core-program

pods

pathfinders

programs

about-us

program

team

careers

projects

mentors

project-ideas

blog

mentor-faq

scholars

reviews

symposium

research-archive

research-opportunities-for-high-school-students

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

research-ideas-for-high-school-students

research-opportunity-guides

showcasing-opportunities

student-faq

for-mentors

for-educators

for-parents

resources

about

outcomes

The purpose of this experiment is to test the effectiveness of group accountability on reducing teen TikTok use. It is hypothesized that making daily pledges to one another not to use the app for more than 30 minutes a day will result in decreased TikTok use for a group of teens. In order to test this, I will gather thirty individuals of the ages 14-18 who use the app TikTok for more than an hour on a daily basis. They will be split into two groups with fifteen kids each. The first group (treatment condition) will meet on Zoom every morning for a month and pledge to each other that they will not use the app TikTok for more than thirty minutes that day. The second group (control condition) will be informed that their goal is not to use the app TikTok for more than thirty minutes every day, but they will not make any pledges to each other regarding this goal. After 15 days, all participants will switch conditions: individuals from the second group will meet on Zoom and pledge to each other every morning, while individuals from the first group will not make any pledges but be informed their goal of not using TikTok, for the next 15 days. Daily TikTok screen time will be recorded for all individuals and compared between conditions. In order to test statistical significance, a one-tailed t-test will be performed comparing the means of TikTok usage under the two conditions. Based on a significance level of 0.05, the t-value will determine whether or not pledging to a group has reduced TikTok usage, which will suggest if group accountability helps teens reduce their TikTok screen time.

psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology, data analysis, memory, aging, successful aging, Alzheimer's disease, neurodegenerative disease, neuroimaging, brain health, cognitive training, brain plasticity, neuroanatomy, critical thinking

Does Group Accountability Reduce Teen TikTok Usage?

Srinidhi will write an advocacy-oriented white paper that will: a) examine the current landscape of anti-abortion state policies b) highlight how these narratives of 'protecting women' actually harm women's health c) call for a reproductive justice framework in policymaking, and d) prescribe policies that actually advance women's health and health equity. This white paper will require extensive research on the current state and federal policy landscape, existing narratives around abortion, and most significantly, policy analysis on concrete ways to advance reproductive justice and women's health. We hope to possibly build on this white paper by using this analysis for other policy content such as tweets, talking points, or a blog to pitch to an advocacy organization. We're also exploring the potential to publish this analysis, if possible.

Health Care Policy; Reproductive Rights, Health and Justice; Health Equity; Progressive Advocacy Campaigns

In the Wake of Unprecedented Anti-abortion Actions, a Call for Reproductive Justice

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease ( NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease worldwide.  It starts as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis ( NASH), as a benign accumulation of fat, commonly known as “fatty liver”, and progresses to inflammation, fibrosis, leading to cirrhosis and possible hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). 
Many factors, including diet and genetics, have been proposed for development of NAFLD, however recent studies have suggested gut dysbiosis and bile acids as possible contributing factors.  
While the intestinal flora controls metabolism, synthesis, and reabsorption of bile acids, the bile acids control growth and diversity of intestinal flora.  Studies have shown that a high fat diet and conditions like Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ( T2DM), cause change and imbalance in gut bacteria, leading to an increase in bile acids in the liver, further changes to the intestinal microflora, causing increased expression of inflammatory genes, contributing to HCC.
It is hypothesized that specific mycobacterial changes in the liver can have an effect on bile acids which could be a probable reason for cirrhosis secondary to NASH.

Microbiology, Virology, Lipid metabolism, obesity research, Cancer Biology, Animal models for research, Biology, Microbiome, Gut Brain Axis, Metabolism

How can Cirrhosis Secondary to NASH be Related to Bacterial Dysbiosis Alteration of Bile Acids?

Through this project, I will explore multiple issues that women face in today’s world. I will be creating an online magazine to voice opinions and bring several topics to light through 3 articles. Eventually, I hope to expand this platform and continue with the project outside of Polygence and discuss additional challenges that affect women and how to overcome them. The first article will be about abortion rights, with a focus on the importance of protecting this right for women. This is especially relevant today with the overturning of Roe v. Wade—a decision that ended nearly 50 years of protected abortion rights. The second article will be about the male gaze, the perspective in which women are objectified and viewed as subordinate to men. The male gaze often results in self-objectification and the perception of women as sex objects and men as the “main characters.” This article will focus on the multiple facets in which this perspective is seen in everyday life and delve into the ways in which the male gaze affects women and their self-esteem. At the conclusion of this project, I hope to have learned more about these three issues and be able to communicate them in order to effectively address these issues and even advocate for solutions.

Sociology, immigration, environment, gender, sexuality, activism, social justice, politics

Why is a discussion about abortion rights necessary, especially now? What is the male gaze and how does it affect the perception of women?

The greenhouse effect is when the greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor) trap some of the sun's heat, warming the planet, and reflect the rest into space. In this experiment, I will test the amount of heat trapped by each greenhouse gas separately. I will put each gas on a bottle and then expose them all to the same amount of heat from the sun. I will then measure the heat of each bottle and use that to calculate the heat trapping efficiency of each gas.

biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, contamination/pollution, linking science with policy, science communication

Modeling the efficiency of greenhouse gases to absorb heat

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), characterized by deficits in social communication and restricted repetitive behaviors, is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting approximately 1 in 54 children. Differences in producing and processing language are common in those with ASD and affect communication. Usage of social communication tools, including gestures and cues such as gaze, are affected in children with ASD. In addition to behavioral differences, the main neuroanatomical differences in those with ASD that affect language are cortical thickness differences and differences in the amount of gray matter. Autistic children often reach developmental milestones later than typically developing children, and they often have flatter growth in early childhood with steeper growth in adolescence. They also show reduced gestures with a later onset and differences in cortical thickness.

sensory neuroscience (somatosensation), tactile hypersensitivity, social isolation, internal states, stress, anxiety

Language Development and Communication and Neuroanatomical Differences in Children with ASD

In the era of a rapidly evolving technology space, the Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed our interaction with technology through lightweight devices. As the number of IoT devices grows, their security and privacy have become crucial. Port scanning attacks, a common and harmful network attack on IoT systems, are used by malicious actors to find network vulnerabilities and often serve as precursors to cyberattacks. This paper discusses the various neural network techniques evaluated for detecting port scanning attacks and also describes the methodology and results achieved. This paper uses the public ToN_IoT Linux datasets, a recent collection of data from various IoT network attacks, to train and evaluate neural network models for accurate port scanning attack detection. Two datasets were analyzed, including data from Linux disk audit traces and snapshots of Linux system processes recorded alongside the attacks. Various neural network techniques are investigated, showing results of varied performance across models evaluated using True Positive Rate (TPR) and False Positive Rate (FPR). The evaluated models demonstrated both high TPRs and FPRs, indicating a tradeoff. To maintain system credibility and avoid false alarms, a 1% FPR was set. Under this rule, RNN achieved the highest TPR (72.63%) for Linux disk activities, and ANN had the highest accuracy (63.78%) for Linux system processes. This research contributes valuable insights for network security professionals and researchers seeking to develop effective intrusion detection systems and further enhance network security.

vehicle security, vehicle reliability, cybersecurity, applied machine learning, Computer Science, Operating System Security

Neural Network-based Approach Towards Port Scan Attack Detection in Linux-based IoT Systems

CapyNet: A user-friendly network analysis application, with improved features from wireshark: more user-friendly filtering system, match up domain names with ip addresses, extended analytics to identify network anomalies using a pre-existing network packet parsing library.

Github Repo Link: https://github.com/williamnamgyal/capynet

Prerequisites: 
Version of Python <=3.8
Installed packages from requirements.txt on github
(Scapy, tkinter, matplotlib) 

Basic Use of App:
When opened, it will display a list of your network interfaces on your network.
Click on whichever network interface you want to scan - Note it lists all network interfaces, and some interfaces may be inactive, so make sure you know which interface to sniff on. It will prompt you how many packets you want to sniff after clicking your network interface name
Enter the amount of packets (Notice extremely large amounts of packets like 100,000 might cause application to freeze for a couple seconds, and then load.)

Features:
Filtering network packets display by Network Protocol, Source, and Destination
Viewing more detailed information about packets
IPv6 Support
Generate I/O Graphs from packets
Opening pcap/pcapng files to analyze
Saving sniffed packets into file on computer
DNS Host name resolution for DNS Response packets

Filtering network packets:
Click on Big top left button that says filter, and choose 3 options, either Network Protocol, Source, or Destination. When choosing a single one, a textbox will be prompted, and input either the network protocol (Ex: TCP, HTTP, etc.), or source/destination address (Ex: 24.5.91.64, 2345:0425:2CA1:0000:0000:0567:5673:23b5, etc.). Once finished inputting, click the red filter button, which will implement the filtering.

Viewing more detailed information about packets:
To View more information about packets, just double click on them, and on the top half of the screen it will display the information and field descriptions about the packet. 

Generating I/O Graphs:
After having sniffed packets open, click on statistics in the menu header on the top left, and click Generate I/O Graph, which will generate a graph for the packets, and give you options to zoom in, out, move around, and save. (MatPlotLib)

Opening pcap files:
Navigate to the menu header labeled "File" in the top left, and hover/click on it, and then click open as one of the dropdown options. Then, select the pcap or pcapng file.

Saving sniffed packets:
Navigate to the menu header labeled "File" in the top left, and hover/click on it, and click "Save As" from the dropdown menu. It will then open up a menu telling the directory it was saved in (default directory) and the file name.

DNS response packet host name resolution:
Navigate to the menu header labeled "View", and hover/click over it and select "Resolve DNS Hostnames" which will resolve all the DNS hosts to their domain hostnames.

Computer science, software engineering, software-defined networks, programmable networks, network systems

Making existing network analysis tools/applications more user friendly.

Global shifts in climate have had extraordinary impacts around the world that drastically altered infectious disease prevalence. Arboviruses and other arthropod/vector-borne diseases are particularly influenced by temperature shifts and corresponding changes in human behavior. This review will focus on environmental changes that have altered disease burden in a particular region (TBD) with endemic vector-borne illness. Arthropod physiology, ecology, and disease transmission dynamics will be analyzed in response to environmental changes with additional consideration from geopolitical and public health fields.  This will provide a framework for understanding climate shift impacts on disease transmissibility as well as local mitigation strategies.

Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Bacteriology, Bacterial genetics and engineering, Microbial pathogenesis, Microbial ecology and evolution, Science communication

Regional effects of climate change on vector-borne diseases (specific region TBD)

There are many alternatives to therapy of deficient articular cartilage, including injections/implantations of stem cells and tissue engineering. This paper will cover only tissue engineering, which is a field of biomedical engineering in which tissues are made functional by combining scaffolds, cells, and biologically active molecules. The poor regenerative and reparative ability of articular cartilage following injury or degenerative diseases makes this meniscal tissue a prime target for cell-based therapy and tissue engineering. Consequently, strategies based on an exogenous scaffold, a critical element in tissue engineering, have been investigated for cartilage repair. Scaffolds play a role similar to the extracellular matrix (ECM) in natural tissues, supporting cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation by creating a 3D environment to induce tissue formation. The architectural design of scaffolds should create an environment that can promote the regeneration of cartilage-like constructs. According to the University of Southern California, “because tissue scaffolds are constructed like existing ECMs and use biocompatible materials, they are easily integrated into the body.”, showing that scaffolds might be an encouraging solution, as this high biocompatibility indicates that there is a greater chance of completely fixing the problem, rather than just temporarily halting these issues, and having other problems in the future. There are many different methods for constructing scaffolds, such as freeze-drying, molding, electrospinning, 3D bioprinting, and stereolithography, as well as materials and combinations that can be used in their manufacturing. This paper will analyze the most promising types of scaffolds to rectify the problems associated with recreating and restoring meniscus and cartilage.

medicine and disease, bioengineering

A Brief Overview of Scaffolds as a Potential Solution to Articular Cartilage Defects

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons, leading to varying degrees of muscle weakness and atrophy. This review aims to investigate the heterogeneity in SMA, focusing on understanding why the disease can manifest with different levels of severity and progression among affected individuals. Genetic modifiers, environmental influences, and other biological mechanisms could influence the varying clinical manifestations of the disease. Many treatment options regarding SMA tackle symptoms such as broken bones, limited mobility, or breathing problems. However, the root cause of the disorder is a lack of SMN1 genes. These genes carry instructions to create motor neurons. Without motor neurons, muscles undergo atrophy, meaning they become smaller and weaker through their disuse. Although helpful, these treatment options do not tackle the foundation and root cause of the disorder. The findings suggest the importance of considering genetic, environmental, and other factors in SMA research and highlight the need for personalized approaches to diagnosis and treatment. As this study is exploratory in nature, it serves as a foundation for future investigations to unravel the complexities of SMA and improve the lives of those affected by this debilitating condition.

Neuroscience-pain research, neurodegenerative diseases, gene therapy, cellular and molecular biology

What are the underlying factors contributing to the heterogeneity in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and how do these factors influence the variability in disease severity and progression among affected individuals?

Aryahi is working on a project that falls within music psychology, cognitive psychology, and behavioral economics. Her interest is in how music affects emotions in a listener and their behaviors. Aryahi is taking a step beyond what exists in the field already in a few key ways. First, she is selecting real musical excerpts for their emotional and energetic content. It is typical in the field to use synthesized or MIDI music stimuli to facilitate greater control over the stimuli, but we are emphasizing naturalism in the experiment. Second, she is exploring features of music that typically aren't done, such as scale (e.g. pentatonic vs diatonic scale), intended thematic content of the music (e.g. as indexed by the lyrics of songs), and by manipulating the beat in low percussion (e.g. presence or absence of a kick drum). Finally, rather than simply looking at measures of emotional or aesthetic impact, she is focusing on value-based decision making. The question is whether different types of music encourage people to choose small gains in the short term or big gains in the long term. Currently she is writing a protocol and we will do a pilot study to work out any unknowns before the full-phase study.

Cognitive neuroscience, memory/Alzheimer’s/dementia; music composition

The effect of musical scale, theme, and beat on emotion and decision-making

A fashion magazine that showcases 10 unique dresses for the following occasions: afternoon tea, summer vacation, Christmas in NYC, a funeral, and prom. The magazine will include a sketch of the dress, and pictures of the fabrics used to make it, as well as a list of potential accessories and shoes. Throughout this experience, we worked on sketching and focused on how fabric falls on the body and how different textures look on paper. Then, once the sketches were finished, I went to MOOD Fabrics and swatched many fabrics to fit with the 10 designs. The final project was made on Canva.

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

Sianna Dawn Fashion Magazine

Abstract:
Travel by air has been increasing significantly year to year and will double in the next 15 years. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is already looking at ways to reduce carbon emissions and bring this down to zero by 2050. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is made up of fuel feedstocks such as agricultural crops or microorganisms like algae. Algae biofuels can perform as well as petroleum-based jet fuel but with much lower carbon footprint. It can reduce the emission of Green House Gas significantly compared to traditional jet fuel. Mass production of sustainable aviation fuel in comparison to petroleum fuel can also result in reducing nutrient losses and help the soil quality used for agricultural needs. Studies have also shown that biofuels can reduce pollution significantly as well as reduce the existence of methane gas from the atmosphere. Although SAFs provide many benefits, they only make up 1% of the aviation fuel used today. Algae ponds can produce 30 tons of fuel per acre of algal biomass which is considerably higher than biomass crops which typically produce 7-8 tons per acre. This paper will present the advantages of alternative aviation fuel made up of algae biofuel and the benefits of this SAF when produced at scale.

plant based renewable resources, plant biology, environmental biology, biofuels/bioplastics, agriculture

How can we use algae biofuels to make airplane fuels more eco-friendly?

Memory loss known as anterograde amnesia happens when you are unable to create new memories. Essentially, losing the capacity to learn or remember information. Growing numbers of the next generation could have cognitive impairment, despite the fact that it is quite rare. Considering the advantages of music and exercise, which are available to people of all ages, we can take steps to prevent cognitive decline or even avoid it entirely by determining whether combining physical activity and music better results in long-term impacts on memory improvement. Focusing on other resources to emphasize these benefits and employing conceptual and empirical designs may be lacking in consistency and precision in cognitive result measurements, but looking at both sides will illustrate all of the components of the experiment, leaving nothing out. Furthermore, few studies compare music and exercise side by side. In order to determine the best exercise intensity, procedure, and music for the regulation of long-term memory, this study will provide a standard systematic design and directly compare it to various benefits.

systems and cognitive neuroscience, neuromodulation  of brain activity, coordination of neural activity in the brain, relationship between brain neural activity and animal behavior, use of MATLAB programming to analyze open source neural data

What significant ways can aerobic exercise and classical music both support long-term memory improvement after the onset of anterograde amnesia?

Audio streaming, specifically online music streaming, has become more popular in the past two decades. Through services like Soundcloud and Spotify, streaming music has been made more straightforward. However, for areas with extreme limitations with regard to internet bandwidth, streaming audio can prove to be difficult. When recorded, audio most commonly exists in the WAVEformat. The WAVE format perfectly represents the audio waveform in a lossless manner. However, the WAVE format is completely uncompressed. While this allows for perfect quality, this makes WAVE files extremely large. While popular codecs like FLAC or MPEG (mp3) allow for audio compression, no solution allows for the rate of compression necessary to stream audio on ultra-low bandwidths. While AI-based solutions do exist, all AI-based solutions are general purpose. While this does create a single code for all types of audio waveforms, it also creates a model that lacks domain knowledge, the knowledge that can be used to compress audio more faithfully. For this project, the domain of audio used was classical music, specifically piano audio waveforms. The objective of this
project is to apply AI and Subpixel Interpolation to quickly
and accurately compress and decompress audio domain-
specific audio waveform. Specifically, this project aimed at
compressing and decompressing classical music. To compress
the audio, sinc interpolation was used to downsample
the original waveform. Subsequently, sets of convolution
and subpixel layers were used to reconstruct the original
waveform. To evaluate the differences between the original
and reconstructed waveforms, a variation of Mean Squared
Error that gave more weight to outliers was used. This project
showed that Subpixel-based AI compression/decompression
is not only possible but can be effectively used to compress
domain-specific audio waveforms. If further researched, a
consideration for the architecture of the models would be an
AI-based discriminator, which could accurately judge how well
the encoder/decoder models are performing, continuously
learning as the encoder and decoder would.

Data Science, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Sports Analytics, Natural Language Processing, Data Visualization, Computer Science, Biotechnology

Compressing Music using an AI-based Autoencoder

Texas’ school funding system has not been changed in 30 years, and yet there are major issues that must be addressed. Though this issue is known by researchers, it has not been addressed, nor is it widely known by the majority of the population in Texas. I mainly want to bring this to students' and Texas lawmakers' attention. The methods I am using for my project are articles and data collected by researchers. Currently, I have found that nationally, while white students enroll about 1,500 students, nonwhite school districts enroll over 10,000 students. In addition, I have found out that poor white school districts receive "about $150 less per student than the national average," but they are still receiving $1,500 more than poor non-white school districts. Furthermore, Texas' "local control" system benefits privileged neighborhoods, and wealthy neighborhoods in Texas are taxed less than poor neighborhoods. Lastly, I found that in Texas, the majority of nonwhite school districts receive 7% less funding than the majority of white school districts. I hope that once I am finished with my project, I will be able to share it with Texas lawmakers and students so they are aware of this issue. I also hope to be able to brainstorm solutions so that I not only bring this issue to people’s awareness but also provide them with possible solutions for them to support. I hope this research allows me to present it to a Texas lawmaker and for me to be able to connect with others who also wish for this issue to be addressed.

Education

Does the quality of education a student receives in Texas depend on the neighborhood they live in? Wealthy neighborhoods in Texas are less taxed but receive more funds for schooling, while poor neighborhoods in Texas are more taxed but receive less funding. There have been issues in Texas’ school funding system and yet there have not yet been changes.

My project will research and try to develop solutions to the issue of falsely labeling students of Color as having learning disabilities more in predominantly white schools than in primarily student of Color schools in Houston, Texas. I will specifically examine how students with learning disabilities are labeled and why, and compare how it is this labeling is made in predominantly white schools in contrast to predominantly student of Color schools. My main focus will be on how people of color are classified as having a learning disability, why their labeling differs when they attend mainly primarily white schools rather than predominantly student of Color schools, and the factors that contribute to this problem. I will also present how students of Color take the TAKS-M at a disproportionate rate than White students. This issue also contributed to modern-day segregation because the TAKS-M test is given to students who are in even more special need. This test is given to students of Color on the basis of assumptions from their teachers. This way of identifying whether a student needs to take the TAKS-M invites bias and prejudice into their reasoning. Furthermore, I will research and attempt to find policy solutions to this issue. Moreover, I will send a letter to the mayor of my city and the president of my school district. Then. if they respond to my letter I will present my presentation to them. The reasoning is to inform them of this issue so that solutions can be made.

Social Sciences, Critical Race Theory, Climate Change, Postcolonial Theory, Impact investing/ESG investing, Sustainable Urban Development

The false labeling of minority students having learning disabilities in HISD.

In this project, a drone will respond to gestures of a human controller to complete various flight maneuvers.

Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Autonomous Vehicles, Human-Robot (and Human-Computer) Interaction, Music, Intelligent Systems, Image Processing

Gesture-Controlled Drone Flight

Autoimmune Hepatitis is an immune liver disease in which the body attacks its liver cells. If not caught early, it can be life-threatening. The etiology of the disease isn’t well known, but it is believed to be due to a genetic predisposition plus some environmental trigger. Part of the reason why so little is known about the disease is due to the fact that it is rare and usually controllable if caught early enough, and therefore not given much attention. The current treatment plan commonly used is the steroid prednisone and the thiopurine Azathioprine. Both of these drugs used together are not always able to calm down the immune system; between 10-20% of patients don’t respond to Azathioprine. To counteract this, Allopurinol is sometimes used in conjunction with Azathioprine in an effort to change the metabolism of Azathioprine, a process which relatively little is known about. Using Allopurinol and Azathioprine to treat Autoimmune Hepatitis has gone largely unresearched, so relatively little is known about how the combination affects the immune system besides the fact that Allopurinol suppresses the unfavorable metabolic pathway of Azathioprine, causing it to be metabolized and that the process is reasonably effective. This paper aims to shed some light on how the combination of Azathioprine and Allopurinol affect Autoimmune Hepatitis by establishing a system of differential equations modeling the progression of the disease based upon a variety of factors such as the response of the innate immune system, the response of the adaptive immune system, and prescription drugs like Prednisone, Azathioprine, and Allopurinol.

Biomedical Engineering, Deep Learning, Personal Finance, Website Development, Machine Learning, Statistics, Biomaterials, Biomechanics, Bioimaging, Image Processing, Nuclear Medicine, Tissue Engineering, Material Science, Disease Modeling, Cancer Research, Personal Development

How does the combination of Allopurinol and Azathioprine impact the progression of Autoimmune Hepatitis for a patient who isn't responding to Azathioprine alone?

Specific phobia is a psychological disorder characterized by the exaggerated fear of a specific object or situation that cannot be reasoned away. High distress and great lengths of avoidance towards this object or situation are common symptoms. Natural-environment phobia, blood-injury-injection phobia, and animal phobia are the three varieties of specific phobias that symptoms tend to group into. The present review summarizes four attributes of the development and current research in the field of specific phobias in children. First, the review considers the neurobiological origins of specific phobias with a particular focus on the involvement of the amygdala in fear conditioning and sensitization. The altered activity of the medial prefrontal cortex in subjects with specific phobia is also discussed. Second, it surveys how parenting techniques and behaviors can influence the development and maintenance of symptoms of children’s phobias. Parenting practices such as hypervigilance, overinvovlement, and overprotection can have negative effects on a child’s behavior, thoughts, feelings, and ability to be independent. Next, the review explores the prevalence, productiveness, and cost-efficiency of one session treatments (OST) for specific phobias in children and adolescents. These treatments demonstrate direct conditioning as one of the promising methods in reducing symptoms of a specific phobia. Finally, the review criticizes the lack of heterogeneous sample groups, as well as subjects' unwillingness to participate in current research for treatment of the disorder, questioning whether present treatments are indeed effective at all. This systematic review ends by introducing potential future directions for treatment to eliminate specific phobias in children.

clinical psychology (e.g., development and treatment of psychological disorders), neuroscience (e.g., neurocircuitry of fear and stress), social and cognitive psychology

Specific phobias in children: Etiology, treatment, and directions for future research

Mental Health is a subject that is commonly overlooked and contains negative connotations regarding treatment and diagnosis, specifically in Asian Communities. This research investigates the reason Asian Americans have the lowest treatment rates for mental health compared to other populations in the U.S., the factors that could lead to the development of mental illnesses, as well as the gaps in the mental health care system that are contributors to why this issue is ongoing. This paper highlights and addresses the root causes of the issues as well as proposes different methods for how the prevalence of untreated mental health in Asian Communities may be mitigated. Mental health is such an important issue to discuss because when left untreated, it could lead to a multitude of problems that manifest themselves into emotional and physical issues that could be severely detrimental to one's way of living.

gender-based violence prevention and intervention; global health; public health; racial disparities in programs and health outcomes; program evaluation, culturally-responsive approaches to teaching, policy advocacy,  community-based research methods

Exploring Disparities and the Development of Mental Health in Asian Communities

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been prevalent for many years and is one of the most researched neurological/neurodevelopmental disorders. Although the cause(s) for ADHD are still unidentified, recent research has shown that genetics can play a key contributing role (superscript 1). ADHD tends to be diagnosed during childhood but the disability can be carried on well into adulthood. ADHD has an extremely high heritability rate of 74%, which, in part, is due to polygenic components with common variants, and the rare insertions and deletion of variants. Similarly, Anxiety is another very common mental disorder and can also be diagnosed during childhood. Anxiety disorders involve dysfunction in brain circuits that respond to danger (superscript 2). Anxiety and ADHD have a significant impact on the lives of many patients around the world who suffer from both conditions. The purpose of this research paper is 1) to demonstrate that these two disorders can be comorbid 2) to show that the risk of the disorders can be influenced by genetic link/factors and 3) how gene editing such as CRISPR can be used for treatment. Recent genetic studies have found a link between the two disorders, however, although there is a direct correlation between ADHD and anxiety, it does not imply a direct causation between the two. Findings suggest that the development of comorbidity stems from the symptoms of ADHD which may lead to the development of anxiety. From a research study of the prevalence of anxiety in ADHD patients, it was discovered that 23.1% of people with ADHD also were associated with generalized anxiety disorder. ADHD includes at least two genes and when it combines with environmental factors influences, it can be a very complex disorder.  Various studies have consistently shown that there is evidence of an association between ADHD and a dopamine D4 receptor gene VNTR and a dopamine D5 receptor gene microsatellite marker. However, with the genome editing (CRISPR) discovery in the last 10 years or so, there is an opportunity and great chance for modifying the DNA to remove the mutated part of the gene for the potential treatment of this genetic disorder.

Neurobiology of substance abuse, cancer biology, genetics/genomics

Determining if there is a Genetic Link Between Anxiety and ADHD

Using basic statistics and comparisons of GDP rates in states and income rates for families within these states, I will highlight the disparities between states in different regions, such as the Northeast and the South. My research aims to discern whether there is a link between these rates and rates of single parenthood. I aim to highlight the issues that come with single parenthood and find a solution to these issues through policy and the law. To that end, I will craft realistic economic government policy strategies to find a solution to these issues by increasing employment rates and diversifying available fields for specialized workers. I research and use examples of existing policy to bolster my own ideas and make use of comparative statistics to both find challenges to my proposed policy and to argue its effectiveness compared to other possibilities.

Law, Civil Litigation, Legal Research, Trial Advocacy, Storytelling and Communication, Creative Writing (fiction, comics), Narrative through comics, History of comics as a medium

Meet Polygence Scholars and explore their projects