Undergraduate Research Showcase

In fall 2016, we launched a new initiative: the Undergraduate Research Showcase. The showcase began a new and exciting university-wide tradition of highlighting the achievements of undergraduates who produce important original research, present at academic conferences, and/or publish in academic journals. Each showcase includes energetic conversations among student-faculty research teams from a variety of disciplines, providing them a platform to describe the origins, challenges, and benefits of their research experience before an audience of their peers. Faculty-mentors are present to answer questions about their role in the process. See below for a list of past and upcoming showcases.

2021-22 (Virtual Showcases)

One

Undergraduate Social Work Students’ Attitudes Toward Diverse Gender and Sexual Identities at Azusa Pacific University: Implications for BSW Education
Undergraduate Researcher: Chloé DePledge, Sociology Major
Faculty-Mentor: Anupama Jacob, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work

The Impact of Christian Parents’ Attitudes on Their Homosexual Children’s Faith Development
Undergraduate Researcher: Mudi Li, Psychology Major/Honors minor
Faculty-Mentors: Kathryn Ecklund, PhD, Professor and Chair, and Andrew Shelton, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Two

Deterrence and Mutually Assured Destruction in the Age of Ballistic Missile Defense Systems
Student Researcher: Abigail Brown, International Relations and Honors Humanities Major
Faculty-Mentor: Daniel Palm, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of History and Political Science

Kinesiophobia Prevalence among College Athletes
Student Researcher: Lindsey McNeely, Kinesiology Major
Faculty-Mentor: Robert Dudley, PhD(c), Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology

2017-18

One

Quaker Peacemaker? Richard Nixon and the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty with the Soviet Union
Undergraduate Researcher: Zachary Fuhr, History Major
Faculty-Mentor: Ethan Schrum, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Political Science

Ultrasonographic Assessment of Femoral Cartilage Thickness in Ultramarathon Runners
Undergraduate Researcher: Rachel Lundblom, Applied Exercise Science Major/Psychology Minor
Faculty-Mentor: Robert Dudley, MS, Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology

Two

Investigating the Epistemology of Testimony as it Relates to Self-Worth
Undergraduate Researcher: Cherrish Hardy, Philosophy Major/Humanities and Sociology Minor
Faculty-Mentors: Rico Vitz, PhD, Professor and Chair, and Teri Merrick, PhD, Professor, Department of Philosophy

Genetic Engineering of Immune Cells with Costimulatory Chimeras for Enhanced Anti-tumor Targeting
Undergraduate Researcher: Abel Castro, Biology Major
Faculty-Mentor: Megan Prosser, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Biology and Chemistry

Opportunities at Freedom: Victims of Human Trafficking and Development of Psychological Capital (PSYCap)
Undergraduate Researcher: Peter John Nishimoto, Nursing Major
Faculty-Mentor: Cheryl Boyd, MSN, RN, APRN-CNS, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

Three

Measuring the Effects of Nature and Urban Sounds on Directed Attention
Undergraduate Researcher: Bri Askew, Psychology Major
Faculty-Mentor: Teresa Pegors, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

2016-17

One

Art or Propaganda: The Use of Words During the Harlem Renaissance
Undergraduate Researcher: Gabrielle Lawrence-Cormier, English Major
Faculty Mentor: Patricia Andujo, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of English

Identifying Facilitators and Barriers to Health Care in Victims and Survivors of Human Sex Trafficking in America
Undergraduate Researcher: Sarah Corr, Nursing Major
Faculty Mentor: Cheryl Boyd, MSN, RN, APRN-CNS, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

Two

A Shifting Nature of the Divine: Causes for Western Kenya’s Theological Breakaway from European Christianity and the Birth of the Independent Church Movement in Nyanza Province
Undergraduate Researcher: Brannon Muya, History Major/Theology Minor
Faculty Mentor: Verónica A. Gutiérrez, MFA, PhD, Director, Undergraduate Research; Associate Professor, Department of History and Political Science

Overexpression of GFP-tagged KAP3 in Cell Culture Shows Specific Subcellular Localization Patterns and Effects on Cell Morphology Involving Disruption of the Actin Cytoskeleton
Undergraduate Researcher: James MacAtangay
Faculty Advisor: Matthew Berezuk, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biology and Chemistry

Three

Minding the ‘Unbridgeable Gap’: The Future of Conscientious Objection in a Secular Age
Undergraduate Researcher: Alain Julian León, Philosophy Major
Faculty Mentor: Rico Vitz, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy
Published: Alain Julian León and Rico Vitz. Christian Bioethics Journal: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality (Oxford University Press): Volume 23, Issue 2, pp. 149–168 (August 2017)

Two-dimensional Discrete Solitons in a Lattice With Embedded PT-symmetric Defect
Undergraduate Researcher: Kevin Frank, Math Major
Faculty Mentor: Edwin Ding, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Physics

Four

Helping the Homeless: A Model of Public and Private Sector Partnership in Los Angeles County
Undergraduate Researcher: Tess Scherkenback, Political Science Major
Faculty Mentor: Abbylin Sellers, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of History and Political Science

Creating Culture-Specific False Memories
Undergraduate Researcher: Hyun (Hannah) Seo Lee, Psychology Major
Faculty Mentor: Benjamin Marsh, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology; Director, Common Day of Learning