2014
Anthropology
Excavation and Analysis of Paint Mine Rock Shelter on the Shawangunk Ridge, New York State
Penelope Duus, Vassar College ’17, Stephanie Tapolsky, Vassar College ’17, Alaina Wilson, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Lucy Johnson
Biology
Blue Light Stimulates Nematodes: A Study of C. elegans Behavior Using Continuous Wave Lasers
Ramy Abbady, Vassar College ’16, Caitlin Bell, Vassar College ’15 and Profs. Kathleen M. Raley-Susman and Jenny Magnes
Establishing a Reconciled Ecosystem in the Edith Roberts Ecological Laboratory
Joshua Bruce, Vassar College ’16, Sanne Jarvinen-Cosse, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Margaret Ronsheim
Fluorescent Microscopy of Early-Stage Phagocytosis in Tetrahymena thermophila
Min Chen, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. J. William Straus
Depredation Rates of Simulated Turtle Nests by Local Predators in Fence-Constrained Versus Unconstrained Nesting Areas
Dara Davis, Vassar College ’15, Maggie Sowa, Vassar College ’15, Kate Spence, Vassar College ’18 and Prof. Marshall Pregnall
Tree Seedling Success in Gap Versus Non-Gap Areas: The Interaction Between Light Availability and Deer Browsing
Gabe O’Connor, Vassar College ’16, Sean Hoy-Skubik, Vassar College ’16, Elise Heffernan, Vassar College ’12 and Prof. Lynn Christenson
Identifying the Molecular Basis of the fs(1)234 Phenotype
Christa Ventresca, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. Nancy Pokrywka
Chemistry
Molecular Dynamics of DNA Mechanical Contributions of Various Promoter Sequences in p53 Complexes Motivated by a Novel Additive Binding Energy Model
In Sub M. Han, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Kelly M. Thayer
Asymmetric Alkylation of Activated Imines with Titanium-TADDOLate Lewis Acid Catalysts
Sean H. Majer, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Joseph M. Tanski
Structural Point Mutations of p53 Protein and Their Effects on the Zinc Coordination Complex
Taylor Quinn, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Kelly M. Thayer
Characterization of the Readout Mechanism and the L1 Loop’s Role in the p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein Binding Event via Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Benjamin R. Slaw, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Kelly M. Thayer
Modeling p53 Protein Interactions with Genomic DNA Binding Sites
Noah N. Trueblood, Vassar College ’18 and Prof. Kelly M. Thayer
Cognitive Science
Modularity and the Evolvability of Artificial Network Control Systems in Embodied Robots
Evan Altiero, Vassar College ’16, John Loree, Vassar College ’16, Jessica Ng, Vassar College ’16, Joshua Ridley, Vassar College ’17 and Profs. Joshua Bongard, Ken Livingston, Nick Livingston, John Long, Jodi Schwarz and Marc Smith
Complexity and Modularity Within Evolved Robotic Control Systems
John T. Loree, Vassar College ’16, Evan Altiero, Vassar College ’16, Joshua Ridley, Vassar College ’17, Jessica Ng, Vassar College’16 and Joshua Bongard, Ken Livingston, Nick Livingston, John Long, Jodi Schwarz and Marc Smith
Constructed Artificial Agents: Designing and Implementing Embodied Robots to Study Modularity in Evolution
Joshua Ridley ’17, Vassar College ’17 Jessica Ng, Vassar College ’16, John Loree, Vassar College ’16, Evan Altiero, Vassar College ’16 and Carl Bertsche, Joshua Bongard, Larry Doe, Ken Livingston, Nick Livingston, John Long, Jodi Schwarz, and Marc Smith
When Do Categories Change How the World Looks? It Depends on the Tools Used to Measure the Change
Benjamin Chin, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Jan Andrews
Moving Beyond Static Features: Expanding the Scope of Learned Categorical Perception Research
Sam Schwamm, Vassar College ’16, Benjamin Chin, Vassar College ’15 and Profs. Jan Andrews and Ken Livingston
Computer Science
Broaching Social Issues While Maintaining Appealing Gameplay in Role Playing Games
Carly Bloomfeld, Vassar College ’16, Grace Terdoslavich, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Tom Ellman
ANC2Go: A Web Service for Customized Corpus Delivery
Timothy Brown, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Nancy Ide
Mouse Watching: Utilizing a Multimodal Sensor to Track Multiple Mice for Social Behavior Analysis
Jarrett Holtz, Vassar College ’15 and Profs. Eric Aaron and Bojana Zupan
Distributive Crowdsourcing in Natural Language Processing
Nathan Bazan, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Nancy Ide
Mathematics and Statistics
Generalizations of Pascal’s Triangle
Robert Ronan, Vassar College ’15, Anastasia Stevens, Vassar College ’15, Lilian Zhao, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. John McCleary
Physics
Physics Approaches to Studying the Biology of C. elegans
Caitlin Bell, Vassar College ’15, Ramy Abbady, Vassar College ’16, Brian Deer, Vassar College ’15, Elias Kim, Vassar College ’16 and Profs. Kathleen M. Raley-Susman and Jenny Magnes
Identifying Vibrational Modes of Thin Film Nanostructures Using Finite Element Modeling
Matteo Bjornsson, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Brian Daly
Characteristics of Virtual and Experimentally Recorded Diffraction Patterns Affecting Iterative Image Reconstruction
Brian Deer, Vassar College ’15, Elias Kim, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Jenny Magnes and Kathleen M. Raley-Susman
Time Series Photometry of Contact Binaries
Claire Freehafer, Colgate University ’15, Caitlin Rose, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. Fred Chromey
A Kinematic Approach: Analyzing the Motion Behind Board Breaking in the Martial Arts
Jose Herrera Jr., Vassar College ’18, Ramy Abbady, Vassar College ’16, Elias Kim, Vassar College ’16, Brian Deer, Vassar College’15, Caitlin Bell, Vassar College ’15 and Profs. Jenny Magnes and Nirmaljit K. Rathee, Education Department, Delaware State University, Dover, DE
Optimizing Image Reconstruction of Virtual C. elegans Diffraction Patterns Using Iterative Fourier Transform Algorithms
Elias Kim, Vassar College ’16, Brian Deer, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Jenny Magnes and Kathleen M. Raley-Susman
Identification of Vibrational Modes in Thin Film TiN Structures Using Non-Destructive Pump-Probe Laser Technique
Sushant Mahat, Vassar College ’16, Aine Connolly, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. Brian Daly
Effect of Measurement Set-Up Characteristics on Sound Scattering of Pyramid-Based Diffusers
Mallory Morgan, Vassar College ’17, Ian Kowalok, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. David T. Bradley with Consortium for Faculty Diversity Post-Doctoral Fellow Kim Riegel
Time Series Photometry of Contact Binaries
Caitlin Rose, Vassar College ’17, Claire Freehafer, Colgate University ’15 Megan Lewis, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Fred Chromey
Effect of Sound-Scattering Surfaces on Sound Field Diffusivity in a Real-World Classroom
Ariana Sharma, Vassar College ’16, Mohammed Abdelaziz, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. David T. Bradley
Physics in the Modern School: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Adapting Physical Simulations for Various Curricula
Alexandra Trunnell, Vassar College ’17 and Teddy Stanescu, Vassar College ’16, Sam Faber Manning, Vassar College ’16 and Jerry Kindig, Vassar College ’15, Luis Serazo, Vassar College ’18 and Profs. Cindy Schwarz and Peter Charlop
Active Learning Inside the Introductory Physics Lab and Classroom
Adam Warner, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. David Rishell
Psychological Science
The Temporal Conditioning of Response Patterning in Mice
Delaney Fischer, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Mark Cleaveland
Effect of Reduced Maternal fmrp Expression on Reversal Learning in Male Mice
Kevin Newhall, Vassar College ’17 and Prof. Bojana Zupan
Toddler Food Choices and Infancy Feeding History
Brianna P. Reed, Vassar College ’16, Christina A. Fratto, Sacred Heart University’17 and Prof. Debra M. Zeifman
Mass School Shootings: Potential Risk of School Size and Student-Teacher Ratio
Emma Roellke, Vassar College ’16 and Prof. Abigail Baird
Neural Substrates of Peer Influence in Adolescents
Chloe Wheeler, Vassar College ’15 and Prof. Abigail Baird