Undergraduate Research Expo

The Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Expo showcases the incredible work of our students through peer presentations, a keynote address, and discussions on how to get involved in research—whether through faculty collaborations, independent projects, or research labs. Explore the depth and diversity of research in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Save the Date

Join us from 1:00–3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 17, 2026, for the second annual Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Expo.

5:00–5:30 p.m. Liberal Arts and AI Keynote Speaker (114 Welch Building)
5:30–5:45 p.m. Q&A (114 Welch Building)
5:45–7:30 p.m.
- Poster Session (Chaiken Family Atrium)
- Info Tables with Liberal Arts Student Services, URFM, and other offices (Chaiken Family Atrium)
6:15–7:30 p.m.
- Verbal and Digital Student Research Presentations (114 Welch Building)

Thank you for joining us to celebrate student research and discover new opportunities to engage in meaningful scholarship!

2026 Student Presenters

Individual Presentations

Maximilian Arthur Settembre

Philosophy, CAMS, Broadcast Journalism; Minor: Ethics, Ancient Greek, History

““You Bottom!” A Study of Ancient Greek Homophobic Slurs And The Ethics Of Their Translation”

In some Ancient Greek plays, language to declare men as “effeminate” or “gay” is occasionally used. The central one of these words is katapygon, which is made of the words kata and puge, and is literally translated to “wide-assed.” Another is kinaidos. Needless to say, these weren’t kind words in the ancient world. To this end, modern day translations of katapygon or kinaidos have varied wildly. Some interpretations are milder, some use footnotes, and others directly take modern day violent homophobic language, such as the f-slur.

This exploration is twofold: the first half is an analysis of language in its ancient context — in ancient playwrights, political speeches, etc. — in order to build up an understanding of how the word was used in the ancient world. The second half is an analysis of ethics. Sometimes, katapygon/kinaidos was used to refer to a real person in the ancient world, not just a fictional character. Does that change how it should be translated in certain contexts? This paper will also explore specific modern translations done within the last century and how views on gender and sexuality have changed over time, and how we work to approach this change in our language.

Helena Trauger

Philosophy B.A.; Music Performance B.M.A.; Minor: Spanish

“Freedom Does Not Exist Within Hierarchy: Exploring Anarcha-Feminism and the Limits of Political Equality”

This research examines the intersection of American anarchist philosophy and feminism, specifically their relationship at the turn of the 20th century. As the suffrage movement was thriving during this time, Anarcha-feminist thinker Voltairine de Cleyre offered an alternative perspective from the mainstream women’s rights movements. De Cleyre argued that political action is insufficient to overcome social oppression, as it fails to acknowledge how power concentrates in the hands of those already benefited by existing societal structures. So long as hierarchical structures remain intact, political action is merely a facade of progress and fails to deconstruct the enduring corrupt system.

Anarchism seeks to dismantle this authority — whether religious, governmental, or economic — providing a path to true liberation. Through her large output of essays and poems, de Cleyre illustrates how movements like feminism required anarchism to achieve their goals, an idea that modern social movements today should embrace. This research recontextualizes anarchism not as a violent movement but as a philosophy that empowers individuals and pursues genuine autonomy.

Mengxian LeClair

Psychology and Philosophy

“Does Visual Imagery Impact Memory Efficiency for Thematically Related Pairs?”

This study investigated whether individual differences in mental imagery ability are correlated with visual working memory (VWM) efficiency, particularly for thematically related object pairs. A total of 100 participants completed an 80-trial, five-alternative forced-choice VWM task via Pavlovia. On each trial, participants viewed either four thematically related or four thematically unrelated object pairs and were subsequently asked to identify the object not previously presented. Following the VWM task, participants completed a 16-item version of the Object–Spatial Imagery Questionnaire (OSIQ) to assess mental imagery ability.

Results indicated weak but statistically significant correlations between mental imagery ability and overall VWM performance. However, mental imagery ability did not correlate with differential accuracy for thematically related versus unrelated pairs, suggesting that mental imagery does not selectively enhance memory efficiency for thematic associations in VWM.

Dakota Bierbaum

Psychology

“Analyzing the Stroop Effect with Age”

Does performance on the Stroop test vary between a younger group (below 50) or an older group (above 50)? The Stroop effect analyzes how interference occurs in one’s brain when processing conflicting stimuli. It is designed to calculate the inhibition between a congruent word set and an incongruent word set. Solving for the Stroop effect is done by subtracting the incongruent and congruent results from matching a word properly to its color.

The analysis of this test is critical as the U.S. has an increasing aging population and decreasing birth rate. The results can help in early detection of cognitive aging and other neurodegenerative issues based on inhibition results. Data was collected and analyzed via the Prolific platform. Current results show that older adults have a significantly larger Stroop effect than younger adults, suggesting worse inhibition ability as age increases.

Gavin Robinson

Psychology (B.A.) and Sociology (B.A.)

“BOLD Signal Variability Reliability”

The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal is a method used by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine activity across the brain during scans. This project investigates the reliability of the variability of the BOLD signal in fMRI in elderly patients with TBI. BOLD signal provides critical information about brain organization and cognitive functioning, but the signal itself can be highly inconsistent and variable. This study asks: does within-individual BOLD variability remain consistent over time, or is BOLD signal variability itself highly dynamic?

Kaitlyn Romig

History (Major) and English (Minor)

“The Curse of Acte: The Materiality of Female Agency”

Roman curses, such as the Curse of Acte, reveal an essential perspective into the lives of women in history and the materiality of female agency. Because women in Ancient Rome occupied a legally and socially constrained position, their avenues for self‑advocacy often operated outside formal institutions and instead emerged through alternative, material practices.

This project examines how written curses, inscribed tablets, and other ritual objects functioned as tools through which women articulated grievances, sought justice, and asserted influence within a patriarchal society. In addition, this project considers the intertwined realms of poisons, medicine, and herbal “magic” as parallel mediums through which women navigated power and vulnerability — including knowledge of healing herbs, fertility aids, abortifacients, and toxic substances that circulated through informal female networks. Examining these materials alongside curse tablets traces a broader spectrum of female agency expressed through the manipulation of the physical world.

Desiree Cope

Biomedical Engineering; Minor: Bioethics and Medical Humanities

“Beyond the Price Tag: How Vaccine Coverage Mandates Help Ensure Healthcare Autonomy”

Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 1828 would require insurance plans operating in Pennsylvania to cover all immunizations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without patient cost-sharing. This project considers the ethical issues of statutory vaccine coverage mandates through the lens of principlism.

Specifically, this research argues that legislative proposals such as HB 1828 support individual autonomy by removing financial barriers at the point of care; balance beneficence and nonmaleficence in the promotion of public health while minimizing potential harms; and advance justice when evaluated through a capabilities approach. The research also addresses contractarian objections that oppose such mandates on the basis of increased costs to enrollees, employers, and government entities.

Jui Baliga

Psychology; Minor: Human Development and Family Studies

“Dynamic Patterns of Parenting Behaviors in Mother-Child and Father-Child Dyadic Interactions”

Parent-child interactions provide an essential context for the development of children’s autonomy, persistence, and self-regulation. Prior research shows that autonomy-supportive teaching behaviors are associated with more positive behavioral and regulatory outcomes in children compared to more controlling directive statements, suggesting that promoting autonomy-supportive parenting may support children’s development of self-regulation and autonomous motivation. However, little is known about whether dynamic patterns of teaching and directive behaviors during structured parent-child interactions predict child outcomes such as compliance and persistence beyond static measures of parenting, or whether these associations differ between mothers and fathers.

The present study examines differences between mothers’ and fathers’ interaction patterns with toddlers during dyadic laboratory tasks (cleanup and puzzle building), focusing on the frequency of teaching and directive behaviors, and transitions between these behaviors. We hypothesize that mothers will exhibit higher rates of teaching behaviors than fathers, and fathers will use more directives than mothers. We also expect greater transitions from teaching to directives to be linked to higher levels of child compliance and persistence in both mother-child and father-child interactions, with stronger positive links in mother-child dyads.

A total of 138 families (118 mother-child and 75 father-child dyads) participated in in-person laboratory visits when children were 3 and 4 years old. Results are expected to show that greater teaching-to-directive transitions predict higher child compliance and persistence, with stronger effects in mother-child interactions. By identifying specific interaction patterns that support children’s on-task behavior, this study can inform parenting interventions aimed at improving children’s self-regulation in early childhood.

Kaelyn Charnitsky

Psychology B.S. (Neuroscience); Minor: CMAS

“Effects of Neighborhood Quality on Cognitive Functioning”

Prior research suggests that the qualities of the neighborhood we grow up in — how safe we feel, community resources, how connected we feel to our community — may impact brain development in ways that influence cognitive and emotional processes, predicting risk for later mental health issues. However, little research has explored how these factors interact with challenging experiences that also shape development, such as food insecurity.

As part of the Hungry Brain Study at Penn State, this project will use data collected from children aged 7–11 years old to explore the effects of neighborhood quality on cognitive functioning (impulsivity, reward processing, and attention) and how this is influenced by experiences of food insecurity and acute hunger.

Savanah Green

Psychology

“The Relationship Between Self-Image and Severity of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms”

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a significantly prevalent and debilitating psychological disorder characterized by instability in mood, turbulent interpersonal relationships, and a distorted, vacillating sense of self. This study examines the relationship between self-concept clarity and the severity of BPD symptoms in individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for the disorder.

Identity disturbance is a core difficulty of BPD. This study investigates its impact by exploring self-concept clarity via the Self-Concept Clarity Scale and reverse correlation — a method that allows for the operationalization of self-concept disturbances through visual representations of the self. Participants completed a reverse correlation task examining facial image pairs, and a composite image was generated from their selections. Results indicated that BPD traits were negatively associated with accuracy of the generated self-image, with greater BPD symptom severity corresponding to a more diffuse self-image.

Abigail Silberman

Psychology; Minor: Kinesiology

“Feasibility of Online Group Cycling Program for People with Aphasia”

The goal of this project is to increase physical activity among individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Aphasia is a language disability caused by stroke or other brain injury that results in isolation and reduced quality of life. Aerobic exercise has been shown to improve functioning after stroke in participants without aphasia and is part of stroke rehabilitation guidelines, but survivors continue to have low activity levels and are highly sedentary.

This study aims to conduct a feasibility study of an online cycling program for people with aphasia, measuring language abilities, cognitive abilities, perceived stress, and overall quality of life.

Aizak Rudeus deHenaut

Psychology; Minor: American Sign Language

“How vulnerability and trauma predict true crime consumption”

Understanding the psychological motivations for consuming true crime is important for contextualizing previously documented gender differences in true crime consumption. Despite documented gender differences, there is a lack of empirical tests of the mechanisms driving these differences — mechanisms that may shed light on the possible therapeutic functions that true crime consumption serves for processing trauma and coping with perceived vulnerability.

This correlational study will recruit up to 500 student participants using the SONA subject pool. Participants will complete self-report measures of true crime consumption, history of trauma, and perceived vulnerability. We predict that true crime consumption will be positively correlated with experiences of trauma and perceived vulnerability, and that controlling for these constructs should reduce any relationship between gender and true crime consumption. The findings may inform new, trauma-informed therapeutic models.

Madison Gillner

Linguistics and Physics; Minor: Mathematics

“Negation, Veridicality, and the Licensing of anymore: An acceptability judgment study”

Negative Polarity Items (NPIs) such as anything and anymore require a particular, often negative, context for acceptability. Their distribution has been explained in terms of veridicality, which characterizes a sentence’s ability to entail truth or falsity. NPIs are licensed by antiveridical contexts (e.g., negation) and nonveridical contexts (e.g., conditionals, questions), but not veridical contexts.

This analysis is intended to capture NPI distribution broadly, but does not extend straightforwardly to English time-adverbial anymore. Some English dialects allow anymore in veridical contexts, as in “I eat too much junk food anymore.” Our study compared the distributions of anything and anymore through an acceptability judgment study. Participants rated sentences with both NPIs in different contexts. We found that anything was rated similarly acceptable in anti- and nonveridical contexts, while anymore was less acceptable in nonveridical contexts — suggesting a distinctive regional polarity pattern.

Melania Buraya

Political Science, History, and Philosophy

“Thoughts on the Metaphysical Concept of Greatness”

This research project examines the idea of greatness in a metaphysical realm of approach. The purpose is to examine how greatness reveals itself in a human aspect as well as what greatness looks like next to its contrast, mediocrity, and how they exist together within personal and impersonal planes. Drawing on the works of Aristotle, Plato, Hobbes, and Spinoza, this project develops a theory of greatness that uses historical “greats” to inform the notion of human greatness in actuality.

Rylee Joyce

Linguistics, Spanish; Minor: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

“Interaction to Ideology: The Production of Complementarian Expertise in Catholic Communities of Practice”

As a continuation of prior research on the discursive production of male Catholic identity on campus, this project examines how expertise is interactionally produced within Catholic communities of practice. It advances the hypothesis that expertise-signaling emerges in response to both pressures from mainstream society and the community of practice, but is produced in ways that align with Catholic complementarian ideology.

Through analysis of multimodal ethnographic data, this study compares earlier patterns of identity formation with interactional practices of a new participant, showing how complementarian expertise is produced in ways that both parallel and diverge from earlier patterns.

Gianna Martinelli

Spanish (B.A.) and International Politics (B.A.)

“Investigation of Conformity and Individualism in 19th Century Spanish Author Benito Pérez Galdós’ Doña Perfecta, Nazarín, and Marianela”

This undergraduate honors thesis, written in Spanish, investigates the themes of individuality and conformity in three of Benito Pérez Galdós’ novels from 19th century Spain: Doña Perfecta (1876), Nazarín (1895), and Marianela (1878). The research focuses specifically on the women in each novel who do not conform to the societal norms of the time, and who are therefore met with tragic ends.

This thesis argues that Galdós uses the style of realism to invite readers to explore why society scapegoats individuals who do not conform to societal standards — functioning as a form of subtle resistance. The thesis honors advisor is Juan Udaondo Alegre.

Sarah Flynn

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

“Bodies, Politics, and Performance: Reproductive Justice and Activism in Neo-Burlesque Communities in the United States and France”

This project investigates how reproductive justice is embodied, expressed, and constrained within neo-burlesque communities in the United States and France, asking: How do political, commercial, and community pressures shape neo-burlesque activism across US and French reproductive justice contexts?

Using a humanities-based ethnographic method drawing on interviews, performance observation, and reflexive field notes, this study develops a framework distinguishing explicit activism (overt political storytelling), embodied activism (the political meaning of marginalized bodies onstage), and relational activism (backstage care networks and safety practices).

Preliminary analysis shows that US performers frequently engage explicit activism, while French performers more often emphasize embodied activism, citing cultural norms of universalism that discourage naming racial, gendered, or reproductive injustice. Relational activism appears in both contexts through mutual aid, community protection, and collective care. By comparing these dynamics, this study demonstrates that activism in neo-burlesque is not inherent to the form but shaped by national ideology and performers’ everyday negotiations of visibility, safety, and care.

Jessica DiPietro

Psychology and Criminology

“The Impact of Mental Illness and Race on Criminal Punishment: An Analysis of Homicide Cases in Pennsylvania”

This project aims to bridge our understanding of how extralegal factors such as race and mental illness affect criminal sentencing. Past research has shown biases against non-white defendants and potential bias against defendants with mental illnesses. There is very little research on how both factors interact together.

Using homicide data from Pennsylvania between 2012–2016 (collected by Dr. Ulmer), this project tests several hypotheses: that for 1st degree homicide, mental illness will lead to less punitive outcomes for White offenders but more punitive outcomes for Black offenders; and that Black mentally ill offenders will be less likely to see the death penalty retracted when sought. Overall, the project predicts that race will moderate the effects of mental illness on criminal punishment.

Mariam Suliman

Sociology; Minor: Psychology

“Influences of media and culture on attitudes about voluntary childlessness”

This project conducts in-depth interviews with roughly six women of college age at Penn State, gathering demographic data including information on religion, ethnicity, and familial attributes, alongside detailed data on how these women interact with media and what types of media they consume. The focus is on how media may play a part in their acceptance or rejection of a woman’s choice to not have children (not related to infertility or lack of opportunity).

This descriptive and exploratory investigation uses interview transcripts to find patterns in how media plays a part in how women construct symbolic meanings of their reproductive choices. This project extends the knowledge base on the relationship between religiosity, sexism, and socialization to attitudes about voluntary childlessness.

Monica Singh

Sociology and Labor and Human Resources

“Religious Affiliation and Fertility Decisions”

This research investigates the effects of religion on fertility decisions, guided by the question: How does religious affiliation influence fertility decisions, and do individual opinions on abortion impact this relationship? With the United States seeing a steadily declining birth rate following 2007, as indicated by CDC yearly reports, understanding the factors influencing these trends is increasingly important.

Relatively few studies have examined U.S. fertility rates by specific religion or included religious minorities, leaving a gap in the research area. Additionally, with the politicization of issues like contraceptive care and abortion, understanding the intersection of these topics with fertility and religion becomes increasingly vital.

Rand Alkhunaizi

Psychology and Sociology

“Daily Social and Work Withdrawal and Mood”

The behavioral theory of depression proposes that reduced access to response-contingent positive reinforcement, often linked to cutting back on daily meaningful activities, contributes to depression. Using data from the MIDUS Daily Stress Project (2004–2009; N = 2,021 adults), this study examined how daily social and work withdrawal related to same-day positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) across eight consecutive days.

Linear mixed-effects models showed that withdrawing more than usual on a given day was associated with higher NA (social cutbacks: b = 0.41; work cutbacks: b = 0.38) and lower PA (social cutbacks: b = −0.44; work cutbacks: b = −0.39). At the between-person level, individuals who withdrew more across the eight days also showed higher NA and lower PA. These findings suggest that mood is sensitive to same-day social and work activity withdrawal, and highlight the importance of encouraging individuals who must cut back to replace lost activities with low-demand, rewarding alternatives.

Teja Gopalan

Psychology and Statistics; Minor: Gender and Sexuality Studies

“Linked Fate and Inter-Community Belonging Among LGBTQ+ Immigrants: A Mixed Methods Study”

LGBTQ+ individuals and immigrants of color navigate increasingly dangerous and complex contexts across the United States, marked by increased visibility and hostility. Legislative attacks on same-sex marriage, gender-affirming care, and birthright citizenship, alongside increasing deportations and ICE raids, create a fearful and isolating climate for these groups.

In this mixed methods study, we examine LGBTQ+ immigrants of color’s experiences of community connectedness to elucidate the factors that promote intergroup solidarity among individuals with multiple marginalized identities. A sample of immigrant LGBTQ+ participants (N=100) completed close-ended and open-ended survey questions assessing their sense of belonging in LGBTQ+ and immigrant cultural communities, as well as linked fate endorsement. Thematic analysis is used for qualitative responses alongside quantitative procedures to assess the relationship between linked fate and queer consciousness, internalized stigma, and acculturation.

Veronica Figg

Criminology; Minor: English

“The Impact of Maternal Substance Use Disorder on Problematic Substance Use in Youth in the Child Welfare System”

This quantitative study uses data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II to examine three research questions: How is removal of a child from their home for parental substance use associated with problematic substance use in child welfare-involved youth? How is the moderation between removal for parental substance use and maternal substance use disorder associated with problematic substance use? How is race associated with problematic substance use in child welfare-involved youth?

This research aims to contribute to the limited literature regarding how maternal substance use disorders are associated with problematic substance use in child welfare-involved youth, with the goal of improving substance use treatments and recovery services for this population.

Clarissa Theiss

Political Science, Criminology, and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies

“Open for Debate: The Impact of Dialogue on Policy Opinions, Political Attitudes, and Civic Engagement”

Using data collected from participants of Penn State University’s Open For Debate Series, a deliberative process held in September 2025, this project analyzes changes in policy opinions (specifically on immigration and climate policy), political attitudes, and civic engagement rates. The project involves quantitative analysis of pre- and post-test data from nearly 100 students and community members.

Emmanuel Kraft

Political Science and Communication Arts and Sciences

“Feeding Success: Food Insecurity and Academic Performance in Pennsylvania K-12 Public Schools”

With a focus on food insecurity, this research addresses the question: “Why does academic performance vary?” Many children receive the food and nutrition they need at school throughout the week, but return to food insecure households and experience hunger over the weekend. This can prevent them from focusing fully on their education.

Using Pennsylvania K-12 public schools, this research analyzes the relationship between food insecurity and academic performance. The major research hypothesis is: “As the food insecurity rate increases in Pennsylvania schools, the average academic performance of students in elementary and secondary public schools will decrease.”

Fatmah Almeer

Social Data Analytics and Hospitality Management; Minor: Entrepreneurship and Innovation

“Public Concerns of AI within the Local Government”

This research examines how artificial intelligence is discussed within U.S. local government public meetings, focusing on both the frequency and sentiment of AI-related discourse. By collecting and transcribing publicly available meeting videos and identifying AI-related mentions, the project maps how conversations about AI evolve over time and across geographic regions.

Using a multi-model sentiment analysis pipeline validated against human coding, the study captures not just whether AI is discussed, but how it is framed — revealing patterns of concern, scrutiny, and public trust.

Jiawen Zhang

Economics, Energy Business and Finance, African Studies, and Philosophy; Minor: Sociology

“Observing Collusion-Consistent Pricing Patterns in the Las Vegas Strip Hotel Market”

This thesis investigates whether pricing behavior in the Las Vegas Strip hotel market exhibits patterns consistent with tacit coordination rather than fully competitive dynamics. Using a multi-source empirical strategy, the study combines archival price snapshots from the Wayback Machine, market-level Average Daily Rate (ADR) data, and contemporary cross-sectional hotel prices to examine price responsiveness and identify patterns that may indicate coordination among major hotel operators.

Mahdi Shah

Artificial Intelligence Engineering

“AI and Its Impact on First-Year Computer Science Majors”

The rise of Artificial Intelligence has impacted students across the country, especially within the field of Computer Science. This research focuses on incoming Computer Science pre-majors and how AI technology is impacting their decision to leave the field. The study analyzes student behaviors, factors that led to their decision to drop, and perspectives on future employment.

From the interviews, the research examines how students are utilizing AI in their coursework and what strategies could be used to engage current and future Computer Science students — with the goal of identifying key problems that may help retain future students in the field.

Mahek Vijayvergiya

Honors Economics and Healthcare Policy and Administration (B.S.)

“The Ramifications of Private Health Insurance Market Concentration on Premiums, Access, and Outcomes Across U.S. ACA Regions: A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Analysis”

This research examines the role of high market concentration among private insurance firms in contributing to poor consumer outcomes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces. Although ACA is intended to create competition and improve affordability, a major trend has been consolidation, with the risk of monopolies and higher prices reducing accessibility and care.

Using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) as the primary measure of market power, this study measures the longitudinal effects of concentration on benchmark premiums, issuer participation, and plan availability between 2014 and 2024. The research also evaluates the direct impact of market power on quantifiable health outcomes, including preventable hospitalizations and the prevalence of chronic diseases, and employs quasi-experimental econometric designs to address methodological issues.

Surya Pratap Singh Suryavanshi

Applied Mathematics and Economics

“Regime-Robust Machine Learning for Stock Return Prediction: Integrating Econometric Inference with Modern Predictive Models”

This research investigates whether modern machine learning models can deliver economically meaningful and statistically robust stock return predictions when explicitly accounting for changing market regimes. While machine learning methods often achieve strong in-sample performance, their reliability across different economic conditions — such as expansions, recessions, and high-volatility periods — remains an open challenge in empirical asset pricing.

Using CRSP–Compustat monthly data, this study combines econometric techniques with carefully chosen predictive models to evaluate regime-robust forecasting performance. Market regimes are identified using macroeconomic indicators and volatility-based measures, after which predictive models are trained and evaluated strictly out-of-sample across regimes. The analysis emphasizes interpretability and inference through portfolio sorts, Fama–MacBeth regressions, and economic performance metrics such as Sharpe ratios and turnover.

Mia Ramirez

Economics and Political Science

“Paid Parental Leave and Its Effect on Unemployment”

This thesis analyzes the relationship between paid parental leave policies and unemployment outcomes. It examines whether the implementation of paid parental leave affects labor force participation and employment levels, particularly in the short and medium term. Because paid parental leave is determined at the state level, the analysis compares unemployment trends across states with different leave policies.

Adam Schnipper

Economics and Political Science; Minor: Legal Studies and Politics and Public Policy

“Stuck in Our Cars? Analyzing the Link Between Mobility and Quality of Life”

This research project analyzes the link between physical mobility and quality of life. Physical mobility is defined as the degree of access to transit, along with the quality of transportation. Quality of life includes both economic components and a public health aspect. The study’s unit of analysis is U.S. counties, with data pulled from government databases, public surveys, and policy groups.

A standard regression analysis is conducted, controlling for state fixed effects and removing outliers. The main hypotheses are that counties with stronger access to and quality of transportation will have higher levels of quality of life.

Annelise McGowan

Political Science; Minor: Spanish

“Reactive Generosity: The Role of Terrorism in Shaping U.S. Aid Distribution”

This research investigates the relationship between terrorist attacks and the allocation of U.S. foreign aid in Africa during the War on Terror period. Existing scholarship has analyzed the strategic motives behind foreign aid, but less research has been conducted on how terrorist attacks themselves function to trigger aid changes.

Using data spanning 1996–2013 that combines detailed U.S. aid flows with terrorist activity across African countries, this study analyzes aid patterns before and after terrorist attacks. It pays particular attention to shifts toward military assistance, seeking to contribute to a deeper understanding of how global security shocks influence aid strategies and foreign policy priorities.

Emma Cassidy

Political Science and Public Relations; Minor: Economics

“Autonomy, Access, and Advancement: Reproductive Healthcare Policy and Women’s Outcomes”

This research examines how changes in access to and legality of reproductive healthcare influence women’s socioeconomic outcomes, specifically female labor force participation and female secondary education rates. This project focuses on Ireland, Poland, and Argentina to analyze how major policy shifts related to abortion access, family planning resources, and maternal healthcare between 2014 and 2024 have shaped women’s opportunities and economic engagement.

An original reproductive healthcare policy index was constructed for each country on an annual basis, ranging from 1 (most conservative) to 5 (most liberal), based on the scope, legality, and public support of reproductive health services. By linking this index to longitudinal socioeconomic data, the project explores how reproductive autonomy functions as a determinant of women’s participation in education and the workforce.

Hunter Steach

Political Science; Minor: Economics

“Effects of Selection Methods on Perceived Judicial Impartiality and Legitimacy”

This research showcases how different types of judicial selection methods across states influence how members of the public view the impartiality and legitimacy of their state’s judiciary. Inspired by the fact that Pennsylvania holds partisan elections for state supreme court justices, and that selection methods vary heavily across U.S. states, this project investigates whether judicial selection is a primary factor in explaining whether an individual views a judiciary as biased or illegitimate.

Other selection methods across states include appointment methods, nonpartisan elections, and merit-based systems. A nationwide Qualtrics survey was commissioned to collect individual-level data for analysis.

Isabelle Ems

Political Science; Minor: English

“The Effects of Abortion-Related Referenda on Voter Turnout of Women in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election”

Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, women could have felt more motivated to vote by the abortion-related referenda in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Despite a significant decrease in voter turnout across the country in 2024, this study asks: does voter turnout vary upon closer inspection, and could abortion rights have had a significant impact at the state level?

Using data from the American National Election Studies’ (ANES) Time Series Study from the 2024 election, this thesis examines whether abortion-related referenda on state ballots increased voter turnout among women. The hypothesis is that women in states with an abortion-related referendum on the ballot were more likely to vote in the 2024 U.S. presidential election than women in states without such referenda.

Lily Sabine

Political Science; Minor: Legal Studies and Public Policy & Leadership Across Sectors

“Trust and the Turn to Outsiders: Political Distrust as a Driver of Anti-Establishment Presidential Vote Choice”

This research examines how declining political trust shapes support for anti-establishment and outsider presidential candidates in the United States. Drawing on American National Election Studies (ANES) data from 1948 to 2020, the study tests the central hypothesis that as trust in government decreases, the likelihood of voting for an anti-establishment candidate increases.

The project argues that political trust increasingly acts as a heuristic through which voters interpret all other considerations. By systematically classifying presidential candidates as anti-establishment or establishment figures across multiple election cycles, and employing multivariate regression models with controls for political knowledge, partisanship, and ideology, this study isolates the independent effect of trust on vote choice.

Savannah Morris

International Politics and Spanish

“Gender and Foreign Policy: The Role of Female Foreign Policy Elites in International Conflict”

This thesis examines whether and how the gender composition of foreign policy elites influences a state’s behavior in international conflict. Drawing on feminist political theory and institutional scholarship, the research argues that gender may shape policy preferences, decision-making styles, and approaches to conflict.

The project constructs an original cross-national, time-series dataset combining data from the WhoGov database on the gender composition of foreign policy elites with conflict data from the Correlates of War project. Using quantitative panel analysis, the thesis evaluates whether higher female representation in foreign policy leadership is associated with differences in conflict initiation, participation, or intensity.

Jessica Firestone

Political Science (B.A.) and Philosophy (B.A.); Minor: Economics

“The Interactive Relationship Between Ideology and Patriotism on Individual Support for the Right to Protest”

This research explores the conditional relationship between ideology and patriotism on support for the right to protest among Americans. The study is motivated by increasing associations of protest with un-Americanism and rioting. The project argues that patriotism is an under-explored aspect of support for the right to protest, and that studying its relationship with ideology will illuminate what motivates support for this right in specific instances.

Andrew Cole

Political Science and Global and International Studies

“Local Conflict, Local Ballots: Political Violence and County-Level Voter Turnout”

This thesis focuses on the topics of political violence and voter turnout, examining whether acts of political violence from both state actors and non-state actors influence voter turnout. The analysis examines county-level data from the 2020 and 2024 general elections, alongside any political violence within that time period.

Each violent event is measured by the act itself, the number of fatalities, and whether a state actor (government-affiliated) or a non-state actor (civilian) was responsible. These variables are expected to add clarity as to whether — and why — political violence may have a measurable effect on voter turnout.

Eugene Choi

International Politics, Psychology, and Global and International Studies; Minor: Chinese and Women’s Studies

“Is Masculinity Necessary for Peacekeeping and International Conflict Management?”

This research focuses on whether masculine characteristics and strategies for peacekeeping and international conflict management are more effective or necessary. It discusses whether perceived masculinity towards an audience matters in peacekeeping based on real-life cases, and presents how feminine strategies are perceived in such contexts and whether they are more likely to achieve peacekeeping goals.

Olivia Barnes

Communication Arts and Sciences (B.A.); Minor: Civic and Community Engagement

“Emerging Identities: Supporting Military Dependents in Higher Education”

Military dependents enter college carrying experiences that set them apart from other students. Frequent moves and the demands of military family life shape how they form friendships, engage in courses, and adjust to campus life. This project explores how these students navigate their identities and seek belonging at Penn State, using interviews and collaboration with the Penn State Office of Veterans Programs alongside existing research on military dependent support at other universities.

The study reveals both the resilience of dependents and the challenges they face that are often overlooked. By sharing these stories through the Office of Veterans Programs website, this research highlights opportunities to strengthen understanding, support, and inclusion for this student population.

Paige Rishel

History and Public Relations; Minor: American Sign Language and Digital Media Trends and Analytics

“Political, Religious, and Cultural Influences that Create HIV Stigma in Southeast Asia”

This research examines how HIV stigma in Southeast Asia emerges from intersecting political, religious, and cultural systems rather than solely from individual prejudice. Analyzing Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, the research demonstrates that stigma operates differently across contexts: Vietnam’s socialist ideology criminalized HIV-positive populations through detention centers, while Buddhist beliefs about karma in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos frame HIV as spiritual punishment.

Colonial legacies, civil wars, and genocide weakened healthcare infrastructure, compounding marginalization. The research argues that effective HIV intervention requires addressing structural forces including government policies, religious teachings, and cultural norms that systematically exclude people living with HIV from treatment and community support.

Payton Smith

Political Science and Global and International Studies

“Pathways to Power: The Role of Gender Equality, Respect, and Ambition in Female Political Representation”

This honors thesis investigates why women remain significantly underrepresented in national executive leadership across democracies, despite widespread formal commitments to gender equality. Rather than focusing solely on institutional explanations, this project advances a quantitative framework examining how structural gender equality, societal respect for women in leadership, and the size of the female ambition and eligibility pool jointly shape women’s access to political power.

Using a cross-national dataset of democratic countries and regression analysis, this research seeks to identify which conditions most strongly predict women’s political advancement and to clarify why progress toward gender parity in political leadership remains uneven across contexts.

Kathryn Pinto

Film Production and Global and International Studies

“The Eastern Front: Searching for WWI Soldiers During the War in Ukraine”

Over the summer, this filmmaker traveled to Ukraine to document the search for soldiers from an area of the modern-day Czech Republic who served in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War. As part of a project with the Czech Jesenícko Ethnographic Museum, an international crew traveled to the eastern lines of WWI, which stretched over 1,000 km across Central and Eastern Europe.

What started as a documentary trip about the First World War became a film about the act of doing military history in a country at war, and how an international community of historians and volunteers helps each other preserve the past with the intention that there may be a better future. Through filmmaking, the project asks: What is the legacy of violence on a community’s history? How does it impact their ability to preserve what happened to their region? And what are the challenges and responsibilities that come with filming their experience while living outside of it?

Jordan Shames, Lavanya Kenkare, and Khalida Senghori

Jordan Shames: Psychology (B.S.) | Lavanya Kenkare: Psychology, Minor: Biology | Khalida Senghori: Forensic Molecular Biology

“Linking brain network dynamics to imminent smoking lapse risk and behavior”

The LAPS study is currently being conducted at the Addiction, Smoking, and Health (ASH) Psychology lab at The Pennsylvania State University. The primary investigator for this study is Dr. Stephen Wilson. The goal of this study is to examine the connection between changes in brain activity and factors such as risk of smoking lapse and self-reported emotion leading up to a smoking lapse. The study also investigates the association between brain activity before a lapse and the reinforcement that comes after a return to smoking. Research from this study will be helpful in furthering our knowledge of the neural and psychological components of smoking lapses. This information will help to improve strategies aimed at reducing smoking lapses.

Deep Patel, John Christian Casale, and Jui Baliga

Deep Patel: Psychology | John Christian Casale: Psychology (Neuroscience Option), Pre-med | Jui Baliga: Psychology, Minor: HDFS

“Second-by-second Hostility Analysis: Father Alcohol Use and Its Influence on Relationship Quality and Transition to Parenting”

Fathers’ heavy drinking has been shown to negatively impact couple relationship quality, specifically through increasing couple conflict. In turn, this can “spillover” into parenting and result in negative child outcomes. However, most studies have relied on self-report measures of couple conflict or global observational measures of couple interactions, limiting knowledge of the specific mechanisms underlying conflict. This study uses continuous, moment-to-moment behavioral coding of couple interactions to examine whether father alcohol use is linked to lower dyadic functioning and relationship quality.

Participants included heavy drinking non-pregnant partners/fathers and low/abstaining mothers who were expecting their first child together (N=184). Couples completed established self-report measures of alcohol problems, relationship satisfaction, and conflict, as well as a recorded 10-minute conflict interaction task.

Hostility was coded at every second of the interaction, yielding 600 discrete, mutually exclusive codes per person on a scale of 1 (none) to 7 (high). We expect that fathers who engage in heavier alcohol use will show more intense and frequent hostile behaviors during couple interactions, which in turn will be associated with lower overall dyadic functioning. By capturing conflict at a second-by-second level, this research moves beyond broad summaries of relationship distress and highlights how alcohol use may shape moment-to-moment interactions between expecting parents.

Elise Reinhard, Mia Rothstein, Elena McCutcheon, and Chelsey Chehade

Elise Reinhard: Psychology, Minor: Kinesiology | Mia Rothstein: Psychology and Neuroscience

“Attitudes on Individuals Taking Antidepressants”

This project is an attitude scale construction project. The goal is to develop a reliable and valid measure of attitudes towards people who take antidepressants. The theoretical framework suggests these attitudes are substantially driven by trust in the use of medicine, connection to people who are depressed, and views on the reality of chemical imbalances in the brains of mentally ill individuals.
Data will be collected via Qualtrics from approximately 300 respondents using a 20-item measure. Tests of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) and validity (convergent, divergent, and known-groups) will be reported. Convergent validity is expected between people who believe mental illness is a chemical imbalance, trust medicine, and have personal experience with depression. Divergent validity is predicted with gender and age.

Jason Young, Madison Obukhovsky, and Yaquelyn Rivera

Jason Young: German, Natural Science | Madison Obukhovsky: Communication Sciences and Disorders, Minor: HDFS | Yaquelyn Rivera: Economics, Minor: Philosophy

“Learning Motivational Study: Testing a Value Intervention in German and French”

This project investigates whether first- and second-semester French and German students’ class success can benefit by making personal connections to course content. All participants respond numerically to questionnaires about their motivation at the beginning and end of the semester. The experimental group writes essay responses to questions about their interests in learning foreign languages.

Results regarding changes in motivation throughout the semester, as well as the final grades of each group, will be analyzed. The study aims to provide results that can be practically implemented in coursework to improve students’ interest and success — benefiting not just language courses, but providing useful information for all academic courses.

Mariam Suliman, Allie Milburn, and Ayden Cottrill

Mariam Suliman: Sociology, Minor: Psychology | Allie Milburn: Psychology (B.S., Business Option) | Ayden Cottrill: Psychology

“Attitudes Towards Use of Assisted Suicide within the United States”

The goal of this research is to create a scale measuring attitudes towards medically-assisted suicide for those with physical terminal conditions, as current research on the topic is sparse. The scale will include tests of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) and tests of divergent, convergent, and known-group validity. Data will be collected using a Qualtrics survey distributed to participants both in person and online.

Zoe Snitzer, Samantha Scott, Teja Gopalan, and Tiffany Chen

Zoe Snitzer: Psychology, Minor: Biology | Samantha Scott: Psychology (B.S., Business Option) | Teja Gopalan: Psychology and Statistics, Minor: Gender & Sexuality Studies | Tiffany Chen: Psychology (Neuroscience) and Human Development and Family Studies

“Perceptions of Current ICE Tactics and Immigration Enforcement in the United States Across Groups”

This measurement project explores perceptions of current tactics employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States by creating a reliable and valid measure to capture contemporary attitudes. The research was developed in response to the current presidential administration utilizing ICE agents in novel and controversial ways, including expanded and more visible community presence, increased militarization, and unlawfully questioning residents in community commonplaces.

We hypothesize that differing views on current ICE tactics are driven by beliefs on the value of multiculturality versus white nationalism, perceived humanity of immigrants, and endorsement of violent law enforcement. Data is currently being collected from participants (N=300) via a Qualtrics survey distributed through social media platforms and in-person methods.