All Presenters & Abstracts
Community-Based Approaches to Health: Addressing Food Insecurity Through Open Door Gardens Levit Cantu Castillo
Presentation Year:2026
Levit
Cantu ,
Undergraduate Student,
College Corp
Open Door College Corps Fellowship
Comparing Carbon Flux Dynamics in Forest and Grassland Ecosystems
Presentation Year:2026
Adam
Wolk,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Engineering
Understanding how ecosystems exchange carbon with the atmosphere is key to predicting climate change impacts. This study examines how drought affects carbon flux (net ecosystem exchange, NEE) in grasslands versus forests using NEON data and climate variables (temperature, precipitation, drought indices). We expect grasslands to respond quickly to short-term changes, while forests show more complex, less immediate responses but greater vulnerability to severe drought. This work explores ecosystem resilience and carbon sink reliability, with implications for ecological forecasting and carbon cycle dynamics.
Comparing Different Lipid Compositions of Nano Discs for Function of ASR
Presentation Year:2026
Riley
Webb,
Undergraduate Student,
Chemistry
This study uses self-assembled nanodiscs with the target membrane protein being ASR to examine how lipid composition affects its function. Three lipids (DMPC, POPC, and DGDG) were used to form nanodiscs, enabling comparison of their influence on ASR activity. A light-to-dark assay was performed to assess functional response under changing conditions, revealing how each lipid environment supports protein behavior. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was also used to measure nanodisc size and uniformity, of each lipid composition. Together, these approaches provide insight into how lipid composition impacts membrane protein function.
Complete Arcs from Plane Curves
Presentation Year:2026
Desmond
West-Hedlund,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
We discuss the conditions under which the Fq-rational points of a smooth degree-d projective plane curves are maximal under inclusion with respect to the property that no d+1 are collinear in the plane.
Connecting The World Through the Tallest Trees
Presentation Year:2026
Taylor
Culp,
Undergraduate Student,
College Corp
I served at Redwood National Park as a visitor center interpretive ranger for hundreds of visitors on the best trails, the best views, and the best drives. To fight to protect our public lands and our Earth, we all have to gain and maintain an understanding, a respect, and an eventual love of the environment. Though this experience, I learned techniques and environmental knowledge to help visitors gain these elements through education. My favorite takeaway from this experience was getting to share facts that I enjoy, and sharing the reactions of fascination with them.
CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer Certification
Presentation Year:2026
Nancy
Nazario,
Undergraduate Student,
School of Applied Health
This project focuses on providing students with a low cost opportunity to become certified in CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer – something employers in the Recreation field favor on a resume. Specifically targeting students in the Recreation Administration department, this opportunity aims to further their professional development without having to worry about cost. In addition to professional development, this project aims to empower participants to act in cardiac emergencies by disseminating knowledge about cardiac arrests and instilling confidence when faced with an emergency situation. Key activities include coordinating with certified instructors, securing training equipment, exploring funding opportunities, and marketing the course to students.
Curtains Up on a Future Teacher! My College Corps Fellow Experience
Presentation Year:2026
Evan
Pierce,
Undergraduate Student,
College Corp
As a College Corps fellow, I worked with Arcata High School, particularly the theatre strand of the Arcata Arts Institute. In this program, I have been supporting students in the classroom and in the theatre productions. Looking to become a high school theatre teacher myself, working with Melanie Zapper has been truly a wonderful and incredibly meaningful experience. Theatre programs provide students with a fun, creative outlet while also preparing them with real-life skills such as time management, collaboration, flexibility, and public speaking. I am so grateful to have gotten an opportunity to use my passion and experience to support the thriving theatre scene at Arcata High School.
Data 271 Project - California Wildfire EDA
Presentation Year:2026
Colin
Trevino-Odell,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
This project merges CAL FIRE Historical Fire Perimeters (22,810 records) with a Kaggle incident dataset (1,636 records) to analyze California wildfire impact from 2013 to 2019. Cleaning involved dropping sparse columns, filling resource NaNs with zero, converting date strings to datetime, and normalizing fire names by uppercasing and stripping suffixes to build a shared merge key. After filtering to California and deduplicating by largest perimeter per name and year, an inner join yielded 810 matched fires. Engineered columns include fire size class, mapped cause labels, and duration in days. Grouped aggregations and faceted plots show severity outweighs frequency and that powerline ignitions drive disproportionate structural loss.
Data-Informed Social Work Curriculum: Modeling the Use of the California Healthy Kids Survey for School-Linked Practicums
Presentation Year:2026
Thea
Lamers,
Undergraduate Student,
Social Work
This project highlights the implementation and impact of data-informed social work curriculum with school-linked practicums. Through creating a curriculum that connected public data dashboards to students practicum placements, social work students critically evaluated publicly available data. This curriculum exemplified the required generalist social work competency of understanding the relationship between practice-informed research and research-informed practice. This project synthesizes the curriculum and student reflections from pre and post surveys, as well as a reflective memo assignment completed after the class.
Developing Culture-Based Methods to Assess the Function of Burkholderia Sensu Lato in Pitcher Plants
Presentation Year:2026
Theo
Murphy,
Undergraduate Student,
Biological Sciences
Pitcher plants are host to a diverse array of microorganisms, one of which is Burkholderia sensu lato. Burkholderia s.l. is a group of bacteria that is positively associated with function in the pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, though the mechanisms behind this functionality are poorly understood. In this study, I developed a culture-based method to isolate Burkholderia s.l. from a larger microbial community. I then characterized the Burkholderia isolates’ cellular morphology, oxygen requirements, motility, and nitrate reduction potential. I found that the characteristics of Burkholderia s.l. isolated from Sarracenia sp. diverges from that proposed in the literature.
Development and Validation of the Female Intrasexual Competition Scale (FICS)
Presentation Year:2026
Natalie
Stamper,
Undergraduate Student,
Psychology
Intrasexual competition refers to competition between sexes for status, mates, and resources . The current established measure of intrasexual competition, Buunk and Fisher's (2009) intrasexual competition scale (ICS), is sex and gender neutral®. While the ICS has sufficient validity in certain contexts, it does not capture the nuances of female intrasexual competition, which centers around appearances and is less explicit than male intrasexual competition. Additionally, the ICS does not directly address the four main forms of intrasexual competition: self-promotion, competitor derogation, mate-manipulation, and competitor manipulation. The Female Intrasexual Competition Scale (FICS) is a new, theory-based scale to measure intrasexual competition among cis-gendered heterosexual and bisexual females.
Disturbance From Restoring Native Dune Ecosystems Affects Small Mammal Occupancy in Humboldt County, CA
Presentation Year:2026
Kyra
Stewart,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
Small mammal occupancy in restored and unrestored dune sites in Humboldt County, Ca.
Do the Prosocial Effects of Watching Eyes Extend to Shopping Cart Return?
Presentation Year:2026
Caitlyn
Spampinato,
Undergraduate Student,
Psychology
Watching eyes are powerful stimuli–they quickly capture attention and evoke physiological arousal. Humans are particularly adept at perceiving another’s gaze, and can even be affected by watching eyes that they are not consciously aware of. Recent research suggests that watching eye cues can promote a variety of low-cost prosocial behaviors, inside and outside lab settings. The presence of eye images may alter behavior by reducing feelings of anonymity and cueing reputation maintenance concerns. The current study investigated whether the presence of watching-eye images affected how frequently shoppers returned carts to designated return areas.
Does Organic Matter for Swainson Hawk Nest Success?
Presentation Year:2026
Alyssa
Hage,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
My research project is exploring the question if being near an organic alfalfa field is beneficial for Swainson hawk nest success rate and number of fledglings produced per nest per year over the past 5 years. My project is taking advantage of historical nesting data in the Butte Valley, CA area to explore this question.
Dows Prairie Elementary School - College Corp Service
Presentation Year:2026
Megan
Jones,
Undergraduate Student,
College Corp
My project is a comprehensive submission of my service at Dow's Prairie Elementary School in Mckinleyville. In this project, I discuss issues I noticed and addressed at my site, such as students lacking understanding of food systems and the challenges presented by screen time with younger students. I also briefly discuss my role as an ESM student, what I have learned, and the impact I have had on students at my site.
Dry Roots: an ABM Featuring a Drought Prone Forest
Presentation Year:2026
Mack
Kona,
Undergraduate Student,
Mathematics & Data Science
Forest resilience emerges from interactions among a diverse population of tree species, in which species-specific traits govern individual responses to environmental stress and collectively sustain ecosystem stability. To understand why these local interactions are so essential for sustainable ecosystem management, we propose an agent-based model of a mixed forest subjected to intense drought. Tree agents accumulate stress from environmental conditions such as dehydration, overheating, and limited sunlight, triggering adaptive responses and consequently alter local dynamics. Our simulation identifies how these dynamics enable forest persistence in an arid climate.
Economic Inequality in California Counties: Same Patterns, Mixed Impacts After COVID-19
Presentation Year:2026
Justin
Arellano,
Undergraduate Student,
Other
This project analyzes economic inequality across California counties before and after COVID-19 using Census data. Findings show that higher-income counties consistently have lower poverty and uninsured rates. Although COVID-19 caused changes in economic outcomes, the overall pattern of inequality remained stable, suggesting that income differences continue to be the primary factor shaping county-level economic conditions.
Effects of Alternate Tagging Methods on Mallards
Presentation Year:2026
Riley
Towry-Jenkins,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
This study examines the effects of alternative tagging methods on duck behavior using scan sampling to quantify activity budgets. Individual birds were observed across defined phases, including control and treatment conditions, and behaviors were categorized into activity types such as resting, swimming, and preening. Behavioral data was converted into proportional time activity budgets to allow for standardized comparisons.
Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate differences in overall activity and specific behaviors between treatment and control groups. Additional models accounted for individual variation among birds and potential acclimation effects over time. results identify which behaviors are most influenced by treatment and asses the extent to which individual differences contributed to observed patterns.
This approach provides insight into how experimental manipulates behavioral allocation in ducks and highlights the importance of considering both treatment effects and individual variability in tagging wild populations of birds.
Effects of Depth, Microhabitat Exposure, and Marine Protection on Abalone Size and Abundance in Mendocino County, California
Presentation Year:2026
Jovanni
Flores,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
Abalone populations in Northern California have declined due to overharvesting and environmental stressors. This study examines how marine protection, depth, and microhabitat exposure influence abalone size and abundance. Using scuba-based transect surveys, we compare populations inside a Marine Conservation Area and a nearby unprotected site. We predict larger and more abundant abalone in protected areas and in sheltered microhabitats. This research helps evaluate the effectiveness of marine protected areas in supporting recovery of this ecologically and economically important species.
Effects of Large Woody Debris on Salmonid Spawning Habitat and Activity
Presentation Year:2026
Matt
Knoedelseder,
Undergraduate Student,
Wildlife
I am studying the effects of large woody debris (LWD) placement in a salmon-bearing stream in Southern Humboldt. My hypothesis is that the placement of LWD will improve salmon spawning activity by 1) recruiting and sorting appropriate gravel substrate and 2) increasing dissolved oxygen concentrations within the substrate. I predict that streams with LWD treatments will exhibit higher salmonid with abundance and density.