Potawot Community Garden: Moving Beyond Land Acknowledgements

Chrys Furrer, Other Undergraduate Student

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Potawot Community Garden serves as an exemplary model of the environmental and social health impacts of returning Indigenous land to Indigenous hands. The College Corps program, with Potawot as a community partner, gives student fellows the opportunities to serve in support of Potawot's mission of enhancing Indigenous food sovereignty while mitigating food insecurity, restoring the land, and supporting the cultural healing of Indigenous community members as well as the broader community. This project invites readers to take action through volunteer involvement with organizations such as Potawot, making monetary donations to the Wiyot tribe, and advocating for Indigenous land rematriation.

Resistance Training on Self-Concept to Improve Gender Affirmation and Community Belonging LGBTQ+ Individuals

Lauren Bankerd, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Determining the effects of resistance training tailored to LGBTQ+ individuals with the purpose of increasing gender congruence, self-concept, and community belonging.

Shorebird Displacement in Response to Recreational Human Disturbance along the Humboldt County Coastline

Cindy Chavez, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

This project focuses on the interaction between recreational use of local coastal beaches and shorebird disturbance patterns. Flight initiation distances and alert behaviors in relation to the proximity of humans, dogs, or other natural disturbances are observed to approximate recreational impact on shorebird foraging.

Shorebird Vigilance from Biological Influences

Ryan Abdilla, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

My research project involves researching two different species of wild shorebirds, Marbled Godwits and Eurasian Whimbrels, and studying which biological factors like predator abundance, tide height, foraging rates, and time of day play a role in vigilant behavior in these two shorebird species. We are looking to see how these rates and their factors differ between 5 different areas across the Arcata Marsh and if there are noteworthy changes in any of the listed factors between the two species and which ones play the biggest role in shorebird vigilance and which do not.

Silent Struggles: Addressing Postpartum Depression in Rural Public Health

Jamie Gormly, School of Applied Health Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common mental health condition affecting birthing persons and is more prevalent in rural communities with limited behavioral health services. This quality improvement project uses the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice to reduce the impact of PPD in rural public health communities. Interventions include integrating social support into treatment plans, expanding home visiting programs, and implementing universal screening. Evaluation measures include increased service engagement and overall symptom reduction. Target goals include a ≥20% decrease in depressive symptoms and a ≥25% increase in screenings among Medicaid-insured individuals.

Study of the Dietary Preferences of Collared-Doves Within an Expanded Range of Choices

Daniel Francois, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

The Eurasian collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is an invasive columbiform that has spread across the continent of North America in under thirty years since its first introduction (Smith 1987, Romagosa and McEneaney 1999). Since then, it has competed with and dominated a variety of native passerines (Romagosa and McEneaney 1999, Romagosa and Labisky 2000). Our goal was to further discover its feeding habits and dietary preferences in order to gain a better understanding of its impact on native birds such as the mourning dove (Zenaida macroura). We hypothesized that collared-doves would prefer corn over millet seeds, and millet seeds over oats and sunflower seeds.

Temporal Habitat Usage of Columbian Black-tailed Deer Across Urban-wildland Interfaces in Arcata, California

Jaret Cross, Wildlife Undergraduate Student

College of Natural Resources & Sciences

In this study, we used motion-sensing camera traps to track deer’s habitat use in and out of urban areas, measuring key explanatory abiotic factors influencing their occurrence. The study took place in the public parks and community forest in Arcata, California.

Terror at Home: A 10 Minute Play Exploring History in an Intersectional Method

Starsong Brittain, Other Undergraduate Student

College of Professional Studies

The original 10 minute play was inspired by historical research on the early decades of the Soviet Union. Specifically the "Great Terror" of the 1930s. The play tells experience of real people but portrayed as a a nature documentary.

The Impact of Autistic Traits on Student Evaluations of Professors of Different Genders

Kauyumari Sanchez, Psychology Faculty

College of Professional Studies

Instructor evaluations are critical to the tenure process but are known to be biased with respect to gender (e.g. males are rated higher than females) and other identities (e.g. autism). This study aims to address the following question: Are male and female professors evaluated differently by male and female students when the professor’s autism identity is revealed compared to not revealed? This research highlights the impact of disclosing or failing to disclose one’s autism identity and its impact on student evaluations.

The Impacts of Personal Narratives, Statistics Data, and Images on Attitudes and Actions

Kauyumari Sanchez, Psychology Faculty

College of Professional Studies

Personal narratives are powerful in garnering interest, empathy, and may improve attitudes on issues as compared to statistically oriented information, but have primarily been investigated in text-only formats. Little is known about the effects of visual information on individuals' attitudes. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of presenting data, narrative information, or a combination of information through verbal or visual channels on individuals' attitudes. The implications of this study enables us to understand the most effective information presentation methods when influencing individuals' attitudes and actions on controversial and emotionally charged topics.