Honors Program Research Posters

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  "I NEED HELP!": Can ashwagandha reduce inflammation-driven oxidative stress without inducing cytotoxicity in macrophages?

  Caitlyn Pinaga

  Ashwagandha has been shown to reduce inflammation in humans by lowering pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress markers, helping regulate immune responses. It is commonly used to support conditions linked to chronic inflammation, such as stress-related disorders, arthritis, and metabolic imbalance. THP-1 macrophages are a part of the body's immune response to inflammation. While they produce a lot of different responses to inflammation, one of them is the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is established to be a powerful antioxidant and is used as a positive control. My study aims to understand how ashwagandha, a popular supplement, affects the production of ROS in macrophages during an inflammation response.

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  Obesity in the Rio Grande Valley: Applying an Evidence-Based Public Health Approach

  Erika Pineda-Horta

  What structural and social determinants drive elevated adult obesity rates in the Rio Grande Valley, and what evidence-based interventions can reduce adult obesity prevalence in Hidalgo County by 5% by 2030?

  Objective: This study applies an EBPH framework to (1) characterize the burden and structural determinants of adult obesity in the RGV, and (2) propose a culturally responsive, evidence-based intervention targeting adults aged 18+ in Hidalgo County.

  Adult obesity is clinically defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m² in adults aged 18 and older (CDC, 2022). It is a chronic, multifactorial non-communicable disease shaped by structural, social, and behavioral determinants.

  Population: Adults 18+ in Hidalgo County, TX. Future research will extend to family- and childhood-focused interventions to interrupt the intergenerational cycle of obesity (see Conclusions).

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  Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Complexes of Oxindole-Based β-lactams

  Kenya Rosas, Erick Morales Orrante, Carlos Sifuentes, and Alexsei Nazarov

  • β-lactams are essential structural components of many antibiotics and widely studied due to their biological importance and synthetic versatility.
  • The Ugi reaction is a multicomponent reaction, involving a primary amine, carboxylic acid, isocyanide, and an aldehyde or a ketone, that rapidly generates α-acetamido carboxamide derivatives (Ugi adducts).
  • The synthesis and characterization of four oxindole-based β-lactam derivatives:
    • 1-Benzyl-N-(tert-butyl)-2-oxo-3-(2-oxoazetidin-1-yl)indoline-3-carboxamide (4a).
    • N-(tert-butyl)-2-oxo-3-(2-oxoazetidin-1-yl)-1-phenylindol-3-carboxamide (4ab).
    • N-(tert-Butyl)-2-oxo-3-(2-oxoazetidin-1-yl)indoline-3-carboxamide (4d).
    • N-(tert-butyl)-1-methyl-2-oxo-3-(2-oxoazetidin-1-yl)indol-3-carboxamide (4e).
  • The coordination of the four Ugi adducts with Cu (II) and Ni (II) at different pH points to enhance their stability and improve biological activity.

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  Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Phosphonate-Functionalized Diimide Ligands for Metal-Organic Framework Construction

  Kenya Rosas and Jonathan Uribe

  • Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are solid, porous materials composed of metalions reacted with organic linkers

  • MOFs are customizable through variations in their metal ions, organic linkers, and the functional groups of the organic linker all yielding a structure with different properties

  • MOFs have a variety of applications, ranging from storage and catalysis to drug delivery

  • The synthesis and characterization of four phosphonate-based diimide ligands:
    • N,N´-bis(phosphonomethyl)-pyromellitimide (PPMI).
    • N,N´-bis(phosphonobenzyl)-pyromellitimide (PPMI-Ph).
    • N,N´-bis(phosphonomethyl)-3,3′,4,4′-biphenylenediimide (PBDI).
    • N,N´-bis(phosphonobenzyl)-3,3′,4,4′-biphenylenediimide (PBDI-Ph).

  • These ligands were then coordinated with zinc or copper metal ions to make MOFs.

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  Life Experiences to Lyrics: What Mental Health Looks Like in Music

  Ashley Salinas and Ashley de la Fuente

  ● Music conveys human emotion and mental states, often reflecting societal struggles such as depression and anxiety. Lyrics often shape how listeners experience these emotions, influencing mood, identity formation, and emotional processing in young adults (Gustavson, 2021; Chen, 2023). ● Depression, characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, and withdrawal is frequently expressed in music through explicit descriptions or metaphorical language (Shriram, 2015). Whereas, anxiety involves excessive worry, restlessness, and hypervigilance, is less studied yet similarly present in music (Kim, 2023). ● Previous studies have highlighted that pop lyrics often emphasize relational uncertainty, country songs depict fear of loss, and rap lyrics highlight stress from systemic pressures (Kresovich, 2020). ● This study analyzed lyrical content in three music genres (breakup-pop, rap, and country) to examine how depression and anxiety symptoms are portrayed.

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  Measuring the Flux of Cosmic Ray Muons with a Coincidence Telescope

  Carlos C. Sifuentes

  ❖ Cosmic Ray Muons are short-lived fundamental particles formed in the upper atmosphere, and have a half-life of 2.2 microseconds.[3] They travel down to surface level due to relativistic effects.

  ❖ Cosmic Watch Muon detectors were placed in coincidence. [1]

  ❖ Varied the angle from zenith using a 3D printed telescope designed in AutoCad.

  ❖ Varied the distance of the detectors and viewed changes in flux

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  Peace without Security: Intersectional Feminism and the Reintegration of Colombian Female Ex-Combatants

  Savannah Torres

  This projects speaks to those engaged in gender studies, human security, and post-conflict reintegration by examining why reintegration efforts continue to fall short for female ex-combatants. Focusing on Colombia’s 2016 Peace Agreement and its aftermath, the study analyzes how reintegration frameworks inadequately address the human security needs of former guerrilleras. It asks how reintegration processes fail to account for the intersecting identities of women as gendered, racial, and economic subjects and former combatants, and how these oversights generate persistent vulnerabilities. While existing literature acknowledges entrenched patriarchy in Colombian society, reintegration is frequently framed through victim-oriented lenses that obscure women’s agency. The paper first outlines the theoretical foundations of intersectionality and feminist human security, then examines women’s participation in the FARC-EP, followed by an analysis of gendered shortcomings in reintegration policy. It concludes that long-lasting peace depends on recognizing female ex-combatants as political actors and addressing their personal security in tandem. Without such an approach, post-conflict reintegration risks reproducing inequality rather than achieving sustainable peace.

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  A protocol to investigate the acute effects of contrast therapy vs. heat therapy on cardiovascular health outcomes

  René Barbier, Jace Nicolet, and Annahy Pesina

  There is a growing number of people being affected by hypertension, often referred to as high blood pressure. Chronic high blood pressure (>130/80 mmHg) affects 45% of U.S. adults (Huguet et at., 2021). Chronic hypertension can have catastrophic outcomes, as it significantly increases the risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, and heart failure. On top of this, this cardiovascular disease is often referred to as a "silent killer," because it tends to not present symptoms until serious damage already occurred. In addition to the negative effects on the individual, hypertension constitutes a large public heath burden, costing over $50 billion annually in the U.S. alone.

  Pharmacological treatments are effective at treating hypertension, but they often come with undesirable side effects. These include dizziness, fatigue, electrolyte imbalances, or reduced quality of life. The best way to control blood pressure is through lifestyle changes, especially regular exercise. However, many individuals are unable to engage in physical activity due to physical disabilities, age-related mobility issues, obesity, chronic pain, or recovery from surgery or injury. Given these limitations, research has been exploring alternative, nonpharmaceutical interventions. Among these are the therapies that will be analyzed in this research study: passive heat therapy (HEAT) and contrast heat therapy (CONTRAST). HEAT involves exposure to heat, in this study through a Finnish sauna, and causes vasodilation enhancing blood flow, reducing vascular resistance, and increasing shear stress on vessel walls. Studies have shown that HEAT improves endothelial function (Brunt et al., 2016), reduces arterial stiffness and systolic blood pressure (Lee et al., 2022), and enhances coronary blood flow and overall cardiovascular resilience (Cheng & MacDonald, 2019). Then, CONTRAST involves alternating between heat and cold, using saunas and ice baths in this research project. This therapy causes cyclic vasodilation and vasoconstriction, and this alternating pressure shifts may have added benefits for cardiovascular health. It is hypothesized that CONTRAST results in greater cardiovascular responses than HEAT alone, potentially offering a more effective approach for the long-term management of blood pressure.

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  Attachment and culture: Exploring relationship satisfaction

  Lizbeth Carbajal

  - Suggests that communication patterns related to attachment impact relationship satisfaction (Domingue & Mollen, 2009). -Latinx cultural values influence attachment-related conflict behaviors and relationship satisfaction (Guerrido, 2017). -Secure attachment leads to healthier conflict resolution and greater satisfaction (Pistole, 1989). The purpose is to analyze existing research on how attachment styles impact conflict resolution strategies in romantic relationships and determine whether cultural background (Latinx vs. non-Latinx) and relationship length influence these behaviors. Hypotheses H1: The quality of a relationship is mentioned more frequently than other themes when examining previous literature. H2: Cultural influences are discussed more frequently than relationship length in college students' romantic relationships in previous literature.

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  Acute Physiological Responses to an Infrared Sauna Blanket Towards Home Based Passive Heat Therapy

  Arlene Chaidez, Mia Gonzales, Amaryllis Rubalcaba, Meghan Walls, and Rene Barbier

  Repeated passive heat exposure can improve cardiovascular health outcomes. A novel infrared sauna blanket may enable home-based heat therapy, but these devices are yet understudied. By closely monitoring blood pressure, heart rate, core body temperature, and perceptual responses, it could be determined how a participant's body reacts to the infrared treatment. We found elevated cardiovascular activity in response to the sauna blanket, similar to that observed during moderate-intensity exercise. Therefore, the infrared sauna blanket may have potential for inducing long-term cardiovascular adaptations and become an accessible and costeffective way of treating/preventing chronic illness.

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  A Research proposal: Morality as a social construct

  Samantha Gonzales

  Separating our minds from the constraints of our social constructs allows us to analyze problems from a place somewhere remotely close to unbiased. However, it is only after we understand that our sense of morale [i.e. right and wrong] originated as social constructs—that is to say, right and wrong have no reason to exist in an objective world. The very concept of right and wrong have been socially constructed from the beginning; they are, in their most simplistic nature, entirely subjective. Subjective in this sense means outside of the very people who speak of the words right and wrong in this society, those very words would cease to have meaning. Again, one may ask: why do we care? To state this question in other terms; should we care?

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  Domestic violence and women in education

  Elizabeth Gonzalez

  Domestic violence has prevailed especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to its excessive impact on intimate partners, it is known that it has been impacting people in various ways whether it be technological, emotional, financial, physical, sexual, or economic (Domestic Violence, 2024).

  In particular, domestic violence has targeted women who have educational attainment due to many factors. With this in mind, we study the different potential risk effects that cause women to have fewer opportunities whether it be financially or employment along with geographic factors impacting them to experience domestic violence.

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  What factors impact domestic violence across the 50 U.S States?

  Elizabeth Gonzalez

  * 50% of women seen in emergency departments report a history of abuse

  * 5 million acts of Domestic Violence occur annually to woman aged 18 yrs and older

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  Analysis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae CARDS toxin in the air-liquid interface Bronchial Culture Model

  Alexandria Hernandez

  Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a pathogen that can cause severe respiratory infection that can rarely be life threating. There are currently no vaccines against M. pneumoniae, and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains of M. pneumoniae is on the rise.1 During infection, M. pneumoniae produces a toxin called Community Acquired Respiratory Distress Syndrome (CARDS) toxin, which plays a role in establishing infection. Analysis of the crystal structure of CARDS toxin protein reveals three protein domains: D1, D2,and D3.

  After entering a cell, CARDS toxin traffics by a retrograde process to the ER of the cell, where it undergoes processing.4 Our current studies support that CARDS toxin is processed into two fragments; a D1-containing fragment, and a D2/D3-containing fragment. Studying this process is crucial to understanding the effects that CARDS toxin exerts on both intoxicated and neighboring cells. The goal of this study is to analyze CARDS toxin processing in a transfection model of A549 and NHBE primary human bronchial cells, as well as study CARDS processing in NHBE air-liquid culture.

  We hypothesize that CARDS toxin is processed more selectively by tracheal cells compared to alveolar cells due to observations seen during M. pneumoniae infection. Samples from transfected cells were analyzed by fluorescence microscopy and western blot. Additionally, NHBE cells were grown in an air-liquid interface culture and treated with purified recombinant CARDS toxin to analyze the processing of the toxin and movement of CARDS toxin fragments.

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  The casualties of the open-borders debate: Latinx feminist voices on the ethics of migration

  Amely Logan

  To consider philosophical perspectives on immigration restrictions and the consequences of the open borders debate more generally.

  • The open borders debate within the ethics of migration consists of arguments from philosophers who justify states’ rights to restrict immigration and arguments from philosophers who believe states should have open borders.

  • Christopher Heath Wellman’s “Immigration and Freedom of Association,” where he argues that states do in fact have a right to exclude immigrants from their territories. I highlight how the language and framing around migrants in works, like Wellman’s, itself does harm to migrants.

  • While border enforcement results in mass casualties among immigrants, I argue that social terms that characterize immigrants as “illegals” and “aliens” constitute another type of causality migrants face that is overlooked in the open borders debate.

  • By taking seriously Latinx feminist voices, like those of Mariana Ortega and Gloria Anzaldúa, that are often neglected within the ethics of migration, it becomes clearer to understand the immigrant experience and difficulties immigrants face due to the way in which they are portrayed in the United States.

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  History of the bilateral relation between the United States and Ecuador to tackle drug trafficking

  Teagan McSherry, Luis Ramirez, and Savannah Torres

  This research analyzes the evolution of the relationship between Ecuador and the United States on security issues, particularly in the fight against drug trafficking. First, the political-historical context in which the war on drugs emerges in the United States is described. Second, the US national security strategy is examined regarding Plan Colombia and the Andean Regional Initiative. Third, it is analyzed how the issue of combating drug trafficking varies according to the ideological tendencies of the Ecuadorian leaders, paying particular attention to the role of the controversial Manta Base. The proposal to reform the constitution is discussed, particularly Article 5 under the administration of Daniel Noboa with the aim of reinstalling foreign bases in Ecuadorian territory. Finally, alternatives to the militaristic approach to the war on drugs are proposed in future bilateral security agreements between Ecuador and the United States, through a comprehensive reform of the security sector.

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  An exploration of telemedicine application service quality and its relevance with patient satisfaction

  Victoria Olguin

  Telehealth is the usage of technology to connect people from distinct locations to deliver healthcare services. Though the COVID-19 pandemic did accelerate the usage of telehealth, the practice of telehealth can date back to the civil war in the 1860s, when messages were sent from wounded soldiers back to medics. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the telehealth care model quickly accelerated and is now used and accepted by many worldwide. After the pandemic, patients have continued to use telehealth health services by downloading telehealth mobile applications on their mobile devices that connect them to their healthcare provider. This has raised the question of what telehealth mobile application factors create satisfaction for customers, and how mobile applications can improve.

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  Traditional gender roles and intimate partner violence: Exploring relationships between religion, self-control, and alcohol

  Carina J. Pawlak

  IPV is the physical, psychological, or sexual aggression by a married, unmarried, or live-in partner (Patra et al., 2018).

  - Male perpetrators are reported for 92% of the IPV cases compared to females and are more likely to severely injure or kill their partners (Levitt et al., 2008).

  - In a traditional community that had lax attitudes toward IPV, there was an 80% increase in the likelihood of perpetration and women’s consent to the violence increased their likelihood of victimization by 11% (Linos et al., 2013).

  - To maintain traditional gender roles found within religious communities, some men may use religion such as using reaffirming Bible verses: “Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord” (King James Bible, 1769/2017, Ephesians 5:22). - Masculine gender role stress occurs when men are confronted with threats to their masculinity, which may prompt them to act violently when traditional gender roles are breached (Baugher & Gazmararian, 2015; Baumeister et al., 1996).

  - Finkel et al. (2009) found that participants had a higher likelihood of committing IPV if they were low in dispositional self-control.

  - Alcohol intoxication was found to be positively correlated with IPV perpetration (Grom et al., 2021).

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  Investing in the future

  Sophia Phelan

  Research question

  Do HBCUs and HSIs liberal arts provide higher returns on investments than Non-Minority Serving liberal arts institutions for students?

  Uniqueness of HBCUs and HSIs

  Historically Black Universities and Colleges

  • Must be founded before 1964

  • Provide educational opportunities for Black Americans

  • Strong ties to Black culture and history

  • Focus on community service and leadership development

  Hispanic-Serving Institutions

  • At least 25% of the student body is Hispanic or Latino

  • Incorporate culturally relevant curriculum and support services

  • Committed to making higher education accessible to Hispanic students

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  Leaf it to the AI: visualizing foliage with machine learning

  Chelsy Tinacba, George Sikazwe, and Michael Frye

  This project sets out to create a tool to help aid in the research and monitoring of the threatened prickly cacti [Fig. 1]. due to an invasive species of insect growing to be a threat. This website displays current and predictive locations of foliage within a region.

  To get the data of the predictive location, an additional program was developed that uses a machine learning model to provide coordinates of potential areas where more plants may be. The computer program provides a visualization of potential patterns for the foliage in the database. The machine learning model combs through the data and provides patterns for researchers. The website provides visualizations by comparing the output of similar locations.

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  A research proposal: the scapegoating of transgender Americans by US presidential candidates from 2016 to 2024

  Savannah Torres

  This study will employ a qualitative content analysis to analyze the scapegoating of transgender Americans by U.S. presidential candidates from 2016 to the 2024 elections. This approach will allow for an in-depth exploration of political rhetoric, policy proposals, and public discourse regarding the trans community. In doing so, this study will highlight the lived experiences of transgender Americans in which they have faced both support, indifference, and marginalization from candidates. The content analyzed will include political rhetoric expressed by the candidates through their campaign and administrations. This analysis is with the intent to find recurring themes relating to the scapegoating of transgender Americans.