). However, can these experiences cause physical problem later in life? The research on children who were exposed to physical abuse and bullying show that they experience a number of physical illnesses (Georgiou, 2013; Baldry, 2003). However, there are limited studies that study the connection between these experiences and the presentation of physical illnesses as adults. Are people who experience multiple sicknesses as adults more likely to report childhood abuse? Are certain type of illnesses specifically related to childhood abuse? This study will answer these questions to reveal more information about the impact of early abuse. This study will be descriptive to provide details about the relationship between early trauma and physical illnesses. This study will hopefully hep people who've experienced abuse and help therapists in treatment.

Student Perception on Race: An Insight on Culture, Ethnicty and Identity. Anna Romero, Larisa Honey, and Anissa Moody. Social Sciences Department, .

This study is part of a larger research project that examines the impact of inquiry- based learning methods (IBLM) in the study of race in the anthropology classroom. Focusing on the elaboration of biological myths, the study assesses the efficacy of IBLM methods in demonstrating that race is a sociopolitical rather than a biological construct. Using a pre- and post-study design, community college students enrolled in introductory anthropology courses participated in exercises where they learned their individual mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and reflected on race, identity, and culture in essays and personal blogs to assess. For assessment, students completed pre and post Attitude Knowledge Belief surveys (AKB), pre and post identity blogs, and student researchers conducted ethnographic interviews with select students to gain further insight on their shifts in attitudes and/or beliefs of race. This sub-study used exploratory ethnographic interviews to see how students identified their race, ethnicity and cultural background; their thoughts on social and biological race concepts; and their mtDNA lab exercises and ancestry results. Exploratory interviews are useful for identifying previously undefined aspects of research and can help contextualize the quantitative data. These questions were used to measure students' sense of racial identity, attitudes and beliefs about racial concepts on an individual and a society level, and biological race myths. Pre-interviews will be then compared to blogs with similar prompts, post interview results and the quantitative surveys.

Growth: Letting Go/Letting Come. Geovanny Guzman and Heather Huggins. Speech Communication and Theatre Arts Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

This autoethnographic presentation reflects on an action-based research community, which began practicing Social Presencing Theater (SPT) at QCC in April 2018 and continues to the present. Specifically, this presentation examines the phenomenon of "letting go and letting come" in the framework of Theory U. Theory U is "both an awareness-based social field and a process" (presencing.org); as a process, it can be applied to individuals, relationships, groups, and systems. The "U-process" refers to a shift from ego to eco, awakening a new quality of thinking that links the head, heart, and hand. SPT gives practitioners an embodied experience of this U-process. Through suspending habitual patterns, awakening the senses, letting go, and letting come, the practitioner experiences making a (verbal or non-verbal) "true move". For this presentation, the researcher will "pay attention to how he was paying attention" (Theory U 13) during three distinct events: the April 2018 workshop where he first experienced SPT; a Fall 2018 research trip to Governor's Island with a devising ensemble; and an October 2019 SPT workshop for QCC's Visual and Performing Arts Academy, in which he served as co-facilitator. Growth: Letting Go/Letting Come will incorporate artifacts to articulate individual, relational, and group transformation, including Theory U's Levels of Listening, documentary photographs of his experience throughout this unfolding process, and journal entries. Sources: Social Presencing Theater: https://www.presencing.org/aboutus/spt, Theory U: https://www.presencing.org/aboutus/theory-u. The image linking head, heard, and hand was created by Kelvy Bird in collaboration with Otto Scharmer

Self Journey Creatively Unbound. Kristopher Harris and Heather Huggins. Speech Communication and Theatre Arts Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Self Journey Creatively Unbound examines the role of self-discovery as a path to co-creative art. This autoethnographic presentation details an action-based research process to illuminate the connections between identity and collaboration. The presentation focuses specifically on the researcher's experience as a member of an ensemble of three undergraduate researchers, who devised theatre in response to a national prompt offered by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's devised theatre initiative: entrance without papers is forbidden. Devising "afford(s) students an opportunity to play a pivotal role in the shaping of performance; devising gives them greater agency in the creative process than their participation as mere actors could ever allow" (Watkins 169). The researcher discovered that by honoring his own voice, he could create his own art. Further, he observed how self-reflection revealed a path for collaborating with others. This evolution supported a new phase of creativity, in which each individual perspective was honored along with the group's shared perspective. This process led to the co-creation of a public performance, double-sided. The researcher's presentation will incorporate reflections and visual mapping on the rehearsal and performance process, which included a public performance of double-sided, as well as a response and discussion with a jury of industry professionals at the KCACTF Region II Festival on January 18, 2019 at Montclair State University. Sources: Beth Watkins, "Working from Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising," Theatre Topics (July 2016).​

Stuck between two worlds. Isabel Vasquez and Heather Huggins. Speech Communication and Theatre Arts Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

Stock between two worlds" positions first-person felt-experience as a tool for practice-based research. This autoethnographic presentation reflects on an action-based research process that was conducted in Fall 2018 when an undergraduate research ensemble devised theatre in response to the themes of borders and migration.This ensemble used the co-creative theatre practice of devising; "unlike traditional hierarchical theatre production..., devising begins 'from scratch'... there is a collective effort to create the authorial voice" (Watkins 169). The research also highlights the ensemble's intentional use of Social Presencing Theater, which is not "theater" in the conventional sense, but a methodology that uses the embodiment of simple postures and movements to dissolve limiting concepts, communicate directly, access intuition, and make visible both current reality, and the deeper - often invisible - leverage points for creating profound change.The researcher's devising group experimented with an SPT practice known as stuck, to investigate the felt-experience of borders and migration from members' individual perspectives. Group members made visible how it feels to be "stuck" in their unique situations, also experimenting with group stuck, in which members of small groups embodied forces of oppression to support each others' individual experiences. The presentation will incorporate artifacts to demonstrate how this practice-based research process led to the co-creation of performance; artifacts will include reflections on the rehearsal and performance process, as well as images of a campus-wide performance that premiered in December 2018 in the Shadowbox. Sources:Beth Watkins, "Working from Scratch: The Pedagogic Value of Undergraduate Devising," Theatre Topics (July 2016).https://www.presencing.org/aboutus/spt worlds"

1920s Flapper Period Makeup. Anastasia Bedford, Ari Fulton, and Heather Huggins. Speech Communication and Theatre Arts Department, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY 11364.

This presentation seeks to discover how makeup and fashion trends promote social and political events. To answer this question, I examined specifically how the makeup trends, hairstyles, and fashions of the 1920s influenced the cultural and political changes in society. This included articles from credible sources and visual sources, such as primary photos from the time period. Textual Research-based analysis showed how fashion trends changed, reflecting the decade's most memorable events. I discovered how women during this time period were gaining more rights, by changing the way we view their traditional roles. Once the following information was gathered, I organized it into a PowerPoint presentation so that the knowledge and discoveries could be shared with my peers. Upon presenting my work, I received questions and comments about my findings or what I had learned.  I used this feedback to clarify and strengthen the research. Then I designed a schematic for an original makeup design based on the 1920s flapper. Finally, I applied the makeup design on to my own face and presented it to my peers and professor.