UO Week of Research

Shannon Forsberg, Delaney Fossum, & Camerin Feagins
Environmental Analysis of Trail Development at Thurston Hills Natural Area

Eleanor Froehlich A Juvenile Aplodontid (Rodentia) Jaw From The John Day Formation of Oregon

Natalie Kataoka, Jenika Taylor & Joseph Ycaza Hendricks Forest Management Plan 2021

Amelia Lawson Prehistoric Mountain Beaver Identification from Eastern Oregon

Riley Male & Liam Stone The social cost of reproduction to female Lemur catta

Full presenter abstracts are available in the 2021 Symposium Program Book

Trevor Bissert Differential Functional Connectivity of Anterior and Posterior Hippocampus

Alma Lugtu (Central Oregon Community College) Does Teaching Amortization Tables Affect Student Loan Repayment Choices? and Does Teaching Amortization Tables Online or Face-To-Face Make A Difference?

Erika Moe Content Overload And Its Effects On Learning

Nicole Mullen P4wC as an Effective Educational Pedagogy for BLM and COVID-19 discussions in K-12 Education.

Giovanni Ricci Adverse Childhood Experiences and Salivary Oxytocin in Mothers With a History of Substance Abuse

Jenna Rudolph Investigating the Benefits of Maternal Thiamine Supplementation for Infant Social Alertness 

Madeleine Smith Thinking About my Future While Sitting in Science Class: Future Thinking and Motivation to Learn

Jennifer Vuong Thinking About my Future While Sitting in Science Class: Future Thinking and Motivation to Learn

Full presenter abstracts are available in the 2021 Symposium Program Book

Eugene Facer, Chloe Moehling & Claire Trostel-Shaw Immigrants and Foreigners in Japan: Their Role in Society and How They are Perceived
Our project is called The Role of Immigrants and Foreigners in Japanese Society and How they are Perceived. We research attitudes towards immigration in Japan and explore why people have a negative view of immigrants even though immigrants coming to Japan would benefit the country. We explore the many factors that surround immigration to Japan, such as Japan’s low birth rate, aging population, competitive workforce, and history of strict immigration policy. We also explore the challenges of foreigners assimilating into Japanese society, from its complex language and writing system to its many complicated societal rules, as well as racism experienced by foreigners. We use primary and secondary sources including statistical data to support our research on how negative attitudes towards foreigners and immigrants in Japan affect people living there who are not Japanese. The homogenous nature of Japanese society and the importance placed on collectivist culture has resulted in an emphasis on people living in Japan feeling like they have to conform to cultural standards. This can make living in Japan as a non-Japanese person difficult, because immigrants often feel like perpetual foreigners. We conclude that immigrants have a tremendously important role in Japanese society and that Japan must consider easing immigration restrictions to remain competitive in an ever-globalizing economy.

Emma Glaunert The Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act: The Treatment of Alaskan Natives in Mental Health Policy
In the 21st century, racial and ethnic disparities have been at the forefront of social justice movements, and yet, it is important to interrogate these disparities across U.S. history. American Indians and Alaskan Native people have historically been treated differently in health care. The Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act (AMHEA) of 1956 serves as a case study for addressing access to mental health care services, especially for Native Alaskans. Prior to the passage of the AMHEA, Morningside Psychiatric Hospital in Portland, Oregon, offered inpatient mental health services for Alaskan Natives and other residents of the Pacific Northwest. In the first half of the 20th century, few psychiatric services were available in the then-territory of Alaska. In my thesis research, I analyze the AMHEA as a historical case study for mental health care for Native Alaskans, and for other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The primary research for my thesis comes from archival sources, including from UO Special Collections, and from interviews with key informants involved in the AMHEA legislation. Using these sources, my thesis assesses the impact of the AMHEA on the Alaskan Natives from the bill’s passage to the present. I use this case study to reflect on the types of mental health policies that could be used to remedy racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care in the U.S.

Riley Hodges & Emma Mortland Mission Trips in Mexico: Exploring the Ethics of Foreign Aid
This study seeks to explore the ethics of US foreign aid and the White Savior Complex by evaluating mission trips to Mexico. It seeks to address whether the majority of mission trips to Mexico provide the promised long-term solutions that benefit the community. In order to address this aim, our research focused on key features of successful foreign aid models and compared them to those of current mission trips to Mexico. We also explored the effects of current mission trips on local communities. Overall, this research pointed to the reality that the Mexico-based mission trips this study examined are often harmful to local communities. It illustrates the importance of improving the current mission trip structure and suggests concrete changes such increasing collaboration more with local communities, redirecting funds into the community, and properly educating mission leaders and participants. Our findings strongly suggest that there is a need to reevaluate the current foreign aid models in a way that focuses on creating long-term, community-based solutions. Even with good intentions, unethical foreign aid can be disempowering and detrimental to communities. Improving the existing approach to mission trips can support communities in need while effectively combatting and dismantling White Saviorism. This new model will provide for productive foreign aid, incorporate local communities in a dignified way, while allowing missionaries to reflect on internalized societal racism.

Cian Savoy Vehicles of Injustice: White Savior Complex in Latin America
The white savior complex has an unprecedented effect in our global society but not many people have looked at the vast consequences that occur from it nor the causes that created it in the first place. The classic white savior is someone from a developed country who visits a developing country using resources that the local community cannot utilize in their daily life. For example, a church mission trip based in California bringing paint and other materials to paint homes in the Mexican State of Oaxaca. While in the short term that community is able to have houses that are painted, in the long term they are now reliant on volunteers from an entirely different country. From a historical context the white savior complex has been an effect or a symptom of a larger problem. Throughout this project, the issues that will be discussed are American involvement in the developing region of Latin America and Mexico and how the modern White Savior Complex is a symptom of that involvement. Using reports from researchers around the world, the root cause of the white savior complex actually stems from the influence of developed countries upon developing countries. This project is important because it will be looking at the root cause of the white savior complex and hope to find reasonable solutions to these systemic problems in Latin America and Mexico. The solution to global problems might not be in the developing countries but in the already developed ones.

Michelle Hernandez Immune Dysregulation During the Progression of Osteoarthritis 
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and progressive degenerative joint disease. OA is characterized by the progressive loss of articular cartilage, changes in the subchondral bone, and inflammation of the synovium tissue. Currently, there are no curative therapeutics available for the disease, only ones to help manage the pain. According to the CDC, OA is the most common joint disorder, with millions of adults in the United States suffering. To understand the immune response during the progression of OA, our research focuses on identifying systemic inflammatory biomarkers concurrent with the progression of the disease in a rat model of OA. In this study, we surgically destabilized the knee via medial meniscal transection (MMT), which ultimately resulted in a degeneration of the cartilage and other tissues of the knee. We measured circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines and immune cells via longitudinal blood draws and characterized joint degeneration metrics via microcomputed tomography. We employed linear and nonlinear multivariate regression techniques to identify immune biomarkers that were correlated with the surface roughness of the articular cartilage at the end point. Early pilot studies demonstrated feasibility of longitudinal monitoring of immune responses in the MMT model of OA. By correlating joint degeneration with systemic immune responses, we hope to identify early immune biomarkers that may be indicative of disease status. 
 
Ireland Johnson Design and Biocompatibility of Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels for Bone Regeneration 
Large bone defects and fractures caused by trauma or disease remain a serious challenge for orthopedic surgeons, and there is a need for more effective treatment strategies to repair injured bone. Bone autografts, a tissue graft from the same patient, are the ideal material to promote a healing response due to low host rejection; however, they can lead to donor site morbidity and are expensive to extract. To combat this problem, biomaterials, composed of the natural polymer hyaluronic acid (HA) can be used to deliver osteogenic (bone-forming) proteins that repair injured bone. This study describes the development of HA-based hydrogels for protein delivery for bone regeneration. HA hydrogels were formed by dynamic, covalent bonds between aldehyde functional groups on oxidized HA and HA functionalized with adipic acid hydrazide or carbohydrazide groups.  Hydrogels were seeded with 3T3 fibroblast cells expressing green fluorescent protein to evaluate cell compatibility. Live and dead cells were evaluated using green fluorescence from GFP and red fluorescence from ethidium homodimer, respectively. A combination of oxidized HA and HA-carbohydrazide at 2.5% (w/v) maintained high cell viability (82.3% for all time points) and encouraged a rate of cell growth that surpassed all other conditions. Future expansions of this project could lead to the use of HA hydrogels as a biomaterial that rivals the healing response of bone autografts. 
 
Sahana Krishna Kumaran Old Elastin Haploin sufficient Mice Have Impaired Memory, Motor Coordination and Endothelial Function 
Large arteries stiffen due to advancing age and they are associated with cognitive impairment. However, the direct effects of long-term large artery stiffness require further investigation. Therefore, we studied cognitive and cerebral artery function in a model of greater large artery stiffness, the elastin haploin sufficient (Eln+/-) mouse, at old age.
We examined old wildtype (Eln+/+, n=8, 25 mo), old Eln+/- (n=8, 25 mo), and young wildtype (YC, n=9, 7 mo) mice. Memory was tested through the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test and motor coordination was measured through the accelerating Rotarod test. Endothelial function was measured in ex vivo pressurized posterior cerebral arteries (PCAs) by dilation to acetylcholine (ACh).
In the MWM test, old Eln+/- mice crossed the target area fewer times than old Eln+/+ mice (p<0.05), indicating impaired spatial memory. In the accelerating Rotarod test, old Eln+/- mice stayed on the rod for less time than the old Eln+/+ and young mice (p<0.05), suggesting poor motor coordination. Maximal PCA dilation to ACh was lower in old Eln+/- mice compared to old Eln+/+ and young mice (p<0.01), indicating impaired endothelial function.
These results indicate that long-term exposure to large artery stiffness leads to impaired spatial memory, motor coordination, and cerebral artery endothelial function. Future research is needed to study the cellular mechanisms resulting from large artery stiffness. 


Albert Yim Wearable Microfluidic Colorimetric Sweat Sensors for Real-Time Personalized Hydration Monitoring                                                                                                                                            
Continuous, real-time sweat analysis is an underdeveloped field with promising applications ranging from clinical health care to athletic performance. Currently, microfluidic devices allow for noninvasive collection and storage of sweat but lack a method to record continuous sweat rates. Sweat rate and biomarker composition are highly variant between individuals, requiring a personalized hydration feedback approach. The biomarker variance is significantly attributed to sweat rate, making rate normalized biomarker concentrations indicative of performance metrics. A low-cost and passive method to record the continuous sweat rate would enable real-time sweat loss measurement and hydration feedback. This proposed project will develop methods to accomplish this through microfluidics and colorimetric reagents. The colorimetric reagent will provide color gradients for physiologically sweat rates ranging from 3 to 34 μL/hour for a collection area of r = 3 mm. Then benchtop studies will create the colorimetric system that is capable of visually quantifying the collected sweat rate in microfluidic devices. This will provide a future opportunity to develop a smartphone app for immediate analysis. Eventually, on-body trials will test the accuracy of the sweat sensor’s analyzed rate. Attaining continuous sweat rates will normalize biomarker concentrations which correlate to health and performance metrics and are highly coveted in the biomedical and sports science communities. 

Sarah Beaudoin Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers for Dirty Water Splitting 

Lejla Biberic Charge state impact on protein gas phase structure simulated with molecular dynamics 

Phyllis Liao Development of a Nanohoop Rotaxane for Sensing Reactive Oxygen Species 

Amanda Linskens Molecular Origins of the Pair1 and Moonwalker Descending Neuron's Neural Circuitry in Drosophila 

Faith Longnight Using Kinetics to Study the Stabilization of Reactive Hydrosulfide by Supramolecular Receptors
 
Nathan Stovall The Molecular Design of a Metal-Oxide Supported Iridium Monolayer for Water Oxidation Catalysis 

Edward Vinis Isotopic Fractionations Produced During Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide 

Jiayi Yin Isotopic Fractionations Produced During Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide

Full presenter abstracts are available in the 2021 Symposium Program Book

Zoë Haupt, Maggie Wallace, Tillena Trebon, Orion Wesson The effect of production when learning to perceive and produce a novel sound contrast 
Previous research demonstrates that during simultaneous training of novel sound contrasts in both perception and production can disrupt rather than enhance perceptual learning. This indicates that although perception and production are assumed to be closely connected, these modalities may have a competitive relationship. In spite of this perceptual disruption, subjects trained in perception and production show gains in producing the distinction they were trained on, compared to perception-only training.
The current study examines how subjects learn to produce a new sound contrast after training in only perception or in perception and production. 30 native Spanish speakers were trained on an unfamiliar Basque sound contrast. The analysis of the post-test productions explored many phonetic dimensions of these tokens to determine how participants distinguished the sound categories. This analysis was compared across the two conditions to examine the relationship between production learning and perceptual learning.
The results are similar to previous studies in indicating a competitive relationship between production and perception. Additionally, the results indicate a generalizable improvement in the produced tokens for the production, but not a significant increase in the trained sound contrast, suggesting a more complex relationship between perception and production. These findings contribute to a better understanding of effective language learning practices. 
 
Sabrina Piccolo Effect of accent perception on the perception of professionalism 
This study explores how people’s perceptions of speakers’ accents may be related to their perceptions of speakers’ professional characteristics. In this study, 256 online participants listened to two speakers, one with an accent common for a native Spanish-speaker in Oregon and one with an accent common for a native monolingual English-speaker in Oregon, discussing Mexican history or marine biology. Each speaker was described as an expert or nonexpert in the topic. Participants then rated how they perceived the speaker’s professionalism, confidence, believability, knowledgeability and level of experience.
On average, participants rated the speaker with the English-speaking accent higher in professionalism and confidence than the speaker with the Spanish-speaking accent. However, participants tended to rate the speaker with a Spanish-speaking accent higher than the speaker with an English-speaking accent in knowledgeability and experience when the speaker was presented as a nonexpert discussing Mexican history. These results suggest ways that perceptions about accents can affect assumptions made about speakers. Considering that accent perception may influence perceptions of character traits that are prioritized in professional settings, these results highlight the importance of acknowledging and challenging those assumptions in situations where unjust perceptions of a speaker can result in biased and harmful decisions, such as in job interviews, education and courtrooms. 
  
Tillena Trebon Effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accent 
Nonnative speech has different pausing patterns compared to native speech. There are two types of pauses: filled and unfilled. Unfilled pauses are silent. Speakers make sounds during filled pauses. Different languages use different sounds for filled pauses; this is described as phonetic quality. English speakers use “uh” and Spanish speakers use “eh” to hesitate. When the phonetic quality of a hesitation sound (henceforth “HS”) is consistent with the HS used by native speakers, the HS is native. HSs with phonetic quality inconsistent with a native speaker HS are non-native. Studies show that proficiency and speech community influence whether L2 speakers produce native or nonnative HSs. However, no study has investigated the perceptual consequences of using nonnative versus native HSs. This study investigates the effect of HS phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accentedness. In Experiment 1, participants rate sentences for fluency and accent. In Experiment 2, participants listen to two sentences with different HSs and choose which sentence sounds more accented and more fluent. Experiment 1 results show that HS phonetic quality did not impact listener judgements about accentedness or fluency. However, in Experiment 2, listeners rated nonnative HSs less fluent and more accented. This project has important implications for how learners treat pausing when practicing their L2 and for understanding how listeners process pauses when listening to nonnative speech. 
 
Lucy Zepeda & Jacqueline Luna The Relation between Parent Competence and Parent-Child Interactions: A Consideration of Culture 
In the majority of research, parenting interventions have been conducted with a focus on Western populations. We aim to address this cultural gap by examining the relationship between parent-centered variables (parent stress, nurturance, limit-setting) and parent-child interactions. 
A sample of 116 caregiver-infant dyads (0-3 years) were recruited from a larger intervention study. Free play interactions between parent and child were recorded during home visits to observe “serve” and “return” behaviors. In this sample: 67% (n=78) films contained interactions in Spanish, and 33% (n=38) were recorded in English. Parents completed measures including the SEPTI, PSI, and PSOC. Films were coded using a detailed glossary and flowchart. Correlation analyses were used to evaluate associations between parenting scores on the parenting measures and parenting behaviors. 
We found differences in baseline associations between parent self-rated scores and observed behavioral interactions for English and Spanish-speaking families. In only Spanish speaking families, PSI was correlated with low reciprocity (r(78) = 0.272, p =0.016), and negatively correlated with higher reciprocity (r(78) = -0.255, p =0.24). In only English speaking families, SEPTI nurturance (r(38) = 0.336, p =0.039) and Discipline Limit setting (r(38) = 0.343, p =0.035) are significantly correlated with a lack of engagement between parent and child. Implications of these linguistic differences will be further discussed.

Brenna Barton Analyzing Letters to La Pirenaica as Migrant Narrative 
Francisco Franco’s regime and the aftermath of World War II marked a period of political repression and economic instability in Spain, causing thousands of Spaniards to migrate in search of freedom and work. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, hundreds of thousands of Spanish transplants entered France’s labor market, where they were largely exploited due to the language barrier and their immigration status. These migrants also struggled to find community in the French countryside, so they formed their own via a clandestine radio station nicknamed La Pirenaica which transmitted anti-Franco propaganda. Migrants wrote letters to the station expressing political opinions and describing their time in France, many of which were read on air, creating solidarity among the station’s audience in Spain and abroad. This research investigates the migrants’ experience in their own words through the content of these letters. Through the stories in these letters of workplace exploitation, experiences with French labor unions, political speech, and the poverty that awaited the Spaniards in France, these migrants formed their own narratives of the decades under Franco’s regime which contradict the official story of prosperity. Immigrant voices tend to be forgotten by history, but it is vital to uncover a perspective on the migrant experience in this era directly from the pens of some of the most deeply impacted. 
 
Sammy DiMinno Pregnant Female Athletes and How They Are Framed in the Media  
The purpose of this research is to examine how female athletes are framed and covered in the media in regard to both pregnancy and motherhood. The media plays an important role in framing women’s sport and how the media covers female athletes, has an impact on the way the public views them. By conducting a limited case study approach analyzing the news and sports media coverage of four athletes: Serena Williams, Alysia Montaño, Joy Fawcett, and Candace Parker, I aim to answer my research questions regarding what the common patterns are and what the medica can do better moving forward. By also considering factors of race and gender, I aim to also propose guidelines for how the media can improve their coverage of how they frame pregnant female athletes. My findings indicated that the media commonly framed the athletes’ pregnancy as a career roadblock which further can lead to a type of comeback story. The media also commonly frames these athletes as either mothers, an athlete who is also a mother, or as a superwoman. Furthermore, this research contributes to the future of how the media should frame pregnant female athletes. There is still a fight for sex equality in sports and the media should continue to fight for pregnant female athletes and their representation in the media.  
 
Maryam Moghaddami War and Peace: The Influence of WWII on Noir Films' Femme Fatale 
Noir films have frequently been understood to reflect a societal malaise and as the femme fatale remains one of noir’s defining elements, this research project puts forth the argument that the femme fatale is the reaction of the film industry to the changing gender dynamic in society.
This project utilizes information from the post-war era to make a case for the condition and discontent of women then. The hypothesis that the femme fatale’s character and death is a result of male anxiety primarily builds on Alfred Adler’s theory of the inferiority complex and Laura Mulvey’s theory of female sexualization and male control. "Double Indemnity" (1944), "The Blue Dahlia" (1946), and "Out of the Past" (1947) are used to illustrate this argument.
WWII saw women stepping into traditionally male jobs which gave women more freedom outside of the domestic sphere, something they were hesitant to give up. Male concerns about the role of women gave rise to an inferiority complex that made its way to the big screen in the form of the femme fatale. In this manner, male filmmakers were able to project their fears and overcome them through the femme fatale’s death or subjugation.
This research presents an analysis of film as a product of a male-dominated film industry which reflects an androcentric perspective. Understanding films as being products of their makers can be used both to explain the prevalence of male narratives and make the case for more diversity within the industry as a whole. 
 
Anna Nguyen Exploring the Political and Cultural Underpinnings of Vietnamese American Conservatism 
The rise of Vietnamese American conservatism is not a new phenomenon, nor is it an unprecedented one. Long-standing assumptions of Asian Americans as an ethnic and political monolith continue to exist and critically hinder analyses of this demographic as a powerful voting bloc. To those who are unfamiliar with the political and cultural complexities surrounding Vietnamese American immigration, it may seem like their support for conservative figureheads like Donald Trump is unfounded. To gain a deeper comprehension of this issue, I consulted a wide breadth of existing scholarship on right-wing conservatism and the Vietnamese Catholic experience. I also had the opportunity to connect with three prominent figures in the Vietnamese American community to understand how their lived experiences shaped the development of their political views. My first interviewee, who has chosen to be identified as John Pham, articulates how his robust conservative outlook stems from his devotion to South Vietnam as an anti-communist nation. I then spoke to Rep. My-Linh Thai and Rep. Khanh Pham, who shared their insights on the rise and future of Vietnamese conservatism in an American context. These conversations enhanced the strength of my findings, which ultimately illustrate how anti-communism, cultural stoicism, and the refugee experience impact the nascence of conservative values in generations of Vietnamese Americans today. 
 
Erica Waldron Women in Film Noir: A Reflection of Postwar Society’s Evolving Gender Roles 
During WWII, American society experienced a momentous shift in gender roles as women stepped out of the domestic sphere and transitioned into the wartime economy. Following the war’s resolution, the government and sects of society alike pushed for a return to conventional gendered spaces. Within this period of widespread societal contention and disillusionment, the dark and fatalistic genre of film noir grew in popularity. My research analyzes noir films using cinema and cultural studies lenses to explore how postwar society viewed ideal gender roles and the evolving place of women. Close examinations of Gun Crazy, Out of the Past, and The Reckless Moment reveal that female characters’ interactions with narratives of crime, love and family reflect contemporaneous societal concerns about progressive gender roles. The tradition defying femme fatale mirrors postwar women engaging in the workforce. The manner in which they are punished in noir is reminiscent of societal backlash against the shift in gender roles. In contrast, femme attrapeés are engrossed in their familial duties, therefore reflecting the reversion to tradition desired by society. Even though film noir allows femme attrapeés to survive the films’ finales, the genre offers a denigrated depiction of this idealized lifestyle. Noir was originally popular in the mid 1900s, but its ability to capture and reflect on societal occurrences through the art of film remains critical today as society continues to evolve. 

Mikala Capage & Jacob Evarts Hunting for Prions: Propagating Putative Prion States in Budding Yeast 

Isabelle Cullen Active Olfactomotor Responses in Head-Fixed Mice 

John Francis The Relationship Between Cholinergic and Noradrenergic Activity and Behavioral State

Julia Lo Investigating the mechanisms of DNA repair in C. elegans 

Tillie Morris The effect of optogenetic suppression of gap detection in mice 

Noah Pettinari  Bacterial range expansion and the Fisher speed: a discrepancy in nutrient-rich media

Haley Speed Using Fluorescence Assays to Explore Kynurenine Pathway Regulation in Neurospora Crassa

Full presenter abstracts are available in the 2021 Symposium Program Book

Jared Knofczynski A Multi-Task Weak Supervision Framework for Internet Measurements 
The ability of machine learning (ML) systems to identify patterns in data is of growing importance to researchers in all fields, especially in the domain of Internet measurements. As our reliance on the Internet continues to grow, ML solutions to networking problems continue to be invaluable in ensuring the sustained performance of networked systems around the globe. One key issue network researchers face is a lack of labeled training data, particularly at scale. Traditional labeling strategies are less effective in this domain, as labeling network data often requires significant domain expertise that crowdsourced labeling resources do not possess, and the vast quantities of data make large-scale manual annotation infeasible. Additionally, many ML applications require multiple tasks to operate effectively, resulting in the multiplicative growth of training times as the number of tasks increases, but the lack of information sharing between tasks means that potentially useful information may be discarded if deemed irrelevant for the task at hand, when it could be useful to another model training on the same dataset. Given these challenges, we propose ARISE, a multi-task framework capable of leveraging weak supervision strategies in the form of labeling functions to label vast quantities of network data while sharing information between tasks to decrease training times, improve classification accuracy, and reduce the influence of hidden biases found within sets of training data. 

Riley Monsrud Determining Physical Characteristics of the Asteroid 572 Rebekka through Analysis of its Lightcurve 
Here we present observations of the asteroid 572 Rebekka that were obtained in August 2020 at Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO). The target was observed with the 0.35m Robbins telescope at PMO, using a Sloan g’ filter, for a total of 6 hours over two nights. The observations produced 436 images of the target which were then analyzed to produce a “lightcurve” of the asteroid. Through photometric analysis of the lightcurve, we have produced a 3-dimensional model of the asteroid which is presented here. Using the programs MPO Canopus (MPO) and Aperture Photometry Tool (APT), photometric estimates of the asteroid’s brightness over time are plotted in order to extract the rotation period as well as the shape of the target. To calibrate this data, we compare the asteroid to multiple stars of constant brightness within the same image. This process, known as “relative photometry”, allows us to remove atmospheric effects due to air quality, light pollution, and changing air mass. An estimate for the change in magnitude due to air mass, commonly known as the extinction coefficient, is also made. These findings give confidence in PMO’s ability to provide research-grade data and serves as an exercise in analyzing and reducing large sets of data. As a collaboration with Kobe University in Japan, this is a continuing project that looks to familiarize students with data analysis, calibration, and astronomical concepts. 

Lucy Roberts Quantifying Glacial Melt and Movement Using Remote Sensing in Greenland's Sermilik Fjord 
In Greenland’s fjords, large icebergs have been shown to be an indicator of oceanic circulation. However, previous reports published by Dr. Dave Sutherland’s Ocean and Ice group concluded that there is large variation of these flow systems seasonally and interannually. Providing reliable analysis of fjordic flow regimes in a specific fjord requires long-term data in order to mitigate annual fluctuations. Working along with Dr. Sutherland, I have been updating previously published research (2014 Article: “Quantifying flow regimes in a Greenland glacial fjord using iceberg drifters”) that used a very limited dataset.
I have been working with Dr. Sutherland to take these GPS data spanning 2012-2019. The previous publication used 10 GPS units from 2012 and 2013 to interpret iceberg motion in the context of mean fjord circulation. In aggregating eight years’ worth of data, we will be able to analyze information from >30 GPS devices to inform questions of recirculation and in-/out- fjord variations in velocity as they relate to flow variability, while mitigating noise from annual fluctuations. As large conduits of freshwater, the movement of icebergs and their interactions with the surrounding oceans are increasingly important when analyzing the impacts of global ocean warming. This project can provide the analysis needed to create and run more accurate models of fjord circulation and the ultimate fate of freshwater delivery from Greenland. 

Nobuyuki Tamai Coordinated observations of asteroids by Pine Mountain and Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatories 
Coordinated broadband photometric measurements of the asteroid 665 Sabine were obtained in August 2020 from the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory (NHAO) and Pine Mountain Observatory (PMO) using a 0.6 meter telescope (NHAO) and the 0.35m Robbins telescope at PMO. 665 Sabine has a rotational period of 4.294 hours, semi-major axis of 3.14 AU, and diameter of ~51km. In total, these observations produced 180 images from PMO, and 280 images from NHAO. These 460 images of the target were then analyzed to produce a “lightcurve” of the asteroid, where photometric estimates of the asteroid’s brightness over time are plotted in order to extract the rotation period as well as the shape of the target. At most locations, 665 Sabine cannot be tracked for more than two rotations. Continuous observation of rotating asteroids over several rotation cycles is necessary for determination of basic asteroid properties - such as the shape, surface properties, and rotation period. To obtain continuous coverage of an asteroid for more than two rotation cycles, multiple observing sites (separated by ~6 h in longitude) are needed. As a collaboration, NHAO and PMO work together to obtain data on asteroids that span several rotation periods. NHAO is operated by the University of Hyogo and located in Sayo, Japan (lat ~ 35 N, long ~ 134 E). PMO is operated by the University of Oregon and located near Bend, Oregon, (lat ~ 44 N, long ~ 121 W).