​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Oral Presentations​

Eliza Brisbin, Robert Riffle

Sponsors: Meriah Sage

Performance includes the beginning and ending scenes of Neil Labute's play, The Shape of Things. Featured characters include Adam, a museum night guard, and Evelyn, an aspiring artist. Eliza Brisbin (Evelyn) and Robert Riffle (Adam) are both Theatre majors who are excited to demonstrate the craft of acting and staging as learned in various classes such as Acting III, Voice and Movement, and Advanced Directing.

Session 2
Join session

Back and Forth: Tutoring Sessions via Email Made Simple

Amy El-Zayaty​

At the University of Findlay, both students and Writing Center Tutors have the option to schedule a tutoring session via email. In my presentation, I will share some personal tips and academic research that demonstrates ways tutoring sessions via email can be welcoming and efficient.

Session 3
Join session

From Early Trials to Lasting Difficulties

Brandon Nusbaum
Sponsors: Robin Walters-Powell

Given that early life experiences form the adult experience in an openly-observable, natural progression, the current proposal involves the examination of the influence of early substance use, specified individual-level challenges, and specified family-level-challenges in shaping and deeply impacting later adult outcomes. It is hypothesized that with an increase in incidences of the former factors, in early life, there will be a greater total magnitude of the latter, substance use and other, specified mental health disorders into adulthood.

Session 4
Join session

Recorded Lectures: Survey of Student Use and Perception (Before and During COVID 19)

Brittany Stewart, Joseph Day, Matthew Gratton, Jennifer Pate, Trent Thompson, Cameron York

Sponsors: Amy Schlessman

Studies have found that using recorded lectures reduces test anxiety, improves test performance, and enhances learning. This study focused on student use and perception of recorded lectures before and during COVID19. The results compare and contrast student use and perception of recorded lectures before and during COVID19 between various courses as well as between graduate and undergraduate students. With the growing popularity of the hyflex flip approach for course planning, which recommends the use of recorded lectures, these results are timely and insightful. These results can assist faculty with considerations for course planning.

Session 5
Join session

The Impact of Mental Illness on Artwork

Emily Falcone
Sponsors: Marie Louden-Hanes, Nathan Tice

The effects of mental illness are evident through centuries of creative work by artists that suffered with mental illness. However, understanding the meaning behind their artwork involves knowing how mental illness impacted their inspiration. Norwegian artist Edvard Munch suffered from agoraphobia and illustrated his personal experiences of living with mental illness, particularly in his series The Frieze of Life. In this collection, paintings such as The Scream depicted personal sorrows and confessions organized in themes of love, anxiety, and death. Similar to another painting, Anxiety, The Scream portrayed how Munch’s fears consumed him and altered his perception of nature, with a twisted human figure and intense colors of flames in the sky. Although Munch endured multiple struggles, including a tragic childhood, panic attacks, and alcoholism, he felt that his art was critical towards illustrating the pain and suffering of his inner self.

Session 6
Join session

Why Do Women Like "Rom Com's"? From the Perspective of Women

Micayla Anderson-Osborne, Jill Schmitmeyer, Betsy King
Sponsors: Christopher Medjesky

We are looking at movies that fit under the genre of “Romantic Comedies”. We chose 3 movies that are all “Rom Coms” from the mid 2000s (2007-2009) and we picked a common actress among all of them in order to keep a constant within our analysis of the similarities and differences within the different media texts. Knocked up (2007), 27 Dresses (2008), and The Ugly Truth (2009), all starring Katherine Heigl, compare different scenarios of heterosexual relationships coming together despite a conflict. Katherine Heigl is known for her starring role in “Grey’s Anatomy” as well as her reputation in the acting world for being a “Diva”. This is one of the reasons we chose her to be our constant. We are trying to determine why women enjoyed watching these movies a couple of years ago and why they stopped enjoying them.

Hope Brant
Sponsors: Megan Adams

For public relations professionals, storytelling across media platforms is a strategic process. In this presentation, results will be shared regarding a strategic communication plan created for Pawsible Angels to get their names out to the Findlay community and inform the public about service animals. The plan was to increase awareness about service animals and to gain more followers on my client’s Instagram account. This researcher learned that the more quality your photos and videos are on Instagram, the more eyes they will attract.

Session 8
Join session

What is Happening in Rural Communities of Japan?

Garrett Brown
Sponsors: Hiroaki Kawamura

One of the urgent concerns within contemporary Japan is shrinking rural communities, which has been caused by several factors including aging, declining birthrate, and persistent urbanization. This has put more spotlight on the concept of 地方創生 (chihou sousei), or rural revitalization. Many rural communities are attempting to revitalize themselves through such measures as tourism, support for young families, and invitation of foreign migrant workers. The central government considers the current state of rural communities a national crisis and has had a cabinet position for this issue since 2014. In June-July 2019, three students including the presenter conducted ethnographic research on this topic in Japan with Dr. Hiroaki Kawamura with a grant through ASIANetwork. We interviewed a total of 84 individuals including high school and university students, government officials, non-profit organization staff, community people, and international scholars in Japan. This presentation presents the final results of the project.

Session 9
Join session

Vampires and Werewolves and Zombies, Oh My: Linking Horror Fiction and Infectious Disease

Dominique Ysquierdo
Sponsors: Marie Louden-Hanes, Nathan Tice

Do you ever wonder what inspired most of history’s greatest horror stories and films? Throughout time infectious diseases have always been around, adapting to survive and evolving right alongside of humanity. Together we will unlock some of the amazing connections on how the genre of Horror came into creation and how infectious disease held its hand every step of the way. Dating all the way back to the bible and leading into mainstream movies like Alien, and Dawn of the Dead. How great plagues and outbreaks inspired Dracula. Even today the Covid-19 pandemic is inspiring movies, stories, and games. So, travel through time and take a dive into history, pop culture, and infectious disease. Discovering the influences, links, and connections to the horror genre we love and know today.

Session 10
Join session

Investigating the Impact of Agencies on Clients

Michaela Dewese
Sponsors: Robin Walters-Powell

The child welfare system in America is a phenomenon that has been recorded to cause mental illnesses in

children. Looking at the data that proves behavioral and psychological problems are rampant among children who are in foster care or have experienced trauma, it is easy to say that changes need to be made in this system. Collecting data to analyze what resources and changes need to be made to the child welfare system is the task at hand. The researcher will explore the needs of their children and how the child welfare system could curve the high rates of mental illness affecting said children having to deal with trauma and instability.

Session 11
Join session

A Guide Through The Development of a Tabletop Game

Kyra Znaczko, Cannon Daniel
Sponsors: Aaron Blodgett, Steven Wild

Traditional games such as card games and board games have been around for millennia. Even with the large influence of technology today, tabletop games still retain their popularity among a wide variety of people. The goal of this project was to explore the process of creating a new tabletop game. As a group, we established what type of game we were to create and what motifs to use to create an original game. Designing a new board or card game requires a variety of skills, from artwork design to establishing a play style and strategy. Throughout the game design process, many revisions have been made to the original idea focusing on the structure of the game play and balancing the cards.

1:50-2:10

Session 12
Join session

Building a Brand: Working with MYBEAUTYSD to Create an Instagram Presence

Rowan Gnepper
Sponsors: Megan Adams

For public relations professionals establishing a brand across social media for people to get involved with is vital in having a successful following. Creating a platform for a company is a strategic process. In this presentation is the process and results of creating a social media plan for the app Instagram for the company MYBEAUTYSD and its founder Kamia Reddick. Research was done on the platform, Instagram, and MYBEAUTYSD to determine what could be done to have a more successful account. Then over a two-month period posts were made based on the research.

Session 13
Join session

The Relationship Between Art Therapy and Eating Disorders

Deborah Swartzfager
Sponsors: Marie Louden-Hanes, Nathan Tice

Throughout history, art has been influenced by people’s experiences with human illness and disease. However, disease can also be influenced by art. Eating disorders, classified as mental illnesses, are of growing concern in countries across the globe. In the modern struggle against conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, therapists utilize art as a tool to explore human development and recovery from such diseases. Art therapy methods currently in practice include music and dance therapy, role- playing, painting, drawing, sculpting, and more. As researchers explore the potential uses for art in treating

eating disorders, questions arise concerning the validity and effectiveness of such practices. This presenter examines various studies and sources to better understand the connection between art therapy and recovery from eating disorders.

Session 14
Join session

Exploring the Impact of Parental Involvement on Children in the Foster Care System

Sianna Dickerson
Sponsors: Robin Walters-Powell

Parental involvement and socioeconomic status have been researched for correlations between children of all ages and if it has a positive effect on academics and mental health. While some may think they are separate, children tend to learn behaviors from their home environment and their caregivers. In order to better understand the relationship between the two, research has been created for caregivers. The research will help to promote understanding of how parents impact children on multiple levels of their biopsychosocial development.

Session 15
Join session

Collaboration on E-waste Recycling Across the Pacific

Jalin Marston, Mikahla Conrad
Sponsors: Hiroaki Kawamura, Yanting Guo

E-waste is unwanted electronics and it presents a serious global challenge for the environment and human health. The US alone produces over 13 million pounds per year according to the World Health Organization (2020). Much of the e-waste produced in the US is shipped overseas to be processed in developing countries where recycling workers often do not have proper personal protective equipment nor knowledge to keep themselves safe. We collaborated with two students in China through Georgetown University’s US-China Student Challenge Program to propose a way to face this challenge. We created a framework for university students to trade unwanted electronic devices among themselves and the community to mitigate the crisis. Our plan also included the use of social media to educate electronics users and recycling workers on the dangers of e-waste recycling. We concluded that creating a sense of community is the first step to combat this global problem.

Session 16
Join session

Wood County Humane Society: Donor Management Software

Samantha Sweet, Paul Pavala, Timotej Iliev, Gilberto Quintero Sponsors: Jordan Ringenberg

Non-profit organizations run solely on good-natured volunteers and the generosity of donors. One way the Wood County Humane Society (WCHS) receives financial support is through one time individual donations and recurring membership fees. A software that provides donation management services will allow WCHS to engage and show appreciation to donors. This is important because as an organization that greatly benefits from the community, it is necessary to track their gifts in order to give thanks. While other donor management software exists on the market, most do not meet the needs of a mid-sized organization, such as WCHS. Other platforms are too robust or promise fancy features without delivering. Our team developed a custom and intuitive software solution to help WCHS track donor information, donation amounts, and generate reports.

2:15-2:35

Session 17
Join session

The Effects of Music on Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

Andrew Smith
Sponsors: Nathan Tice, Marie Louden-Hanes

Alzheimer’s disease has a significant impact on people’s memory which eventually leads to the lack of ability to perform normal functions. While there is no cure for the disease, it is important to find different methods of managing the symptoms. What can music do to assist people with the disease? People with Alzheimer’s disease have been shown to have some remembrance of songs they knew earlier in life, and music has the potential to aid in unlocking memory. Cuddy et al. explains in “Music-evoked Autobiographical Memories (MEAMs) in Alzheimer Disease: Evidence for a Positivity Effect” that music allowed patients to remember memories. One problem that occurs as a result of Alzheimer’s disease is lack of emotion or ways for patients to communicate with other people. By bringing back old memories, patients’ lives would improve by being able to relate and interact more with other people.

Session 18
Join session

Shimmery Belle Boutique's Social Media Plan

Allison Utterback
Sponsors: Megan Adams

For PR professionals, storytelling across media platforms is a strategic process. In this presentation, I will talk about the results of a strategic communication plan crafted for Shimmery Belle Boutique that was created to increase audience size and engagement on Instagram, so that the Shimmery Belle Boutique can increase sales in any economic climate. Each student was given the option to choose their client. Because of my love for fashion, I decided to reach out to a local boutique downtown Findlay who was in need of someone to help get their social media back on their feet after losing the person responsible for running their socials. There are three other boutiques in the downtown Findlay area with similar product and my client wanted to differentiate themselves by creating social media content that would help them stand out as well as increase sales. Their social media presence was mainly on Facebook before I started working with them, but after doing some research I thought focusing on Instagram would benefit them the most.

Session 19
Join session

The Road to Structured Literacy

Kathryn Samuelson
Sponsors: Mary Heather Munger

A common issue among teachers is teaching literacy. Often, new and old teachers do not understand literacy enough to be teaching it properly. There are many ways to teach literacy, but studies have shown structured literacy is the best way to teach literacy. There are many skills that students need to read and comprehend what they read, but those skills are not always provided. While studies have proven this, so many schools still do not practice this. How can we, as educators, get there? That's what the road to structured literacy is all about.

Understanding and Mobilizing Youth Civic Engagement through Mentorship

Alexas Nussbaum
Sponsors: Robin Walters-Powell

Mentorship relationships have been proven to have beneficial effects on youth; however, community-based programs have ignored structural barriers that prevent youth from reaching their highest potential. We must continue to create safe spaces where questions of identity can be discussed so that mentorship programs yield civically engaged young adults. The research will assess youth desire to engage in their communities, identify barriers to engagement, and pinpoint areas where mentors can empower and mobilize youth action.

Session 21
Join session

Blanchard River Watershed Administrative System

William Knebel, Blake Amesquita, Duncan Longberry, Corey Crawford

Sponsors: Jordan Ringenberg

As part of the CSCI 480 Software Engineering course, we created an administrative tracking system for the Blanchard River Watershed Project. Our program consists of a database and interactive user interface allowing administrators to log grants, membership fees, donations, fundraising events, and volunteers. This custom software ensures that members of the Blanchard River Watershed project can track their feedback and increase their productivity.

2:40-3:00

Session 22
Join session

Developing a Brand For Hysteria Company: Working with a Local Artist to Achieve a Better Brand Cohesiveness Across Social Platforms

Alana Sundermann
Sponsors: Megan Adams

Storytelling across social media platforms is a strategic process that public relation professionals use to promote their brands. This project showcases my skills in public relations and how this applied them to my client. This presentation shows the results of a strategic communication plan that was created for local artist, Amber Kear. Her business is based on her own original artwork, and her products are intended to bring the community closer together. The plan developed a more cohesive and consistent brand presence across Amber's social accounts and increased awareness. This research allowed an understanding of the importance of developing a professional relationship with a client and the importance of good communication. It was also discovered that creating and implementing a strategic plan takes time and research in order to get the desired result.

Session 23

Ashley Moser, Ashley Chiccarello, Cannon Daniel, Lillian Siefker

Sponsors: Jordan Ringenberg

Educational gaming software can improve upon other teaching methods but is seldom used in a classroom setting. Equilibrium is a card game designed for physics professors and students to teach and learn vector addition. The web app is designed for both teachers and students to comfortably use and learn, featuring a table-based card game with 48 cards, shuffling mechanics, and player-based rules. Students can learn vector addition in a fun and simple way using Equilibrium.

Session 24
Join session

The Virtual Virus: How the Online Shift Due to COVID-19 Has Affected Classrooms and Teachers

Emma McMaster, Lindsey Klausing, Kendra Feucht, Jordan Foster, Cecilia Wurm
Sponsors: Julie McIntosh

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of many, both directly and indirectly. The 2020 spring quarantine especially affected the education system as schools rushed to adjust class delivery to a virtual format, and nearly a year later classes still need to incorporate virtual learning into their courses. Due to the fact that there was not a precedent for this type of mass-online learning, many new technological resources were utilized, including Zoom, Google Classroom, and Google Meets. While some of these resources had been used by teachers in the past, many teachers did not rely on these resources for their entire classroom delivery and have had to find a new normal for their classes. In this presentation, we will share the perspectives of school faculty and students and compare them to learn from their experiences so we may move forward with virtual learning more efficiently and effectively.

Session 25
Join session

Stigma: Exploring Barriers to Veteran Mental Health Treatment

Celia Brand
Sponsors: Robin Walters-Powell

The proposed research explores the hypothesis that better education on veteran mental health can in turn provide a deeper understanding of the issue and reduce stigma as a barrier of treatment. A mixed methods approach is utilized for data collection and the convenience sampling method to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The result of the research will be used to create educational workshops from the proposed research for veterans to address both internalized and public stigma surrounding the veteran’s mental health. The goal is to utilize the results to develop educational workshops to reduce the surrounding stigma and reduce the number of veterans that lose their battle to mental health every day.

Session 26
Join session

Pollution vs. Nature: An Artist’s Interpretation on Health

Abigail Tooill
Sponsors: Nathan Tice, Marie Louden-Hanes

As diseases swept through cities all over the world in the 19th century, it was rumored that these diseases were caused by tainted surroundings. People began to realize that the trash and sewage in the streets as well

as the polluted air from factories was allowing one’s health to decrease and become more susceptible to diseases. When this pollution was added to the fact that major cities were densely populated, bacteria and other harmful microorganisms spread among the population quickly. Artists of the time period depicted all of this pollution working hand in hand with disease in their work. However, in places untainted by humans, artists depicted the environment in all of its natural beauty and embraced its seclusion from the population. Therefore, nature became a symbol of health, as more people left the cities looking to improve their hygiene.