The Circadian Rhythm of Naked Mole Rats

Ashraqat Mahmoud, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology 

During the process of developing and completing my capstone project, I learned many things. My project summarized my research on the circadian rhythm cycles of two types of mole-rats, African naked mole-rats and Damaraland mole-rats. We worked to determine the role of colony members, specifically the colony queen, in relation to the colony as a whole.

In the lab, we used RFID-based tracking of the movements of animals in two colonies of African naked mole-rats and three colonies of Damaraland mole-rats. Through doing this, I learned how to properly use radio identification (RFID) to track and record the movements of animals. By using a program called R-studio, I was able to save the recordings of the animals’ movements, and used a package known as Lomb to convert the recordings into a periodogram. This taught me several coding skills, which I was able to enhance the more I practiced recording the animal movements and saving them.

In conducting this research, we found that colony differences in activity patterns have not been previously reported, and we plan on following up by observing whether social factors play a role.

We observed differences in the concentration of colony nests. In the naked mole-rat colonies, for example, we saw that the Teddy colony tends to have a densely occupied single nest, while the Layla-Felix colony has a nest that is spread over a few chambers. By measuring the frequency of behaviors specific to the nest environment, we could determine how social behaviors influence daily activity patterns.

My experience conducting research has improved my communication and collaboration skills. Although our lab consisted of several students working on different things, we always worked together and shared ideas with one another. Collaborating with my fellow lab members allowed me to enhance my problem-solving skills, as well as make new friends and new connections. This made my research experience much more enjoyable. 

Researching the Economics of Crime

Michael Zakaria, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Economics and minor in Philosophy

In writing my paper “The Economics of Crime”, I learned quite a lot about the economic nature of crime and its factors, and I had to throw out quite a few ideas I thought I knew about. I was especially surprised to discover that crime rates were essentially unaffected by harsher prison sentences. The supposition that criminals aren’t typically aware of the law could account for that, but it would be interesting to see more research on that topic. 

As research in this field continues, I imagine studies will continue to focus on the efficacy of various remedies for crime. This is mostly because while understanding the motives behind crime is important, applying that knowledge via legislation, changes in policing, etc. are more direct and easier to observe. I think the focus will be on the execution rather than the more theoretical side. 

To further develop the project, I would continue exploring other alleged variables that weren’t covered in the paper, such as race and culture. I would also consider revisiting some variables whose relationships with crime weren’t entirely clear, such as GDP. In these instances, there was a potential relationship that would be worth studying further, but the relationship wasn’t particularly consistent or straightforward, and it may have been a bit too technical for the purposes of this paper.

I think the paper covered a lot of ground and was pretty thorough, and I would be interested in expanding on it.

Researching Singlet Oxygen for the Field of Dentistry

 Samuel Krichavets, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Biology Neuroscience 

 

In my research project, I was able to work on a very interesting field that is being widely explored and has a promising future. I studied photodynamic application in singlet oxygen. Singlet oxygen has the capability to inactivate bacteria, delivering highly localized singlet oxygen which can be revolutionary to the field of dentistry. As a future dentist, this was invaluable to me because I got a first-hand glimpse into what may be possible in my future profession.

I learned about data science and proper laboratory procedures in research, and I obtained a great mentorship from Dr. Alan Lyons and Dr. Xu, as well as get hands-on experience in the lab. I was able to physically partake in crafting the plastic optical fiber which we made to model a future dental tool. I shaved down the edge of it to create a nice tip for the placement of the PDMS post and photosensitizer particles.  I learned how to operate a laser and placed the plastic optical fibers in the laser with the PDMS posts in a trapping solution, as well as make the trapping solution and dissect the formula for making it. I studied the chemistry and how it worked in actually trapping our singlet oxygen.  I learned how to maneuver a spectrophotometer and used it to quantify how much singlet oxygen was trapped in my experiments.

I became versed in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint because all the data from our experiments had to be extrapolated and organized into charts and more sensible data. I then used this data to create presentations which I shared with my group weekly.  Aside from all of this, I was also able to partake in the undergraduate research conference for two years in a row and present the research that my peers and I worked so hard on. 

Overall my experience was something I will never forget, and it has impacted me in more ways than one. I am forever grateful for having the opportunity and will apply the skills I developed in my dental school research. 

Impact of Covid-19 Shelter In Place on Infant Sleep

Daniel Palmieri, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minor in ASL

If somebody were to tell me in high school about my research during the COVID-19, I would have a hard time believing them. When I joined Verrazzano Honors in 2018, I was both thrilled and nervous. In the fall of 2019, I narrowed down what professor I wanted to psychological research with, and I did an independent study with the CSI Child Development lab (CDL).
In February 2020, I heard that the CSI CDL was going to host a summer research internship and I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to start working on my capstone, and to improve my skillset. I made it a top priority of landing the internship. At the same time, the first wave of COVID-19 began. Despite the virus being declared a global pandemic and remote learning going into effect, I accepted an offer as an intern for the CSI CDL virtual summer internship.
During my internship, my goals were to gather advice for graduate school, and gain research skills. Additionally, I wanted my internship to help me with my independent study, increase my networking and presenting skills, and to have my work published.
I was assigned to be a research assistant on projects with two different graduate students. On one project I was able to learn how a research survey was made and how researchers can use it. The graduate student taught me a lot about how research was conducted, how to expand my horizons, networking and technical skills, and she was very straightforward and clear from the start. For my project I was able to push myself to new limits, learn how to video, pay more attention to detail, and how to work through difficult situations.
Going into my independent study remotely, I worked on how sheltering-in-place during the pandemic affected infant sleep patterns, and elaborated on my goals. I assumed there would be more responses for the survey, but this did not happen and I was discouraged that we got little responses.
I decided to write an honors thesis for departmental honors, have my research project get accepted into the 2021 Virtual NCUR undergraduate Research Conference, work on my areas of improvement, and learn more about developmental research.
Spring 2021 was arguably my hardest semester and the honors thesis was perhaps the most challenging assignment I have ever worked on. I spent hours in my room studying, writing my honors thesis, and managing my other obligations. While writing the intro, I wanted to make it an easy read and set up the tone for the whole paper. I encountered massive writing blocks and self-discussions about what should and should not be in the paper.
I attended various virtual tutoring sessions to help outline my ideas, work on the grammar/structure, and address my readers and mentor(s) comments. It helped ease my tensions and I got a better perception on how to paint the picture properly.
When April 2021 arrived, my challenges were all completed but one. I needed to make sure that my claims matched up with my methods and findings to avoid any red flags, wrap everything up, and find sources that backed my claims. I asked people in the CDL for assistance, and after numerous trials and errors, I was able to complete my honors thesis. I was motivated to try to get my work published in a psychological research journal.

The vast amount of time I worked to finish my honors thesis was worth all the pain and agony. As a result, I was able to achieve most of my goals, reach new heights, and acquire skills that I thought weren’t even possible. I realized my strong work ethic, commitment, and the state of mind that I want in life. Furthermore, I have used the experience to help get through times in the past year and for the future.

 

Conducting Research Online During Covid-19

Mohamed Beyruti, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed majors in Accounting and Business Management, and minor in Business Finance

 

During my semester taking ACC 414, I experienced the comeback of the traditional world from the virtual world and it was insane to see how many students wanted to come back from isolation. I learned that different parts of my research (especially the video) need to be prepared and thorough for all students to understand the interview process for my research. Creating a step-by-step process made the process smoother, and when writing the results of the paper I learned what went right, what went wrong, and A LOT has changed.

Originally the research for my capstone was going to completely different. I wanted to work on how COVID-19 impacted people’s work-life balance, but then my professor took it a step further, and the goal was to understand how people/students were impacted by the virtual world with COVID-19.

Developing my research paper helped me strengthen my writing skills, taught me different methods of writing for a specific topic, and increased my research skills. The research on this paper was insane; the number of articles about COVID-19, work-life balance, working from home, there was just so much to talk about.

In the beginning I was adding to much information and not drawing the reader into my research, so that’s where my professor came in. Luckily, he slowed me down and helped me with bits and pieces of research to add for my essay. This helped me understand not to hone in on every single detail, and I learned that they were many different methods about making my research paper both intriguing and convincing to my audience. The main idea of my topic is something that is familiar, considering that almost everyone stayed home during COVID.

I did not want my paper to seem informative to the point where it would not keep the audience’s attention (hence the graphs), and although I didn’t use a lot of vocabulary, I attempted to keep my ideas relatable and easy to follow. When writing my research paper, I used both similarities and differences from the main topic, so my audience would understand the difference between the virtual and traditional workplace. The tone of my essay is also very generalized, so the audience reading it will be able to form their own opinion from my paper.

There were many stages writing this paper, from the professor being a guide, the staff keeping me on the right track, to making sure I followed the steps needed to complete the paper, and I learned so much from each stage. I’ve got to say that everyone pulled through till the end to help make this thesis my masterpiece.