Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal

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The Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal (OURJ) is an open access undergraduate research journal at the University of Oregon. It showcases some of the best research and publications by UO undergraduate students across all disciplines.

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Open Access
Cover Art: “aλλος”
(University of Oregon, 2024) Black, Olivia
aλλος is a part of the Greek root word for "allergy." aλλος, meaning "other," has held significant meaning for me growing up with a severe allergy to milk. This illustration depicts me as a child during allergy testing. I feel this drawing is representative of the spirit of undergraduate academic endeavors because it represents overcoming the challenges of our past and working them into our identities of the future.
Open Access
Meet the Editorial Board
(University of Oregon, 2024)
Open Access
Art Feature: "Portals for Everyday People"
(University of Oregon, 2024) Bisheimer, Elle
This photo series illustrates the power of captivating, freeform imagery that can spawn organically in our surroundings. The unique movement of black lines in the images result from the natural composition of the environment as it was; the branches hang above the water, the petals glide upon the pond's surface, the light reflects these forms as the water swirls. The images serve as a glimpse at mystical beauty of ordinary environmental conditions and cycles. Such otherworldly scenes will continue to create themselves without any spectators or interference. However, these portals remain unhidden, and their presence is abundant - we only need make a choice to search earnestly to experience the magic in full.
Open Access
Journal Editorial: "On Libraries Supporting Undergraduate Research"
(University of Oregon, 2024) Vieger, Rayne
In an unexpected way, the challenge of learning how to do undergraduate research is what led me to a career in libraries. As a freshman and first-generation college student, the imposter syndrome was strong; I lacked confidence in my writing and my voice. I was unsure if my ideas had value, and even if I finally talked myself into thinking I had something to say, I didn’t know how to go about finding the “right” sources or evaluating their veracity. Luckily, I had friends who worked in the library, and early on, it became part of my life on campus.
Open Access
Art Feature: "Autonomy in the Anthropocene"
(University of Oregon, 2024) Bisheimer, Elle
This drawing explores several of the complex relationships between human innovation, morality, and how progress is defined through time. Who defines progress, and who is truly capable of harnessing its successes? In our modern era of incessant technological advancement towards an algorithmic perfection, this rather timeless struggle for moral truth inescapably seeps into our interactions with Artificial Intelligence. Most programs seek to minimize capacity for human error in each new advancement, successfully reducing our own ability to hinder progress—and our ability to work within it as well. One could argue this is not far off from efforts towards minimizing human error throughout ancient history. Developments of secular sciences, philosophy, and social reform often incorporated similar goals to progress, yet they were all driven by humans attempting to improve their own kind. What happens if reach a point where we no longer hold agency in our own societal progression? Does erasing our potential for error diminish the value of the art we create? Can we discount the value that AI may provide to humans that were never truly given a stake in the playing field towards progress? It may be impossible to predict, yet it remains a necessity to be considered as lines between virtual worlds and reality blur.
Open Access
Letter from the Editors
(University of Oregon, 2024) Taylor, Jay; Schmitt, Kyla
It is our pleasure to present Volume 22, Issue 1 of the Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal (OURJ) this spring of 2024. This issue showcases the best undergraduate scholarship we have encountered during the 2023–2024 academic year. Strikingly, these articles share a common theme: a focus on the future. Fittingly, we OURJ staffers are now also looking towards the future—the future of our publications, involvement with scholars, and research at the University of Oregon.
Open Access
Predicting Explore-Exploit Behavior from Personality Traits
(University of Oregon, 2024) Nashawi, Lynn
The explore/exploit trade-off theorizes that individuals learn and make decisions in two different ways. Exploration entails trying new approaches that one is unsure about in order to gain new information. Exploration can be further divided into two subsections: random and directed exploration—choosing randomly when the total uncertainty is high, and choosing the most uncertain option, respectively. Exploitation involves utilizing what one already knows in order to achieve an expected result. Recent research (i.e., Gershman 2018) has demonstrated that different individuals might employ either exploration or exploitation in novel environments, but whether different personality traits influence the strategy that is used is a relatively unexplored area of inquiry. In the present study, we asked 67 participants to complete a choice-based, point-scoring computer task. We instructed participants to collect as many points (in the form of numerical value feedback) as they could by selecting among four options, some of which offered a steady stream of points, and others which were more randomized. Participants also completed an abridged form of the Big Five personality questionnaire. We hypothesized that negative emotionality would correlate negatively with directed exploration, that open-mindedness would correlate positively with both measures of exploration, and that impulsivity would correlate positively with random exploration. We did not find support for any of the three hypotheses; rather, the opposite occurred in negative emotionality and directed exploration (p = 0.018, r = 0.29). These findings can be applied in various fields of research, as they demonstrate variation in types of learning and decision-making styles across different settings.
Open Access
Being Bosnian: The Means and Ends of Territoriality and the Genocide of Bosniaks in the Fromer Yugoslavia
(University of Oregon, 2024) Petrik, Charles
The “Bosnian Civil War” (1992–1996) was a conflict that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of thousands of Bosnian Muslims, or Bosniaks. In the vacuum left by the fall of Communism, religious identification across space opened doors for various populist leaders to campaign for a newly defined Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the 1990 election results, which left a majority Bosniak coalition in power, led to the swift aggression of Orthodox Serbian and Croatian nationalists from the east and west, respectively. This research employs a spatial lens to deeply examine what fueled the genocidal campaigns that ensued, identifying how culture, religion, and history were symbolically challenged through the systematic redefinition of territory. Ultimately, nationalist influences from Croatian and Serbian political spheres played off fears of rising challenges to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s nationhood in the political vacuum post-Communism, resulting in violence and the systematic destruction of spatial identity. Though eventually thwarted by NATO intervention, the mark of this genocide scars the former Yugoslavia’s geopolitical landscape today, providing a brutal example of how redefinitions of space and place can begin and sustain a conflict—and how historical grievances, differences in religious and national identity, and a lack of individualism across territory can be exploited for personal geopolitical ambitions. There exists much scholarship on the Bosnian War, especially in the realm of international intervention; however, this article seeks to provide a novel historical analysis of the conflict by examining how conceptions of territory and those making place within it were reframed for geopolitical purposes before and during the genocide.
Open Access
Childcare in the Free Market Society of F. A. Hayek
(University of Oregon, 2024) Bernard, Myra
As free market structures increasingly dominate contemporary life, it is important to examine their influence on social structures as well as economic ones. Seeking to answer questions such as How do market forces interact with social functions like caretaking and interpersonal connection? and Are the values defining social and economic life compatible, or rather, at odds? this paper discusses the limitations of the prolific economic and political theorist F.A. Hayek's argument for a free market economy as the most effective tool in organizing and maintaining a functional society. In a case study of the act of childcare, I argue that a market framework fails to support key elements of social life necessary to a flourishing society, such as relationality and caretaking roles. In demonstrating the market's fundamental incompatibility with the role of childcare through (1) the market’s inability to appropriately evaluate the worth of childcare and (2) care labor's incongruity with market incentives, I argue that Hayek’s epistemological argument defending the free market as the most effective means of social and economic coordination is erred. Instead, a recognition of and deference towards the influence of social values within economic life is necessary in advancing an equitable society that recognizes and adequately supports the endeavor of childcare.
Open Access
Exploring the Role of Microbiota in the Development of Insulin-producing Cells in Drosophila melanogaster
(University of Oregon, 2024) Mullen, Nicole
Resident microbiota can influence many aspects of host health and disease. Research by the Guillemin lab demonstrates that gut microbiota induce the expansion of insulin-producing beta cells in zebrafish and mice via a bacterial protein, beta-cell expansion factor A (BefA). This study investigates microbiota, bacteria, and BefA protein roles in promoting insulin-producing cell (IPC) development in Drosophila melanogaster, where each brain lobe contains seven IPCs. The study evaluates the effect of germ-free (GF) rearing on IPC numbers in Drosophila and explores whether feeding flies BefA, utilizing transgenic BefA expression, or employing transgenic tsl, a known pore-forming protein, can restore IPC numbers in GF flies. The groups compared were GF, conventionally reared (CV), GF flies fed BefA, and GF flies with transgenic BefA or tsl expression. Tissue-specific Dilp3:GAL4/UAS:GFP and immunohistochemistry treatment enables IPC visualization post-dissection. Findings show fewer IPCs per brain lobe in GF flies compared to conventional, highlighting microbiota's role in IPC development. GF larvae fed BefA exhibit a slight but significant IPC increase per lobe versus conventional, suggesting BefA's potential to mitigate GF effects. Transgenic expression of BefA, using the GAL4/UAS system, demonstrates a trending IPC increase in GF flies, while transgenic tsl expression significantly increases IPCs. These results indicate microbiota's impact on Drosophila metabolic pathways and fundamental cell development, including cells in the gut-brain axis. These insights can be used to direct research and treatment for diseases like diabetes and have implications for microbiota's effect on the brain. Future experiments will explore BefA's properties, including its potential to induce insulin-producing cell expansion through membrane permeabilization.
Open Access
Cover Art: “Prague Main Station”
(University of Oregon, 2023) Glass, Rowan
The main railway station of Prague, Czechia, photographed at dusk in early September 2023. This scene caught my eye for its interplay of light and texture, wherein the lights of one of the station's 600 daily trains reflect off a meshwork of steel rails as it pulls into the platform, and the glow of the station's historic clocktower shines bright against a darkening sky. Above, the last of the day's light gives way to impending night.
Open Access
Letter from the Editors: “What is a Special Issue?”
(University of Oregon, 2023) Schmitt, Kyla; Taylor, Jay
Open Access
Art Feature: “Our Pirogue—Snapshots of a Senegalese Fishing Community”
(University of Oregon, 2023) Glass, Rowan
Open Access
Comparing Verbal Descriptions of Image Memories with Natural Language Processing
(University of Oregon, 2023) Gamez, Julian
A goal of memory research is to understand how the brain remembers similar events. Analyzing data from human subjects, we explore how competition between memories of images influences their recall by answering the question Does studying images from similar or differently themed categories affect the verbal content used to describe them? The competitive condition was composed of images from a single category (“Pond 1,” “Pond 2”), whereas the non-competitive condition was a set of images from different categories (“Pond 1,” “Library 1”). Specifically, we aimed to quantify how verbal memories of these images varied depending on the study condition. To quantify subjects’ verbal memories, we used natural language processing to map subjects’ descriptions of the images onto points in a high-dimensional “text embedding” space. We performed dimensionality reduction and clustering analyses on these text embeddings and found that semantic representations of images studied in the competitive condition were similarly differentiated compared with those in the non-competitive condition. Our results suggest that verbal memories of images were influenced by the similarity of subjects’ memories and that highly similar memories may push their respective representations away from one another.
Open Access
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Portland State Aerospace Society (PSAS) Launch Vehicle 4
(University of Oregon, 2023) Casserly, Aaron
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization is a field that enables the solution of challenging engineering problems involving multiple technical specializations and design/performance constraints. In this work, I optimize the design of the PSAS Launch Vehicle 4 (LV4). To that end, I evaluate different optimization approaches—such as RBFOpt Global Optimization, Nelder-Mead minimization, and Simplicial Homology Global Optimization with Nelder-Mead and COBYLA local minimization techniques, calculate structural analysis information for different stages of flight, outline a method of simulating fin “staging”—the dropping of a larger initial fin can at a certain altitude to reduce the required engine thrust and drag in the upper atmosphere and optimize fin parameters. I converged on the ideal design vector. This led to an apogee of 107 km with a 9.8 kN engine (realized with two 5 kN engines). Further debugging is required to resolve the apparent 120 km vehicle drift.
Open Access
Indigenous Voices Reshaping Cinema: Native American Representation in Dances with Wolves (1990) and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021)
(University of Oregon, 2023) Farrenkopf, Tom
In 2015, film critic Angela Aleiss wrote that “Dances with Wolves created a watershed... no Western has had such a powerful impact.” More than thirty years have passed since the release of the film Dances with Wolves in 1990, and since then, there have been significant shifts in public opinion and government policies regarding Indigenous rights and representation. Sports franchises are parting ways with former idols, and the US government has allocated substantial financial resources for providing healthcare to Indigenous communities, among other endeavors. Against this shifting cultural backdrop, the present research project seeks to investigate how, if at all, the representation of Native Americans in the American film industry has changed since 1990. To address this inquiry, I adopt a comparative analysis approach, drawing on the films Dances with Wolves and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021). The two key areas of examination are the on-screen portrayal of stereotypical character types and the off-screen employment practices of production companies. Scholars and activists have argued that the cinematic representation of Native Americans has traditionally been confined to that of stereotypical characters, which has been deemed harmful to the Native American population's perceived identity. While both films employ such character types, the filmmakers of "Montford" utilize narrative techniques to mitigate, subvert, and identify these representations. With respect to hiring practices, a small increase in the number of Native Americans employed in roles involving creative control occurred over time. Overall, the most noteworthy and observable transformation within the American film industry has been the substantial rise in the number of film production companies owned and operated by Native Americans.
Open Access
Reweaving the Uaman Luar: Cultural Reproduction and Autonomy among the Kamëntšá
(University of Oregon, 2023) Glass, Rowan
Where there is colonial power, there is Indigenous resistance. Latin America offers many case studies for an analysis of Indigenous cultural survival, historically and to the present day. While some have received considerable popular and academic attention, most have gone comparatively unknown, particularly in the Anglophone academic mainstream. My research aims to address this gap by interpreting processes of cultural reproduction among the Kamëntšá, a culturally and linguistically unique people of the Sibundoy Valley of southwest Colombia. Building on ethnographic data collected during three months of fieldwork with artisans, shamans, land defenders, and community members in the Sibundoy Valley, I argue that the Kamëntšá, while facing cultural, political, and ecological threats on multiple fronts, are engaged in the integral reproduction of their culture to ensure the survival and vitality of their community. The Kamëntšá experience demonstrates the viability of Indigenous cultural survival and autonomy outside of the settler-colonial and neoliberal status quo. I conclude by arguing that Kamëntšá processes of cultural reproduction contribute to ensuring their cultural autonomy, demonstrating the pluriversal dictum that “another world is possible,” and that the Kamëntšá case sheds light on cultural reproduction and autonomy construction as they operate in other subaltern contexts.
Open Access
Media Conglomeration, Automation, and Alienation: A Marxist Critique
(University of Oregon, 2023-09) Tokos, Lauren
The rise of the so-called “digital age” in the twenty-first century absorbs individuals’ livelihoods and disconnects them from the natural world. Over time, modern society has adapted to digital news and entertainment media’s unremitting chokehold on daily life. What enabled this change and how does the corporate structure of digital news and entertainment media impact the everyday worker? The contemporary American digital news and entertainment media market is almost exclusively regulated by five major corporations: AT&T, The Walt Disney Corporation, NewsCorp, Paramount Global (formerly Viacom CBS), and Comcast. Although the titles and rank of these corporations have changed over time, their ownership has stayed consistent. Through corporate conglomeration and horizontal and vertical integration, the major five media corporations vie for control over the media marketplace. Those in positions of power seldom experience the effects of their decision-making; instead, the worker, producing intellectual or material commodities, fails to truly experience the creative realization of their labor. Instead, the worker’s labor is the property of the corporation for which they work. Media workers are alienated from the product of their labor, as it belongs to the owners of the means of production. Mass media stakeholders, as owners of the means of production, maintain structural control over the dominant social ideology, reflected in the economy, government, and media. Media workers, beholden to mass media stakeholders, are unable to realize their full creative capacity, as they are confined to the restrictions set forth by the capitalist media economy.
Open Access
Culture in Higher Education: Understanding the Dimensions of Educational Inequality
(University of Oregon, 2023-09) Berk, Luca
By connecting historical context and a statistical review of the present-day consequences of White hegemony within higher education, I argue that the exclusion of students of color in higher education by means of cultural isolation is a verifiable issue today. The distinctive habits, customs, and norms of White, Anglo-Saxon, protestant (WASP) cultural practices function as a system of gatekeeping, limiting access to higher education for communities of color that cannot conform to these cultural practices. While the barriers that disproportionately block students of color from accessing higher education were initially a formal institution of segregation—which was since outlawed—universities still contain vestiges of this system, continuing to extend cultural barriers that inhibit minority students seeking access to higher education. Statistical analysis of the discrepancies in success rates of students of color and White students demonstrates the material outcomes of unequal access within higher education. While some scholars point strictly to economic factors or different individual aspirations or values to explain these discrepancies, these theories fail to address the root causes of the inequalities that minority students face—namely, that historically segregated systems remain ineffective at fostering diverse and representative student bodies. By actively recognizing these systems as fundamentally unjust by design, the conversation regarding how to fix or approach racial inequality in higher education can be effectively begun.
Open Access
Marilyn in the Media: The Male Gaze of Conspiracy
(University of Oregon, 2023-09) Wehn, Lena
2022 marked the 60th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death. Her name is once again making headlines. The notable uptick in recent media coverage surrounding Monroe underscores that her cultural significance extends far beyond being an iconic actress. Monroe’s life and legacy have become inseparable from her death, which is famously wrought with conspiracy. Conspiracy theories, typically associated with the socio-political sector, have pushed beyond the political sphere and permeated pop culture. Conspiracy theories stem from a fixation with and desire to rationalize the unknown. For celebrities that reach superstardom, coupling their fame with any mysteriousness creates the perfect breeding ground for conspiracy theories to brew. By examining several theories about how and why Monroe died (in lieu of suicide), this paper dissects how her life and death have been permanently punctuated by conspiracies pushed by men. Monroe was not only at the mercy of conspiracy, but she was infamously, inescapably defined by men. Her story has been told through men’s eyes, both in life and after death. In addition to conspiracy theories, I use news reports (entirely written by men) from the day she was found dead to investigate the extent to which Monroe’s life and legacy was impacted by being hypersexualized. I propose that conspiracy theories, like pop culture and the media, are subject to the male perspective creating, dominating, and directing the narrative. I use Monroe and the conspiracy theories which surround her as a case study to exemplify how destructive and reductive the male gaze becomes when it is left unchecked.