2019 Kent State University Undergraduate Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity
Browse the 2019 - Kent State University Undergraduate Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Collections
Violence, and its Visibility by the Decades04/09/2019Violence, and its Visibility by the Decades In this poster presentation, we will compare the perspective of two generations, and how they view the impact of violence. The number of school shootings, extremist attacks, and violent police directed homicides have seemingly increased in the past two decades. Has how the public receives this information drastically changed across generations? By using figures to track the number of attacks, the personal accounts from present-day teenagers, and the recollections of horrifying events by our older adults of today, we should be able to show the effects of overexposure to violence by way of social media. |
Warriors of the Colony04/09/2019This is a socially-interactive art installation of hand-made ants individually designed to reflect a femme interviewed on their personal story. Afterwards, we will add the warrior to the colony together as a symbolic moment of mutual love and support. Our mission is to empower women and people who are survivors of the “othering” done by society. Participation is on a volunteer basis, so there is no forced vulnerability or sharing of personal information and they will remain anonymous as desired. The well-being of the colony is dependent on participation and community. Without them it would be empty. We feel that this project will help to create an inclusive environment for people relating to our mission. Olivia, the visionary for the project, will be the leading contributor of the manual making. Amanda, the socially-engaged team member, will use her networking skills to make the project public and to use her involvement with the Women’s Center as a platform for reaching out to those who would benefit from the community support that this project intends to provide. Both Olivia and Amanda will be equally involved in the interviewing of participants and engaging in the friendly, understanding conversation that happens in a supportive space. The success will come from the reactions of participants. If participants feel supported and feel less alone in this world of hurt, then we have done our duty. |
Wear What Makes You Comfortable, But Looks Proffessional04/09/2019Recently female graduate conducting student Sarah Kois was preparing for her first concert at Kent State. In asking her professor what to wear there was not an adequate answer. Had she been male, she would have worn a tux. However, even now, there is not standard attire for female conductors. Instructed to find professional concert black, Sarah searched only to run into a different problem - the scrutiny of female clothing. On one hand some consider dresses unprofessional, yet others feel pants are not feminine enough. Ultimately Sarah worked to find the perfect jacket, yet the women's blazer was difficult to move in. There are clear divides between male and female genders. Placing male status and needs above women has been passed down through generations. Our Flash Grant project has explored the depths and essence of musical conducting to design a suit specifically for women. The goal was to create a design that displays both femininity and command, while being comfortable, breathable, and professional. This project has encouraged creative thinking by challenging gender norms both in traditional societal roles and appearance, and is one step in closing gender equality gaps. The final product, designed and created by fashion design major Christelle (Maya) Tucker, will be debuted at the Communiversity Band concert on April 30th in Cartwright Auditorium.
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Were Late Woodland triangular flaked stone arrow tips from Ohio, U.S.A. designed for wound size or target penetration?04/09/2019An experimental model derived from ballistics tests has recently shown that the size of a flaked stone arrowhead significantly influences how well an arrow penetrates a target. Namely, the smaller the arrowhead, the deeper the penetration. However, large arrowheads have advantages too: they cause bigger wounds. I collected morphometric data from hundreds of arrowheads across Ohio to see whether they fall on the smaller, or larger, end of the experimental model to understand whether prehistoric hunters were more concerned with target penetration or wound size. |
Who Guards the Troop? Vigilance in Vervet Monkeys04/09/2019Vigilance within troops plays a key role in the survival of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and the success of their offspring. We hypothesized that males would display more vigilant behavior than females and juveniles within troops, because troop males mate with many females and consequently achieve greater fitness by keeping the females safe so they can breed more often. Females, on the other hand, maximize their fitness by producing and caring for a single juvenile. Numerous troops of vervet monkeys were observed in multiple, moderately-forested areas within Wits Rural Facility near Acornhoek, South Africa. We categorized the monkeys based on their age and sex. Seven behaviors were recorded including vigilance, idleness, grooming, playing, sleeping, foraging, and roaming. Males displayed more vigilant behavior (50%), than females (27.8%) and juveniles (9.4 %). All data were found to be significant; males vs. females (p=0.004), males vs. juveniles (p < 0.001), females vs. juveniles (p < 0.001). These data support our hypothesis that male vervet monkeys display the most vigilant behavior within a troop, which suggests that males are the guardians of their troops. |