What is URCAS?

The Undergraduate Research & Creative Arts Symposium (URCAS) is NMSU's showcase of undergraduate intellectual enterprises. ALL NMSU students are welcome and encouraged to take part, not just Crimson Scholars or Honors students.  Highlighting student research, artwork, performances, and more, URCAS is a great way to get experience presenting in your field.  Come also to support your friends and classmates and find out what might be possible for you to accomplish at NMSU. URCAS is coordinated by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (CURCA), housed in the Honors College and serving all students at NMSU.

Just a few examples of URCAS presentations:

• a paper or project for a course or a directed study  
• results from lab research or other study, analysis, or experiment 
  
• a research component for an internship 
• a design solution to an industry need or engineering problem 
• an original work of art, literature, or film 
• musical or play performance 
• a magazine, journal, or website
• an exhibit you curated 

You can share your work in a 15-minute presentation or via a poster or exhibit, and individually or as a group.  For resources on how to submit your abstract or start a project, check out the links in the sidebar. A poster printer is available for your use in CURCA at Conroy Honors Center.  Have questions? Please reach our to CURCA director Dr. Miller-Tomlinson at tomlin@nmsu.edu or (575) 646-2005.

 

• URCAS Home
• Information for Presenters
• Register for URCAS 2025
• Poster Session Abstracts
• Talk/Performance Abstracts
• Past URCASes
• URCAS Faculty Mentors

 

 

URCAS 2025: Friday, April 25, 8:30-2pm

Corbett Center, 3rd floor

Tentative Schedule

 

URCAS 2024

 

 

Friday, April 12, 2024

Corbett Center, 3rd floor

Thank you to all Presenters, Conveners, Judges, Volunteers & Faculty Mentors, and also to the many faculty, post-docs, grad students, and undergraduates who attended!

Outstanding Poster Awards:

Katherine Ropp, 1st

Gabrielle Baca, 2nd

Kennedi Pyper & Brooke Smith, 3rd (tie)

Outstanding Talks:

Kennedi Pyper & Delaney Sivils (STEM, tie)

Emma de la Rosa (Arts, Humanities, SS)

 

Zoom recording links in red below: please download yours before it expires!

Start time	Ballroom	Senate Chambers	Doña Ana Room	Fountain Room	Auditorium 2nd floor east side
8-8:30	Poster Setup & Registration
8:30-9:30		Panel 1: Insects Convener: John Agnew, MS Marissa Padilla Ian Nelson Joshua Mendoza	Panel 2: Cancer Research Convener: Dr. Graciela Unguez Vanessa Loera Karla Ortega-Sandoval Delaney Sivils, Maya Jones, & Alex Alvarez	Panel 3: Mental Health, Diversity, & Protest Convener: Dr. Cynthia Wise Zenaida Levario Fin Pelowitz  Celeste Romero
9:30-10:30		Panel 4: Life Sciences Convener: Dr. Richard Ortiz Michelle Gutierrez Abril Romero Mariah Leonard Kennedi Pyper	Workshop: Network Your Way to Research  Marilyn Drennan, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center	Exploring Faculty Mentorship Panel Convener, Dir. Jeanne Garland (NM AMP) Dr. Teri Orr Dr. Cory Windorff Dr. Paola Bandini
10:30-11:30	POSTER Session, 10:30-12		Panel 5: Borderlands Convener: Dr. Soyoung Jeon Angel Eduardo Amabisco Emma de la Rosa Lacey Yates	Panel 6: Biology & Psychology  Convener: Dr. Jessica Martin Elena Pearson Isaac Melendrez Andrew Villalobos
11-12	POSTER Session, cont’d	Panel 7: Humanities & Social Sciences Convener: Dr. Mike Hout Devynne Hadley, et al. Jack Davis Yvette Peters Tanya Solis
12-1	Lunch, 12-1:30   Workshop: Fund your MS or PhD with the NSF-GRFP (12:15-1:15) Dr. Abdessattar Abdelkefi
12:15-1:45					Panel 8: Arts & Performance (Starts 12:15) Convener: Ms. Monica Mojica Amelia Dunn Emma de la Rosa Jack Davis Flora Saenz
1-2		Panel 9: Engineering (Starts 1:15) Convener: Dr. Reza Eslamifar Amber Diaz Juliette Chavez Gil & Karen Ramirez		Roundtable: Research & Beyond in ACES Chair, Dr. Jennifer Hernandez Gifford Dr. Sergio Soto-Navarro Dr. Jennifer Randall Maddy Marcus Kiana Rivera Zenaida Levario Dr. Omar Holguin
2-3			Keynote Dr. Michèle Shuster, "Research and Creativity Career Paths"   & Awards c. 3pm (URCAS & ACES UR Pgm)

 

8:30am, Panel 1: Insects (Senate Chambers)

Convener: John Agnew, MS

Marissa Padilla, “The Impact of Variations of Urban Microclimate on Transcription of Midgut Immune Genes in Aedes Mosquitoes”
Major: Biology; MARC
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kathryn Hanley
Ian Nelson, “Measurements of the rate of insect DNA degradation in field-deployed passive traps”
Major: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Brook Milligan, Scarlet Sellers
 
Joshua Mendoza, “Bee Traps”
Major: Environmental Science
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ashley Rodhe

8:30am, Panel 2: Cancer Research (Doña Ana Room)

Convener: Dr. Graciela Unguez
 
Vanessa Loera, “Glioblastoma Causes, Treatments, and Prevalence in New Mexico”
Major: Biology; Minors: Human Biology and Chemistry; Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Elba Serrano, Biology
 
Karla Ortega-Sandoval, “Metabolic profiling of tamoxifen-sensitive and tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells utilizing a high-throughput time-resolved flow cytometer and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy”
Major: Chemical Engineering; Minor: Biomedical Engineering; MARC; Honors Capstone
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Houston, with Dr. Kevin Houston and Samantha Valentino

Delaney Sivils, Maya Jones, and Alexa Alvarez, “From Soil to Saving Lives: Discovering Antibiotics from Unexpected Sources”; presented by Delaney Sivils
Major: Biology; BIOL 2110L at DACC
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Concepcion M. Miller
Panel: Faculty Mentorship (AMP)

8:30am, Panel 3: Mental Health, Diversity, & Protest (Fountain Room)

Convener: Dr. Cynthia Wise
 
Zenaida Levario, “Mental Health and Agriculture: Investigating Agricultural Programming and Tools Supporting Veteran Mental Health”
Major: Agricultural & Extension Education; LEADING Hispanics Program
Faculty Advisor:  Dr. Shannon Norris-Parish.
 
Fin Pelowitz, “LGBTQ+ Identities in STEM”
Major: Biochemistry
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Paulette Vincent-Ruz
 
Celeste Romero, “Underground Journalism at NMSU”
Major: History
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ken Hammond

9:30am, Panel 4: Life Sciences (Senate Chambers)

Convener: Dr. Richard Ortiz
 
Michelle Gutierrez, “Evaluating the efficiency of a progesterone radioimmunoassay to predict pregnancy and fetal numbers in ewes”
Major: Animal Science; MARC
Faculty advisor: Dr. Jennifer Hernandez Gifford
 
Abril Romero, “The effect of warming on decomposition rates of dryland fungi”
Major: Biochemistry; MARC program
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Adriana L. Romero-Olivares
 
Mariah Leonard, “Role of PRC1 in regulating microtubule stability during cytokinesis and midbody formation”
Major: Biology, AMP URS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Charles B. Shuster
 
Kennedi Pyper, "The Impact of Synthetic Cannabidiol Derivatives (+)-abnCBDP and (+)-abnCBD on Trophoblast Proliferation and Viability”
Major: Genetics and Biotechnology
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ryan Ashley and Dr. Amanda Ashley

9:30am, Workshop: Network your Way to Research

Presenter: Marilyn Drennan, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

9:30am, Panel: Exploring Faculty Mentorship

Convener: Director Jeanne Garland, NM AMP

Dr. Teri Orr (Biology)
Dr. Cory Windorff (Chemistry)
Dr. Paola Bandini (Civil Engineering)

10:30am, Panel 5: Borderlands (Doña Ana Room)

Convener: Dr. Soyoung Jeon
 
Angel Eduardo Amabisco, “CBP One App and the Digital Dispersion of Information”
Major: Government; Immigration Policy and US-Mexico Border Communities NSF-REU; Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Neil Harvey
 
Emma Alvarez de la Rosa, “Rehabilitating the Amador Family Collection”
Majors: Music Performance and Anthropology; Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Nathan Craig
 
Lacey Yates, “Deciphering STEM: Diversity in STEM”
Major: Human Development and Family Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Paulette Vincent-Ruz

10:30am, Panel 6: Biology & Psychology (Fountain Room)

Convener: Dr. Jessica Martin
 
Elena Pearson, “The Impact of Ect2 on the Mechanical Functions in the Cytoskeleton in Sea Star Oocytes during Meiosis”
Major: Biology; MARC
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Charles B. Shuster
 
Isaac Melendrez, “A Post-Translationally Modified Virulence Factor in Non-Typeable Haemophilus influenzae”
Major: Biochemistry; MARC
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Erik Yukl, Dr. Graciela Unguez, Dr. Olivia Manley
 
Andrew Villalobos, “Associations Between Socioeconomic Status Variables and Cognitive Abilities”
Major: Psychology; McNair Program
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Andrew Conway

11am, Panel 7: Humanities & Social Sciences (Senate Chambers)

Convener: Dr. Mike Hout
 
Devynne Hadley, Jessica Barrio, Alexandra Dimauro, Fisher Easley Smith, Kylie Garcia, Yvette Peters, Tanya Solis, and Thelma Solis, “The Agora, an interdisciplinary undergraduate journal of research and creativity
Majors: Devynne Hadley (English, RPC), Jessica Barrio (Biology), Alexandra Dimauro (Psychology), Fisher Easley Smith (MA, Agricultural & Extension Education), Kylie Garcia (Communication; Minors: Journalism, Social Media Management), Yvette Peters (English), Tanya Solis (Philosophy), and Thelma Solis (Psychology)
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Tracey Miller-Tomlinson and Susan Beck
 
Jonathan (Jack) Davis, “Hamlet, Prince of China: Contemporary Shakespearean Politics on the World Stage”
Major: English, Creative Writing
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Tracey Miller-Tomlinson
 
Yvette Peters, “‘The Yellow Wallpaper’: Discharging Hysteria”
Major: English, Creative Writing; Minor: Music; Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Rose Conley

Tanya Solis, “Nonhuman Animals, Rationality, and Cognitive Abilities (A collection of essays on Animal Ethics)”
Major: Philosophy; Honors Capstone
Advisor: Dr. Jean-Paul Vessel

12:15pm, Lunch Workshop: Fund your MS or PhD with the NSF-Graduate Research Fellowship

Presenter: Dr. Abdessattar Abdelkefi (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)

12:15pm, Panel 8: Arts & Performance (Auditorium)

Convener: Ms. Monica Mojica
 
Amelia Dunn, “Contemporary Dance Choreography as Emotional Expression”
Major: Dance; NMSU Dance Theatre
Faculty Advisor: Director Ryan McMullen, NMSU Dance Program
 
Emma Alvarez de la Rosa, “Lullabies on the Border: Lullaby Singing and Parenthood in the Maquiladora Society of Ciudad Juárez”
Majors: Music Performance and Anthropology; Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lois Stanford
 
Jonathan (Jack) Davis, "Duel with an Out-of-control Sappho without Sorrow or a Handkerchief”
Major: English, Creative Writing
Faculty Advisor: Creative Writing instructors
 
Flora Saenz, “Dancing Borders: A Visual Journey”
Major: Animation & Visual Effects, Honors Capstone
Faculty Advisor: Judith Flores Carmona

1pm, Roundtable on Research in ACES: Undergraduate Research Experiences & Beyond (Fountain Room)

Chair, Dr. Jennifer Hernandez Gifford

Dr. Sergio Soto-Navarro (Animal Science)
Dr. Jennifer Randall (MOLB-ILS)
Maddy Marcus
Kiana Rivera
Zenaida Levario
Dr. Omar Holguin (Plant & Environmental Sciences)

1:15pm, Panel 9: Engineering (Senate Chambers)

Convener: Dr. Reza Eslamifar
 
Amber Diaz, “Development of a Kalman Filter for Attitude Determination and Control of a Satellite Mission”
Major: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; NanoSat Lab INCA-2
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Steve Stochaj
 
Juliette Chavez Gil and Karen Ramirez, “Object Detection and Static Obstacle Avoidance for UAS Operations”Majors: Juliette Chavez Gil (Mechanical Engineering Technology) and Karen Ramirez (Mechanical Engineering); ROLE Program
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Hilda Cecilia Contreras Aguirre and Dr. Luis Rodolfo Garcia Carrillo; Graduate Student Mentors: Nicholas Grivalja and Jesus Martinez

2pm, Keynote: Dr. Michèle Shuster, Professor of Biology & Associate Dean of Research, College of Arts and Sciences

Awards to follow the Keynote 

With special thanks to our sponsors and partners:

Conroy Honors College
NM Alliance for Minority Participation (NM-AMP)
SOAR Evaluation and Policy Center
College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Engineering
College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation
Office of the Chancellor
Office of the Provost
Vice-President for Research, Creativity, and Economic Development