Category: OSCAR

OSCAR

Motor Deficit Remediation Following TBI with Plasma Administration

Author(s): Petra Honainy

Mentor(s): Jane Flinn, Psychology

Young blood plasma in mice has shown to be promising as a potential treatment for
symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer‘s disease and Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI). Prior research shows that cognitive deficits improve with young blood plasma, but
there is little research on how young blood plasma mitigates motor deficits. Our study inspects
whether young blood plasma can improve motor deficits in mice with TBI. The mice in the study
are either induced with a TBI and an injection of saline or young blood plasma, or the mice are
not induced with a TBI and injected with saline or young blood plasma. The mice then do the
wire hanging and Rotarod test where their motor functioning is assessed.

Today we are going to discuss a common medical problem that is debilitating and lacks a proper treatment. Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a disease that results from a force strong enough to hurt the brain and causes death to important brain and supporting cells. This can lead to changes in cognition, personality, and limitations with movement and other motor skills. My focus is on motor skills.

Groups that are impacted from TBI include people who play high impact sports, one of the most infamous cases resulting from football, but this is certainly not the only sport. Young children and elderly populations are largely at risk because they both are at high risk for falls and other physical accidents.

You could see how these groups who already have diminished motor skills could really be in trouble if they obtain a TBI that will worsen these motor skills.

Right now, long, and frustrating work with physical and occupational therapists are the best that we have that can help with TBI symptoms. So, I suggest an alternative solution involving blood transfusions that could lead to better outcomes and less time in a clinic.

Young blood plasma has been shown to cause benefits in older mice such as synaptic plasticity, higher dendritic spine number, which is like increasing the strength of the neurons, and inducing adult neurogenesis, which is forming more neurons from premature ones. If this happens in areas of the brain controlling motor activity, this could be very beneficial in improving motor symptoms. It has been previously found that mouse brain function improves with young blood administration, but this research is limited, and more tests need to be done which is what I propose.

We will work on this in the lab. First, mice will be given a TBI using an apparatus like the one shown for about a week. Next, these mice are administered blood from young mice for 15 days. After this, tests will be conducted to look at motor skill, using the rotarod and wire hanging test. Both use the fact that longer times indicate better motor control. Finally, we will look at the data and see if motor skills have improved.

If motor skills do improve, we are one step closer in seeing the value of young blood that could one day apply to humans. This type of research provides a new route in treatments for debilitating irreversible diseases like TBI.

Research on the mechanisms of how young blood plasma can help with deficits needs to occur once we have comprehensive data showing the benefits of using young blood.

Race and Income Differences in Primary Exceptionality Status Over Time

Author(s): Ben Gallimore

Mentor(s): Adam Winsler, Psychology

There has been very little research on the change in disability status (referred to as mobility) over time for students in public schools. Past literature on the impact of race and income on disability status has focused on disability placement at fixed points in time, though there has been no research on how race or income impact mobility. High mobility overall and between specific disability categories, as well as the potential impact of race or income on mobility could suggest flaws in the administration of disability assessments. Any flaws in the administration of disability assessments would suggest students are being misdiagnosed for disabilities and therefore risk spending more time without the proper disability services they may need to be successful in school. The current study will examine potential race or income differences in exceptionality status using pre-collected data from the Miami School Readiness Project, which followed five cohorts of students from subsidized public, family, and center-based schools starting in preschool between 2002-2006 in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The majority of students from the MSRP were in poverty, Black, and/or Latino. The current study will use data from ~7,000 of these students who have an exceptionality status, and will focus on the grade levels of kindergarten through fifth grade. Findings from the present study could hint towards the accuracy of disability assessments or their administration within Miami-Dade County, Florida, and suggest ways to ensure students are receiving appropriate disability services.

My name is Ben Gallimore and I am examining the race and income differences in primary exceptionality status over time for my psychology honors project.

A primary exceptionality refers to a disability or the gifted status, which has the most significant impact on academic performance. A primary exceptionality placement is required for a student to have an individualized education program, or IEP, which would then allow them to receive disability services. The change in primary exceptionality status is also referred to as mobility, which occurs when a student no longer meets the diagnostic criteria for a disability, has other disabilities that have taken priority, or was initially misdiagnosed with a disability and has since moved to hopefully the correct disability status.

Past literature on race and income on exceptionality status has focused on racial disproportionality at fixed points in time. While there has been conflicting research on the direction of racial disproportionality, such as whether minoritized students are over or under-represented in special education, the general consensus is that both race and income have an impact on disability placement. Additionally, the degree to which income impacts disability placement is suggested to differ by race. There has been no research on how race or income impact the mobility of disability status for students in public schools, and there is very little research on mobility overall. Past literature on overall mobility suggests around 40% of students change exceptionality status, though this research used indirect measurements of disability status through parent/teacher surveys instead of a student‘s IEP, and was not able to examine mobility frequency since it examined disability status at 2001 and then again in 2004. In other words, mobility was not measured continuously, meaning research must still be done on overall mobility with direct measurements of disability placement as well as examining mobility frequency.

It is important to examine the mobility of disability categories and the possible impact of race or income on mobility because it would suggest flaws in the administration of assessments or the assessments themselves which then leads to potential misdiagnoses for students. Furthermore, if a student is being misdiagnosed for a disability then they are spending more time without the appropriate services they may need to be successful in school. My findings could suggest ways to improve disability assessments or the ways in which they are administered. For example, if there is high mobility between specific disability categories, then the diagnostic criteria for those disabilities may not be distinct enough between one another. Additionally, my research could suggest risks of bias based on race or income if either has an affect on mobility.

I will use pre-collected data from the Miami School Readiness Project, or MSRP, which followed 5 cohorts of students from subsidized public, family, and center-based schools. The MSRP initially followed students starting in preschool between 2002-2006, though my study will take place from kindergarten to fifth grade. My sample will have around 7,000 students with an exceptionality. 78% are low income, 58% are Latino, 34% are Black, and 7% are White/Other. I will use five types of analyses. I will use Logistic regression, analysis of variance, frequency distributions, descriptive analysis, and Chi-square tests of independence. Logistic regressions will have both polynomial and dichotomous logistic regression to examine race and income on mobility simultaneously. I will use ANOVA and frequency distribution to look at the impact of race and income on the frequency of which students experience mobility. I will use descriptive analyses and Chi-square tests of independence to examine overall mobility as well as the disability categories a student had and then changed to.

I want to acknowledge my thesis advisor Dr. Adam Winsler, as well as Dr. Karen Lee and the entire WINSLAB Team! Thank you for your time, here are my references.

OSCAR

Revolutionizing Web Design: A Game-Menu Inspired Interface

Author(s): Daniel Mosiane

Mentor(s): Paul Zdepski, College of Visual and Performing Arts

This project explores the intersection of web design and gaming, aiming to revolutionize traditional web interfaces by integrating elements of game menus. The central research question investigates how game-menu design principles can enhance user engagement and accessibility in web design. Drawing inspiration from various gaming interfaces and interactive design trends, this project seeks to make a unique contribution to web design methodologies. The research involves a user-centered design approach, incorporating feedback from diverse user groups to ensure the final product is intuitive and accessible to a broad audience. Techniques include iterative design, usability testing, and integration of interactive elements akin to those found in game menus. The expected result is a web interface that combines the immersive experience of gaming with the practicality and accessibility of conventional web design. This project contributes to the field of web design by introducing a novel approach that challenges traditional design norms and opens new avenues for creative and interactive web experiences. It also demonstrates the potential of game-inspired elements in enhancing user engagement and accessibility in digital spaces.

00:00:00:21 – 00:00:23:27
I wanted to create a project that merges conventional web design with the kind of engaging look and appeal of video game design and video game UI design and in this example, a video game title screen design. So I had used a program called Drive. This was to explore the possibility of doing this without having to know a lot of hard coding.

00:00:23:41 – 00:00:41:04
You need to know a little bit. But most of this was just done within the program itself that can embed itself onto a website. But for example, we have these graphics here and they react to the movement of your mouse. And I have this thing that I drew up on the side here to go in the to the composition with this area here.

00:00:41:16 – 00:00:58:37
And I feel like even with such a simple setup, it creates an engaging experience. And look at the buttons, right? The buttons are also reactive to clicking, and there are even more interesting graphics. Let me put this to full screen so you get a better experience. It has a very, very nice appeal to it and this is all running on HTML.

00:00:58:51 – 00:01:28:13
Unknown
So if I go here, you can see a lot more of the work that I have created and I feel like it’s a very engaging experience and a more memorable experience than you would see in a typical kind of scrolling website design. I can talk to you a little bit more about the composition. Actually to better explain some of the compositional ideas I had when I was composing this experience.

00:01:28:13 – 00:01:51:52
I can give you a visual example here. If you take a point on the screen in the middle and extend it into a line, the line, of course, become a cross. This cross forms the basis for how space is divided in a game menu. You, for example, you’ll have the title screen coming on one side and the other buttons that support that title screen on one quadrant and a graphic element on the other half.

00:01:51:57 – 00:02:16:07
You’ll see this in many different game menus that you’ll play. And throughout the process of making my website, I had that in mind by having a character on one part of the screen and a title on one quadrant of the screen and the information on the other quadrant of the screen. This is a really good way to divide things, to communicate the information that you’re trying to give to the audience.

00:02:16:11 – 00:02:41:25
So in summary, the purpose was to see if I could create a very unique and engaging experience by combining these two principles of both website design and conventional game design with some, you know, compositional notes. The result was something very appealing that I can take and further expand on the functioning of. And this is just a prototype that can serve as a good basis for what can come with this kind of implementation of design.

OSCAR

Testing the Enhancement of Heat Transfer by Autonomous Microswimmers

Author(s): Jacob Velazquez

Mentor(s): Jeffrey Lawrence Moran, Mechanical Engineering

This study explored the potential for autonomous microswimmers to enhance heat transfer in fluids. Using a dc power supply and type k thermocouples, we compared a solution of water, hydrogen peroxide, and surfactant, without swimming manganese dioxide particles to the same solution with swimming particles, to test for enhancement in thermal mixing due to the addition of swimmers. Our results suggest that certain combinations of water, hydrogen peroxide, surfactant, and volume fraction of swimmers can have a non-negligible impact on the heat transfer coefficient of a common heat transfer geometry. This could be utilized in a myriad of applications, including creating a microswimmer suspension coolant for electronics.

Hello everyone and welcome to my presentation on using autonomous microswimmers to enhance heat transfer in fluids.
Before I discuss how microswimmers can enhance heat transfer, however, I must first explain what a microswimmer is.
A microswimmer is a small particle ranging from a few micrometers to a millimeter in size, that moves through a liquid utilizing a variety of different propulsion mechanisms. The primary mechanism we will be discussing today, however, is bubble propulsion.
Bubble swimmers move by breaking down a fuel source and producing gas bubbles that push the particle forward as they detach from the surface, as you can see demonstrated here.
To visually quantify mixing of heat, we used a Peltier heater in a glass dish. We then added 8 mL of fluid and supplied a constant voltage and current to the system.
The film layer was kept thin to minimize natural convection and to approximate the temperature distribution as two dimensional.
Before we tested our bubble swimmers, we first wanted a proof of concept, for which we used Camphor particles.
From here we were able to witness an enhancement in thermal mixing.
On the left is a control with just water, and on the right is water with Camphor particles that utilize surface tension to swim on the surface of the water.
For our next experimental setup, we considered two kinds of bubble swimmers: Manganese Dioxide and Silver. These particles break down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water. The particles are in the red circles.
With the help of my colleague, Darsh Devkar at the University of Virginia, we crafted a similar setup to quantify changes in the heat transfer coefficient.
To accomplish this, we modeled the system as a thermal circuit, where the swimmer suspension and air were the primary resistors.
From here we used type k thermocouples to monitor the temperatures of the heater, the free surface of the suspension, and the air.
We supplied a relatively constant heat flux and maintained the same conditions for all trials.
We let the heater run for forty minutes until the system reached steady state, then we collected data for ten minutes.
Shown here is the reduced temperature difference for the Manganese Dioxide swimmers compared to the same suspension without swimmers.
This correlates with an increased mixing of heat in the suspension.
We used Newton’s law of cooling to derive a relative heat transfer increase.
Since the heat flux was approximately constant for both experiments, we divided the two equations for a relative increase in the heat transfer coefficient.
This yielded an enhancement of almost double with the microswimmers.
In conclusion,
Our experiments affirmed that bubble swimmers influence the transport of thermal energy in a suspension.
We are not certain how much of this influence is due to the bubble generation, however.
We hypothesize that there exists some optimal condition for this system.
I would like to thank the National Science Foundation, as well as the Oscar undergraduate research scholar’s program at George Mason, for funding this research.

Honors College OSCAR

The Diasporic Narrative: Palestinians Worldwide

Author(s): Ayham Elayan, John Woolsey

Mentor(s): Collin Hawley, Honors College

Following the Palestinian mass exodus of 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and land. Now, they amount to nearly 7 million descendants worldwide. Interestingly, however, there is a strong sense of Palestinian identity and pride within these new generations, despite living in diaspora and many of whom having never visited Palestine. In order to determine the rationality behind this occurrence, this study observes the research question: To what extent has the Palestinian diaspora affected its descendants‘ ties to their home country? Palestinians attending colleges or universities within the DC-Maryland-Virginia region were recruited to complete a survey collecting demographic and quantitative information as well as thoughtful and prosaic responses on factors that may have influenced one‘s connection to Palestine, such as travel history, citizenship, and language skills, for example. From the results, it was concluded that regardless of many different factors and personal circumstances, nearly anyone of Palestinian descent signify strong ties and pride in their culture and where they have come from. These findings are incredibly beneficial when studying the effects of any diaspora on its people, but especially useful in highlighting why the Palestinian diaspora is particularly unique in instilling a sense of identity into its descendants like no other diaspora does, which many respondents claim is due to the difficult, unjust experiences within the history of their ancestors that they learn of.

This past summer, I spent about a month or so in my family home back in Palestine. And upon leaving, even though I was super excited to be coming back home, returning to my studies, returning to my life here in America, I was also so heartbroken at the fact that I had to leave behind so many relatives and family members back home, even though I had only seen them a couple times in my entire life. So as we left, I began to wonder whether I was coming back home or if I was actually leaving it.

My name is Ayham Elayan, a student at George Mason University‘s Honors College, and this dichotomy and challenge I faced just last summer, is the same that millions Palestinians worldwide living in the diaspora face today. Having coming from ancestors who were forcibly removed from their home ages ago upon their timeline, these second-generation Palestinians are being raised and brought up in entirely different countries with entirely different cultures. Thus, as described by Fawadleh in the Journal of International Migration and Integration, the result seen is a development of a sort of hybrid identity, an integration between their Palestinian identity and that of their host society. For example, a “Palestinian Americans”. And many of these Palestinians, in fact, have never even stepped foot within the land of Palestine. Yet, nonetheless, as I‘m sure you‘ve seen within the past month, these many Palestinians all across the world have a sense of connection, identity, and culture so strong that only so few nationalities could match its strength in pride. Which begs the question, as to how? How exactly are they able to do that if they‘ve never been to the country for example? How can they find that connection? To what extent does living within the diaspora affect one‘s connection to Palestine?

To address this question, I conducted a study titled the “Diasporic Narrative: Palestinians Worldwide,” which collected a sample of Palestinian college students, focusing in the DMV region, and were requested to complete a survey. This survey collected: firstly, objective data such as their demographics and logistics, for example, whether they have ever been to Palestine, whether they speak the language, whether they have legal status, and then secondly, subjective data, primarily being how the respondents felt connected to their Palestinian identity, but also how much they feel they belong on their college campus.

There were a number of clear trends found within the data. Firstly, the results of the diaspora were clearly evident. For example, 42% of respondents mentioned countries other than Palestine when they were asked “where they were from”. 63% said they had Palestinian relatives who no longer lived in Palestine. Some even had no relatives remaining in Palestine whatsoever.

In terms of connection, however, 55% stated they felt very connected to their Palestinian identity, whereas the remaining felt somewhat or neutrally connected. It was found that the more Arabic a respondent spoke, whether they had legal status there, if they had family there, or if they had visited Palestine more times in their life, then that respondent was generally more likely to have a higher sense of connection to their Palestinian identity than those who had not.

In fact 70% of respondents had no legal status in the region whatsoever and 38% had never actually visited once in their lifetimes. Some respondents provided reasonings for the sense of connection they provided, and those who had lower senses of connections mentioned things like language barriers or having never lived or even visited Palestine made them feel unable to choose a higher rating, even though they wanted to.

However, putting connection to Palestine aside, respondents were also asked how proud they were of their identity. And nearly 100% of respondents stated that they felt very proud of their Palestinian identity. In fact, almost every single respondent was able to pinpoint exactly what towns and villages they originated from. And those whose families were removed from the land were able to indicate at what point upon their timeline that their family was removed.

Thus, the more prominent discovery within these findings is that regardless of connection, any single person of Palestinian descent, whether fully, partly, or even just by having an ounce of Palestinian blood, is aware of their roots and culture, and is sure to represent that identity unapologetically and proudly for their entire lives.

A special thanks to the GMU OSCAR department for providing the funding for this research, and to those who guided me along the way, including my mentor Collin Hawley. Thank you guys.

College of Engineering and Computing OSCAR

A Machine-Learning Approach for Studying Disinfectant By-Products (DBPs)

Author(s): Isaac Amouzou

Mentor(s): Ben Seiyon Lee, Department of Statistics

Disinfectant byproducts or DBPs for short are chemical compounds that form when disinfectants in water (ex: chlorine) react with natural organic matter. Chronic DBP exposure can cause significant negative health effects, such as bladder cancer, colon cancer, and pregnancy complications. DBP exposure is difficult to measure so a surrogate is needed to model DBP exposure. In the previous spring we developed statistical models that could accurately model the relationship between specific DBPs (selected using a feature selection method called lasso regression), categorical variables and toxic DBP classes when taking into account the public water system of origin. This project developed a classification framework for detecting at-risk public water systems using a machine learing method known as feed-forward neural networks. We also created an interactive tool for allowing anyone regardless of prior experience to explore the data used for the project, perform predictions using the previously developed models on the DBP classes, and evaluate the models with the DBP classes using either ICR data that contained data from over 13,000 measurements from 295 different public water systems or from data given by the user.

hello I am Isaac Amouzou and this is my project a machine learning approach for studying disinfectant byproducts or dvps disinfectant byproducts or chemical compounds that form when disinfectants in water react with natural organic matter some negative health effects that can come from chronic disinfectant byproduct exposure are bladder cancer colon cancer or pregnancy complications highly disinfectant water sources can lead to DBP exposure to ensure drinking water safety it is imperative that DBP levels and public water sources be properly monitored

dbp exposure is difficult to measure directly so surrogates have been used for example trihalomethanes or THMs are easier to measure and it was believed that THM concentrations are proportional to concentrations of other dbp classes a past study examined the link between THMs and a dbp class Haloacetonitriles or Hans the data consisted of over 9500 measurements from 248 Public Water Systems the result was that thms could only explain 30% of the variance in HANconcentrations

previously in Spring We examined four DBP classes using statistical models for this current project our goals were to create a framework to classify at-risk Public Water Systems given a DBP threshold using machine learning methods and to create a publicly available interactive tool to explore our data to generate and download predictions and evaluate model performance our data is from the information collection request database from the Environmental Protection Agency the data set contains over 13 000 measurements from 295 Public Water Systems

this is our framework for classifying at-risk Public Water Systems for class the classification we use a neural network model in this section we prepare the data to be processed and passed into the neural network for classification here we created a threshold to classify at-risk water systems and to prepare the DBP target class haa9 a specific threshold we used here was 72 micrograms per liter and we did 1.5 standard deviations off that limit so any public water system that is above 72 minus one and a half standard deviations will be classified as at risk and any below will be classified as save here we split the data into training and validation sets this is done because when we want to train our new network model we want to split up the validation sets so we can train with the specific training set and then only validate with data that hasn’t been seen before

here we want to prepare our data loader and batch data and batching is essential for stochastic gradient descent or SGD because the model updates its perimeters after processing each batch instead of updating after processing the entire data set this introduces Randomness in the update process and can lead to faster convergence and better generalization

this is the structure of a feed forward neural network a feed fowardr neural network is consisted of an input layer one or more hidden layers and then to an output layer each layer in the neural network will consist of a neuron which is a node that can take input and pass output a neuron also performs a computation with weights and biases before passing the computation through an activation function which is a function that adds non-linearity to a neural network which helps it the model learn complex relationships some common activation function are relu tanh or softMax here is the training and validation procedure for our neural network

here’s our neural network structure we have 326 inputs and two outputs with where the two outputs are either at risk which is represented by one meaning above the threshold or zero which means not at risk or below the threshold we have one hidden layer of 164 neurons and we have selected railroad as our activation function

here are the metrics we will use we have Precision which is sometimes known as positive predictive rate it is a measure for evaluating how well a model is at classifying positive or in this case at risk Public Water Systems and as well as recall which is sometimes known as true positive rate which is a measure for evaluating situations when for all cases where the data or at-risk Public Water Systems can be identified as positive and how accurate the model is at classifying them as positive

here we have an Epoch which is a single pass through the entire training data set and in the process of turning this model we have we use 18 epochs this is the final evaluation section and here we have a recall score of 0.72 of 72 percent the Precision score of 0.79 or 79 in an accuracy score of 0.83 or 83 which is just checking out how accurate a model was at classification

this interactive tool was made using R shiny the first panel shows a map of the Public Water Systems being used here on the all tab this denotes all public water systems for each DBP class when hovering over a specific marker you will be able to see the average concentrations of these DBP classes the public water system ID and the public water system name when you click on a marker you’ll be presented with a link to the EPA water system report on the public the specific public water system as well as the icr water system report

when you select a DBP from the drop down you it will you’ll be shown all public water systems that reported that specific DBP level and it will denote how close they are to a risk threshold with red being above the risk threshold yellow being within one standard deviation of the risk threshold and green being more than one standard deviation away from the risk threshold

on the predict panel if you have data that you would like to generate predictions for you can upload it as a CSV file like so and the dashboard will automatically remove any rows that have missing DBP or categorical values you can select which model you would like to predict with as well as which DBP class you would like to predict and generate your predictions here you can see the predicted value of the DBP class HKS or haloketones and the actual value although to generate predictions you do not need the actual value and if you want to download the data you can just simply click this button and download it as well

on the evaluation panel similarly you will also have to select a model that you wish to evaluate as well as which class you would like to evaluate the model on and again I’ll select hello ketones and you have two options here if you have data that you wish to test the model on yourself you can input the data as well as a similar process before and I’ll also remove any missing rows this time you actually will need the actual the class value in order to evaluate how well the model performs you’ll still have to click the evaluate button and you will get these metrics that appear the average prediction error is the average difference between the predicted DBP and the actual DBP the average percentage prediction error is the average percentage difference between the predictions and the actual DBP MSE or mean squared error is assesses the average square difference between the observed and predicted values rmsc is the square root of MSE so it’s called root mean squared error and while MSE measures the units that are the square of the target variable rmsc measures this in the same units as the target variable and here adjusted r squared is the proportion of the DBP class with the model can explain and I could also evaluate to see that a linear mix model as well if I wanted to use the icr data I can input seed which allows for random selection and reproducibility of results I can also input the training proportion which is how much of the data set the model will use for training so in this case 0.7 or 70% of the data will be used for training and I can evaluate here

the metrics are going to be the same but instead they are calculated on a test set which is kept separate from the training set here we also again have the test average prediction error which is the average prediction error on the test set the average percentage prediction error on the test set as well and MSE and RMSE on the test set too the new metrics we have here are a conditional r squared which is the proportion of the DBP class and in this case HKS are haloketones that the model can explain and the margin r squared which is the proportion of the DBP class that the fix effects or variables without taking into account public water system levels can explain and this is an interactive tool that you can use to explore the data as well as predict and evaluate the models using the models using neural networks we have created a framework to classify water systems that fall above or below a risk threshold we have created an interactive tool that will allow the users to examine the data that was used predict with and evaluate using the models and we have we will we plan to continue to develop and improve our classification framework and interactive tool we also plan to implement imputation to take into account the missing records for certain DBP classes

and these are citations and thank you for listening to my presentation

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution College of Humanities and Social Science OSCAR

Ava Smigliani- Reclaiming Silenced Histories

Author(s): Ava Smigliani

Mentor(s): Charles Chavis, Conflict Resolution and History, Carter School

This summer, I worked with Dr. Chavis on a handful of projects through Reclaiming Silenced Histories. This included administrative work with the Dark Branch Descendants Association, a group of descendants of enslaved individuals in a few plantations along the Cape Fear in North Carolina. This included setting the organization up as a nonprofit, and grant writing. I also did a lot of research, working to uncover the histories of their ancestors, and creating a narrative of plantation history that centers the enslaved.
I also worked in the archival framework through the Chipman Center, working to archive and preserve their cultural materials. The Chipman Center is set to be one of several networks of independently owned and operated archives, operated by communities, for communities. I did archiving, digitization, and organization of the Chipman Center archives.
Through this program, I gained incredible amounts of career experience, and was able to network in a way I have never had the opportunity to before. Working as a historian, the field can be tough to break into, and the STIP program gave me the opportunity to gain experience in a variety of different subjects relating to historic research. I was also able to work one on one with Dr. Chavis, a professional in the field, and was able to learn a lot about how it operates.

I have removed filler words, such as “˜um,’ and “˜uh,’ for the sake of clarity

Throughout the summer, I worked with Dr. Chavis on a handful of different projects through Reclaiming Silenced Histories. I mostly worked through the Dark Branch Descendants association. Based out of North Carolina in an area along the Cape Fear called Plantation Row, there are a number of plantations, largely, the history of these plantations centers around the owners of these plantations. However, those who stewarted and worked the land for over a hundred years were not, in fact, the owners, but they were the enslaved individuals. The Dark Branch Descendants Association is a group of descendants of these enslaved West Africans along the Cape Fear in North Carolina, and wants specifically to center the narrative around enslaved individuals, while also centering it around the wants and needs of the descendants, who are still alive. Through this project, I provided mostly research and administrative support, working on making the association a nonprofit, and doing all the paperwork that comes with that, as well as writing different grants so the association can function as an organization, and working to plan the creation of a cultural center, so their cultural resources and stories can be told. The goal of my research specifically was also to create a cohesive narrative, to have a sort of understanding of exactly what individuals were doing in their day to day life, how they functioned, what their traditions were, those kinds of things. As part of this research, I had the opportunity to go down to North Carolina to do some of this research, working in archives, coordinating with local historians, planning with the association in person, doing some document and archive cataloging.

A secondary project I also worked on was in Salisbury Maryland through the Chipman center. Dr. Chavis also works directly in communities who want to set up an archive of their own cultural resources. For many organizations, specifically cultural and in communities, having their documents and cultural artifacts preserved means they have to be turned over to a third party institute, whether that be a university, or a larger cultural center, which can be a barrier to getting these kinds of documents and archival sourced publicly available and well preserved. So Dr. Chavis is working to create a network of these different independent archives. Sort of, we give them the resources, the manpower if necessary, to catalog, digitize, sort through documentation on their own, so they have control over their own cultural resoufes. Specifically, I worked to setup the framework for how these resources could be archived, worked on organizing documents, and participated in the archiving itself. And, In Salisbury, Maryland, which is where the Chipman Center is located, we also worked to support the community through helping with the cultural center, as well as helping with the Juneteenth parade.

So the opportunity through STIP has given me invaluable experience, both career wise, and personally. So, I study history, however, you tend to be a little removed from the information or the people that you’re researching. This gave me the opportunity to work directly with these communities, and do work that I feel is important, instead of doing something I’m a bit removed from. I also had the opportunity to network with a lot of local historians, which is an opportunity I definitely would not have had otherwise. Career wise, I’ve had the opportunity to do grant writing and archiving, which is something that is sort of difficult to get into. And I also worked with metadata and digitization, which is an incredible skill, as well as sort of understanding historic preservation, how that process works, working through National Park Service grants, getting something on the Register of Historic Places, and all of those kinds of things. The opportunities that I have had through this program are things that I never would have had otherwise. It was absolutely wonderful to work on projects that I am incredibly passionate about. A great thing about the STIP program, and OSCAR in general, is getting to work directly with a professional in the field I want to get into, as a historian, and this has given me the opportunity to get that one on one experience that I definitely would not have been able to get otherwise, and I am incredibly thankful for what this program has been able to do for me.

OSCAR

Restorative History and Community led narrative change on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Author(s): Andrey Arcidiacono

Mentor(s): Charles Chavis, Jimmy and Rosslyn school of peace

Restorative History and Community led narrative change on Maryland’s Eastern Shore
Andrey Arcidiacono

This project, completed over the summer of 2023 focuses on bringing the local history of Maryland’s eastern shore to light through a community led process of preserving and making accessible their history. Through conducting archival research and becoming involved in the community at Salisbury I worked with the City of Salisbury, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and the Maryland State Archives. Working in close partnership with the Maryland State Archives, I was able to find documents that were relevant to our investigation around lynchings in Maryland, most notably in the cases of Garfeild King and Wright Smith.

Hi my name is Andrey Arcidiacono and I’m an undergraduate researcher at George Mason University working in a summer team impact project led by Docter Charles Chavis. The work I did looked at Restorative History and Community led narrative change on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The fist location we traveled to was Salisbury Maryland and the work we did contributed to the Chipman archive of Racial and cultural healing. Salisbury Maryland is located on Maryland’s eastern shore, Lynchings such as the Garfeild King happened there. The work we did focused on archiving and developing the archives there which were stored at the University of Marylands, Eastern Shore. The picture on the left is that location. The work we did was organizing and sorting through those records to make them more accessible so that they are organized for future researchers and the general community. On the right there is a picture of a parade that our team volunteered for in the city of Salisbury Maryland which celebrated Juneteenth. Much of the focus of the project in Salisbury Maryland is on serving the community there and this project emphasized the community led archive as the preserver of that history rather than outside institutions. The second project I worked on was within the Maryland state archives which was located in Annapolis Maryland. The work I did there focused on the governors correspondences and searching through those correspondences to find anything to do with the topic of lynching. Much of the governors correspondences were never looked through, and the correspondences had probably not been opened for over 100 years. The work I did looked through them to find anything relevant to lynchings. I was able to find many relevant documents, many of them having to do with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which I’m displaying here. The cases that I found were relevant to the Garfeild King lynching, which happened on Maryland’s eastern shore and the Wright Smith lynching, that happened in Annapolis. My most exciting find happened on the first day, it was a letter from an agent of the Pinkerton detective agency just two days after the death of Wright Smith on october 5th, this letter was sent on october 7th. Most of correspondences I went through had little to do with lynchings. My job was to sort through those and locate relevant documents. A big thank you to Dr.Charles Chavis who led this effort, and ALex Jones the Graduate student who helped me out asn was my main contact. Thank you Chris Haley and Hanna Lane for helping me do research at the MAryland State Archives. And thank you to my Project teammates.

College of Science OSCAR

The Effect of Ethylene Glycol on alpha1 Glycine Receptor Function in Xenopus Laevis Oocytes

Author(s): Fae Jensen

Mentor(s): Greta Ann Herin, Neuroscience

Ethylene glycol is a common environmental contaminant, as it is a primary component of the solution used in fracking. It remains in the soil and groundwater of fracking sites, therefore causing it to have a sustained effect on both human and other biological life in these areas. Ingestion of ethylene glycol inhibits central nervous system (CNS) functioning, though the specific neuronal mechanisms of this depression are currently unknown. To address this gap in knowledge, this project seeks to determine if ethylene glycol modulates glycine receptor function in a concentration dependent manner. This will be done by microinjecting Xenopus laevis oocytes (model cells) with RNA of the Î±1 subunit of glycine receptors (GlyRÎ±1). Once the receptors are expressed, Two Electrode Voltage Clamp (TEVC) electrophysiology will be used to record transmembrane current caused by Cl- influx through the ion channel pore of GlyRÎ±1s. As GlyRs are one of the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors of the CNS, these recordings will potentially identify a method by which CNS functioning is modulated by ethylene glycol.

Hello I’m Fae Jensen and I’m currently studying the effects of ethylene glycol on the alpha1 subtype of glycine receptors in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and I’m doing so in Dr. Herin’s lab.

The purpose of my experiment is to determine whether this modulation of glycine receptor function in a concentration-dependent manner.

And before I get into this too much, I’ll give you a brief primer on what I’m working with here. Ethylene glycol is a component of fracking solution, therefore causing it to become a widespread environmental contaminant, but we don’t know the actual implications of this widespread environmental contamination. Additionally, when ingested, it functions as a central nervous system depressant, but we don’t know the actual mechanisms of this central nervous system depression. Because of this, I’m studying its effects on glycine receptors, because when glycine binds to the two binding domains it causes a conformational change in that protein which opens up the ion channel pore and allows chloride influx into that cell, which brings a bunch of negative charges with it and causes the cell to be less likely to generate actions potentials, which can contribute to central nervous system depression.

So, in order to do this, I’m using Xenopus laevis oocytes, as they are a preferred model system for the study of receptor and ion channel physiology mainly due to their size and membrane durability.

Now that you know a little bit more about what’s going on here, my hypothesis is essentially that chloride influx through the ion channel pore will be potentiated in a concentration-dependent manner upon exposure to ethylene glycol. So, why I propose this is essentially because ethylene glycol and ethanol have a somewhat similar chemical structure, and I believe this will cause ethylene glycol to bind to the same domain on glycine receptors as does ethanol. And ethanol is known to allosterically increase glycine receptor response whiner it binds to this domain.

So, to talk a little bit about the microinjection process, I essentially fill up a borosilicate glass pipette, like the one you can see here, with my RNA sample and I very controlledly inject 0.05 Î¼L of GlyRÎ±1 RNA into each Xenopus laevis oocyte. I do so in such a controlled manner because the amount of RNA I inject into my cells will theoretically be proportionate to the amount of glycine receptors expressed on the membrane, assuming there is no variable degradation of my RNA.

Once I’ve injected my oocytes, I then allow them to incubate for 1-3 days. This just allows these cells to tale this protein and express it on their membrane.

A brief note about perfusion before we talk bout the actual recording process. So, first ND96 solution is perfused over the cell to get a good recording of baseline cellular function, and then a standard concentration of 100 Î¼M glycine is added to get a baseline recording for glycine receptor function. After that, solutions of ethylene glycol are tested to determine how ethylene glycol modulates glycine receptor function.

Once these proteins are expressed on the membrane and the perfusion system is set up, I then load my cell into this Two Electrode Voltage Clamp apparatus you can see here.

And I impale the cell with a voltage electrode, as seen on the left, and a current electrode, as seen on the right, both of which are filled with a solution of KCl. I then use this current electrode to inject a steady stream of current into the cell, therefore maintaining the cell’s voltage at a fixed value. And by clamping this voltage, I am then able to record the actual ion currents which are flowing across the membrane through glycine receptors and other ion channels. This process allows me to watch how glycine receptor ion channels respond to different solutions including ethylene glycol in real time.

If my hypothesis is supported, I expect to see that glycine receptor function is increased by ethylene glycol. When oocytes are perfused with a basic salt solution they form a baseline level of current flowing across their membrane, as is shown by the 0 level on the y-axis here. Upon exposure to a 100 Î¼M glycine, a sharp increase in inward current is seen. This inward current will return back to baseline when the cell is no longer exposed to glycine and glycine molecules are no longer bound to the receptor. When these cells are exposed to the same concentration of glycine, but with the addition of ethylene glycol, I expect to see an increased negative inward current as the function of glycine receptors is potentiated. I then expect this potentiation to increase proportionately to the amount of ethylene glycol. Finally, as you can see by the rightmost graph here, I expect to see that glycine receptor response is potentiated past its natural baseline when exposed to ethylene glycol.

Here are my references.

And so finally, I would like to give a Big Thanks to Dr. Herin for her continuous support and mentorship throughout this project, and I would also like to give a Big Thanks to the OSCAR program for providing me funding for this project in the form of a URSP grant.

College of Public Health OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

“The Analysis of Filth Flies as potential Vectors for Disease from Septic Tanks and Latrines at Mpala Research Center” Part of Life at the Watering Hole””A One Health Approach to Disease Surveillance in Laikipia County, Kenya

Author(s): Gabriel Ransom, Sonny Todd

Mentor(s): Michael von Fricken, One Health Center of Excellence at the University of Florida

Flies are major vectors of disease that mechanically transmit different pathogens to human populations. The Filth Fly Study aims to further evaluate how flies function as mechanical vectors of disease by collecting and analyzing the genetic makeup of flies from latrines and septic tanks to humans at the Mpala Research Center. Identifying what pathogens are present in local flies would be vital to understanding and potentially improving the health of individuals at the Mpala Research Center. A three-day collection period of flies was undertaken at the Mpala Research Center around the latrines and septic tanks through the placement of flytraps. After a four-hour collection period, the captured flies were homogenized and had their DNA extracted for a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. As of right now, results can not be discussed as requested by the Mpala Research Center, but it can be stated that pathogens have been noted from testing done. Overall, further testing should be done on local flies to better expand upon knowledge of flies as vectors for disease.

When you think of African wildlife, what comes to mind? Elephants? Lions? Welp, how about arthropods? Insects, bugs, arachnids; they are everywhere. Usually, they are manifested in nightmares, like an inherent, primal fear. These creatures are usually regarded as pests. At best, they annoy their hosts by swarming around them, or with their loud noises. But at worst, they cause epidemics that can kill millions. This is where the GMU STIP team comes in handy.

Led by Dr. Michael Von Fricken, a former professor of community health at GMU and the current director of the One Health Center of Excellence at the University of Florida, the George Mason team efficiently tackled our mission by dividing into three groups: ticks, flies (which we belonged to), and water. Our fly group consisted of Sonny, Gabriel, and James. While we assisted all three groups to some extent, our primary focus for the STIP project was evaluating flies as mechanical vectors of disease. This involved collecting flies from latrines and septic tanks at the Mpala Research Center in Laikipia County, Kenya, and analyzing their genetic makeup. Mpala, located in a secluded rural area, provided pristine wildlife testing grounds. We gathered around 5 flies from each site, homogenized the samples, and utilized a Biomeme machine using a CAVE B panel test for real-time PCR amplification of pathogen DNA carried by the flies. The panel tests included detecting pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, Legionella, Giardia, Campylobacter, E. coli, human fecal matter, and Cryptosporidium.

The first step was gathering the flies. This was done by placing a sheet of 3×5 inch fly paper at our six chosen locations and using sugar/fruit to lure them onto it. Over a 4-hour period from 10:00 am to 2 pm, the traps would be checked at 1-hour intervals on a daily basis for the three days of collection. The pool size representing each site was 5 flies, with 1 pool being collected from each site. The tested sites were a public men’s latrine, two separate septic tanks near housing, and a staff latrine. It should be noted that we originally also included areas around the dining facility, however, due to staff concerns, we were unable to complete testing there.
The second step was homogenizing our samples. After we collected the flies from the traps with tweezers, we put them into labeled test tubes. To begin, 400 microliters of lysis buffer was taken from the Sample prep Biomeme cartridge and put into the sample test tube. After 2 minutes the flies are crushed up using a pestle to fully lyse the cell membrane so as to obtain the nucleic materials. Afterward, the Biomeme cartridge is put to use, and the different formulated buffers inside each of the cartridge’s sections are pumped to the recommended set numbers with a syringe. Through this process, the subsequent buffers allow for the nucleic acids to be cleaned and ready for analysis. Once these steps are completed, 800 microliters are extracted and put in another clean test tube for it to be analyzed later.
The third and final step is simply putting it into the Biomeme machine, which is a portable thermocycler, so it can process and analyze each sample for the presence or absence of the searched for target pathogens. How we put it in the machine is by transferring 3 sets of 20 Microliter samples from the test tube into a Go-strip, a set of 3 small vials containing our master mix, and pump the solution using a pipet to ensure there are no bubbles. Finally, we carefully put it into the Biomeme machine, and wait for it to finish reading the fly samples.

So, to preface this aspect, we did find pathogens at all the tested sites. Although our results cannot currently be discussed due to varying factors, the research completed certainly allowed for a variety of new experiences and learning opportunities. In addition, this experience gave us a better scope of the logistics behind research and our limitations. For example, having an increased budget and a longer allotted collection period could potentially allow for more definite results. In addition, the collection of multiple and larger pools for sampling could allow for more accurate results given the increased time window. The use of other means of collection is another topic to consider. Using an apparatus such as a high-powered aspirator could allow for differing results due to the live, whole nature of the flies that the flypaper didn’t always produce. Overall, the opportunity to take part in this research project was an eye-opening experience, and certainly a good start into the field of research.

Although the GMU STIP team worked diligently on vector-borne illnesses, there was also some time for fun and exploring Kenya. We went to an animal habilitation sanctuary. This place helps rescue and rehabilitate troubled wild animals. Another cool thing we got to do was hike to a small waterfall. It was spectacular, to say the least. And of course, we also got to see the local wildlife on a game drive.

We would like to thank the STIP and overall OSCAR program for allowing us to take part in such an exciting program. Without our funding, this project never would have gotten off the ground. In addition, we would like to thank Dr. Von Fricken, the Mpala Research Center staff, and our partner project Wastewater.

College of Education and Human Development College of Humanities and Social Science College of Public Health OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Addressing Barriers to Domestic and Sexual Violence Services Among Immigrant Populations in Fairfax County

Author(s): Ha Le, Elizabeth Fortson, Paridhi Pradhan, Nallely Calles, Lina Hussein

Mentor(s): Denise Hines, Social Work

The immigrant population in Fairfax is one of the highest in the NOVA region; however, these populations can be underserved and underrepresented in domestic and sexual violence treatment. Literature shows that domestic and sexual violence is prevalent within different immigrant communities, but little is known about the barriers that can prevent potential clients from seeking help. This project involved a scoping review and interviews with community leaders of select immigrant populations: Southeast Asian, Sub-Saharan African, South Asian, Latinx, SWANA, and Eastern European. We find that while there are specific considerations for each population, immigration impacts every part of an immigrant’s life and creates a fear of authorities. Additionally, a lack of knowledge of U.S. institutions as well as traditional gender and family dynamics often leave victims unaware of what is considered abuse and what services or options are available. Additionally, the public perception of sexual and domestic violence services within these populations typically views them as serving “other kinds” of people, and unable to address the specific and nuanced needs of immigrant clients.

Lina: Welcome to our Oscar Celebration of Learning presentation! This was a summer
team impact project. Here are some key terms and statistics to go over before we go into this
presentation I do want to point out a trigger warning. Topics on sexual and
domestic violence will be discussed, our main focus was on intimate partner violence. On the left side you can read a definition of intimate partner violence and on the
right side are some facts pertaining to the U.S

Paridhi: The summer team impact project was a collaboration with Fairfax County DSVS
to better understand ways in which to provide care for underserved populations.

Elizabeth: To tackle this project we conducted an intensive literature review and
interviewed community leaders to find out what’s known about potential barriers when accepting Domestic and Sexual Violence Services among different populations in the literature review. We looked at General barriers for different populations within the United States as well as potential solutions to overcome these barriers.

Lina: let’s go over some key findings from this scoping review.

Nallely Calles: These are some themes that we all found within our respective immigrant communities. The first one being you know societal perceptions barriers and fears,
family and traditional roles and values, preferences in surface usage, and just the general of lack of awareness and knowledges on services.

Lina: As an example, we will delve into how different communities experience
traditional and familial roles. In the SWANA Community a common traditional perception held by women is the idea of maintaining the family unit. Women feel that by exposing their abuse to outside agencies they are bringing shame and dishonor to their families. This can lead to social ostracization as women are outcasted from their society, which is why women prefer to use informal networks. These perceptions of shame and honor are passed down through
intergenerational transfer. When women are at a power imbalance with their abuser because they are financially dependent on them or rely on them for their immigration status. They are left in a no-win situation where if they stay with their abuser they continue their abuse but if they leave they are left with nothing.

Nallely: In the Latinx community we see family as a support system you know Familismo
which is essentially a built-in support system we have. We come from a collectivist culture that
really prioritizes family. Family is a barrier this prioritization of family can cause women to endure unnecessary abuse. Distance from family, (Pause) a lot of women or immigrants leave their families behind, and they no longer have the support system that they’re used to. Uh gender norms, machismo and marianismo and just conflicting cultural values when
they come to the US specifically with the gender norms that they’re used to.

Elizabeth: In my research I focused on two populations Eastern European immigrants
and sub-Saharan African immigrants, however I found that among both groups immigration can complicate the family roles within a household. As typically in traditional roles the wife would take care of the children whereas the husband would be the main breadwinner of the family. After immigrating to the U.S this wasn’t very feasible as a single income was enough to support the family which meant that the wife would have to go and take on more work which would lead to what was called role strain which could cause conflict that could then escalate into domestic violence.

Paridhi: These are some of the themes that were prevalent among the South Asian
population the first one is insecurity of immigration status since most of the victims immigrated to the United States through marriage for social mobility, but this also gave the risk of not having knowledge about the new country they were going to be living. In the second theme was a lack of support system where victims of domestic violence were conditioned to not speak out about their abuse and many of the victims were also financially dependent on their abusers since they were not allowed to hold jobs.

Paridhi: And lastly moving on to the implications of the project these are the future efforts and
implications it includes understanding societal context to meet the unique needs of each population through a culturally centered approach the main takeaway is that service providers and community members must collaborate together in order to engage effectively to and to make progressive changes.

Paridhi: Thank you for watching our presentation!

College of Humanities and Social Science College of Science OSCAR Summer Team Impact Project

Indigenous Environmental Mapping & Resilience Planning Project with Chickahominy Indian Nation

Author(s): Sunehera Hasib, Domi Hannon, Madison Clayton, Vick Maddox, Sara Jefferson

Mentor(s): Jeremy Campbell, GMU Institute for a Sustainable Earth

After centuries of marginalization, Indigenous nations in Virginia have successfully mobilized for recognition and self-determination in recent decades. Most concretely, Virginia Tribes have recently come into direct control of over 4,500 acres (and counting) of their ancestral lands throughout the Commonwealth. In this project, GMU researchers partner with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe of Charles City County as they seek to identify culturally- and environmentally-appropriate methods for managing 1,060 acres of recently reacquired lands along the Chickahominy and James Rivers. We utilize mixed methods to assess the environmental health of Tribal lands; to research and revive traditional ecological knowledge practices; and to create decision-making models that support Chickahominy Sovereignty.

[Displayed on the screen]

Land acknowledgment engages all present in an ongoing indigenous protocol to enact meaningful, reciprocal relationships with ancestors and contemporary tribal nations. As a state university, we have a responsibility to include and support indigenous communities and sovereign tribes in our work. At the place George Mason University occupies, we give greetings and thanksgivings to these Potomac River life sources, to the Doeg ancestors, who Virginia annihilated in violent campaigns while ripping their lands apart with the brutal system of African American enslavement, to the recognized Virginia tribes who have lovingly stewarded these lands for millennia including the Rappahannock, Pamunkey, Upper Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Nansemond, Monacan, Mattaponi, Patawomeck, and Nottaway, past, present, and future, and to the Piscataway tribes, who have lived on both sides of the river from time immemorial.

Dana: My name’s Dana Adkins. I am a citizen of the Chickahominy Indian tribe and my official position with the tribe is environmental

Domi: This summer, a team of five undergraduates and two graduates, headed by Dr. Jeremy Campbell of GMU’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth, Dr. Tom Wood of the School of Integrative Studies, and Dr. Shima Mohebbi of the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, continued their environmental work with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe of Charles City, Virginia. Last summer, the relationship with the Chickahominy Indian Tribe began, with the first Summer Team Impact Project. This first group of students began gathering and analyzing baseline data regarding the environment, data sovereignty, and food sovereignty. Picking up the work, with new faces and returning faces, students worked on assessing wildlife, building traditional ecological knowledge, and modeling data for future decisions made by the Chickahominy Indian Tribe’s council.

Dana: So this particular piece of property is called Mammanahunt. It’s one of the traditional village sites that was in place during the time of contact in 1607. The significance of it is just what I just mentioned. We were forced off of our land in the mid 1600s. We are traditionally river people. We haven’t had a presence on the river since about 1644. So the significance is actually reaquiring this spot. This village site has deep cultural significance to us.

Vick: The Chickahominy Indian Tribe is one of the first Native tribes of Virginia to encounter the English settlers, including John Smith. The Chickahominy have existed in their ancestral lands, which are now known as the Charles City and New Kent areas of the state of Virginia, since time immemorial. As one of the first tribes to interact with the English settlers, the Chickahominy, like their other Powhatan Confederacy relatives, were overwhelmed by colonial disease and violence. However, they have remained a people with a unique cultural and ways of living despite these hardships. The tribe first gained state recognition in 1983 before gaining federal recognition in 2018. Over 850 people are enrolled members and live within a five mile radius of the tribal center, which is located near the site of an ancestral, pre-contact village

Maddie: As a part of our work with the Chickahominy, we, with permission from the tribal council, set up 15 Song Meter Micro recorders for the purpose of ecosystem, biodiversity, and soundscape monitoring on the land that the Chickahominy has a relationship with – the ancestral site called Mamanahunt, located on the Chickahominy River, and another site on the James River, or the Powhatan River, as it was called pre-colonization. These song meter recorders were set to record for 4 hours in total per day – two hours around dawn, and two hours in dusk. These recorders captured not just song from birds, but also frog data as well as other sound data from mammals.

Along with the sound recordings, we spent many hours at these two sites recording what we saw in the area – from animal relatives to insect relatives and plant relatives. We discussed the historical and cultural significance of birds such as the Portoratary Warbler and the Purple Martin, whom the Chickahominy have had long term relationships with. We also brainstormed ideas on supporting relatives like the Purple Martin through initiatives like building them traditional nesting sites made out of gourds, and how to engage all members of the tribes in conservation work.

Domi: Traditional ecological knowledge, which is apart of Indigenous knowledge, is the on-going knowledge, understanding and coexistence of nature and people, specifically in the relationships between Indigenous peoples and the land they are from and have stewarded since time immemorial. Part of our work this summer has been talking with tribal members such as Dana on what TEK the Chickahominy community possesses, as well as investigating through scholarly and other resources what TEK the community may have possessed at one point. This cumulated in an extensive ethnobiological data collection on the plant, animal, and insect relatives present at Mamanahunt and Chickahominy on the Powhatan. This data features TEK about the relative and extremely detailed physical descriptions of the relative. This ethnobiology spreadsheet, along with other data collected, belongs solely to the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, in order to maintain their data sovereignty.

Sara: So right now, we’re at Samaria Baptist Church where we’re holding our summer culture camp of Chickahominy Indian Tribe and one of the components of our camp is that there is a gardening portion. We got the grant from the Newman’s Own Company to do this and so part of the grant was that we had to have a garden portion and a culture portion, so, as you can see right now, we are doing our gardening portion. We have these raised beds that were generously donated to us as all of all the seeds that we have and the soil that we have.

We started these raised beds with the kids talking about crops we wanted to grow for our families and for our gardens so we have some tomato plants that we just planted. And we also have stuff like cucumber, watermelon, and I know we have pumpkin, lettuce, carrots, beets, all the vegetables you can think of that we want to plant and hopefully at the end of the camp, we can harvest these and send some home with the kids.

Sunehera: The Data Modeling for Decision-Making group embarked on a crucial project to enhance the resiliency of Chickahominy lands in the face of disasters and determine the optimal strategy for using farmlands. This endeavor involved four key steps: collecting diverse datasets, designing research questions, integrating datasets, and making informed decisions based on the research. The project focused on Physical, Environmental, Time Series, and Other datasets, each offering unique insights into Chickahominy’s environment and community.

The team began by diligently collecting datasets that directly or indirectly influenced Chickahominy. These datasets were classified into Physical, Environmental, Time Series, and Other categories. Physical datasets provided location-based attributes, Environmental data encompassed information about natural disasters and hazards, Time Series datasets revealed temporal patterns and trends, while Other datasets contained social and demographic information.

The summer 2023 project focused on addressing critical concerns to enhance Chickahominy’s resilience and optimize farmland usage. The main research questions included:
What policies can be implemented to enhance the resiliency of Chickahominy lands in the face of disasters?
How can the accessibility of shelters be calculated for different polygons in Charles City County?
How should food resources such as grocery stores and restaurants be allocated to each polygon during disasters?
What is the level of accessibility of food resources for each polygon in the region?
How can the currently available farmlands in Chickahominy be effectively evaluated?
From a financial perspective, what constitutes the optimal strategy for utilizing farmlands effectively?

These research questions formed the core of the project’s objectives and laid the foundation for data modeling and decision-making. By addressing these inquiries, the team aimed to provide valuable insights and recommendations to enhance Chickahominy’s resilience, allocate resources efficiently during disasters, and optimize the management of farmlands for sustainable growth and financial viability. Each dataset was meticulously evaluated, visualized, and explained in a separate Word file, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of their contents and significance.

To address the first research questions, the team focused on calculating the accessibility of shelter and food resources for each polygon in Charles City County during disasters. They considered various criteria such as vehicle numbers, vulnerable age groups, and more, enabling them to propose suitable policies to enhance resilience.

Vick: The members of our undergraduate team, as well as graduate team are grateful for their experience. They would like to thank the Chickahominy Indian tribe, with a special thanks to Dana Adkins for his guidance and help this summer. We would also like to thank the GMU Office for Student Scholarship and Creative Activities for funding our work for a second year in a row. We hope to continue our work with the Chickahominy Indian tribe for many years to come, as a reciprocal relationship between them and GMU is imperative for decolonial, indigenizing work.

[Future Collaboration]

Maddie: What do you want to see or develop out of this collaboration?

Dana: I would like to see this collaboration actually be a pipeline to more of our youth going into post-secondary education. We’ve seen more and more of our students going to university now. And we see it having- people that we know- friends that we know- at George Mason- maybe being able to increase that pipeline of the flow rate of the people our student, our youth, going into education beyond highschool.