The weeklong Expo is a showcase of undergraduate research in the arts, business, education and the humanities. The flagship event of the Expo is the 11th Annual Undergraduate Symposium<\/a> from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 at the University Union\/Fieldhouse, where more than 1,000 students come together to share their creative discoveries and present in-depth research and scholarly work. Symposium activities include poster presentations, exhibits, performances and demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Come to the Expo and Symposium to meet\nstudents who are changing the world, one discovery at a time, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Undergraduate researcher Taylor Lambrigger<\/strong>\u2019s work is about using chemistry to restore humanity to unidentified individuals. Lambrigger, double majoring in anthropology and biology, works in bioarchaeologist Corina Kellner\u2019s<\/strong> stable isotope lab<\/a>. Funded by a Hooper Undergraduate Research Award grant, Lambrigger is testing unidentified human remains in collaboration with the Coconino County Medical Examiner\u2019s office. When broken down to an elemental level, human remains can tell an origin story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are what you\neat, what you drink and where you\u2019re from,\u201d Lambrigger said. \u201cIsotopes embed\ninto your enamel and bone every time you eat or drink something. We can grind\nthose up and look at the ratios of those isotopes and we can tell what you ate\nand where your water came from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lambrigger is working with samples of human\nremains from the Coconino County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office. The samples consist\nof small amounts of bone or tooth that she crushes and processes using\ndifferent kinds of chemicals. Once they have been processed, Lambrigger can\nidentify the amounts of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, strontium and lead in the\nsamples. From that, she can extrapolate where the person was from. The carbon,\noxygen and nitrogen analyses are being done in house at the NAU Colorado\nPlateau Stable Isotope Laboratory in Wettaw, while Lambrigger and Kellner are collaborating\nwith Frank Ramos of the Department of Geological Sciences at New Mexico State\nUniversity for the strontium and lead analyses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt works well\nwith ancient populations because they were pretty stagnant,\u201d Lambrigger said.\n\u201cBut with globalization, we\u2019re testing the utility on these remains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The method has\nbeen used successfully. In 2005, human remains found in Ireland were tied to a\nmissing man after isotopic evaluation showed he had emigrated from Africa.\nGovernments use the process to identify the remains of soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lambrigger, who is president of NAU\u2019s Model United Nations club, hopes to someday work with mass grave excavation and remains repatriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese people\nhave had their humanity taken from them in horrible, violent ways, and if\nthere\u2019s anything I can do to give that humanity back or to help healing occur,\nthen I want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opportunity\nto write a grant and get funding for research as an undergraduate has been\ntransformative for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m unbelievably\ngrateful for the chance I\u2019ve had to do what I\u2019m doing,\u201d she said. \u201cWhere else\ncan I get $3,500 for a project that I\u2019m the principal investigator on? That\u2019s\nan unbelievable opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first time he\ndrove to the Hopi reservation, undergraduate Jordan Ojeda<\/strong> found himself in an unfamiliar landscape. Unlike the\nPhoenix suburb where he grew up, the reservation has no fast food restaurants\nor super stores, and the streets have only a single lane in either direction.\nBut as soon as Ojeda began to interact with the Hopi men who are the focus of\nhis research project, he realized they had a lot in common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s showed me\nthat we\u2019re not all that different,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do things culturally\ndifferent, but at the end of the day we\u2019re all humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He quickly bonded\nwith one man over a love of boxing. Some of the elders reminded him of the\nwisdom of his grandparents. And many of the men displayed a familiar machismo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI come from a Hispanic background, so there’s\ndefinitely a level of machismo in my family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past two\nyears, Ojeda has been part of a research project seeking to increase the rates\nat which Hopi men are screened for colorectal cancer. While Hopi men have some\nthe highest rates of colorectal cancer in the country, they also have some of\nthe lowest screening rates. As with most cancers, early detection saves lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project,\nheaded by public health researcher Priscilla\nSanderson<\/strong>, is called Namitunatya<\/em>\u2014Hopi\nfor \u201ctaking care of yourself.\u201d Sanderson, an associate professor of health\nsciences, guides student researchers like Ojeda as they study Hopi culture and\ntest different methods of reaching out to Hopi men to encourage them to undergo\nscreenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ojeda\u2019s work\nincluded extensive background research into Hopi culture in addition to\nconversations with Hopi men. The more he got to know the men, he said, the more\nhe was motivated to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHearing their\nstories just makes me want to work harder and try to get these cancer screening\nrates up,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on his\nresearch, Ojeda carefully crafted messages promoting cancer screening to use in\nradio advertisements and on posters that were placed around the reservation. He\nsaid the lessons he learned about culturally appropriate and respectful\ncommunication will be invaluable in his future career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biomedical\nsciences student plans to attend medical school and become an anesthesiologist\nwith a sub-specialty in pain management. Ojeda\u2019s ultimate goal is to open a\npain management clinic where he can help people suffering from chronic pain\nfind relief. In that capacity, he said, he\u2019ll need the communication skills and\nthe depth of understanding he developed as part of the Namitunatya<\/em> project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy experience\nwith undergraduate research has just been wonderful. I’ve loved every single\nsecond of it,\u201d Ojeda said. \u201cBeing able to talk to people that are culturally\ndifferent from me, and just being able to relate one-on-one, has been awesome.\nI’ve loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially, Mia Ornelas\u2019s<\/strong> research project focused\non problems faced by infants born to mothers who used drugs during pregnancy.\nBased on her findings, however, the scope of her research expanded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During her first semester on the project with faculty mentor Laura Karnitschnig<\/strong>, she compiled health\ndepartment data and found drug-exposed babies with expected low birth weights\nand developmental delays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSecond semester,\nwe addressed the correlation between maternal drug use, intimate partner\nviolence and postpartum depression because we realized you can\u2019t really help\nthe baby until you address the factors that are causing the baby to be\nexposed,\u201d Ornelas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data she\ngathered repeatedly underscored the association between abused and economically\ndisadvantaged women and drug use and depression and revealed the need for\nprenatal care for at-risk moms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think we can\nall agree that the children obviously need help, but we also came to the conclusion\nthat the moms really need help, which is a difficult thing for people to\naddress because addiction has so much stigma behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ornelas is a\nnursing major, and her research experience has underscored her belief that\nevery patient deserves the same level of care and empathy. She hopes her\nresearch will lead to changes in care for pregnant women\u2014care that will\nultimately result in better outcomes for their babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\ncan’t really help the baby by just treating it after birth,\u201d she said. \u201cHelping the mom leave a dangerous home\nenvironment and treating her own mental health\u2014that can help the baby and the\nentire family dynamic can be changed by that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Treating both the mom and the baby can make profound\nimpacts. It’s not as easy as taking away these children because the mom uses\ndrugs. These women have the potential to be amazing mothers; they just need\nhelp with themselves first in order to be good mothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fate?\nCoincidence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t know\nwhat to call it, but I feel like I have to do something about it,\u201d Joseph Espinoza<\/strong> said. \u201c I have to try\nto find some answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, Espinoza\nexperienced an unexpected confluence of his personal life and his work as an\nundergraduate researcher. Espinoza, who grew up near Yuma, was accepted into\nthe Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program. He also learned his mother had been\ndiagnosed with thyroid cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Espinoza had\njoined a research project\u2014led by ecotoxicology professor Frank von Hippel<\/strong> and health sciences professor and founding\ndirector of the Center for Health Equity Research Julie Baldwin<\/strong>\u2014focused on the effects of the chemical perchlorate in\nthe Colorado River, Yuma\u2019s source of drinking water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Perchlorate is a\nchemical used in explosives, rockets, air bags and many other products that, in\ncertain concentrations, causes hypothyroidism in people and animals. This\nproject is investigating whether higher levels of perchlorate in drinking water\ncould be connected to an increased incidence of thyroid disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When he learned\nof his mother\u2019s diagnosis, Espinoza\u2019s relationship to his research took on a\nnew dimension. Though his mother is now cancer-free, the implications of the\nresearch project, for his family and people in his town, were profound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re collecting\ndata on health issues from patients at the Yuma Regional Medical Center and the\nRegional Center for Border Health,\u201d Espinoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to see if\nthere are any issues with the thyroid in general, because in Yuma there is a\nhistory of contamination with perchlorate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the\nresearch has not yet produced definitive results, the experience has\nunderscored for Espinoza that his NAU education includes much more than\namassing theoretical information. He\u2019s doing real research that can have a\ntangible impact on the people he loves, his hometown and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giulia Paulet<\/strong> has strong\nfeelings about academic simulation games. Strong negative feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs soon as I find out there\u2019s a simulation, I want to drop the\nclass,\u201d she admitted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So it was ironic that when Paulet decided she\u2019d like to do\nresearch, the management major found herself involved in a research project to\nassess the effectiveness of a business management simulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is working with NAU instructor Geoffrey Dick<\/strong> in The W. A. Franke College of Business as part of\nthe Interns-to-Scholars program. The research project surveys students when\nthey complete a management simulation to assess what part of the program worked\nand what could be improved. Paulet distributes and collects the surveys and\ncompiles the data for Dick, who can then refine the simulation based on\nfeedback from the students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years into the project, she\u2019s also taking the course in which\nDick uses the simulation. For her, it\u2019s been a revelation into the potential\npower of a simulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cI genuinely played it and I was like,\n\u2018Yes! This is what needs to be in the classroom.\u2019 Now it all has a meaning;\nit’s not just words on a paper.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience has given her a unique view into how similar\nsimulations can provoke drastically different responses. She credits Dick\u2019s\nyears of surveying and tweaking his simulation program with its success as a\nlearning tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a well-run simulation, she said, the learning happens at a\nmuch deeper level. Dick\u2019s simulation involves putting students into groups with\neach group managing a virtual bottled water company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne person’s looking at financial statements, one’s looking at\nmarketing, one’s looking at profit loss, one’s changing prices and looking at\ninventory\u2014all of these things are being done at once. You\u2019re making quick\ndecisions and putting in place everything you’ve learned from previous classes;\neverything’s moving very fast. It felt awesome. Awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Based on the decisions of the group, the\ncompany either performs well or it doesn\u2019t. But since it\u2019s all virtual, there\u2019s\nno downside, just a great opportunity to take risks, fail, learn and apply\nknowledge. Thanks to her research and her experience with the course, Paulet believes\nthere\u2019s hope for other simulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think if everyone who has a simulation in their class would\nlook at this research, and see what they can modify in theirs, we could make it\nbetter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, Paulet traveled to an academic conference on business simulations in San Diego to present two papers based on this research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All Expo<\/a> events are free and open to the public, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Lambrigger: Anthropology and biology major seeks to restore humanity through chemistry<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Jordan Ojeda: Biomedical sciences major takes cultural approach to cancer prevention<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Mia Ornelas: Nursing major helps babies by helping moms<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Joseph Espinoza: Mom\u2019s cancer diagnosis makes research personal <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1573_JosephEspinoza_20190218-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGiulia Paulet: Business management major finds unexpected depth of learning possible through simulation games<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Expo events are free and open to the public<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n