Celebrate CU Denver’s Student Research and Creative Scholarship!

RaCAS is back to celebrate CU Denver's student researchers! For this 26th annual event, we are excited to host student presentations in a hybrid format.

The Virtual Showcase begins on Wednesday, April 26th at: symposium.foragerone.com/2023-racas. On Friday, April 28th, we will celebrate in-person at the Lola and Rob Salazar Student Wellness Center on the CU Denver Campus. All are welcome for this hybrid celebration showcasing posters, oral presentations, and media exhibits. The day will feature opening remarks at 9:00 am and plenty of opportunities to interact with peers, colleagues, future collaborators, family, and friends. Attend the RaCAS Resource Fair to learn how you can get involved in research and creative projects. Lunch is provided for all attendees.

RaCAS Schedule | Friday, April 28^th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Lola and Rob Salazar Student Wellness Center | Learning Commons Building

8:00 – 9:00- Presenter Set-up & Breakfast | Wellness Center Gym
9:00 – 9:30- Opening Remarks | Wellness Center Gym
9:45 – 11:15- Oral Presentations | Learning Commons Building
11:30 – 1:30- Poster Presentations, Campus Resource Fair, Explore the Human Body Presentation, Lunch | Wellness Center Gym
1:45 – 3:30- Grand Challenge Faculty Presentations, People’s Choice & President’s Sustainable Solution Awards, Closing Remarks | Wellness Center Gym

View full presenter lists, presentation times, and session details below. Access the virtual showcase for all presentations and hybrid session Zoom links.

Student Presentations

Oral Presentation Sessions | 9:45 - 11:15 | Learning Commons Building

View full details and Zoom information on RaCAS Virtual Showcase

In-Person Location: Student Commons Building - Room 2231 (Jefferson Conference Room)

Moderator: Maria Elena Buszek

Presenters:

Ashley Boucher - Hilma af Klint, The Swan Series: Through the Lens of Metaphysics (12-min)
Megan Hassler - The Significance of Visual Pop Culture to Art History: An Analysis of Avatar: The Last Airbender (12-min)
Alex Moreci - Meaning in the Algorithm Age: Visual Culture and Internet Pictures (12-min)
Zi Dinaro - A Conflict of Interest (12-min)
Peter Krausa - Cracking the shell: an endeavor into a new world of art (5-min)
Tyler Russell - Experimental Analog Photography & LGBTQIA+ Gen Z Youth (5-min)

In-Person Location: Learning Commons Building - Room 2220 (Denver Conference Room)

Moderator: Audrey Hendricks

Presenters:

Nikole Scribner Trout - Estimating Genetic Disease Risk in Summary Data with Summix (12-min)
Kayla Medina - Novel diagnostic tools to identify underlying causes of rare genetic diseases (12-min)
F. Leah Nez - Impacts and Implications of the Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics Workshop (12-min)
Jordan Swartz - The role of fatty acid oxidation and fatty acid synthesis on the metabolic preferences of CD8+ T cell response to subunit vaccines (12-min)
Zenetta Zepeda - Neuroimaging Analysis for Identifying Potential Biomarkers in Patients with Epilepsy (12-min)

In-Person Location: Learning Commons Building - Room 2222 (Adams Conference Room)

Moderator: Jeff Knight

Presenters:

Hamza Ahmed - Tagging and Expression of IME4 in Candida Albicans (12-min)
Vi Tho Nguyen - Structural Studies on the -GGAG- Tetraloop within Hairpins of RNA and DNA (12-min)
Iman Salhi, Milka Tesfazion, Santiago Lanchipa-mejia, Anshu Lamichhane - Computational examination of thiolate protected gold nanoclusters use for syngas production (12-min)
Jake Tinsley - Comparing Bone-Implant Interface Stresses of Transfemoral and Transtibial Osseointegrated Implants During Walking (12-min)
Maximus Markgraf - Use of photogrammetry to compare two wrist surgery approaches (5-min)

In-Person Location: Learning Commons Building - Room 2230 (Learning Lab)

Moderators: Emilie Waggoner, Jarrett Smith

Presenters:

Henry DeAngelis - Masculinity within Disability: When Gender Roles Collide with Disabled Bodies (12-min)
Maya Hunter - Targeted American Sign Language Signs as Neurodevelopmental Intervention to Improve Outcomes in Children with Critical Congenital Heart Disease (12-min)
Jessica Valdez - Invisible Enemies: How COVID-19 Related Hate Crimes Against the AAPI Community Have Affected Police Perceptions (12-min)
Amanda Rees - Zoning & Housing Segregation in Denver: A Geospatial History (12-min)
Mercy Kibet - The State of Maternal Health in Colorado (12-min)
M. Bryn Brody - A Tint of Gold: Mapping a TikTok Sound (12-min)
Kelly McCray, Richard Humbach - Barriers to mental health services for minority-identified service members: Comparison to non-minority service members and associations with marital satisfaction (5-min)

Poster Sessions | 11:30 - 1:30 | Student Wellness Center Gym

View presentation materials on Virtual RaCAS Showcase

001. Skylar Potts Variations in Perspective (11:30-12:30)

003. Thomas Morgan "Reunirse" (11:30-12:30)

004. Jack Crowley, Matt DeVries Microtonality in MIDI (11:30-12:30)

005. Madjelyn de Jesus Moyocoyotzin (11:30-12:30)

006. Brennan Cregan Mixer Through The Roof: Implementing Musical Theater in Short Form Narrative Filmmaking (11:30-12:30)

007. Chynna Whittaker Love and Lust (11:30-12:30)

008. Connor Gawkoski, Frances McIlvain, Lucas Milani Printer Head (11:30-12:30)

009. Abigail Chiu A-SIMA: Advanced-Support for Interactive Metabolite Analysis with 2D NMR
(11:30-12:30)

010. Alex Harvey Investigating the Stability of the M13 Phage Carrier State in Escherichia coli (12:30-1:30)

011. Ema Arai Matrix Metalloproteinase-Deactivating Contact Lenses: A Potential Treatment for Corneal Melting Disease (11:30-12:30)

012. Jill Hoffman Predicting protein structures of single nucleotide variants using experimental and homology models (12:30-1:30)

013. Mikayla Truong POKY DOCK for efficient in-silico drug screening with herbal medicine libraries (11:30-12:30)

014. Zowie Werner SSIM Computer Vision (CV)-Based Image-Matching (12:30-1:30)

015. Daniela Gonzalez-Rivera Quantitative musculoskeletal ultrasound: The effect of gain and probe angle on greyscale levels and texture analysis (11:30-12:30)

016. Erika Alor The Use of a 3D-Printed Model for the Interpretation of Chest CT Scans (12:30-1:30)

017. Jazmine Ames Social determinants of contraception counseling for women with rheumatic diseases (11:30-12:30)

018. Danna Carroll "A Vegan Diet As A Treatment For Inflammation For Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates" (12:30-1:30)

019. Maydha Kumar Sex Related Gene Expression Differences for Heart Failure and an Injectable Carbon Nanotube-Functionalized Hydrogel as a Tool for Cardiac Tissue Engineering (11:30-12:30)

020. Aditi Avinash Model Validation and Preclinical Testing of Digestive Enzymes for Gluten Breakdown: A move to cure Gluten Intolerance and Celiac Disease (11:30-12:30)

021. Kaelyn de Villiers The Genomic Evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus and Its Effects (11:30-12:30)

022. Vignesh Velmurugan Evaluating the Performance of Natural and Commercial Moisturizers for Dry Skin: A Study Using Agar Agar Skin Model (11:30-12:30)

023. Gabriela Padilla "ASO, you want to treat cancer? Treating Triple Negative Breast Cancer with antisense oligonucleotides" (11:30-12:30)

024. Xander Bradeen Identifying Novel Epigenetic Modifiers to Treat T-Cell Lymphomas In Vitro (11:30-12:30)

025. Fahiima Abdullahi The Role of Mitochondria Metabolism in CD8 Cell Mobility (12:30-1:30)

026. Sayra Salgado Innate Immunity: A role in complement activation on Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial cells in ALD (11:30-12:30)

027. Devon Horton, Andrea Laurin Influence of the Biomechanical Environment on Islet Function and Maturity (12:30-1:30)

028. Vrishank Bikkumalla, Ariel Matthews Effects of Cholesterol on Membrane Binding by Synaptotagmin 7 C2 Domains (11:30-12:30)

029. Isaiah Lowe Protein modification induced by oxidative stress compounds in insulin-secreting cells (12:30-1:30)

030. Sarah Keller The Use of Fluorescent Fixable Dextran in Assessing Islet Vascular Permeability in Type 1 Diabetes (11:30-12:30)

031. Farahnoz Sanginova Can stem cells enhance cell pluripotency? (12:30-1:30)

032. Xaverine Celia, Moneboulou Mbazoa Knockout Of MCP1 In The Intestinal Colon Resulted In Osteoarthritis Protection In The Knee In Obese Mice (11:30-12:30)

033. Masodah Sherzad Role of Immune cells regulation in Rheumatoid Arthritis (12:30-1:30)

034. Julio Jaime UVB Radiation Affects Paraxial Mesoderm Derived Cell Populations that Give Rise to the Dorsal Fin in Zebrafish (11:30-12:30)

035. Nadja Brown Sex-Dependent Neural Circuit Control of Voluntary Physical Activity (12:30-1:30)

036. Remla Abdul Identification of dorsal raphe nucleus afferents potentially involved in exercise-induced stress resilience (11:30-12:30)

037. Danae Mitchell Characterizing Hippocampal Injury in Neonatal Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (12:30-1:30)

038. Amanda Morris The effects of cuprizone-mediated demyelination on the visual pathway (11:30-12:30)

039. Desiree Reeves Impacts of thermoneutral housing on mitochondria in the brain (12:30-1:30)

040. Michael Corigliano Metabolic Dysfunction of Spinal Astrocytes Following Alphaherpesvirus Infection (11:30-12:30)

041. Carolina Sanchez Mendoza Effect of female estrous cycle on synaptic plasticity during fear extinction learning (12:30-1:30)

042. Lareina Alvarez Can dopamine receptor signaling mimic the effects of exercise and enable stress resistance? (11:30-12:30)

043. Miles Dryden Does dopamine signaling protect against stress-induced anxiety? (12:30-1:30)

044. Rebecca Han Administration of a D1 agonist in the dorsal lateral striatum reduces fear renewal (11:30-12:30)

045. Marie Izere Transforming Healthcare in Post-Pandemic Recovery: Innovation in Process & Technology to Increase Patient Throughput while Reducing Clinician Burden and Addressing Health Disparities (One-4-All Initiative) (12:30-1:30)

046. Vanessa Hernandez Disparities in the Latine Community with rheumatoid arthritis: Identification of barriers in research and clinical care (11:30-12:30)

047. Kenyatta Richardson Risk Behaviors and Experiences among Black Youth not Utilizing Oral Health Care Services— Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2019 (12:30-1:30)

048. Kamryn Korth Marijuana Use in Pregnancy: Understanding How Gestational Cannabidiol (CBD) Consumption Effects Compulsivity and Postnatal Tissues (11:30-12:30)

049. Nhi Nguyen Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Balance and Empowered Eating (BEET) in Diabetes Study (12:30-1:30)

050. Leah Lusk PFAS contaminated groundwater impacts on fish hepatic histopathology (11:30-12:30)

051. Vincent Conrad Pro-inflammatory effects of pine wood smoke particles on a human lung bronchial epithelial cell line (12:30-1:30)

052. Anshu Mehta Effects of PFAS exposure on fish reproductive system (11:30-12:30)

053. Annie Mora Effects of Pine Woodsmoke Particles on a Lung Alveolar Type II-like Cell Line (12:30-1:30)

054. Courtney Moeder The Modulation of Non-IgE Mediated Mast Cell Activation By Per- and Poly- Alkyl-Substances. (11:30-12:30)

055. Erin Jandebeur Timothy White Inhibiting the Fructokinase metabolic pathway reduces alcohol drinking in Wistarrats (12:30-1:30)

056. Zachary Courter The Academic Uses of Science Communication (11:30-12:30)

057. Desiree Starzyk Metacognitive Awareness in General Chemistry (12:30-1:30)

058. Desiree Starzyk Longitudinal Knowledge Inventory of Students Throughout a 4 Course College Chemistry Sequence (12:30-1:30)

059. Emily Irlbeck Moriah Miles Breanna Ahrens Alexandra Poland CU Denver Chemistry Club Campus Events and Involvement (12:30-1:30)

060. Brady Graeber RELAQS: Research and Education with Low-cost Air Quality Sensors (11:30-12:30)

061. Mohammed Aldawoodi Non-visual Gaze Shifts and Working Memory (12:30-1:30)

062. Dylan Kammerzell Foveal Capture: an Investigation of Distractors at the Fovea (11:30-12:30)

063. Andrea Estefania Lopez Giraldo SSPINE/SSPINE-POKY: AUTOMATED CHEMICAL SHIFT ASSIGNMENT WITH AN INTUITIVE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR SOLID-STATE NMR DATA FROM COMPLEX PROTEIN SYSTEMS. (12:30-1:30)

064. David Soto Secretory Protein Malfunction following Malondialdehyde Modification (11:30-12:30)

065. Eric Wooten Silain: A Proton/Sialic Acid Co-transporter (12:30-1:30)

066. Jennifer Nguyen Construction of an Atomistic Model for the E318Q mutant for CLCF F-/H+ Antiporter (11:30-12:30)

067. Karen Pham Developing the AHNA Algorithm: Automated Homomer Structure by NMR and AlphaFold-Multimer (12:30-1:30)

068. Kirsten Gwin NMR data analysis of a low-complexity disordered peptide (11:30-12:30)

069. Natalie Schultz The QM/MM Simulations of the NarK Antiporter from E.coli (12:30-1:30)

070. Madison Leeper Visualization of Gene Expression in Eublepharis macularius (11:30-12:30)

071. Mindy Kennedy Identifying Bacteria Capable of Degrading the Carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane (12:30-1:30)

072. Natasha Pember Proposed Research: The Use of Honeybees (Apis mellifera) and Hive Products for Biomonitoring of Superfund Sites in Denver, CO, USA (11:30-12:30)

073. Gabrielle Dudek An Apple a Day Does Not Keep the Flies Away: Is the Gut Microbiome Associated with Host Range Expansion in a Fruit Fly? (12:30-1:30)

074. Sarah Nalley Mating Traits Shape Responses to Global Change in Nearctic Dragonflies (11:30-12:30)

075. Micah Rogers A Paleoecological Analysis of Late Holocene Megafires and Forest Response in the Diverse Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion (12:30-1:30)

076. Maham Malik Cadmium and Zinc Tolerance in Suillus Brevipes (11:30-12:30)

077. William Leary Metal tolerance in the fungus Suillus tomentosus (12:30-1:30)

078. Chariss Thexton, Kyle Bergenthal Does size matter?: Phenotypic indicators of seed viability in Pinus flexilis (11:30-12:30)

079. Alya Sharbaugh Initial Development of a 3He Neutron Flux Detector (12:30-1:30)

080. Anaida Gevorgian Design and Fabrication of a Cryostat for Determining the Effective Area of an array of Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (11:30-12:30)

081. Brie Clarke, Shilene Davis Light Curve Microvariability of B023-G078 (12:30-1:30)

082. Clayton Ridder Pseudo Gradient Viability in Total Field Magnetometry (11:30-12:30)

083. Daisy Wanless 3D Laser Scanning an entire Denver city block for Historical Preservation (12:30-1:30)

084. Katie Riley Lightcurve Analysis of BL Lacertae (11:30-12:30)

085 Lauren Luna A Study of Relaxation Oscillations in a Hysteretic Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Using Various Frequency-Dependent Feedback Electronics (12:30-1:30)

086. Leah Piotrowski, Andrew Ebert, Hamza Mekuria, Parinoz Abdulloeva Ionization Observation: Using High-Performance Computing to time electrons escaping from atoms (11:30-12:30)

087. Stephanie Howell Developing a Graphical User Interface for a Data Acquisition System for Precision Voltage Measurements of Quantum Sensors (12:30-1:30)

108. La-Doniea Nisbeth Introducing Bly: Revolutionizing Money Transfers to the Caribbean (12:30-1:30)

109. Makena Avichouser Building user-friendly R functions for genomics research (12:30-1:30)

110. Cameron Gastineau RotoRiser (12:30-1:30)

112. Orin Crouse Survey Economic Impacts of Political Risk Insurance (12:30-1:30)

113. David Spacek Rare variant simulation with RAREsim: Beta testing v2 (12:30-1:30)

114. Kenneth Huynh Impact on the Integration of Clinical, Genomic, and Sociological Data on Predictive Models for High-Risk Dementia (12:30-1:30)

115. Ladpha Teawdeswan Mechanical property and design of multi-material gyroid structures made by additive manufacturing (12:30-1:30)

116. Trevor Walker Geometric mechanics of hypar-derived metamaterials (12:30-1:30)

117. Franklin Rojas 3D Laser Scanning Elbow Joint Surfaces to Compare Surgical Techniques (12:30-1:30)

118. Michael Demetrescu-Vulcan Resonant Coils To Sense (12:30-1:30)

119. Ersel Serdar Designing a More Efficient Altitude Compensating Rocket Nozzle (12:30-1:30)

120. Ella Seevers, Cole Gropp Energy Efficient Cooling of Buildings in the Mountains (12:30-1:30)

Special Sessions

Come hear students present on their research and creative activities as part of the President’s Sustainable Solutions Challenge during RaCAS! CU Denver students are working towards a more sustainable future in these areas:

Policy/Economics/Community,
Sustainability in our Environment
Materials and Technology
Disparity/Parity in the Arts
Disparity/Parity in Health & Wellness
Student Success

Oral Presenters | 9:45am-11:15am | Learning Commons Building - Room 2230 (Learning Lab)
Poster Presenters | 11:30 am-1:30 pm | Student Wellness Center Gym

View full details and student presentations on the RaCAS 2023 Virtual Showcase:https://symposium.foragerone.com/2023-racas

Session Time: Presentation 11:30am - 12:00pm, Demonstrations: 12:00 - 1:30pm

Location: CU Denver Wellness Center Conference Room 2200

The use of 3D modeling technology in biomedical and healthcare education is exploding. Extensions of the virtual 3D human body are at the forefront of diagnostic imaging and increasingly commonplace in the clinical setting from surgical interventions to patient education. It is more important than ever that students pursuing careers in medicine, research or healthcare industry gain an understanding of the modern real-time 3D creation tools that are revolutionizing the study of human anatomy. This workshop will explore these modern anatomical tools including immersive extended reality (XR), 3D printing, 3D surface scanning, and plastination. Workshop participants will learn the steps to create 3D anatomical models and have an opportunity to participate in hands-on demonstrations with these tools. We will discuss case study examples exploring the heart and brain from the University of Colorado Modern Human Anatomy Program in collaboration with Touch of Life Technologies.

CU Denver's 2030 Strategic Plan sets the ambitious goal to become internationally known for its research and creative activities. To help us get there, the University launched the Research Grand Challenge to support interdisciplinary faculty projects aimed at solving complex, global problems. At this year's RaCAS event, the RGC teams will share the progress of their work and discuss opportunities for students to get involved in this research.

Session Time: 1:45-2:45pm | CU Denver Student Wellness Center Gym

Michael Jenson: Cultivating Convergence Research: The Grand Challenge Process @ CU Denver
Farnoush Banaei-Kashani: Infrastructure Informatics: Using AI and Data Science for Preventive, Predictive, and Prescriptive Design, Maintenance and Management of Civil Infrastructures
Xiaojun Ren: Applied Genome and Epigenome Sciences: Bringing Biomolecular Data Science to Challenges in Human Health and the Environment

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Research and Creative Activities Symposium

Celebrate CU Denver’s Student Research and Creative Scholarship!

RaCAS Schedule | Friday, April 28^th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Lola and Rob Salazar Student Wellness Center | Learning Commons Building

Student Presentations

Oral Presentation Sessions | 9:45 - 11:15 | Learning Commons Building

Poster Sessions | 11:30 - 1:30 | Student Wellness Center Gym

Special Sessions

Celebrate CU Denver’s Student Research and Creative Scholarship!

RaCAS Schedule | Friday, April 28th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Lola and Rob Salazar Student Wellness Center | Learning Commons Building

Student Presentations

Oral Presentation Sessions | 9:45 - 11:15 | Learning Commons Building

Arts and Media Session

STEM Session 1

STEM Session 2

Social Sciences & Humanities Session

President's Sustainable Solutions Challenge Session

Poster Sessions | 11:30 - 1:30 | Student Wellness Center Gym

Arts & Media Presentations

Biomedical Sciences Presentations

Natural & Physical Sciences Presentations

Tech, Engineering, & Math Presentations

Special Sessions

University of Colorado President’s Sustainable Solutions Challenge at RaCAS

Xplore the Human Body in 3D: A workshop on the newest tools for anatomy including VR, 3D printing and plastination

Grand Challenge Faculty Talks

RaCAS Schedule | Friday, April 28^th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm