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Our next winter deadline is December 15, 2023 11:59pm PT. Apply today to lock in your spot!

10-session deep dive into a research topic of your choice

6-week research project with an expert and peers who share your passion

A career discovery experience with 3 expert mentors in your chosen fields

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Rohit’s projects will qualitatively and quantitatively examine changes in ventricles in people with Acromegaly. Acromegaly is a hormonal disorder that results from the overproduction of growth hormones in the brain. Increased levels of growth hormones in the body cause abnormalities in tissues and bone resulting in gigantism. Examples of symptoms commonly associated with gigantism are enlarged hands and feet, disproportionate facial features and more. Increases in growth hormones can also cause tumors in the body and results in severe complications such as changes in vision, increased risk of cancerous tissue, and thyroid enlargement. Despite being a rare condition, people with Acromegaly have severe decreased quality of life and complications from it can be fatal. Therefore, Rohit’s hopes to better relate different symptoms Acromegaly patients present with structural changes in their brains. An improved understanding of the relationship between brain structure and function can greatly improve therapies aimed at reducing symptomology and prevention of complications in Acromegaly patients. 

Neuroscience, Cognition, Visual processing, Comparative biology

Relating ventricle size of Acromegaly patients with symptomatology

In this project, I will be analyzing the role that agriculture played in China's economic boom in recent decades. I'll be researching the role the Chinese government played in agriculture, and how that affected overall economic growth. In regard to time period, I will be looking at China during the economic reforms of the 1980s.

Economics and Economic Policy, Art History, The Art Market

The Role of Agriculture in Shaping China's Economic Growth

This literature review will analyze the gaps in the current literature, specifically in regards to, improving the uses of current treatments and their effectiveness for TMM (trichotillomania), along with other issues related to this disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a cognitive and body-focused condition that is displayed in a multitude of actions, thoughts or ideas. It’s described as reoccurring undesired thoughts, ideas, impulses, and images (obsessions), and repetitious actions or responses a person may express in order to cope (compulsions). TMM is closely related to OCD. Since TMM is so rare, the need for research is  important to further assist individuals with this disorder. The purpose of this paper is to disseminate TMM.

clinical psychology, working memory, executive functions, mood/affect.

What needs to further discussed/researched with respect to TMM.

The student will synthesize a few different simple oxide materials to test their gas capture performance for automotive exhaust gases. He will synthesize 3-5 materials and characterize them to ensure that the proper material has been made and then test and quantify their gas capture performance.

Materials Science, Materials Chemistry, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering - manufacturing and design, nanomaterials, energy storage, batteries, rapid prototyping, and product development

Automotive exhaust gas capture performance of simple oxides

I am focusing on the moral and ethical ground of the juvenile system. I am analyzing how social institutions can impact juvenile behavior, specifically from a psychological and sociological lens. In the juvenile system, a variety of factors play a role in the mistreatment of different demographics from different communities. A hostile or toxic environment in the system can stem from each incarcerated youths' home life or street life, further deepening the lack of improvement or development. I am completing comparative qualitative research where I go in-depth about two case studies revolving around two adolescents in the juvenile system, I will look into direct correlations between race/ethnicity and the extent of these social institutions on the way these adolescents present themselves and the lifestyles they live after being sentenced. I will tie in the marginalization of these incarcerated individuals when facing jail time. The purpose of this project is to showcase the corrupt process of the juvenile system and dive deep into components that make up continuous juvenile behavior that cycles over and over again. My research question is how does the home and street environment of different races influence or perpetuate juvenile behavior? In the near future, as technology and access to different media sources expands and develops, more stigmas on the incarcerated youth could be put in place. Also, as tension in the national court rises and our natural rights continue to be stripped, adolescents in the juvenile system could be faced with harsher sentencings and ill treatment to a larger, extreme extent.

Sociology, Criminal Justice System, Laws, Protection, Race, Gender, Psychology

How does the home and street environment of different races influence or perpetuate juvenile behavior?

The project will be a synthesized literature review. Nirvaan will publish the project to a student journal. The research questions are: (a) Why do queer adolescents use queer-friendly online spaces? (b) What are the effects of queer-friendly online spaces on queer adolescents? Topics the literature review will cover include peer relationships, community building, identity development, and psychosocial adjustment.

Social Psychology, health disparities, health equity, cancer, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+

What are the effects of (good?) queer media on queer (adolescents'?) identity development?

Creating a blog for parents and children that spreads awareness that highlights the importance of mental health during Covid, and provides practical ways that parents can support their children's mental health. The blog will discuss the reasons why mental health might be challenged during Covid.

developmental psychology, child-related policy, social and neurobiological mechanisms

Covid Mental Health Blog

A research exploration into Third-Wave Feminism with reactionary sewing, painting, drawing, and photography.

The Intersection of Fashion & History, Costume Design, Fashion History, Period Accuracy, Costume Research, Making Look Books and Pitch Decks for Film Design, Costume Sketching

Fashion Design & Third-Wave Feminism

Millions of people worldwide suffer from dementia and various forms of neurodegenerative diseases. The most common neurodegenerative disease, as well as the most common cause of dementia, is Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). AD in the brain is physiologically characterized by amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, hyperphosphorylation and aggregation of Tau, neuroinflammation, and synaptic loss. These processes all result in progressive cognitive decline in neurological functions such as memory, attention and judgment. As there is no cure nor many viable treatment options in which the benefits outweigh potential side effects, the search for possible treatments options continues. One category of treatments that shows promise are cannabinoids, the most notable of which are cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In this review, I will discuss in vivo and in vitro studies showing positive behavioral, neuroprotective, and neuroregenerative impacts as a result of cannabinoid treatment. These properties of cannabinoids exhibited in the treatment of AD show a lot of promise and thus deserve further research and consideration as a potentially effective therapy.

genetic and molecular controls of plant cellular processes relevant to combat the climate crisis; CRISPR-Cas9 genome mediated engineering in plants; developmental, cell, and molecular plant biology

Cannabinoids as a Therapeutic Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease

Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Among senior citizens, the risk of LBD is much more defined. This risk of brain disease and prognosis serves as the motivation for this study. Through years of experimental research, scientists have found genetic correlations into the epidemiology and progression of the disease. However, this genetic basis of LBD is not well understood. This study hopes to analyze variants in genetic material and evaluate them for their prevalence in LBD diagnosed patients. As a thorough meta-analysis study, we will combine several previous Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) to create a comprehensive set of genetic loci and identify candidate genes that may be responsible for the onset of LBD. Following further analysis, we will 1) study how the candidate genes work together to create LBD-like symptoms and 2) compare relevant genes for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and LBD. In conclusion, future research will be sought to apply this research into potential treatment and medication development for this growing disease.

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Genomics, Genetics, Computational Biology, Complex Cardiometabolic Traits (type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc.) , analyzing gene expression datasets, forensic science

What genes are considered relevant to the epidemiology of Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) or correlated with the progression of the disease? How can this meta-analysis aid scientific progress in treating and developing medication for LBD?

Rhea is working on the definition and design of a social housing project. We are looking at the history of affordable housing, what makes them more or less succesful, and how they impact the community. Based on this research and analysis, we are proposing our own design, situated somewhere between a utopic vision and a grounded proposal. The idea is to fabricate an architectural project that answers all the constraints of affordable housing while proposing a new alternative to their existing form. 

Architecture, Design, Fabrication, Digital Modeling and Drawing.

Affordable Housing

Rhea is looking into the Minneapolis City Hall building as a focus of architectural study.  She is interested in examining the geometry, patterns, and scales deployed in the utilization of windows, and in understanding how each part contributes to how we perceive the whole.  She is interested in structuring the paper as a comparison of City Hall to another building, probably one from the renaissance or one that's more modern.  She will approach the topic through research and writing as well as drawings.

architecture, art history, resilient design, preservation

Geometric Strategies in Minneapolis City Hall

Tumor formation requires rapid proliferation of malignant cells, which consume large amounts of oxygen from the microenvironment to meet metabolic demands. The resulting tumor microenvironment (TME) is usually low in oxygen compared to healthy tissue and left in a hypoxic state. Immune cells in the tissue rely on oxygen for energy production, therefore immune function is often inhibited in the TME. Novel immunotherapy treatments aim to reinvigorate the immune system, thus making hypoxia a concrete barrier against immunotherapeutics targeting solid tumors. Furthermore, oxygen levels are highly variable depending on the tissue, raising the question of the influence of physoxia on immune cell survival in hypoxic counterparts. This review aims to provide insight into the mechanisms that influence this question, using an in-silico approach, in order to understand how the field can improve immunotherapy treatments for patients.

Immunology, virology, genetic engineering, CRISPR, design gene therapy using CRISPR, create business model to start a biotech, create pitch deck to raise money for a biotech

Effect of Hypoxia on Resistance to Immunotherapy

The project will be to develop a RISC-V processor that supports efficient neural network operations. Using ISA extensions and/or a co-processor design, we will support vector/matrix operations and activation functions natively. Low-precision operations may be a goal as well. We would like to emulate the processor on Amazon Web Services, using F1 FPGA instances. Along the way, we hope to develop skills on writing good RTL and understand the basics of computer architecture, deep neural networks, and logic design/synthesis. The final goal will be to demonstrate our processor running a complete neural network end-to-end natively and efficiently.

circuits, electronics, nanotechnology, nanoscience, material science, computer networks, internet security, internet privacy, physics, quantum mechanics, computer architecture

Developing a Custom Processor for Efficient Neural Network Operation

Introduction - Energy drinks are common in the diets of teenagers. Despite the increase in consumption in American teenagers, little has been done to study its effects on the anxiety and depressive behaviors of teenagers.

Methods - 25 participants were selected including a majority of Asians and Caucasians between the ages of 12 to 22 with an average age of 16.04 years old. The participants filled out a survey that recorded a baseline for a week, and then drank increasing dosages of energy drinks the following week while continuing to fill out a survey. They filled out a survey that was designed with SIG E CAPS indicators on each day, and the results were compared using a student’s t-test. 

Results - The results were not statistically significant, but this supports that the caffeine limit set by the Food and Drug Administration does indeed prevent negative effects of caffeine on adolescents. One participant, with a pre-existing psychiatric condition, withdrew from the study after his markers of anxiety were significantly higher in the week that he took the energy drinks. 

Discussion - While the study was limited in both scale and dosage, it did fall in alignment with the body of literature that preceded it. To formulate a statistically significant study with results that have a higher confidence level, the dosage of caffeine and the number of participants who consume it would need to be increased.

Conclusion - The study, while not being statistically significant, reinforced the pediatric limit of caffeine and opened the door to further studies that involve a higher dosage or more participants.

Biology, Virology, Medicine, Health, Infectious Disease, Covid-19, Immunology, Anatomy, Addiction, Opioid Epidemic, Neuroscience, Animal Behavior, Psychiatry, any additional topic within health/medicine.

Analysis of Anxiety and Depression in the Context of Commercially-Available Energy Beverage Consumption

Primordial gravitational waves could hold significant information about the conditions of the early formation of the universe up to 300,000 years after the Big Bang and possibly further. More specifically, it would hold information and possible evidence for Inflation, a theorized period of exponential expansion after the Big Bang. Some of this information may be imprinted on the CMB, the relic radiation from the Recombination period 300,000 years after the Big Bang. These imprints would be in the form of b-mode polarization. However, the imprints of the primordial gravitational waves on the CMB are obscured by other perturbations to the CMB in the form of both current day and primordial signals. Thus it is necessary to find a way to separate b-mode polarization from other noise in the CMB.



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Astrophysics Theory, Astrophysics Experiment, Particle Physics Theory

How can we find imprints of primordial gravitational waves on the CMB?

Neurodegeneration is the progressive decline of neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neuron diseases are groups of neurological disorders destroying muscle activity by killing motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Alongside diseases like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy is an inherited autosomal recessive disease affecting lower motor neurons. This paper will review different Spinal Muscular Atrophy in detail including causes, effects, and potential clinical treatments. The paper will begin with a brief overview of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and its medical classifications, which are based on physical milestones and age of diagnosis. The paper will further dive into the genetic causes of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which is caused by a mutation in the Survival Motor Neuron genes. The Survival Motor Neuron genes create proteins essential to the functionality of motor neurons, and when this gene mutates, motor neurons die which leads to muscle weakness and other symptoms. The paper continues to discuss the specific effects the lack of the Survival Motor Neuron gene has on neurons and the body. The SMN gene is involved in many pathways of the body, including ribonucleoprotein assembly, mRNA trafficking and translation, and cytoskeletal structure. A mutated SMN gene can disrupt neural growth and development in many different ways. Furthermore, this paper will review the many therapies that have been developed to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy, including both symptomatic treatments as well as advanced gene therapies. Zolgensma and Spinraza are both different gene therapies used to treat Spinal Muscular Atrophy by editing the Survival Motor Neuron genes to produce stable protein so neural growth and development can be ensured.


Glia biology, neuroscience/neurodevelopment, CRISPR, image analysis, -omics

A Deep Dive Into Spinal Muscular Atrophy


Medical Imaging, Medical Physics, Machine Learning, Medical Image Analysis/Processing, Artificial Intelligence

Navya will be writing a literature review, exploring the following research Question: Is music therapy effective in reducing emotional distress and improving sleep quality in PTSD patients? She is hypothesizing that music therapy can help reduce emotional distress and improve sleep quality in PTSD patients.

Clinical Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, Academic Writing

Is music therapy effective in improving the quality of life in PTSD diagnosed war veterans and victims of sexual abuse.

Abstract: [Title]
Introduction
The US led-Global War on Terror has yet to be truly historicized. The recent withdrawal from Afghanistan after 17 years and the return to power of the Taliban demand a critical look at what happened. This paper is a reflection of a ‘history of the present,’ a way to look at pasts, narratives and voices that have traditionally been excluded as a result of warfare in the 21st century.
Methodology
Specifically, I will rely on secondary sources on Afghanistan. How was the war on terror sold? What were its goals and were those goals achieved? (historiography of 17 years / summarize major events and change of goals in the war over this period).
In particular, this last question will take into account the very recent history of the withdrawal and will look at the position of President Bush to Obama to Trump versus Biden. 
Delineation of the specific problem areas
Conclusion 
Debate in the upcoming presidential election

Journalism (reporting, multimedia, publishing, editing), French, Arabic, contemporary Arabic culture, international relations, international political economy, creative writing (novella, short story, haiku), photography, history of post-world war Europe and Middle East

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