Overview
The annual Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) Poster Session provides McMaster undergraduate students the opportunity to share their summer research experience with peers, faculty members, staff and the broader Hamilton community. The session highlights the work done by Undergraduate Student Research Award winners, who spent this past summer working in the labs, libraries, and in the field. Their hands-on research experience gives them an opportunity to get a taste of what it is to be a graduate student researcher.
The Undergraduate Student Research Awards are sponsored by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Office of the Vice-President Research; the faculties of Social Sciences, Humanities and Business; and the Arts & Science program. The poster session is sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies.
2022 USRA presenters
Arts and Science
- Anthony Cherubini — Syrian Refugees’ Integration in Canada: A Critical Literature Review of Mental Health Determinants
- Bohmee Kim — Well-Being Support for Refugee Youth during the Pandemic: Insights from the Perspective of Key Informants
- Sydney Potts — Prostitutes, Vagabonds, and Wayward Youth: A Scoping Review of the Evolution of Psychopathy
- Noah Ripstein — Dementia at the intersection of Ethics, Neuroscience and Law
- Maya Verma — Implementing an Evidence-Based Model in a Real Life Clinical Setting: The Family Check-Up
Health Sciences
- Ahad Daudi – Developmental and Age-Related Changes in Myelin Expression in the Human Primary Visual Cortex
Humanities
- Matthew Aksamit – Hamilton’s Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Past, Present, and Future
- Katherine D’Agostino – Letters from Michael Tippett to Edward Sackville-West: A Complete Scholarly Edition and Commentary
- Milica Hinic – Student Learning Podcast Experience
- Ali Khan – Commercial Arbitration and the Nations of Wealth
- Jordan McClean – A Historical Review on the Evolution of the 24-Prelude Set
- Annabelle Silva – The Indigenous Population of Ancient Sicily
Science
- Jenny Chau – Ecosystem respiration responses to environmental forcing
- Erin Donahue-Boyle – Mechanisms for Synthesis of Bio-Based Plastics Using Soybean Oil and Silicones
- Johanna Enright – Entropy Correlation Between Protein and DNA Sequences in Low Complexity Regions
- Henry Gage – Proglacial sediment records of glacial retreat and water contamination in Lake Shallap, Cordillera Blanca, Peru
- Matthew How-Chun-Lun – Modelling Hair Curls: An application of the Calculus of Variations
- Jennifer (Li Hui) Jiang – Application of qPCR for fecal coliform quantification at Niagara Beaches
- Griffin LaChapelle – Investigating the Syntheses of Transition Metal-Borane and Alane Complexes
- Emma Naguit – On the Height of Toric Ideals of Graphs and Geometric Vertex Decomposition
- Luke Nguyen – The Effect of an Acute Bout of Isometric Handgrip Exercise on Brain Function Indices
- Lisa Patrascu – Torques exerted upon a planet by its host disk
- Emmerson Teas – Characterization of extra-cellular vesicles released by primary fibroblasts under conditions of contact inhibition and hypoxia
- Philip Samokhin – Using halogen bonding to perform an intramolecular cyclization
Social Sciences
- Maham Afzaal – Lessons From the Pandemic: Evaluation of Secondary Students
- Hiya Goyal – Food desertification in disenfranchised Hamilton communities: Declining food access in urban minority communities and the illusion of choice
- Xin (Mona) Huang Huang – A phenomenological study on the experiences of Chinese international students in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Alexandra Irvine – The Influence of Bias on the Spread of Misinformation
- Aleem Mohammed – Language, Marketing, Neocolonialism – How the Tourism Industry Perpetuates Neocolonial Ideologies in the US Virgin Islands
- Florencia Saposnik – Break-Ups and Instagram: Is “Checking-In” Associated with Mental Well-Being in University Students?
- Isabel Sealey – Can cribra femora be utilized to evaluate anemia in non-adults? An investigation using micro-CT analysis
- Selby Westbrook – Technological Choice at the Nursery Site (AhGx-8): An Exploration of Archaeological Ceramic Variability and Ceramic Ecology
- Tegan Wilson – The intersections of mental health, tattoos, piercings and pain
Past USRA presenters
Expandable List
Arts & Science
- A Taste of Our Own Medicine: Conceptions of “Nature” Within Naturopathy, Avery Qurashi
- Neural Processes of Face Identification, Hailey Wright
- The role of observational learning in the acquisition of complex motor skills, John Cyfko
- How Canadian Soccer Coaches Make Decisions, Mahmood Haddara
- An Arf Invariant of Virtual Knots, Marco Handa
- Transactional Nature of Temperament and Parenting in Preschoolers, Sadie McVey Neufeld
- What Does the University Stand For?: Freedom of Expression, Protest and Dissent, Tianqi Lei
Health Sciences
- Utilization of expanded Natural Killer cells to vanquish malignant tumors via antibody dependent cellular cytoxicit, Abdullah El-Sayes
- Evaluating the effect of age on phagocytosis of S. pneumoniae by macrophages, Danny Ma
- Dissociating gut microbiome and genotype influences on Angelman Syndrome mice, Owen Luo
- Bacteriophage Discovery in the Human Gut Microbiome, Roland Chou
- Investigation of the Cooperative Functions of Polyclonal Antibodies that Target Diverse Influenza Epitopes, Sierra Barnes
Humanities
- Can Musical Cues Improve Auditory Alarms in the I.C.U.?, Cameron Anderson
- Bacon Bros: Theoretical approaches to understanding masculine identities in contemporary cook books, Daniel Arauz
- Prayers and pennies for the paupers: Research into the Guilds and Charity in Late Medieval Strasbourg (1350-1475), Graeme Lavender
- Creating Wilderness and Crafting Identity: The First National Parks in Québec, Hannah Walters-Vida Karin Fish
- Pollution Visualizations, Karin Fish
- Harold “The Colonel” Kudlets: A Transcontinental Music Pioneer, Lukas Spencer
- Aether: A Sci-Fi Novella, Virginia Ford-Roy
Engineering
- Characterization of 3D Printed Titanium Alloys, Asad Hussanain
- Inkjet printing of conductive nanocellulose inks for flexible electronics, Elsie Loukiantchenko
- Curve Fitting to Characterize Stress-Generated Electrical Potentials in Bone, Elyse Rier
- Integrated External and Internal Quantum Efficiency Measurement System, Jarod Coppens
- Enhancing Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Screening, Jessica Trac
- On-Demand Drug Delivery from Hydrogels Induced by Alternating Magnetic Fields, Lauren Weir
- Wordathon: A Tool for Social Learning, Yumna Irfan
Science
- Genetic Variability of Phragmites australis in Southern Ontario, Alexandra Tekatch
- Detecting Pathogens that cause Sepsis and their Resistance Genes, Brianne Laverty
- Investigating evidence for a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in ultrathin films of Fe/W(100), Bryce Norman
- Designing a Robust Paradigm to Study Replenishment Kinetics of Nematocytes in Hydra littoralis, Christian Barborini
- Does aperiodic-predictable temporal regularity facilitate auditory perception?, Elger Baraku
- Cockayne Syndrome Group B Protein Regulates Telomere Maintenance in Telomerase-
- Negative Cancer Cells, Emily Feng
- Growth and Characterization of Mixed Pyrochlore-Type Oxide Nd2ScNbO7, Graham Johnstone
- The Effects of High Intensity Interval Training on Endothelial Function in Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients, Jessica Sadri-Gerrior
- Physiological and Behavioural Adaptations of an intertidal fish to Hypoxia and Air Exposure, Noah Houpt
- High-speed preparation of ultra-thin uniform polymer fibers for advanced materials development, Sara Evans
- Single Particle Imaging of Bicoid’s DNA Binding Domain, Sonya Martin
- Evaluating the diagnostic capabilities of cell-free DNA, procalcitonin and protein C in comparison to HEWS, Walaa Faidi
Social Sciences
- Examining the Policies and Decision-Making Procedures of Toronto City Committees on
- Migrant Sex Workers, Aaron Li
- An Exploration of Ontario’s Grade 9 Health Curriculum Abdullah, Al Hamlawi
- Reporting Methodology for the Proportion of Students with Disabilities at Ontario Post-Secondary Institutions, Brittany Gottvald
- A Catch Twenty-Two: Mother’s Experiences with Formal and Informal Supports in the Community after Domestic Violence, Carol Lopez Ricote
- Negotiating Conflicting Understandings of Intimate Relationships, Chriselle Vaz
- Orphan Drugs in Canada and the Effect of Patent Expiration on Prices, Daley Thomsen
- China’s Rise: Assessing the Security Dilemma in East Asia Eric Lim
- Effects of Electoral Malpractice on Regime Stability, Eric Lim
- Qeya – Tracing Time Through Pots, Harriet Jopling
- The effect of music listening on implicit racial attitudes, Nicholas Ballarin
- Undergraduate Students’ Attitude-Behaviour Consistencies towards Rape Myths, Rachel Cheung
- Underscoring the Importance of Adequate Nutrition: Exploring Food (In)security Initiatives and the Policy Process at the Municipal-level in Canada, Sabrina Campanella
- Analysis of Macrobotanical Remains from Classic Maya Sites of Budsiljá and Sak T’zi’, Sarah Watson
- Understanding barriers in accessing mental health services within the Sri Lankan Tamil Diasporic Community in the GTA, Shangaari Kanesalinkam
- Cognitive vs. Chronological Age as Barriers to Using Wearable Activity Monitors in Older Adults, Shiva Gheblehverdi
- “We’re going to hold them accountable”: Explaining Attrition Among Black Students in Undergraduate STEM Programs, Tianna Follwell
Arts & Science
- Shyness and Autonomic Regulation in Preschoolers, Annie Mills
- Modulating Software: Pokémon-Go and Contested Fun in Public Space, Benjamin Feldman
- Gendered Bodies in Post-World War Two Canada, Rachel Guitman
- Impact of the Neighbourhood Action Strategy on Social Capital, Stephanie Bertolo
- Through the Glass Ceiling, Over the Glass Cliff?, Sutina Chou
- Social Participation and Resilience among Hamilton’s Older Adults, Thipiga Sivayoganathan
Interdisciplinary
- Understanding timbre: Exploring amplitude envelope and overtone tuning, Maxwell Ng (Health Sciences and Humanities)
Health Sciences
- The role of innate immunity in virus-induced exacerbation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Daniel Celeste
- Fast estimation of time-varying infectious disease transmission rates, Mikael Jagan
- Early immune challenge impacts neuroprogenitors and depressive behaviours in mice, Owen Luo
- Role of Gut Serotonin in the Production of Antimicrobial Peptides, Parsa Mehraban Far
- Palliative Care in Specialist Residency Education: Literature Review, Samer Kullab
- Copy Number Variation (CNV) prediction/validation using the XHMM pipeline and dPCR, Steven Chen
Humanities
- Russell’s Epistemology Bridging the Foundationalist-Coherentist Distinction, Alisha Butani
- Canada’s Democratic Hypocrisy: The Problem of Indigenous Political Control, Elizabeth Bloomfield
- Eros and immortality in the Phaedo, Emily Wall
- Information Status in Italian, Erin DeBorba
- Virtual Learning Environments: Inclusive or Impeding?, Sumi Voora
- Perception of Beat Isochrony in 6 month old Infants, Tessa Dickison
- The Hamilton Spectator and the Great War Veterans Association, 1918-1920, Unnati Gandhi
- Locke Embodied, William Bell
Engineering
- Electrically Conductive Membranes, Alex Sutherland
- Design and Wet-Etching of Al2O3 Waveguides for On-Chip Amplifiers and Lasers, Arthur Mendez-Rosales
- Correction of Multi-Angle Plasma FIB SEM Image Curtaining Artifacts, Christopher Schankula
- 3D Printing In MRI, Josh Bierbrier
- Secure Communication for a Quantum Future: Post Quantum Cryptography in SSH, Karl Knopf
- Computational Modelling of the Inner Hair Cell to Auditory Nerve Synapse, Laura Green
Science
- Modelling Finite-Time Vortex Collapse with Contour Dynamics, Alex Kerzner
- Movement Synchrony on Helping Behaviour in Infants, Alisha Song
- The Effect of Brachial Occlusion on Finger Flexor Tendon and Subsynovial Connective Tissue Motion, Andrew Wong
- Direct Detection and Reactions of MePhSnMPP, Brianna Nguyen
- An Investigation of Sediment Cyclicity and Glacial Deltaic Processes in Lake Jircacocha Cordillera Blanca, Perú, Chimira Nicole Andres
- The regulation of a new mode of bacterial growth, Christine Pham
- Controlled Assembly of Silicones, Daniel Szames
- Evolution and Structural Implications of a Multi-Stage Moraine at Lake Palcacocha, Peru, David Bowman
- Assessment of RFID technology to estimate fledging success in common terns, Hannah Clyde
- Hydroxyapatite nucleation on bone scaffolds using simulated body fluid, Iflah Shahid
- EEG Cross Frequency Coupling in Preoperative Anxiety, Jhanahan Sriranjan
- Estimating Tibia Lead Half-Life and Intake from Blood Lead, Jonas Yeung
- Effect of task on neural responses to faces, Katrina Fackelmann
- Cognitive Audiology: Influence of Working Memory Capacity on Hearing, Marija Radenovic
- 1918 Influenza Pandemic Mortality in Ontario, Michael Chong
- Physiological impacts of aquatic hypoxia on Porichthys notatus, Noah Houpt
- Kin Recognition in Silver Maple?, Pascale Bider
- The use of pharmacological tools to study regeneration in hydra littoralis, Rachel Lee
- Estimating the effects of parasites on the maintenance of sex, Sang Woo Park
- Phylogeography of the North American Matsutake Mushrooms, Sarah Sandor
- The regulation of human skeletal muscle plasticity in response to contractile perturbation, Tom Tripp
- The Fabrication and Application of Cellulose-Based Aerogels with Tunable Thickness, Patterning, and Morphology, Tyler Or
Social Sciences
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Moral Injury, Anthony Battaglia
- The Evolution of the Struggle for a Living Wage in Hamilton, Ontario, Ben Owens
- Parking to Paradise? A Case Study on the Experiences of the McMaster University Community with Ancaster Creek Restoration Work at Lot M, Carly Stephens
- Only 2 Students in the Store – Using Photovoice to Examine Individual, Cultural and Structural Forms of Adultism in Hamilton, Carolyn Ralph
- Crying Over Spilt Milk: The Impact of Supply Management in the Dairy Sector on Canada, Emma Holmes
- Exploring the Resiliency of Low-Income Older Adults in Hamilton, Grace Martin
- Proportional Representation and East Asian Party Systems, James Ankers
- Producing Public Archaeology at The Stélida Naxos Archaeological Project, Jason Lau
- Night Walkability of Hamilton, Ontario as Viewed by the City’s Deaf Community, Jillian Scott
- Food Insecurity on Hamilton’s Upper West Mountain, Leticia Cubas
- Indigenous Driven Ethnobotany, Stephanie Morningstar
- Examining male-identified student perspectives of sexual violence on Canadian university campuses, Maddie Brockbank
- The Role of Health Policy on Mental Health Care Services Use by Asian Immigrant Groups in Canada, Natalie Thirakul
- Coping Mechanisms Women of Color Use to Deal With Racism, Rachel Persaud
Arts & Science
- Special Relativity as Told by the Luminaries, Matthew Jordan
- Sojourning in the World, Henry Krahn
- A History of Churches Formed by Immigrants to Hamilton, Clare MacDonald
- Defining Rumination: A Factor Analysis of Rumination Questionnaires, Jonah Nadler
- Investigating the Effects of Social Mix On Residents’ Experiences of Social Inclusion/Exclusion In Toronto’s Regent Park Public Housing Community, Emily Power
- Mexican Fiction and Identity, Alex Recio
- LEED and Perceptions of Sustainable Design in the City of Hamilton, Spencer Williams
Health Sciences
- Detection of Legionella pneumophila using Flurogenic DNAzymes, Suraj Gopinathbirla
- Investigating the effects of AMPK on Atherosclerosis, Matthew Han
- Impact of maternal nutrient restriction during pregnancy on ovarian follicle number in guinea pig offspring, Xinglin (Lyn) Li
- The Cytochrome P450 Superfamily in Cnidaria, Kirill Pankov
- Screening for Pseudomonas aeruginosa genes involved in biofilm stimulatory response to sub-lethal antibiotics, Madeleine Rudolph
- Influence of fetal exposure to SSRIs on the development of the enteric nervous system, Megan Wang
Humanities
- The Healing Arts, Ema Asler
- Fertility Treatments and the Singing Voice, Laura Curtis
- Covert Hegemony: Explaining Nixon’s Hostility to Chilean President Salvador Allende, Jaime Graydon Dennison
- Women’s Leadership Roles in Haudenosaunee Society, Oznur Kaynak
- Ongoing Colonial Violence against South Asian Communities in Canada: Air India Bombings of 1985, Zarah Khan
- Derrida’s Hospitality and its Local Implications in the Syrian Refugee Crisis, Adam Watters
- Perception of Tonality and Harmonic Progressions, Brandon Wild
- Teaching Introductory Italian Using Digital Tools, Kaitlyn Zarcone-Beam
Engineering
- Air-Floating Wind Turbine, Akshay Aubeeluck
- Teaching Computer Science Game Graphs, Tanya Bouman
- Using MEMS techniques for fabrication of planar electromagnets for applications in DNA sensing, David Philpott
- Inducing Apoptosis in MCF-7 cells using MNP’s and Magnetic Fields, Justin Sing
- Thermal Stability of Cellulose Nanocrystals via Hydrolysis with Sulfuric and Phosphoric Acids, Oriana Vanderfleet
Science
- Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) reflectance of decayed root matter under varying soil moisture conditions, Julia Andersen
- The Effects of Driving Experience on Visual Attention, Senuri Aponso
- A Microfluidic Microinjector for toxicological and developmental studies of cardiogenesis in Drosophila embryos, Pouya Aref
- How do plants deal with low phosphate? Getting to the root of the problem, Anna Axakova
- Ligand-induced cooperativity between CBD activation and channel gating in HCN channels, Adam Bernardo
- The Search for an Integrable Discretization of the Derivative Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation, Sylvie Bronsard
- Exploring the Interplay Between Lsr2 Proteins in Streptomyces venezuelae, Loryn Byres
- Localization and assessment of functional groups on surface modified PDMS, Srimann Chari
- Sign Patterns and their Applications, Biran Falk-Dotan
- Digital Drumming: Visualizing a Desynchonizing Percussion Performance, Kyle Gauder
- One-pot synthesis of quinazolinones as anti-parasitic agents for promotion of global public health, Tiffany Kong
- The Effects of Power on Empathic Responses to Pain, Michael, Ku
- Heat flow, Brownian motion, and Feynman diagrams, Kyle MacDonald
- Photoreactions in an Optical Vortex, Fariha Mahmood
- Fourier Series, Hilton Maurer
- Characterization of Transient Germlyenes in Solution, Austin Read
- Quantifying evapotranspiration edge effects in peatland systems: implications for at-risk reptiles, Kyra Simone
- A distributed hydrogeochemical assessment of Spencer Creek Watershed, Supriya Singh
Polymer hydrogel microspheres as building blocks for extracellular matrices, Marta Skreta - The impact of reduced daily ambulation on glycemic control in older adults: a pilot study, Tanner Stoeks
- Breast Cancer in Women of African Ancestry, Yulika Yoshida-Montezumae
Social Sciences
- Ontario’s Allied Health Professions / Medical Expense Tax Credit, Collin Brown
- Differentiating Commingled Remains through EDXRF, Katie Campeau
- Chert Sourcing in the Cyclades, Jeffrey Coffin
- Being Transabled: What it means to seek disability in an able-bodied world, Kaelyn Danahy
- Association between socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics and household food insecurity in Canada, Mack Fielding
- Associations among shyness, physiological regulation, and social and private speech in typically developing 4-year-olds, Raha Hassan
- Hamilton’s Women’s Shelter System and the Housing Market, Sarah Hugh
- The Recipe of Choice: A Petrographic Analysis of Neutral Iroquoian Ceramics at the Christianson Site, Daniel Ionico
- Exploring Hairstylists as Cultural Intermediaries, Sasha Johnstone
- Mapping Disabled Homeless Youths’ Navigation of (Dis)connected Services, Daire Kavanagh
- Accessing democracy: Barriers to voting for People Experiencing Homelessness, Grace Kennedy