DO LARGE ENDOWMENTS AND NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATE FACULTY PRODUCE BETTER TEACHING AND LEARNING OUTCOMES?

The top universities in terms of numbers of Nobel laureates who either graduated or lectured at, are also at the top of all prestigious global university rankings. Harvard University, the richest university in the world, produced more Nobel laureates than any other university in the world, and remains one of the top universities in all global university ranking systems. Nevertheless, the notion that elite rich universities are synonymous with quality education requires a comprehensive examination. Said (2024) revealed that the wide-spread misconception that the O2 released during photosynthesis originates from the CO2 absorbed is rooted in the intuition of R. Feynman, a Nobel Prize laureate, graduated from MIT and Princeton, and lectured at Caltech. Publicly available data from course evaluations at Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University show that fourteen students evaluated teaching effectiveness of twelve different courses taught during Spring 2023 at 4.4 (on a scale of 1 to 5). Conclusions about teaching effectiveness cannot be drawn from data collected from small number of students, from a single academic term; as such, the findings cannot be generalized. At the University of Georgia, 1,785 students evaluated teaching effectiveness in 10 different biology courses taught between Summer 2004 and Fall 2014 at 4.6, rated learning experience at 4.5, and student engagement at 4.5. This paper proposes that departments or divisions use official course evaluations to present data on teaching and learning in their classrooms. Data should be driven from a minimum of 1,700 evaluations, from at least 10 representative courses taught within the past 20 years. Courses should range from introductory- to senior-, and one section of a graduate-level course. Except for the graduate-level section, data from less than five evaluations can\u27t be used due to reliability concerns

FROM SCIENCE THOUGHT TO SCIENCE PRACTICE: QUESTIONING AND SCIENCE PRACTICE IN THE K-12 CLASSROOM

This qualitative study aims to explore scientific inquiry, specifically the use of questioning and the relationship between students’ understanding of science content with the implementation of science and engineering practices (SEPs). The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasizes the process of scientific inquiry as a set of “practices” students engage with to investigate the natural world around them. K-12 students engaging in the iBEARS (Inclusive Biologist Exploring Active Research with Students) program learn science content and practice SEPs through inquiry-based learning by participating in an original research experience, concluding in the creation of a research poster. Using a qualitative approach, we used mentor and student views about questioning from the Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI) instrument and their completed research posters to investigate how students understand and implement questioning skills while “doing science.” Preliminary results of this study give insight into how inquiry-based curricula affect mentor and student views and uses of science practices in the classroom. Future research is needed to understand first, why views about questioning changed after serving as a mentor and. Second how K-12 students view scientific inquiry aspects and develop SEPs. This research is necessary to understand better how inquiry-based learning curricula can support student science content and practice skill development

DOES SALINITY AFFECT THE GROWTH OF TOXIC DINOFLAGELLATE BLOOMS?

Dinoflagellates have a significant impact on the ocean and the other organisms that call the ocean home. These blooms produce harmful toxins that can affect all animals that rely on the ocean food web to survive. They produce a neurotoxin that inhibits the ability of other ocean animals to properly function. These dinoflagellates thrive in nutrient dense conditions, reproducing rapidly producing millions of new dinoflagellates creating a harmful algal bloom. One side effect of climate change is increasing ocean salinity levels which have been associated with algal blooms. Therefore, harmful algal blooms are becoming increasingly frequent as the earth warms. Through current research and preventative measures organizations across the world are looking for new and inventive ways to minimize the risks of algal blooms. In this study, we aim to examine the effects of varying salinity on dinoflagellate density. Organisms were placed in beakers with varying salinity levels and maintained in an environmental chamber at constant temperature and light/dark cycle in order to determine if increased or decreased salinity had any effect on dinoflagellate density. We found a significant negative correlation between salinity level and dinoflagellate density between treatment groups

CRYSTALLIZATION OF NANOCERIA WITHIN A BORATE GLASSES

A soluble borate glass doped with different concentrations of cerium (IV) oxide was used to create multivalent CeO2(Ce4+) and Ce2O3(Ce3+) nanoparticles. The glass is melted with varying cerium (IV) oxide and under different melting conditions to achieve varying quantities of Ce3+ and Ce4+ nanoparticles. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Raman Spectroscopy were conducted to investigate the crystal growth of CeO2 and Ce2O3 nanocrystals and their structure. We have identified several crystal structures and the study shows crystal formation changes with the ratio of Ce3+/Ce4+ nanoparticles

EVALUATING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION USE AND SYMPTOM TRAJECTORIES IN CLINICAL HIGH-RISK YOUTH FOR PSYCHOSIS**

Our study deepens the understanding of psychotropic medication\u27s role in symptom progression among youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). We tapped into the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study 3 (NAPLS3) data, examining 253 CHR-P diagnosed individuals out of an initial pool of 807. Participants were medication-free at baseline and were observed for the introduction of antipsychotic or antidepressant treatment prior to the subsequent 2-month follow-up assessment and examined the severity of symptoms classified into Positive, Negative, Disorganization, and General categories, as measured by the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS) and the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS). The core hypothesis is that, compared to CHR-P individuals who do not receive psychotropic medication, individuals who begin psychotropic treatment after baseline will show reductions in symptom severity at the 2-month follow-up. We performed an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests to explore significant changes in symptom scores across distinct medication groups, from baseline to the 2-month juncture. Our results so far suggest that, barring the Disorganization group, all other symptom domains showed significant improvement post-medication initiation. Particularly, individuals starting antipsychotic treatment exhibited substantial reductions across all symptom categories. This in-depth analysis is poised to shed light on the nuanced effects of psychotropic interventions, guiding future therapeutic strategies for CHR-P populations. Future research will focus on showing distinct impacts of medication groups on the symptom scores controlling for sex, age, and baseline scores

UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF PLANT DEFENSE HORMONES: METHYL JASMONATE SIGNALING

Understanding how plants defend themselves against various stressors, such as pathogens and herbivores, is critical to a sustainable food supply. Though lacking a defined immune system, plants have developed a remarkable array of structural and biochemical defenses, including one of the most versatile plant hormones, Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA), which is actively engaged in defense against different types of abiotic and biotic stresses. While the studies involved in MeJA mediated defense responses have been majorly focused on transcriptional management (DNA to messenger RNA), the details of a much faster regulation, translational control (messenger RNA to protein), remain unknown. My work investigates how a specific protein kinase, General Control Nonderepressible 2 (GCN2), phosphorylates its target, eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2) alpha, in response to MeJA at the translational level in the wild type versus transgenic lines of plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana. The GCN2-eIF2alpha module is a highly conserved eukaryotic stress response mode for regulating translation in all eukaryotes. Using immunoblotting, we check for eIF2alpha phosphorylation levels (a proxy for GCN2 activity) under mock and MeJA treatments. We show that eIF2alpha is phosphorylated in response to MeJA treatment in a GCN2-dependent manner. In addition, a homozygous knock out mutant for the GCN2 gene shows reduced growth under prolonged MeJA stress, suggesting GCN2-eIF2alpha as an essential component of the MeJA signaling pathway. Ongoing work is focused on understanding the biochemical and molecular events leading to GCN2-eIF2alpha activation in response to MeJA. These results will provide deeper understanding of MeJA signaling in plants and aid in the future development of plants with better stress resilience/adaptation

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA IN A LOCAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT IN NORTH GEORGIA

Antibiotics are some of the most essential lifesaving drugs currently available to us against infectious diseases. Several pathogens are developing resistance to these drugs and many have become resistant to multiple antibiotics. Such multi-drug resistance is becoming a global issue and has been found in many environments including wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, we sampled a local WWTP for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This WWTP is in North Georgia and runs directly into Lake Lanier, which is the main source of drinking water for the Atlanta area as well as a popular spot for water recreation. We obtained treated and raw sewage water samples. These water samples were filtered, grown in an enrichment media and plated on selective media containing antibiotics that yielded the isolation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These isolates were further characterized for antibiotic resistance using disk diffusion method and identified using 16s rRNA gene sequencing. All isolates obtained from both raw sewage and treated water samples were multi-drug resistant. Further analysis using PCR revealed all isolates possessed at least one bla gene and hence were identified to be ESBL-producing bacteria. Our results are consistent with other findings reported worldwide suggesting multi-drug resistant bacteria persist in treated water

BURIED BENEATH OUR FEET: EARLY MAYA ARCHITECTURE UNDER THE MAIN PLAZAS AT THE ANCIENT MAYA SITE OF PACBITUN, BELIZE

Over the past 75 years archaeologists have realized the benefits of investigating early Maya communities beneath plaza surfaces. Sites like Barton Ramie, Cahal Pech, Caracol, Ceibal, Colha, Cuello, Tikal, and Uaxactun have produced a wealth of information on Preclassic buildings, burials, and caches. In the Belize Valley there has been a concerted effort since the late 1980s to recover as much information as possible about the Middle Preclassic (900-300 BC) Maya by targeting plazas. This approach has been very effective at Pacbitun where we have uncovered new information on the earliest community located within the two main plazas. This paper reports on recent investigations in Plazas A and B and provides new information on the earliest houses and ceremonial constructions that may be compared with other sites in the region to identify general patterns in Middle Preclassic Maya development

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND FAMILIAL PREDICTORS OF SLEEP QUALITY IN AUTISTIC ADOLESCENTS

Adolescents on the autism spectrum commonly experience sleep-related difficulties such as insomnia and nightmares, and prior studies have sought to understand whether physiological or family-level measures serve as better predictors for sleep quality in this population. The current study sought to conceptually replicate and extend to an autistic adolescent sample a prior study that had found respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a physiological measure of parasympathetic nervous system activity, to predict sleep quality in autistic children. Additionally, the current study examined potential family-level predictors of sleep quality in autistic adolescents. 107 adolescents on the autism spectrum who were verbal and their parents participated in the study. Parents were asked to participate in a discussion about a topic that caused disagreement in their relationship. Then, adolescents watched a nature video as their baseline RSA was measured and watched the recorded video of their parents’ conflict discussion as their reactivity RSA was measured. Parents completed questionnaires measuring marital conflict, and adolescents completed questionnaires measuring their sleep quality and family functioning. The current study did not conceptually replicate the findings of a prior study that had found RSA, a physiological measure, to be a significant predictor of sleep quality in autistic children. Rather, the current study found that measures of family context, especially those of marital conflict, were a significant predictor of children’s sleepiness above and beyond RSA levels. This failure to conceptually replicate the prior study could have occurred for several reasons, two of which being that the sample in the current study was older and that the current study relied on a child-report of sleep quality. Future directions may include studying child and adolescent samples who are nonverbal and/or have an IQ \u3c70, recruiting more girls on the autism spectrum, and studying child samples as opposed to only adolescents

COLLEGE SPECIFIC DEPRESSION: ANALYZING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLASS YEAR AND RACIAL/ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS

Depression is a well-known mental health problem for college students. Many factors are considered when determining who is more susceptible for college specific depression and why. For the purpose of this research, we are specifically interested in students of different class years (first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, other) and those of different ethnic backgrounds (Whites, Blacks, Latinix, Asians, and Other demographic groups). Participants were 1,428 Georgia Southern University students, consisting of various ages, genders, class years and ethnic backgrounds, who completed an anonymous online survey containing both demographic and Wooster-Wickline College Adjustment Test (WOWCAT) questions. The WOWCAT measure is a new measure of college adjustment which can be generalized to the population of interest. Two hypotheses were presented. First, we hypothesized that there would be a difference in college specific depression across different classes (first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, other). From running a one-way between-subjects ANOVA we did not find significant differences in depression among the class years. Secondly, we hypothesized that there would be a difference in college-specific depression and different racial and ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Latinix, Asians, and Other demographic groups). We then ran a one-way between-subjects ANOVA and found that there was no significant difference between the two variables. The results differ from previous research studies which produced significant differences in depression among class years and racial/ethnic groups. The study would be improved with more resources, a diverse campus, and a factorial design