Lafayette Students Will Make Presentations on Their Scholarly Research at the 16th Annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research

More than three dozen Lafayette students earned the distinction of being invited to make presentations on their scholarly research at the 16th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) April 25-27.

The students’ research ranges widely over the academic landscape, from the humanist to the technical.

This year’s presenters brought to nearly 400 the number of Lafayette students who have participated in NCUR, the only national conference dedicated to showcasing research by college undergraduates. More than 400 colleges and universities will send students to this year’s conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Here is a listing of the invited Lafayette students, including their class year, major, hometown, research topic, and faculty research adviser(s).

Humanities and Social Sciences

Ryan Beattie ’05 (International Affairs), Lenox, Mass., “The Reichstag Fire” (Edward R. McDonald, professor of foreign languages and literatures)

Lindsay Carifi ’02 (mathematics and economics), Winter Haven, Fla., “Markowitz Model: Finding the Efficient Frontier Using the Current Stock Market” (Sheila Handy, assistant professor of economics and business, and Qin Lu, assistant professor of mathematics)

Peter Carlson ’02 (economics and business), Potomac, Md., “The Impact of Recent Tax Changes on the Proportion of Self-Employed, Potential Labor Supply and Their Effect on Macroeconomic Growth” (Edward N. Gamber, associate professor of economics and business)

Charles Deutsch ’02 (economics and business), Providence, R.I., “Monetary Policy and Asset Prices” (Edward N. Gamber, associate professor of economics and business)

Geoffrey Gresh ’02 (history/French), Lowell, Mass., “Propping Up an Empire: A Study of British Foreign Policy and its Link to Financial Endeavors in the Ottoman Empire at the End of the 19th Century” (Andrew C. Fix, professor of history)

Lucas Landherr ’05 (chemical engineering), Preston, Conn., “The Hitler Youth: From Youthful Innocence to Brainwashed Fanatacism” (Edward R. McDonald, professor of foreign languages and literatures)

Michael Levey ’02 (economics and business), Pine Brook, N.J., “An Econometric Model for Predicting the Future Locations of U.S. Airline Hubs” (Thomas H. Bruggink, associate professor of economics and business)

Ka-Yi Lo ’02 (biology), Whitehall, Pa., “The Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Language-Learning Programs for Kanji Learning” (Yoshihiko Ariizumi, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures)

Tsimafei Maroz ’02 (economics and business), Minsk, Belarus, “Impact of Codetermination on Productive Efficiency and Factor of Production Strategies of German Companies” (Ute Schumacher, visiting assistant professor of economics and business)

Vilas Menon ’02 (chemical engineering and International Studies/French), Chandigarh, India, “Language and Power: A Case Study in Colonial Senegal” (Roxanne E. Lalande, professor and head of foreign languages and literatures)

Claudia Meulenberg ’02 (International Affairs/Spanish), The Hague, Netherlands, “Climate Change: An Investigation into Global Warming and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol” (Rado Pribic, Oliver Edwin Williams Professor of Languages and chair of International Affairs)

Justin Monteforte ’02 (economics and business), Pittston, Pa., “Exposure vs. Production: Paying Employees Their True Worth, A Case Study with Professional Baseball” (Thomas H. Bruggink, associate professor of economics and business)

Kevin Morris ’02 (economics and business), Fogelsville, Pa., “An Analysis of the History of the Central Processing Unit Market — Monopolies, the Stackelberg Model, and Potential Future Outcomes” (Christopher Ruebeck, assistant professor of economics and business)

Robert Murray ’02 (International Affairs), Sao Paulo, Brazil, “A Comparison of the Views of Brazil by Two Austrians, the Novelist Stefan Zweig and the Journalist Paul Frischauer” (Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures)

Chantal Pasquarello ’02 (International Affairs), Phoenixville, Pa., “Immigration to Italy and its Consequences: The Albanian Case Study” (Katalin Fabian, assistant professor of government and law)

Alexandra Pelberg ’02 (religion/art), Bala Cynwyd, Pa., “History of the Synagogue: Ancient Synagogues in Israel to Modern American Synagogues” (Robert L. Cohn, professor and head of religion and Philip and Muriel Berman Chair of Jewish Studies)

Saad Rasool ’02 (economics and business), Karachi, Pakistan, “An Alternative Evaluation Tool for Assessing Corporate Performance” (Rose Marie L. Bukics, professor of economics and business)

Daniel Rubin ’02 (Marquis Scholar) (history), Canoga Park, Calif., “Reconstruction and the Abandonment of Southern Blacks by the Republican Party” (Deborah A. Rosen, associate professor of history)

Meredith Sabosik ’02 (government and law/economics and business), Brick, N.J., “Modern Challenges to Antitrust Law” (Christopher Ruebeck, assistant professor of economics and business, and James E. Lennertz, associate professor of government and law)

Shanna Stann ’02 (Russian and East European Studies/International Affairs), Coudersport, Pa., “The Transformation Process of East German Women After Reunification” (Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures)

Natural Sciences and Engineering

Lindsey Alexander ’02 (electrical engineering), Fairport, N.Y., “Influence of Bending on the Modal Power Distribution in Few Mode Optical Fibers” (Kimberly D. Bennett, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering)

Andrew Colton ’02 (Marquis Scholar) (mathematics), Hicksville, N.Y., “Design, Utilization, and Analysis of a Mathematical Model for the Immune Response to Cancer” (Arthur D. Gorman, associate professor of mathematics)

Daniel Connolly ’02 (Marquis Scholar) (chemical engineering), Meadville, Pa., “Calibration of Process Shear Conditions Using Shear Marker Fluids” (James K. Ferri, assistant professor of chemical engineering)

Courtney DeThomas ’02 (psychology), Bronx, N.Y., “The Effect of Situation on Body Esteem in Males and Females” (John S. Shaw, assistant professor of psychology)

Laura Feeney ’03 (behavioral neuroscience), Churchville, Pa., and Benjamin Jacobs ’01 (biology), Mountainside, N.J., “Antiepileptic Drugs Reduce Seizure and Paralysis in Drosophila Bang-Sensitive Mutants” (Elaine R. Reynolds, assistant professor of biology)

Eric Hauck ’02 (mechanical engineering), Andreas, Pa., “A Dynamic Suspension Analysis of A Mini-Baja Vehicle” (Karl A. Seeler, associate professor of mechanical engineering)

Jaeyoung Jang ’04 (civil and environmental engineering), Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Nathan Tregger ’03 (civil and environmental engineering), Niantic, Conn., “A Segmented Approach to Assessing Non-Point Source Pollution” (Arthur D. Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering)

Cliff Michaels ’02 (Marquis Scholar) (behavioral neuroscience), Easton, Pa., “The Effects of Ecstacy (MDMA) on Diet Self-Selection in Rats” (Wendy L. Hill, professor of psychology and chair of neuroscience)

Jessica Molek ’03 (Marquis Scholar) (chemical engineering), Reedsville, Pa., “Magnetic Field Effects on Ions in Solution” (Arthur D. Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Javad Tavakoli, associate professor and head of chemical engineering)

Lauren Moses ’02 (behavioral neuroscience), Everett, Wash., and Sarah Ballard ’03 (behavioral neuroscience), Hummelstown, Pa., “Effects of Elevated or Lowered Testosterone Levels in the Male Zebra Finch upon Aggression and Courtship Behavior” (Wendy L. Hill, professor of psychology and chair of neuroscience)

Prashant Poddar ’04 (electrical and computer engineering), Ranchi, India, and Guangxi Wang ’03 (electrical and computer engineering), Shanghai, China, “The Design of Biological Antennas Using a Finite-Element Electomagnetics Simulator” (William D. Jemison ’85, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering)

Mona Shahbazi ’02 (neuroscience), New York, N.Y., “The Ultimate Science?” (Elizabeth W. McMahon, professor of mathematics)

Tana Zerr ’02 (Marquis Scholar) (psychology), Hamburg, Pa., “Situational and Dispositional Attributions in the United States and Japan” (John S. Shaw, assistant professor of psychology)