Amazing adventures in undergraduate research
Vellore Adithi loves comic books. The USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences undergraduate remembers traveling to India during the summer to visit her family and voraciously reading the adventures of Archie, Tin Tin, Asterix and Batman.
Adithi, a USC Dornsife senior majoring in anthropology and linguistics with a minor in gender studies, read Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay the summer after her freshman year. The story about a young Jewish artist who escapes 1930s Nazi-occupied Prague for Brooklyn, N.Y., where he creates comic books with his cousin, resonated with her.
“I have always loved the expressiveness of the comic book medium,” Adithi said. “After reading Kavalier & Clay, I became extremely interested in the relationship between Jewish-American authorship and the birth of the American comic book industry.”
With a grant from USC Dornsife’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF), Adithi embarked on a research project advised by Lanita Jacobs, associate professor of anthropology and American studies and ethnicity.
Her work on the project earned her first place in the humanities category at the 2013 Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work.
Sponsored by the USC Office of the Provost and coordinated by the USC Office of Undergraduate Programs, the symposium is designed to provide USC undergraduates with the opportunity to exhibit and share their significant research and creative work with the university community. The event is modeled on a professional conference with students presenting their work through posters, art exhibitions and electronic media. First-place winners received $1,000 and second-place winners earned $500.
The number of entries this year broke all records. The symposium contest received 160 submissions from 229 students and 187 faculty sponsors. In the symposium’s first year in 1999, there were 60 entries.
In Adithi’s winning research, she analyzed the complexities of racial and ethnic representations in the works of comic book artist Will Eisner — whom, in part, Chabon’s book was based on. She studied Eisner’s superhero comic The Spirit (1940) and his graphic novel A Contract With God (1978), looking at themes of Jewish-American citizenship and ethnic expression in 20th-century America.
“Eisner was a dynamic and compelling storyteller whose work reflects the tensions and complications of becoming and being American, especially as an immigrant or a person of color,” Adithi said.
Adithi and other entrants presented their work on May 1 in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center. A reception and awards ceremony took place in the evening at Town & Gown. Kevin Starr, University Professor and professor of history, presented the keynote address.
Gene Bickers, USC vice provost for undergraduate programs, presided over the ceremony, presenting the symposium winners with their awards.
“I know you’ve worked hard over the past semester and in some cases over several years,” said Bickers, professor of physics and astronomy. “Your hard worked really showed today — the quality and diversity of projects on display was amazing.”
Ariana Stobaugh, a USC Dornsife senior with a double major in political science and sociology, won first place in the social sciences II category. (The number of entries in the social sciences category was so large, it had to be broken into two subcategories.) Stobaugh’s research looked at college students’ perceptions of sexual assault on college campuses.
USC Dornsife senior Ariana Stobaugh won first place in the social sciences II category. (Photo/Katie Calvert)
She found that college students have a distorted perception of what constitutes acquaintance rape and sexual assault. While most college students are more likely to define “rape” as sexual assault by a stranger, the majority of instances actually occur by known persons, sometimes referred to as date rape. Stobaugh also found that there are distinct gender differences that exist in the perception of those assaults. Males were more likely to have an inaccurate perception of what constitutes acquaintance or date rape.
“My results highlighted two key themes,” Stobaugh said. “Students tend to derogate the characteristics of the victim or mislabel the woman’s causal role, and students tend to cite alcohol as a justification to negate the label of rape or sexual assault.”
Jung-Gi Min, a double major in human development and aging at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and biological sciences at USC Dornsife, won the top spot in the life sciences category with his research partner, Brandon Glousman, also a human development and aging major.
Their research examined the possibility of thwarting the proliferation of cancer cells by targeting cellular metabolism as well as the potential role of mitochondria — a cell’s power source — as a significant communicator in the progression of cancer.
The 2013 Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work winners were:
Arts
First prize
Devon Mott
Project title: “Uniform Without Uniformity: An Architectural Inquiry of Craft”
Faculty sponsor: Lee Olvera, USC School of Architecture
Second prize
Eve White
Project title: “Chaotic Focus”
Faculty sponsor: Ron Rizk, USC Roski School of Fine Arts
Honorable mention
Osama (Sam) Iqab
Project title: “Rising With Rubble”
Faculty sponsor: Lauren Matchison, School of Architecture
Honorable mention
Lori Chen
Project title: “A Modular Solution to Skid Row Housing”
Faculty sponsor: Valery Augustin, School of Architecture
Interdisciplinary award
Caleb Barnes
Project title: “Lingua Musica”
Faculty sponsor: Veronika Krausas, USC Thornton School of Music
Humanities
First prize
Vellore Adithi
Project title: “American-Born: An Analysis of Race Representation, Claims to Whiteness,and Ethnic Citizenship in Will Eisner’s The Spirit and A Contract With God”
Faculty sponsor: Lanita Jacobs, anthropology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Second prize
Grant Dixon
Project title: “What Is a King to Do: An Investigation of Images of Kingship”
Faculty sponsor: Lynn Swartz Dodd, religion, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Charnan Williams
Project title: “Lost in the City of Angels: A Comparative Analysis of Central Avenue and Leimert Park as Black Cultural Spaces”
Faculty sponsors: Francille Rusan Wilson and George Sanchez, American studies and ethnicity, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Parin Patel
Project title: “Remember What Siddhārtha Said Under the Banyan Tree?: Safeguarding Material Culture in Modern-day Anti-Buddhist Gandhara”
Faculty sponsor: James McHugh, religion, USC Dornsife
Interdisciplinary award
Rikiesha Pierce
Project title: “Gangsta Feminism?: A Pilot Study Investigating the Feminist Potential of Big Rik Locc”
Faculty sponsors: Sharon Hays and Amon Emeka, sociology, and Lanita Jacobs, anthropology and American studies and ethnicity, USC Dornsife
Life Sciences
First prize
Brandon Glousman, Jung-Gi Min
Project title: “Targeting Cancer Metabolism: The Effects of a Novel Mitochondrial-Derived Peptide on Breast Cancer Progression”
Faculty sponsor: Changhan Lee, USC Davis School of Gerontology
Second prize
Divya Nair
Project title: “Re-Engineering Mosaics of Cone Photoreceptors in Retinas Affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa”
Faculty sponsor: Eun Jin Lee, Visual Processing Laboratory
Second prize
Vivek Shah
Project title: “Experience-Dependent Neuroplasticity in Dopamine-Linked Models of Chronic Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Use and Huntington’s Disease”
Faculty sponsors: Mike Jakowec, Giselle Petzinger and Daniel Stefanko, neurology, and Ruth Wood, cell and neurobiology, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Wendiann Yamasaki
Project title: “Exercise Ameliorates Depression-like Behavior Observed in a Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease Prior to Motor Symptom Onset”
Faculty sponsors: Mike Jakowec and Giselle Petzinger, neurology, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Pavitra Krishnamani
Project title: “Developing Ultra-Sensitive Ethanol Receptors to Define the Molecular Mechanism of Alcoholism”
Faculty sponsors: Ronald Alkana, Daryl Davies and Anna Naito, USC School of Pharmacy
Interdisciplinary award
Megan Bernstein, Stephan Genyk and Rachel Kohan
Project title: “E. Musici: Facilitating Communication Between Researcher and Bacteria Through Song”
Faculty sponsors: Sean Curran, USC Davis, USC Dornsife and Keck School of Medicine of USC
Physical Sciences & Engineering
First prize
Peter Grasso, Kirsten Rice
Project title: “Microbial Fuel Cell Technologies for Remediation of Hexavalent Chromium in Groundwater and the Effects of Natural Organic Matter”
Faculty sponsors: Massoud Pirbazari and Ryan Thacher, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Second prize
Brendan Plecque, Awadi Rathugamage and Aditya Vaidyanathan
Project title: “Aerodynamic Performance of Stepped Airfoils at Low Reynolds Numbers”
Faculty sponsor: Geoffrey Spedding, USC Viterbi
Honorable mention
Diya Dwarakanath
Project title: “Optimization of Fabrication and Experimental Methodologies for Drug Delivery Devices and Neural Probes”
Faculty sponsors: Heidi Gensler, Ellis Meng and Jonathan Kuo, USC Viterbi
Honorable mention
Lesley Chan
Project title: “Enhanced Performance of Printed Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Microcells With Conformal, Graded Index Surface Nanostructures”
Faculty sponsor: Jongseung Yoon, USC Viterbi
Social Sciences
First prize
Jui Pai (Angie) Chen
Project title: “Housing Matters: How Redevelopment Strategies Affect the New Shanghai(nese)”
Faculty sponsor: Andrew Liang, School of Architecture
Second prize
Uriel Kim
Project title: “A Study of Communities Surrounding the University of Southern California and Food Desertification”
Faculty sponsor: Hortensia Amaro, School of Social Work
Honorable mention
Moemoe Chaee, Matthew Prusak
Project title: “The Macroeconomic Trajectory of Myanmar”
Faculty sponsor: Jonathan Aronson, USC Dornsife and USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Honorable mention
Julia Mangione
Project title: “An Exploratory Study of the Experience of the Arctic Council’s Permanent Participants: Opportunities, Constraints and the Future of Permanent Participation”
Faculty sponsors: Robert English and Steven Lamy, international relations, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Meghan Heneghan, Kaitlin Mogentale, Caroline Smith
Project title: “The Future of Transportation in the U.S.: Alternative Fuel Vehicles”
Faculty sponsor: Juliana Wang, environmental studies, USC Dornsife
Interdisciplinary award
Marissa Roy
Project title: “The U.N.’s 8 Millennium Development Goals and the Unpopularity of Global Distributive Justice”
Faculty sponsor: Alison Renteln, political science, USC Dornsife
Social Sciences II
First prize
Ariana Stobaugh
Project title: “Misperceptions and Gender Differences in the Understanding of Acquaintance Rape and Sexual Assault”
Faculty sponsors: Amon Emeka, sociology, Michael Messner, sociology and gender studies, USC Dornsife
Second prize
Angela Ross
Project title: “Undocu-Queer: Queer Identity Development Among Undocumented Queer Youth”
Faculty sponsor: Veronica Terriquez, sociology, USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Kassandra Rosales
Project title: “The Greatest Band in the History of the Universe: A Look Inside the Emotions and Behaviors of Highly Identified Active Sports Fans”
Faculty sponsors: Jonas Kaplan and Ryan Essex , USC Brain and Creativity Institute at USC Dornsife
Honorable mention
Ryan Lee
Project title: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Quantifying Presumption of Innocence in Relation to Criminal Stereotypes and Types of Crimes”
Faculty sponsor: Richard John, psychology, USC Dornsife
Interdisciplinary award
Robert Rosencrans
Project title: “Cognitive and Behavioral Responses to Disaster Narratives”
Faculty sponsor: Viviane Seyranian, psychology, USC Dornsife
Most Innovative, USC Stevens Center
First prize
Jay Todd Max and Avril (Viveka) Pitter
Project title: “Water Treatment Design and Implementation for Rural Regions of Developing Nations”
Faculty sponsor: Massoud Pirbazari, USC Viterbi
Second prize
Jennifer Ko, Kathleen Roche
Project title: “Using Ivermectin Analogue-based Drug Discovery for Alcohol Use Disorders”
Faculty sponsors: Daryl Davies and Megan Yardley, School of Pharmacy
Special award, USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy
First prize
Nicholas Farmer
Project title: “Virtual Sprouts”
Faculty sponsors: Marientina Gotsis, Yasaman Hashemian and David Turpin, USC School of Cinematic Arts
Second prize
Jay Todd Max and Avril (Viveka) Pitter
Project title: “Water Treatment Design and Implementation for Rural Regions of Developing Nations”
Faculty sponsor: Massoud Pirbazari, USC Viterbi
