A number of students from The Honors College have been chosen to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) this April. Fara DiNoto (Senior), Jason Storms (Senior) and Christopher Clement (Sophomore) were accepted to represent The Honors College and Oakland University out of 3,500 applicants. Oakland’s representatives include:
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Fara, a Psychology and Studio Art Major, is striving to discover the
location of the brain where face detection occurs. Participants in her
study were asked to complete a questionnaire that allowed her to
determine their degree of hemispheric dominance as well as participate
in an experiment, which recorded how fast and accurately they detected
faces. These results are being compiled to determine the impact of
hemisphere dominance on face detection. “This research has been the most
educational and valuable experience of my undergraduate career.” |
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Jason, an English and Psychology Major conducted research in two areas: torture and the relationship between the body and power, and the representation of those two things in Nick Flynn's book of poems, The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands. The paper he is presenting at NCUR focuses on how the proliferation of visual representations (photographs, 24-hour news, etc.) of the Abu Ghraib tortures affected a desensitization and normalization to torture, and how Flynn's book deals with these things. His paper is a hybrid of literary criticism, political philosophy, poetics, and image theory. "It's truly an honor to have my research--the culmination of my Oakland University--accepted at a conference of my peers.” |
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Christopher, an Engineering and Biology Major, is doing research based upon a deeper exploration of the children's song, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Stars twinkle due to varying atmospheric conditions, which create deflection of the light, which we see on Earth as a twinkle. If it were possible to measure the activity and record the magnitude of the deflection, then would it be possible to associate stronger deflection values with particular conditions such as season upper atmospheric climates? If so, then we could create a form of 'forensic cosmology' where we can estimate the relative temperature or season if there is indeed a relationship. “Christopher’s research, which is only just beginning, inventively bridges the sciences and the arts,” said Dr. Graeme Harper, Dean of The Honors College. |