Making America Great Again: American Identity Uncertainty and White-American Bias

College of Professional Studies

Research collected from attendees of the RNC shows that White Americans who feel uncertain about their American identity and possess a bias toward viewing their country as “White” might be particularly likely to turn to a candidate who uses rhetoric which excludes ethnic minorities as a means of reducing their identity uncertainty. This work examines the moderating role of American identity uncertainty on the relationship between implicit bias and American identification. These results are important because they display the relationship between American identification and the extent of Americans’ implicit biases as moderated by the extent of their identity uncertainty.

Making Connections Between Queer Students and Resources

College of Professional Studies

The Eric Rofes Multicultural Queer Resource Center (ERC) works hard every year to provide resources to the queer identified students on campus. This can be a difficult yet rewarding position to be in. The difficulty being, at times, queer students have other needs that go beyond what the ERC is able to assist with. This does not stop the ERC from trying to connect students with other resources both on and off campus. With their guidance a resource zine was created. Its intention is to bridge gaps and make connections from the students to the resources they may find useful.

Making of a Monster: Media Constructions of Transgender Victims of Homicide

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

There is a general sentiment in public discourse that victims are good and innocent, and offenders are bad. This dichotomy is blurred when the victim is somehow socially undesirable, such as people who do not conform to society’s expectation for gender, or victims who are not white. In the case of gender non-conforming victims of homicide, especially transwomen of color, the media often portray the victims as deceivers, or criminal, insinuating the victim is to blame for their attack. This study focuses on the media portrayal of 259 homicide victimizations that occurred between 1995 and 2014. Using content analysis, we explore these cases through the victims, offenders and news media.

Making Sense of Dyspraxic Senses using Exercise, the Effects of Bodyweight Exercises on Proprioception in Individuals with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Evan Jackson, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

People with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have poor motor coordination which interferes with daily activities of living. One potential reason for the impairment of motor skills that people with DCD have a decreased sense of proprioception. Proprioception is the sense of where your body is in space and where body parts are in relation to one another. Exercise can increase proprioception. The purpose of this project is to investigate the effects of bodyweight exercise (BWE) in proprioception in people with DCD. BWE have been found to increase proprioception, static and dynamic balance, and motor function.

Male Grouping Behavior in Giant Chacoan peccary

Finley Gralian, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

A behavioral observation of captive male Chacoan peccaries at Sequoia Park Zoo to identify whether the males group by age, genetic relatedness, or personality.

Mammal presence in coastal foredunes dominated by European beachgrass.

Ethan Franco, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

My research project investigates the relationship between the invasive European beachgrass, Ammophila arenaria, and mammal presence in the foredunes of Gold Bluffs beach within Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Managing Pain to Avoid Opioid Misuse

Nicholas Terrill, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

This Capstone research project dissects the complexities of chronic pain management and pushes for a system wide move aware from opiate dependency. This project proposes interventions such as CAM therapy, ERAS and PPACT to battle chronic pain, avoid opiate misuse and over prescription within the healthcare system.

Manual Therapies in Myofascial Pain and The Application of Trigger Point Therapy

Alexandria Sekulski, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Myofascial manipulation techniques have gained prominence in pain management due to their ability to address musculoskeletal issues, alleviate pain, and improve overall function. This review encompasses various manual therapy approaches such as trigger point release therapy, and self-myofascial release. These techniques target main symptoms of fascial restrictions, muscle tightness, and trigger points. The aim of these techniques can improve blood flow and as a result restore pain perception in the tissue. Integrating myofascial manipulation techniques with regular exercise therapy and stretching protocols interventions provides a comprehensive approach to pain management.

Map of Low and No-Cost Outdoor Recreation Near Cal Poly Humboldt

Teddy Goyette, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

This project was part of a senior seminar course credit in pursuit of a Recreation Administration degree, and stemmed from a deep devotion and love of outdoor recreation. With a core focus around financial accessiblity and engagement with local outdoor recreation, I wanted to create a visually appealing and readily available map displaying these locations in relativity to the Cal Poly Humboldt campus. All locations allow students, visitors, and community members to engage with nature-based activities without the burden of high costs or extensive travel. This project not only reflects my passion for equitable outdoor access but also represents a personal and professional growth experience.

Map of wildfire severity of the Santa Rosa: CA 2017

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This study examines the Santa Rosa fire in 2017 using remote sensing techniques to estimate the acreage of burned areas. Landsat 8 imagery of the pre- and post- fires were used to extrapolate the burn severity using two methods: (i) Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) and (ii) change detection analysis. The results of burn severity of both methods were on average 24% under-approximated comparison to values supplied by Cal Fire. While comparing acreage burn, provided by CAL FIRE indicates that our results were on average 76% ±8% accuracy in identifying burn severity. Of the two methods, the change detection using iso clustered unsupervised classification scheme was more accurate.