May 2, 2025
Reception & Presentations 2pm to 5pm
Cal Poly Humboldt Library
Search Presenters & Abstracts
Presenters & Abstracts: Search
In My Neighborhood: Local News Coverage of David Josiah Lawson's Murder
Moxie Alvarnaz
Sociology
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
This content analysis examines racial discourse in local online news coverage pertaining to the murder of David Josiah Lawson and subsequent, related events. This research utilizes a grounded methods approach to find common racial frameworks and patterns in coverage.
The Evology of Addiction
Anais Southard
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
This research explores popular discourse regarding the “opiate epidemic” and deconstructs the ways in which popular conceptions of addiction and addicts shapes the care that that people recieve. By looking at the systemic causes of addiction, this research also examines the links between addiction, environmental justice, rurality, and the many facets of systemic oppression.
Cahuilla Tribe and the Agua Clientele Case
Lita Sims
Environmental Studies
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
My paper will touch on the Coachella Valley Aquifer and the Cahuilla tribe, which is centered around the Agua Caliente case. Specifically focusing on how the Cahuilla tribe gaining rights over the groundwater, could change future cases on groundwater rights.
The Cultural Significance of Maori Pounamu
Brandon
Borba
Anthropology
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
An anthropological investigation of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people and their unique use of greenstone jade.
Climate, Competition, and Cavity-nesters, oh my!
Kellie
Crouch
Wildlife
Undergraduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Fluctuations in climate variables, such as temperature and precipitation, have the ability to negatively influence the breeding success of birds. This study aimed to determine how these factors impact the breeding success of cavity-nesting songbirds in California. In order to do this, I analyzed relationships between nest box data from the California Bluebird Recovery Program and climate data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
American Pikas Responses to Long and Short Alarm Calls During Mid-Summer in Lassen National Forest, California
Thomas
Butler
Wildlife
Undergraduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
This project is an Honors Thesis conducted on Richard Brown with the CPH Wildlife Department. This project assessed the use of the short and long alarm calls used by American pikas. This project took place in Lassen National Forest NW of Susanville, CA.
Creativity and Wellness at Winship Middle School
MelissaMack
Barker
College Corp
Undergraduate Student
Other
My creative project at Winship was collaborating with the Wellness Center staff to create groups for students. One group is meditative in nature, playing some soothing live instruments for students while they relax and take notes on how the instruments affect them. I also teach them about the instruments and about sound in general. In the other group, students create characters and shape a world in which they go on a quest together. This allows them freedom of expression while building community.
Analyzing Soil Quality & Forage Potential of Solar Microhabitats in Coastal Grasslands
Claudia
Alfaro Hernandez
Forestry, Fire & Rangeland Management
Undergraduate Student
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
As the global population grows, ensuring sustainable food and energy systems becomes increasingly important. While solar panels support clean energy goals, they can displace prime agricultural land and critical habitat for native grazers in coastal grasslands. Agrovoltaics—integrating solar infrastructure with land used for agriculture or grazing—offers a promising compromise. However, research on solar microgrids in coastal grassland ecosystems remains limited. This study examines how solar microgrids impact soil quality and forage potential in these sensitive landscapes.
The Importance of Soil Analysis Concerning Ancient Civilizations
Timothy Ortega
Anthropology
Undergraduate Student
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Human activities leave an impact on everything, including deep in the soil. This soil then can be tested thousands of years later to help determine what activities occurred at the site for a culture that may have been lost, is barely known about, or left no evidence other than their footprint in the dirt. I will relate my experience as an intern in the Archaeology Lab on campus to this project, which also concerns soil analysis from someone else's project.
Leveraging Applied Problems to Enhance the Undergraduate STEM Experience
Kamila Larripa
Mathematics
Faculty
Borbala Mazzag
Mathematics
Faculty
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Strong analytical skills and the ability to develop and analyze mathematical models are highly sought-after skills, especially when they are paired with the auxiliary skill set of strong scientific writing, the ability to collaborate across disciplines and effective visualizations of quantitative information. We focus on the development of these auxiliary skills by (1) offering training to teams who participate in COMAP’S Mathematical Contest in Modeling (MCM) and (2) through the PIC Math course, a problem-solving course in which students work on problems provided by an industry client.