Category: OSCAR

Blue Dog Bark: “God Talk” and Religious Cues by Centrist Democrats

Author(s): Drew Kolber

Mentor(s): Antti Pentikäinen, Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation, Carter School

Abstract

The use of religious language by moderate Democratic politicians remains understudied despite extensive research on “God talk” among conservative Republicans. This gap is particularly significant for members of the Blue Dog Coalition, who represent constituencies with many “split ticket” voters; those who elected Democrats locally while voting Republican in the national election. Previous research has focused on coded religious cues in conservative political communication, primarily relying on media appearances and campaign rhetoric, while largely leaving House floor speeches unexamined. This study aims to analyze all 2,059 congressional floor speeches offered by the ten current Blue Dog Coalition members from the 116th through the 119th Congresses (2019-2025). It employs comparative content analysis alongside thematic analysis to capture both the frequency of religious language and the contexts in which it appears. Preliminary findings reveal that Blue Dog Democrats explicitly appeal to faith during commemorations of retiring or deceased constituents and colleagues, as well as when honoring mass casualty events. “God talk” – implicit, coded religious language – was found in references to community stewardship, heritage, and the value of “neighbors” in civic life. Blue Dog Democrats primarily deploy religious rhetoric during moments of change and loss, rather than in policy debates, suggesting a “Blue Dog Bark” focused on the virtue of associational life rather than partisan identity.

Audio Transcript

Hi there. My name is Drew Kolber, and today I’m so excited to share my research: Blue Dog bark: God Talk and Religious Cues by centrist Democrats. So what is God talk, and who are the Blue Dogs? So in the 1994 midterms, Republicans gained 54 seats in the house and eight seats in the Senate. It was the first GOP House Majority since 1952 and democratic moderates responded. Founding members of this caucus viewed the results of this election as a rejection of the Democratic Party moving too far left. And so in 1995 the coalition formed with 23 members and advocated fiscal responsibility, centrist values like pragmatism and really a dedication to the financial stability and national security of the country. Today, there’s 10 members of the Blue Dog caucus with a real local turn. There’s been a shift back to an emphasis on the specific values and needs the constituencies that these representatives represent. They focus on values like the right to repair, not taking money from corporate PACs and sometimes break party lines while holding to their espoused values, focusing on a place based politics, as opposed to a national one. What’s God talk? God talk is implicit, coded religious cues embedded in political communication, coded, particularly historically, for evangelical voters, without alerting out group members, is built on GOP operative David quo’s investigation in the 1980s into this strategy by conservative politicians to imbue subtle biblical references and hymn phrases and value statements which appeared innocuous to general audiences but really resonated with religious voters. And so this coded language relied on the receiver to infer political attachments. And as I shared, the predominant focus has been on the GOP and this evangelical constituency, but I feel that it’s obscured an important research gap, which is, how do Democratic politicians employ similar strategies? So these members of the Buddha coalition represent constituencies with many split ticket voters, people who elected Democrats locally while voting Republican in the national election, and this previous research was focusing on conservative political communication, and it didn’t look at the way that Democratic politicians were speaking. And so my study aims to analyze all the congressional floor speeches offered by the 10 current Blue Dog coalition members from the 116 to the 119th Congress is essentially the last five years, and employs comparative content analysis and thematic analysis to capture both the frequency of religious language and the context in which it appears, and I’ll share some of my preliminary findings later. So why is this question important? Church and State didn’t end their dialog at the establishment clause in the early years of our nation, the separation provided a mutual protection of each institution in which they weren’t held accountable for the failures or successes of each other, and provided distinct support systems for our country. And there’s a long lineage of thinkers and philosophers observing this rich tradition of associational life and religion in many different sects in the US, looking at Alexa de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and the way that the Federalist Papers discuss the role of religion in the new nation, looking to more modern thinkers, Robert Putnam shared in 2000 that there’s a noticeable decline in social trust and associational Life. He talked about the Bowling Alone and people moving from bowling leagues to individual pursuits. And while I noticed this trend too, I also saw a prevalence in the collective social imaginary, this remaining presence of religion and religious language in politics. And I have my own experience with civil society and religion, as someone active in Jewish student life and Jewish community, and I was curious, how are politicians talking about religion? So to look at this question, I first had to determine my corpus. There’s a lot of different ways to look at political communication. You can look at tweets and newsletters. I wanted a really standardized way, and so I looked to ProQuest congressional and looked at the house floor speeches offered by this set of members of this Congressional Caucus. I also did some preliminary sense making using Max QDA, particularly content analysis, which tracked the frequency and context of key terms like biblical references and expressions of civil society and associational life, as well as thematic coding, identifying and interpreting patterns and then organizing around these themes, which is a prominent method of meaning making in conflict, analysis and resolution. So what did I find? The following are the word clouds of the most frequent terminology expressed by professor. Yes, by Representative Marie bus and camperez, Representative Jerry golden, Representative Lou Korea and Representative Adam gray. Each of these are current members of the House Blue Dogs and a really good start to my understanding of the Caucus’s way of speaking and their appeal to faith, because they really have this local turn this, this focus on the constituencies that they represent and their specific values, as opposed to a nationalized politics. And you can see community pops out even in the broader word cloud, representing the primary frequencies of the whole data set, there’s an appeal to associational life when it comes to service and honor and community and neighbors. These are terms that these representatives are using another way to visualize. This is their top most frequent words in this way. So what does this mean? Though, thematically, I noticed that the Blue Dogs appealed to faith when they were honoring retired or deceased colleagues or community leaders. I noticed that they appealed to faith in the response of mass violence or tragedy in their communities when they were expressing the value of religious freedom or honoring American culture. They also really appeal to faith when discussing military service and the notion of the ultimate sacrifice for those who died while in the service, and also, there was a prevalence of biblical imagery invoked in response to a perceived moral failing of their leadership. The following are some pulled quotes representing these various themes. Jared golden in remembering victims of a shooting in Maine in 2023 offered this daily devotional. Lou Correa and remembering the community member offered a prayer, may his memory serve as an example for all seeking to lead a happy and joyful life, may his spirit rest in peace. Marie Lucent kept Perez in honoring the survivors of a horrific fire in her district, talked about the strength of unity and community and neighbors. This term neighbors is a key term that I see over and over. Additionally, in referencing the impeachment of President Trump, Lou Correa talked about this idea of a shining city upon a hill, key biblical imagery and a call to
a greater America.
And these are, this is interesting. This is not how we might think moderate Democrats would speak. Then. This is pretty explicit, and yet, there’s also some of that coded God talk too. So there’s a combination of thematics and finds a really rich starting place to try to understand why did these politicians speak that way? And that’s what’s next, in order to understand why, we first had to understand how, how are they speaking? And that was the main object of this project. And I would be grateful to continue my research, to start to understand why, when it comes to the galvanization of voter constituencies when it appeals to faith are present or not,
and the ways in which these representatives speak.
So I’m so grateful to URSP, Oscar and Dr Karen Lee, my mentor, Antti, Professor Thomas Flores for his initial shepherding of my project. Professor Djupe for his guidance and language, and also Professor John Farina for his framing about the founders and their perception of faith in politics.
Thank you so so much.

Cells, Individuals, and Community OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) - OSCAR

Eye health and phone screen time among college

Author(s): Akosua Mainoo

Mentor(s): Lawrence Cheskin, Nutrition and Food Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to research the correlation between phone screen time
and eye health among college students. I hypothesized students who have a longer
weekly average phone screen time durations will have an increase in negative eye
health symptoms. To assess if students with longer weekly average phone screen
time duration have an increase in negative eye health symptoms. An online survey
of 100 GMU students regarding their current eye symptoms and phone usage will
be collected. The eye health survey was partly modeled after the NIH National Eye
Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire – 25. Data collected will be analyzed in R
studio to find any correlations.. Students reported an average daily phone screen
time of 6 hours and 45 minutes, and higher screen use especially in dark or low-lit
rooms was significantly associated with increased eye symptoms such as dry, sore,
itchy, and blurred vision. Greater screen time was also linked to reduced sleep and
higher levels of doomscrolling, though sleep was not significantly correlated with
any specific eye symptoms.

Audio Transcript

N/A

College of Humanities and Social Science Making and Creating OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) - OSCAR

Fountain of Truth: Women Artists and Their Perspective on Aging.

Author(s): Silas Fransen

Mentor(s): LaNitra Berger, Department of Art History

Abstract

The project is an art exhibit of women using art to share their experiences with aging. This project was greatly inspired by a paper titled, “Why Are There No Older Women in Heaven?” by Zirka Z.Filipczak. The article discusses an prevalent idea from the Renaissance and Baroque periods that chastity and virtuous women keep youthful appearances longer. This idea manifests and is kept alive through art of women saints being made young again in heaven, unlike their male counterparts. By linking a woman’s virtue to youth and beauty, age and undesirable traits become linked to sin. Older women become representatives of lust and envy. This obsession with youth and aversion of age continues into modern American culture and is kept alive through the beauty industry, Hollywood, social media and so on. The exhibit will display art by women in the NOVA area and will be displayed at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. In the art I am looking for a variety of experiences and honest depictions of what it means to age as a woman. The goal for this project is to inspire women to feel more open to talking about their own experiences with aging as well as expose the public to a variety of experiences and conflicting feelings about what it means to age as a woman.

Audio Transcript

I want to begin by thanking the OSCAR Undergraduate Research Program for the opportunity to work on this project. I also would like to thank The Hylton Performing arts center for agreeing to host the exhibit and to all the artists that have submitted their artwork. Lastly I would like to thank my mentor for this project, Dr. Berger for guiding me in this project and helping me in realizing my vision for this project.
The project I have been working on is Fountain of Truth: Women artists and their perspective on aging.
I began my research for this project with the article: “Why Are There No Older Women in Heaven?” by Zirka Z. Filipczak, this article begins by looking through depictions of the Last Judgement in Baroque art and discovering that woman saints were always depicted young, unlike the men saints. She then connects these depictions to the Renaissance, during this time there was a growing belief that a woman who retained her virginity would keep her youthful appearance. For this reason, women saints were consistently depicted as young, to contrast youth and virtue, older women in art became the personification of envy and lust.
Even today, our culture has an obsession with youthful appearances. I have seen ads for preventative botox for people as young as their early 20’s
[Methodology and results]
For this exhibit, I am looking for a variety of experiences and honest depictions of what it means to age as a woman and art that can give insight into how a person’s identity shifts due to age.
[describe results]
Currently I have 5 works of art between three artists. And I am still collecting art submissions until January 9th.
I do not want to announce any of the artists just yet… but In the artworks so far there is an overarching theme of age being something to celebrate. These artists talk about how their identity becomes less externally driven and based more in a thoughtful self reflection after rejecting how they have been told to identify.
Each of these works of art are just so beautiful and so well thought out. It’s been really really wonderful to see how each of these artists are taking my idea at the start and really turning it into their own. It’s been a really wonderful experience.
The exhibit will run for 8 weeks, February 24th to April 11th at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. It’s going to be a really wonderful experience, as I just stated and I hope to see you all there! Thank you so much, it’s been a really wonderful semester. Bye!

OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) - OSCAR US, Global, and Beyond Winners

Between the Nile and the silk Road: Rethinking global health for certain needs and Chinese traditional healing

Author(s): Hadil Ali

Mentor(s): Peiyu Yang, Department of Modern & Classical Languages

Abstract

Traditional medicine continues to serve as a primary form of healthcare for millions of people worldwide, particularly in the Global South. In Sudan, traditional medicine encompasses herbal remedies, spiritual healing, and community-based practitioners whose knowledge is deeply embedded in cultural, religious, and historical contexts. Similarly, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) represents a highly systematized non-Western medical tradition grounded in holistic diagnostic frameworks and extensive herbal pharmacology.
This project investigates the historical and cultural intersections between Sudanese traditional medicine and TCM, with particular attention to educational exchange, medical diplomacy, and informal knowledge circulation between Sudan and China during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Drawing on Sudanese ethnomedical literature, TCM scholarship, World Health Organization policy documents, and studies of China–Africa medical cooperation, this research examines shared herbal practices, concepts of illness, and approaches to holistic care. The analysis is further informed by informal conversations with Sudanese and Chinese doctors and herbal practitioners, grounding the literature in lived experience.
Findings suggest that while both systems emphasize balance, harmony, and culturally embedded healing, they differ significantly in institutional power and global recognition. Whereas TCM benefits from extensive state support and international visibility, Sudanese traditional medicine remains under-documented despite its widespread use. By centering South–South medical exchange, this project challenges Western-centric narratives in global health and highlights the importance of recognizing indigenous healing systems in the development of culturally responsive health policies.

Audio Transcript

Hello, my name is Hadil Ali, and I’m a student in the Department of Biology at George Mason University.
My research project is titled “Between the Nile and the Silk Road: Rethinking Global Health through Sudanese and Chinese Traditional Healing.”
This project was completed under the mentorship of Professor Peiyu Yang.
This research explores how two long-standing non-Western medical traditions—Sudanese traditional medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine—intersect through history, education, and cultural exchange.
Slide 2 – Background
Traditional medicine remains one of the most widely used forms of healthcare worldwide, especially in the Global South.
In Sudan, traditional medicine includes herbal remedies, spiritual healing, and community-based practitioners whose practices are rooted in ancient Nile Valley civilizations and Islamic traditions. These methods are not viewed as alternatives to medicine, but as trusted and culturally grounded healthcare systems.
Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, developed into a highly structured medical system centered on holistic diagnosis, herbal pharmacology, and balance within the body. Today, TCM also plays a role in China’s global health diplomacy, particularly in Africa.
Despite extensive research on each system individually, little attention has been given to how Sudanese and Chinese traditional medical systems may have interacted through education and medical exchange.
Slide 3 – Research Question
This gap in scholarship led to my core research question:
How did Sudanese and Chinese traditional medical systems interact through educational and cultural exchange, and what does this interaction reveal about non-Western approaches to global health?
Rather than framing Sudan as a passive recipient of medical aid, this project explores how medical knowledge circulated between two non-Western traditions through lived exchange.
Slide 4 – Methods
This project uses a qualitative, document-analysis approach.
I reviewed literature on Sudanese traditional medicine, including studies of herbal pharmacology, spiritual healing practices, and the social roles of local healers.
I also analyzed scholarship on Traditional Chinese Medicine, focusing on its diagnostic frameworks and theoretical foundations.
In addition, I analyzed research on China–Africa medical cooperation, including medical aid programs, educational exchanges, and policy documents from the World Health Organization.
This work was complemented by informal conversations with Sudanese and Chinese doctors and herbal practitioners, which helped ground the academic literature in real-world practice and contemporary experience.
Using a comparative framework, I examined shared herbs, health beliefs, and diagnostic logics across both systems.
Slide 5 – Key Findings
Several key themes emerged from this research.
First, there is significant overlap in herbal practice, including the shared use of herbs such as ginger, galangal, gum arabic, and senna. These herbs are commonly used to address digestive, respiratory, and inflammatory conditions.
Second, both traditions emphasize holistic concepts of health, where illness is understood as an imbalance involving physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions.
Third, there is a clear imbalance in visibility and institutional support. Traditional Chinese Medicine benefits from state backing, formal education systems, and global recognition, while Sudanese traditional medicine remains under-documented and marginalized in academic and policy discourse.
Finally, the literature reveals a notable absence of grassroots perspectives from Sudanese healers and Chinese students, leaving many lived experiences unrecorded.
Slide 6 – Why This Matters
This research challenges Western-centered models of global health that privilege biomedical knowledge while sidelining indigenous healing systems.
By focusing on Sudan–China exchange, this project highlights South–South medical interaction and the ways healing knowledge circulates outside dominant Western frameworks.
Recognizing traditional medicine as legitimate and culturally meaningful has implications for global health policy, medical education, and patient care—especially in culturally diverse settings.
Slide 7 – Conclusion and Acknowledgements
In conclusion, Sudanese and Chinese traditional medicine share overlapping herbal knowledge and holistic approaches shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, trade, and diplomacy. Yet the contributions of Sudanese traditional medicine remain largely undocumented in global health narratives.
Future work will expand this project through oral histories and digital storytelling to better capture these underrepresented perspectives.
I would like to thank Professor Peiyu Yang, George Mason University, and the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program for supporting this research.
Thank you for listening.

OSCAR US, Global, and Beyond

Mapping Sino-Arab Solidarity: Cultural Exchange and Decolonization, 1949–1969

Author(s): Reel Eltayeb

Mentor(s): Peiyu Yang, Department of Modern & Classical Languages

https://youtu.be/

Abstract

Title: Mapping Sino-Arab Solidarity: Cultural Exchange and Decolonization, 1949–1969
Abstract:
This project explores the cultural and political dimensions of Sino-Arab solidarity from 1949 to
1969, a period marked by global decolonization and shifting alliances. While most existing
scholarship focuses on China’s contemporary role in the Middle East, this research highlights
earlier connections through literature, journalism, and cultural diplomacy. Drawing on
multilingual sources in Arabic, English, and Chinese, the project examines how state and popular
voices represented solidarity across political, literary, and visual media.
Using a digital humanities approach, I am building an interactive ARCGIS story map that
visualizes key exchanges between Arab and Chinese intellectuals, writers, and leaders. The
methodology includes archival research at the Library of Congress, OCR text recognition, and
text mining (RegEX) to identify recurring themes such as nationalism, gender, and postcolonial
identity. Each archival entry is annotated and linked with historical metadata to show how
narratives of solidarity evolved across regions.
This project not only reconsiders Cold War history from a South–South perspective but also
combines technology and humanities to make these narratives accessible to a wider audience. It
reflects my broader interest in connecting cybersecurity, digital tools, and global history to better
understand how technology shapes the way we preserve and share transnational memory.

Audio Transcript

College of Science OSCAR US, Global, and Beyond

What Makes Dark Matter Halos Dark

Author(s): Omar Aljebrin

Mentor(s): Ferah Munshi, Physics and Astronomy

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Abstract

We investigate the factors that determine whether dark matter halos form galaxies using the Marvel-ous Dwarfs and DC Justice League zoom-in simulations. By analyzing halo occupation fractions, mass accretion histories, halo concentrations, and gas properties, we find that halo mass alone is insufficient to explain why some halos remain dark. Luminous halos grow faster, achieve higher concentrations, and retain dense, cool gas, enabling star formation. Dark halos grow more slowly, remain less concentrated, and have lower gas densities and higher gas temperatures, preventing efficient cooling after reionization and leaving them dark. These results highlight the interplay between dark matter dynamics and baryonic physics in shaping galaxy formation, demonstrating that mass growth, halo concentration, and gas content collectively determine whether a halo hosts a galaxy.

Audio Transcript

17:37:02 Hello, everyone. Today, I’ll be talking to you about what makes some dark matter halos dark.
17:37:07 So, first of all, what is dark matter? Dark matter is like any other matter, but…
17:37:13 It’s invisible, it cannot interact with normal matter that we see and touch,
17:37:18 Like, it can’t bump into it, or you can’t feel it.
17:37:23 Um,
17:37:25 And it only interacts through gravity.
17:37:28 So, it can only pull things
17:37:30 using gravity.
17:37:32 And…
17:37:34 Dark Matter Halos is just a clump of dark matter that has collected together.
17:37:40 And from now on, I’ll just call it Halos.
17:37:46 And these halos is…
17:37:48 is the environment where galaxies are made.
17:37:52 But… sometimes galaxies aren’t made.
17:37:56 In those halos, and those are called dark halos. Dark Halos. And for the ones…
17:38:02 that galaxies do form in, those are called luminous halos.
17:38:06 So, the goal of my research is to figure out
17:38:09 what leads to these halos?
17:38:12 not forming any galaxies? What properties, what events?
17:38:17 created? Like, why…
17:38:19 Do these halos have galaxies, and these don’t?
17:38:23 And…
17:38:25 my method to look at… to do that is using, um…
17:38:30 large cosmological simulations.
17:38:34 simulations, uh, that are called
17:38:36 marvelous dwarfs and DCGL.
17:38:39 DCJL standing for DC Justice League.
17:38:46 These were made by…
17:38:49 Dr. Munshi and her colleagues.
17:38:52 Um…
17:38:54 using the simulation, it provided various datas about dark matter halos, their properties,
17:39:01 And I was able to utilize this data to track certain, um,
17:39:07 patterns of dark matter halos.
17:39:10 So, for my first plot,
17:39:12 I’ve calculated the halo occupation fraction versus the maximum
17:39:19 mass, a halo has ever had.
17:39:21 So the Halo occupation fraction is basically saying, okay, for this amount of halos,
17:39:26 Um, how many of them are luminous divided by the total
17:39:30 amount of, um, halos.
17:39:33 And from what you see is…
17:39:34 From the right end… from the right end, from the large end of the mass.
17:39:41 It’s 100%, one, at the top, and then…
17:39:46 Uh, some of… they… they begin to decrease.
17:39:50 And the decrease is gradual, but…
17:39:52 you’ll see that all these simulations have different…
17:39:56 point of mass where that halo occupation decreases.
17:40:00 Which tells us that because their masses
17:40:04 vary for that critical point. That means that halo mass, or halo peak mass, isn’t enough to tell us.
17:40:10 About why some dark… some…
17:40:13 halos don’t form galaxies.
17:40:17 So then, uh, I look at the mass assembly history of the halos, how fast they gain mass.
17:40:24 And what I find that luminous halos
17:40:27 were… or the one that made Galaxies gain mass really fast. Faster than dark halos.
17:40:33 And, of course, the Dark Hills.
17:40:35 didn’t gain mass as fast.
17:40:37 Which could explain why
17:40:40 Dark Halos are… don’t make any galaxies, because they couldn’t accumulate…

Cells, Individuals, and Community College of Humanities and Social Science College of Science Honors College OSCAR Winners

Women’s Perception of Safety as Demonstrated in Tiktok Trend Man Vs Bear

Author(s): Devyn Wilson

Mentor(s): Collin Hawley, Honors College

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Abstract

Stemming from the 2024 TikTok trend asking women if they would rather be stuck in a forest with a man or bear, this study seeks to answer what the internal discourse of women is when choosing a man over a bear, in order to assess their values and perceptions of safety. Early research on this subject focused on crime statistics and victimization rates. As feminist theory developed, researchers began to explore broader contexts, including public spaces, urban design, and societal norms that influence women’s feelings of safety. This transition showcased that women’s safety perceptions are often shaped by societal norms, cultural narratives, and lived experiences. However, this proposed research question explores how women assess and investigate the intersection of physical, emotional, and social aspects of safety. To explore the decision-making process of women, mixed methods including, Critical Technocultural Discourse analysis of social media posts (Brock, 2016), bear attack statistics, crime analysis, and survey analysis of women in the DMV area will be used. Critical Technocultural discourse analysis used to analyze social media discourse to find what women are saying regarding their perceived safety in either scenario, a man or a bear appearing. Bear attack analysis and crime analysis can compare the relative risk of damage if a bear or man appears. Surveys of women in the DMV area allow for a conversational component in which women will be able to express safety in their setting. The findings contribute to broader conversations around safety, risk assessment, trust, and gender in contemporary society.

Audio Transcript

Imagine walking on a trail much like this one. While walking you hear leaves rustling, would you whether the rustling be due to a man or a bear. This question was presented to TikTok users in 2024. What was supposed to be a quick, simple, easy-to-flow trend turned into discussions about women’s safety and how they perceived the world around them. It has been a little over a year since this question first appeared, allowing many people to answer it. But what does this question demonstrate about women’s perceptions of safety? What does this question demonstrate about the perceptions of safety of women. What kind of improvement and conclusions can we draw from this trend to make women feel safer. Furthermore, the project wanted to explore the intersections of social media and outlook on safety.

Academic conversations have yet to cover these discussions. Early research on women’s perception of safety focused on crime statistics and victimization rights. As feminist theory developed, researchers began to explore broader contexts, including public spaces, urban design, and societal norms that influence women’s feelings of safety. Furthermore, safety is grouped into other discussions including MeToo, Not all men, LGBTQ+, and family disputes, among others. While these papers provide context to safety, they fail to capture the true fears and realities of women, in their everyday life. The shift from victimization rates to broader contexts marked the understanding that women’s safety perceptions are shaped by societal norms, cultural narratives, and lived experiences. Despite this shift, academic papers have yet to capture the nuanced discourse of women in everyday life. This disconnect raises important questions about whose experiences are prioritized in academic discourse — and why moments like the “man or bear” debate remain outside scholarly engagement. This project seeks to highlight the internal dialogue of women set upon by this trend Man Vs Bear, exploring how women assess and investigate the intersection of physical, emotional, and social aspects of safety.

This semester primarily focused on IRB approval and gathering survey responses.

Before examining the responses, it’s important to note the inclusion criteria. Respondents had to be women or nonbinary, between 18 and 25 years old, and currently attending a university or college in the DMV area. A total of 70 participants met this criteria.

When asked whether they would rather be in a forest with a man or a bear, responses were as shown in the graph:

Most participants felt confident in their choice. Those who were uncertain said they wanted more context—such as the type of bear, the exact setting, or the man’s behavior—because these factors would meaningfully shape their decision.

Since the purpose of the study was to understand why participants made this choice, the explanations are central to the findings. Common themes included:

Fear of men: This appeared on both sides. Many respondents felt they could more easily predict a bear’s behavior compared to a man’s intentions. Participants mentioned strategies for avoiding bear attacks or managing the situation, while expressing concern about men having hidden motives or personal gains. Several respondents noted that some potential outcomes with men—such as assault, or not being believed afterward—felt “worse than death.”

Some pointed out that they see men every day and have survived those encounters, implying that men may not be as dangerous as perceived. Others emphasized that bear attacks are statistically less common than violent crimes committed by men.

Later questions provided broader context for these choices: 93% of respondents felt that women are conditioned to be more alert or afraid in public spaces than men. No one said “no.” 80% reported they have pretended to talk on the phone, changed direction, or taken defensive actions when encountering an unknown man in a quiet area. These behaviors highlight the role of social conditioning and hypervigilance in shaping perceived safety.

Across responses, control emerged as a major influence. Participants expressed more fear of threats whose motives could be hidden—such as a man who appears helpful but becomes dangerous.

Many respondents also said they would trust their instincts over statistics, suggesting that cultural narratives and personal experience strongly shape safety judgments. For some, choosing the bear aligns with worst-case-scenario thinking, especially for those who stated that certain outcomes with men would be worse than death.

Respondents tended to classify their fear of bears as primarily rational—based on a known, identifiable physical threat.

Fear of men, however, was described as both rational and emotional, rooted not only in real statistics but also in lived experience, cultural conditioning, and emotional memory.

indicating that fear is shaped by:

lived experience,

repeated warnings,

cultural narratives, and

observed stories of harm.

The data shows that young women and nonbinary students interpret safety through a blend of emotion, lived experience, social conditioning, and perceived controllability. The surprising preference for being with a bear over a man is not about the bear itself—it is a reflection of deep concerns about male unpredictability, cultural warnings, and threats to autonomy.

The bear becomes a stand-in for a danger they feel they can understand, while men represent dangers they feel they cannot read or control.

Looking into the coming months, Critical Technocultural Discourse analysis, bear attack statistics, and crime analysis will be put into conversation with the survey results. Together, they will uncover more about perceptions of safety and where gaps can be filled through societal shifts. Ultimately, my work contributes to a broader conversation: how gender, safety, and culture shape the way we move through the world.
The “man or bear” question may sound simple — even silly — but it reminds us that women’s fears are not irrational. They are reflections of real, lived experiences in a world that too often asks them to be cautious — even in the forest.

Cells, Individuals, and Community OSCAR

Cholinergic tone and microglial dynamics in aging

Author(s): Sajud Aladhab Aladhab

Mentor(s): Nadine Kabbani, Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN)

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Abstract

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the CNS involved in the regulation of synaptic development and function through neuroimmune signaling. Microglia express receptors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), which is known to directly impact their inflammatory activity. Changes in ACh levels occurring during aging may contribute to neurodegenerative disease. We hypothesize age-related changes in ACh transmission and microglia number in the primate brain. Specifically, we predict interaction between ACh and microglia within the dentate gyrus (DG), a region critical for learning and neurogenesis. Using high-resolution images of brain sections of the DG from Macaca mulatta (Macaques), we quantified changes in ACh and microglia expression based on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and ionized-calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA1) immunolabeling, respectively. We conducted analysis across DG subregions: granule cell layer, GCL; Hilus, Hil; inner molecular layer, IML; outer molecular layer, OML. Our results indicate an effect of age on AChE and microglial marker expression suggesting a role for cholinergic neuroimmune modulation in memory decline.

Audio Transcript

Hi, my name is Sajud Aladhab and I’m a senior at George Mason University majoring in neuroscience and my projects on cholinergic tone and microglia dynamics in aging. So some background about my project. My project focuses primarily on the hippocampus which is a region in the brain located in this area and the hippocampus is essential for learning and memory and is one of the first regions affected by aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. As humans age, acetylcholine signaling declines which causes a weakening of synaptic plasticity as well as connection between neurons. As this occurs, it has been seen that microglia the brain immune cells become more active which causes an increase in neuroinflammation. This may be due to microglia containing acetylcholine receptors such as alpha 7 which allow acetylcholine to directly influence their activation and inflammatory state. So some context about my project. So my project uses two key markers in the hippocampus. The first being IBA1 which is this lighter stain here and that labels microglia, the brain immune cells and acetylcholinesterase which is cholinergic marker which is this dark stain here and it determines where acetylcholinesterase which is an enzyme breaks down acetylcholine. The region that I chose to parcellate and quantify in the hippocampus was the dentate gyrus. The reason as to why I chose this region in particular is because it’s crucial for memory encoding as well as being extremely sensitive to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. So my hypothesis and goals. So my goals are to compare the dentate gyrus across infancy, adulthood, and aging to see how cholinergic and microglia signalings change over the lifespan and to track cholinergic changes across the macaque ages and to determine whether or not there’s a correlation with microgilla density. And my hypothesis is as aging occurs, it should produce a significant change in acetylcholinesterase and microgilla density and the patterns should suggest an interaction between cholinergic tone and microglia activity in the dentate gyrus.

So methods and how my project was done. So my project included the use of macaque hippocampal sections which were stained for AChE and IBA1. The dentate gyrus was then parcellated into its sub regions which included the granule cellular layer, the hilus, the inner molecular layer and the outer molecular layer. ImageJ and QuPath paths were then used for thresholding, normalization and quantification of the marker intensities for AChE and IBA1 across their ages respectively.

So my results so in the IBA1 stain across ages there seemed to be fluctuations which suggested microglia remodeling in early development and then a drop in density in aging in the aged groups. In the hilus there seemed to be variable microglial levels throughout the whole lifespan which reflected how dynamic this region was and in the molecular layer it seemed to be stable throughout which suggested that microgilla had low structural or immunity demands here. In AChE across aging the granule cellular layer, the hilus and the outer molecular layer had similar results where cholinergic tone slowly rose during development and peaked in adulthood and then dropped to lower levels in the aged groups. In the inner molecular layer it was a bit different where there wasn’t any early developmental significance but it did peak in adulthood like right here and once again it dropped in cholinergic tone when it when it reached the aged groups. So implications and what this means so in development AChE increased across the entire dentate gyrus while microglia changes were subregional specific like in the granule cellular layer and in the hilus. In aging AChE declines were in aged groups and correlated to microgilla declines mainly in the granule cellular layer. Overall, these different aging patterns suggested interacting changes that may contribute to dentate gyrus vulnerability and memory decline. And I would like to acknowledge the OSCAR undergraduate research program at George Mason University for funding this project.

Cells, Individuals, and Community OSCAR

Repurposing Ivermectin to Halt Lung Cancer Cell Migration

S

Author(s): Alaika Sridhar

Mentor(s): Geraldine Grant, College of Science

Abstract

Ivermectin, a novel antiparasitic, has recently emerged as a candidate with unexpected anti-cancer properties. Some studies report that ivermectin suppresses tumor cell proliferation and migration by regulating signaling pathways linked to cytoskeletal remodeling and disease progression. Lung adenocarcinoma, represented by the A549 cell line, remains difficult to treat due to its capacity for invasion, therapeutic resistance, and poor long-term outcomes. This project investigates whether ivermectin can reduce A549 cell migration through modulation of α-SMA associated contractility and related pathway activity. The proposed methodology includes scratch assays to quantify changes in motility following treatment, and molecular analyses to evaluate shifts in expression of migration-linked markers. These findings aim to clarify ivermectin’s mechanistic impact on lung cancer cell movement and offer insight into its potential relevance as a repurposed therapeutic strategy for limiting tumor progression.

Audio Transcript

My name is Alaika Sridhar, and today I’m going to be talking about my project exploring the effect of ivermectin on A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells.

For context, A549 cells are a non–small cell lung cancer line, a clinically significant cancer type known for its aggressive behavior, high metastatic potential, and resistance to conventional therapies. Because of these challenges, identifying affordable and accessible agents that can reduce cell migration or proliferation is extremely important.

Although ivermectin is well-known as an antiparasitic drug, emerging studies show that it can inhibit proliferation across several tumor types by regulating key signaling pathways. This has generated growing interest in repurposing ivermectin as an anticancer agent.
However, its effects on A549 cells, particularly through cytoskeletal and migration-related pathways, are still not well understood. That gap is what this project aims to address.

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that ivermectin will inhibit pro-migratory pathways in A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells, specifically through modulation of the TGF-β1 / α-smooth muscle actin signaling pathway, ultimately reducing motility. The primary marker I’ll be examining is α-SMA, which is tied to cell movement and cytoskeletal remodeling.

Methods Overview

Due to delays in obtaining materials, this project was not fully completed during the semester, but the proposed methodology is as follows:

Toxicity Testing
A549 cells will be treated with increasing concentrations of ivermectin to determine a non-lethal dose, one that affects motility without compromising viability. This ensures observed effects reflect pathway regulation rather than cell death.

Scratch Assay
A wound will be introduced into a confluent monolayer of cells, followed by ivermectin treatment. I will measure rate of gap closure to assess whether cell migration is slowed.

qPCR Analysis
Gene expression of α-SMA and other motility-associated markers will be quantified. Reduced expression would suggest suppression of cytoskeletal pathways.

Western Blot
Protein abundance will be assessed to determine whether transcriptional changes translate to functional protein-level alterations.

Data Analysis
Imaging and quantification will be performed using ImageJ, followed by Tukey’s post-hoc statistical testing to determine significance.

Significance and Future Directions

A549 cells represent an aggressive cancer subtype that remains difficult to treat.
If ivermectin reduces their migration, it may offer a promising low-cost avenue to limit metastasis which is one of the leading causes of mortality in lung cancer.

Once I complete the experiment, I plan to:

explore additional pathway targets,
investigate time dependent responses, and
extend findings into in vivo models.

This work contributes to growing interest in drug repurposing, which offers inexpensive and accessible strategies to improve cancer treatment.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank the OSCAR Office at George Mason University for funding this research and Dr. Geraldine Grant and everyone in the Grant Lab for their support and guidance.

Thank you.

Making and Creating OSCAR

Collaboration and Community: The Rise of Collective Creativity in Contemporary Christian Music since 2020

Author(s): Evan Sites

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, OSCAR

Abstract

For the research portion of my capstone project, I will examined the noticeable increase in collaboration among Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) artists since 2020. The CCM industry has long thrived on collaboration, but in the years following 2020, the practice has grown in both frequency and visibility. Several factors, including the rise of digital distribution, the influence of streaming platforms, and changes in worship culture accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to this growth. By studying these developments, I aim to gain a deeper understanding of how collaboration serves as both an artistic and strategic tool for CCM artists and its impact on the CCM industry as a whole.

Audio Transcript

0:01
Hi, my name is Evan Sites and I am a
0:05
senior here at George Mason University.
0:09
I am currently pursuing a degree in
0:12
music technology as well as minoring in
0:15
business.
0:17
For my capstone project this semester,
0:20
the research portion specifically,
0:23
I decided to look at the Christian
0:28
contemporary music industry.
0:32
Reason being is because that is a field
0:36
of
0:38
um music that I’m very passionate about
0:40
and that I enjoy
0:44
doing as well as listening to.
0:49
What I researched this semester was the
0:52
noticeable increase in collaboration
0:55
among CCM artists since 2020.
1:00
Now, the CCM industry has long thrived
1:03
on collaboration, but I believe that the
1:08
practice has grown in both frequency and
1:11
visibility.
1:13
I believe that three things contributed
1:16
to this increase of collaboration that
1:19
we see today. Number one, the rise of
1:22
digital distribution. Number two,
1:25
increased use of streaming platforms.
1:28
Number three, worship culture changes
1:31
accelerated by the CO 19 pandemic.
1:35
I believe that I have gained a deeper
1:37
understanding of how collaboration
1:39
serves as an artistic and strategic tool
1:43
for CCM artists as well as the CCM
1:46
industry as a whole.
1:50
For this research project, I
1:52
specifically looked at four different
1:54
case studies. I looked at um a album
1:59
that Maverick City Music came out with
2:01
um a couple years ago and this album it
2:05
just represents um inclusivity,
2:08
innovation and community within the
2:09
worship um industry.
2:14
Another case study that I looked at was
2:16
a song called The Blessing. And this
2:19
song is an example of what
2:24
a researcher said in his book regarding
2:27
how digital technology has reshaped
2:30
music making in the Christian context.
2:35
The third case study I looked at was an
2:38
album by Elevation Worship and Maverick
2:41
City Music called Old Church Basement.
2:44
This album achieved massive commercial
2:46
and spiritual success. According to the
2:49
Gospel Music Association, Old Church
2:51
Basement set a new world worldwide
2:55
record for the most first day streams
2:58
for a Christian and gospel album on
3:00
Apple Music. It also won multiple
3:03
Grammys that year. The last case study I
3:07
looked at was an album by Chris Tommen
3:09
entitled Chris Tomlin and Friends. This
3:12
was a cross genre collaboration album.
3:15
It features
3:17
um multiple artists from the pop scene
3:21
as well as some country artists. Um this
3:26
album is an example of what Emma Madden
3:29
highlights in her article uh published
3:33
by NPR that highlights the recent
3:36
collaboration between CCM artists and
3:38
secular pop artists. and she frames
3:42
these partnerships as signs of the
3:45
genre’s evolving cultural position.
3:50
The broader implications of this study
3:52
show that collaboration serves as both
3:54
an artistic and strategic tool for um
3:59
CCM artists.
4:01
I foresee that digital collaboration is
4:04
going to be the new model for creative
4:06
ministries based off of the research
4:09
that I read. um during this semester.
4:13
In conclusion,
4:15
since 2020, collaboration has become a
4:18
defining force in the Christian
4:19
contemporary music scene.
4:22
It unites artists and audiences through
4:25
shared faith and creativity.
4:29
Digital platforms have defined worship
4:32
as both um something in the local and
4:35
global context. And the future of CCM
4:40
lies in community-based creativity.
4:43
Thank you.

Making and Creating OSCAR

Machine Learning aided Nanoindentation to Discover Material Properties

Author(s): Jake Samuel

Mentor(s): Ali Beheshti, Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Machine learning has been explored as a method of identifying material properties from the material’s indentation data in a process called inverse analysis. A paper by Lu Lu, et. al examines machine learning techniques that could aid this process by adding a residual connection in a neural network (MFRN) [4]. This work examines how this technique improves inverse analysis for small samples of high fidelity data. The MFRN was compared to gaussian process regression, a multi-fidelity model that is well established. It was found that adding a residual connection lowered error significantly for inverse analysis for smaller samples of data.

Audio Transcript

Hello, my name is Jake Samuel and I’m here to talk about using machine learning aided nano indentation to discover material properties. So first let me get some background. Material property testing can be a long and expensive process. It can be hard to test on materials that may be small, or if you’re using a destructive test on a thin film material, you might not want that. So another way to go about for testing material properties is using nano indentation. So nano indentation is the process of adding a small indent in a material and then you’re measuring the loading and the unloading, the force over depth. And then if we were to know the material’s microstructure and the relationship of that between its properties, we can, we can find the material properties. However, that is a, that can be quite a hard process to do rigorously. So instead, machine learning techniques have been applied to this kind of problem with pretty good success, as machine learning models are able to find patterns which can be, that might not be obvious for humans. So the machine learning model we’re going to be examining in this model is a neural network which is just composed of, as you can see here, some hidden layers which have some kind of activation function. So each of them do a little math, and then you have some number of inputs which all lead to some number of outputs and essentially functions as a black box. And you can train it over very large data sets. But the problem is that if you were to train it on indentation data, an indentation test is also, you know, it’s a test you have to run. It can take a long time to perform. And if you are in the business of data collection, you know that data can become corrupted or you can have bad data really easily, and indentation is no different. If you have a long period of testing for indentation, you are likely to have bad data if the test gets messed up. So there is a paper by Lu lu that examines how certain machine learning techniques can be improved. So an example of this is multi fidelity, where if you have, not a lot of data points, you can supplement it with some, a lot of lower quality data points. For example, for indentation, if you don’t have a lot of experimental data points, you can supplement them with, sorry, you can supplement them with some simulations. And one of the innovations that is described in this paper is adding a residual connection to improve the neural network. So you will see some math here. So I’ll try to explain it really quickly. Multi fidelity uses some kind of linear function and a nonlinear function in combination. To learn both the linear and nonlinear relationships between the high and the low fidelity data. And what Lu lu describes here is this residual connection alpha-L Y-L, which in theory should make it easier to learn from data that might already be connected. So we’re going to compare this to Gaussian process regression which is a popular machine learning algorithm. It has been used since 2001 and multi fidelity models of Gaussian process regression have existed for a long while. So you can, we can call this the standard in multi fidelity machine learning. So in the work I have done is I have compared how I’ve tried to replicate the machine learning model proposed by Lu lu and compared it with traditional Gaussian processing. So here we see on when using simple simulation data. So this is from Fem2D and the high fidelity is Fem3D. In the orange, our multi fidelity model with the residual outperforms our multi fidelity Gaussian processing quite significantly. Now for any of you familiar with machine learning, you might think that the the learning curve is a bit flat. Usually you’ll see a curve similar to a downward slope like here. And the reason for this is because since this is strictly simulation data, it is really easy for a machine learning model to learn it. Think of it as a computer that’s spitting out data would, intuitively it would be easy for a computer to learn from it. And when measuring with mean average percent error, the residual does significantly better. With almost 10% MAPE. The MFGP gets around 90% MAPE. Now doing. Replicating these results on actual experimental data gives us some interesting figures. Here we have again in orange the multi fidelity model with the residual connection. And, and as you can see it does a lot better in lower data set sizes. So up until you get high fidelity data set size of 6, which I think is like 60 or 600, I think it’s 60, 60 high fidelity data points. Our residual connection does a lot better. But it evens out to be about the same. The traditional Gaussian processing regression does do a little bit better at 0.5% MAPE while the residual connection network plateaus at 1% MAPE. So from this we can learn that using a residual connection as proposed by Lu lu seems to hold promise for learning from low size data sets and low fidelity data sets. Now this is important because it could greatly reduce costs and, if you are running into problems with data collection, it is a useful thing to know. And for the future, future work will explore how physical data from indentations. Here we have a mark of an indentation and we can learn the indentation depth and the indentation width from it, how that could potentially relate to material properties such as creep. And this is relevant because this data is a lot less, it gives you a lot less information than if you would do like get data normally from nano-indentation tests. I would like to give a big thank you to Dr. Ali Beheshti and Shaheen Mahmood for supporting me in the lab, for Dr. Karen Lee and the OSCAR program for giving me the opportunity to do my research, and thank you for watching.

Cells, Individuals, and Community College of Engineering and Computing OSCAR Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) - OSCAR

Pain, Medication Use and Biomarker Associations in Individuals with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) : Insights from the All of Us Research Program

Author(s): Jannatul Nayeem

Mentor(s): Jenny Phan, CASSBI

A

Abstract

Background:
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder often accompanied by chronic pain, yet the biological and social determinants of this pain remain underexplored. Understanding how stress-related biomarkers and healthcare access interact in shaping pain experiences may reveal mechanisms underlying health disparities in PCOS populations.

Objective:
This study examined associations between inflammatory and neuroendocrine biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP), cortisol, and body mass index (BMI)) and pain burden among individuals with PCOS, while exploring the moderating role of healthcare access and insurance coverage.

Methods:
Using data from the All of Us Research Program, 2,160 adults with PCOS (identified by ICD-9/10 codes) were analyzed. Pain burden was measured through pain-related diagnoses and pain medication dosage. Biomarker distributions were winsorized, log-transformed, and analyzed via multivariate regression models adjusting for age, race, socioeconomic status, and healthcare variables.

Results:
Pain burden alone was not significantly associated with higher CRP, cortisol, or BMI levels. However, healthcare access moderated these relationships: participants with greater barriers to care exhibited elevated inflammation and BMI with increasing pain, whereas those with adequate access showed flatter or reduced biomarker trends.

Conclusions:
Findings suggest that chronic pain and stress responses in PCOS may be shaped more by social and contextual factors than biological burden alone. Enhancing healthcare accessibility and equity could mitigate stress-related physiological outcomes and improve pain management for individuals with PCOS.

Audio Transcript

0:01 Hello, my name is Jannatul Nayeem. I am a student researcher with the B&LAB, um, at George Mason. I’m working directly with, um, Dr.
0:13 Jenny, um, in her our static load study. Which is the body’s biological stress response, and how it relates to menstrual disorders and chronic pain.
0:23 Um, from that study, I wanted to dive deeper into PCOS, and look at pain medication use and biomarker. Or associations and individuals with that disorder.
0:36 Umm, for methodology, I started off by using, umm, the all of us data set, uhh, database. Umm, it has a ton of data on- individuals, uhh, with all sorts of diseases and, umm, information from their doctor visits, umm, patient records, and also, umm, some survey questions that, the program itself asks
1:06 those participants, umm, and so through that, through that database, I was able to find what 2160 individuals with PCOS, and dive deeper into, uhh, their- biomarkers, uh, specifically for this, I’m using, umm, 3 biomarkers as predictors for inflammation and stress.
1:30 I’m using BMI, C-reactive protein, and cortisol. And then, umm, for- for their outcome variable, I use pain diagnosis along with their medication usage, umm, for medication usage, umm, I accounted for, umm, how many medications they’re taking.
1:52 And, and also what the dosage was for that medication, umm, and then some co-variates, such moderators that, sorry, some co-variates that I used was age, race, uhh, and SES index, and then for moderators, umm, I looked at healthcare access, uh, specifically insurance insurance status and access to care
2:19 . there. And so, I’m going to zoom into the results that I had, umm, hopefully in the video it resumes in two.
2:33 umm, but for my results, I found that, umm, pain alone didn’t start- we predict inflammation or stress, but limited access to care did.
2:45 Individuals with more barriers, such as lack of insurance, showed higher inflammation and BMI with pain, suggesting that health equity plays a critical role in PCOS pain.
2:56 Um, while my insurance data was limited, uh, because, uh, that not many people answered those questions, um, there’s still show some support that the idea- that stress biology and pain in PCOS are influenced by social environment and not just physiology.
3:22 Um, right now, I am continuing this study, um, to- or they’re deep in my understanding and advocate for equitable pain care in PCOS populations.
3:36 Umm, and so one thing I want to focus on more is, uh, imp- moving, um, how we, uh, state these questions, because I do feel like how the, uh, question is stated about access to care and insurance status is pretty sensitive.
3:58 So how can we go about it to, change the way, um, someone feels about answering those type of questions. Um, and so yeah, that was my study.
4:09 Thank you for listening.