ABSTRACTS
2019 National McNair Scholars Conference at UCLA
Researcher: Queonnah Coleman
Presentation Title: Gender Analysis of Higher Education in North Africa and the Middle East From 1920-2018
Research Focus: History and Education
School: Fayetteville State University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
North Africa and the Middle East have universities just as old, if not older, than those found in other world regions. However, as most countries have taken steps over the past century to equalize women’s access to higher education, women are commonly absent—or few in number—in the North African and Middle Eastern university classroom. This underinvestment in women’s education is both indicator and cause of higher rates of female illiteracy in the region, with resulting impact on women’s professional
opportunities. Women also face distinct, personal barriers to obtaining higher education, including family obligations, religious and cultural expectations, and geographic accessibility.
This study will discuss women inside higher education at the undergraduate level in Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The analysis will utilize quantitative and qualitative data as a foundation to analyze the past and current quality of higher education in North African states, Egypt and Algeria, and two Middle Eastern states, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This ongoing study adopts a historical analytical framework, tracing progression, regression, and stagnation within higher education in each country while displaying change over time, exposing trends, and raising questions regarding the legacy of colonialism and the differing impacts of secularization and a theocratic political economy.
Researcher: Brittany Doss
Presentation Title: African American Males’ Perceptions of the Responsibilities, Roles, Significance, and Impact of Fatherhood
Research Focus: Perceptions of African American fatherhood
School: Fayetteville State University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
This study will examine African American males’ perceptions of the responsibilities, roles, significance, and impact of fatherhood. The construction of the African American family unit is unique given the history and ongoing experiences of African Americans in America. In order to accurately understand African American fatherhood, it is important to learn the perspectives of African American men. Perceptions of fatherhood impact parenting experiences which can influence a multitude of areas, including identity, self-esteem, peer and other interpersonal relationships, and decision making. Approximately sixty men will participate in the study. This is a mixed methods study. The first phase of this study will be qualitative using focus groups.
The data will be analyzed using thematic analysis. The results will be used to develop questionnaires for use in the second phase of the study. Themes and other results of the focus group discussion will be presented.
Keywords: African American fathers, parenting, families
Researcher: Shaniqua Moore
Presentation Title: Exploring Student’s Self-Identity and Self-Awareness through Art-Making
Research Focus: Social Work
School: Fayetteville State University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation with Examples of Work
Art-making techniques can be used to stimulate narratives of self-identity and self-awareness. These techniques include: painting, drawing, sculpture, and collage. This research is focused on student’s and the artmaking process of self-portrait masks. Historically, masks are used as a shield or identifier of the wearer. These masked self-portraits will combine artistic methods of making and social understanding of the self, and awareness of the self. This research aims to use techniques of making to blend the lines of artistic methods and constructing individual narratives. Conclusion and findings will follow.
Keywords: self-identity, self-awareness, student, art-making, process
Researcher: Demetria Murphy
Presentation Title: Attitudes, Perceptions, and Knowledge among Social Work, Criminal Justice, Sociology, and Psychology Regarding Prison Reform and the Systematic Design of Rehabilitation.
Research Focus: Policy and Educational Enhancements
School: Fayetteville State University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
This research examined and measured students’ attitude, perception, and knowledge of the systematic design of rehabilitation and prison reform from social work, criminal justice, sociology, and psychology disciplines. Surveys where administered during five face-to-face undergraduate classes. One of the classes surveyed was interdisciplinary to include education and nursing majors in addition to the original social science disciplines of the study. The data were used to determine the differences or similarities regarding perceptions, attitudes and knowledge among undergraduate students ages 19 to 65 attending an Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Qualitative data gathered was aggregated to quantitative data from the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) data system. It is hypothesized that combined efforts in understanding the attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge between the disciplines will aide in implementing effective evidenced-base recourse to rehabilitation and prison reform. Limitations of this study include a low-class enrollment and interdisciplinary outliers. Information regarding the participants attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of prison reform and rehabilitation served as a catalyst to bring educational enhancements among each of these disciplines. Lastly, this study evaluates understanding the attitudes among these disciplines regarding their knowledge a perception of prison reform and rehabilitation and its impact on policy changes, lowering recidivism, and decreasing over crowdedness of prisons.
Keyword: perceptions, prison reform, knowledge, social science disciplines
Researcher: Layla Rashad
Presentation Title: Peptide Binding Predictions
Research Focus: Peptide Binding
School: Fayetteville State University
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
Cancer is an illness in the body where cells over divide, causing harm to the healthy organs and tissue complicating their function. These cells divide without restraint and can use healthy cells to help them survive by having those healthy cells provide nutrients or help them stay” invisible” to the immune system so they won’t be killed. Cancer treatments have been greatly improved over the years since it was first discovered, this is due to the increase of cancer studies and research to find new ways to have the body recognize the cancer cells and dispose of them. These new ways have increased patient survival rates. As of the current year of 2019 there will be roughly 17 million cancer survivors in the United States alone. This is thanks to great advances in modern technology. In this experiment, various methods of machine learning will be used to predict whether appropriate peptides that will bind to the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) and be recognized by the T-cells so they can be eliminated by the body. The results of the first half of the research project serve as a baseline for the next half of the research. In the duration of this current summer the Gaussian Process Regression will be used as the method for the next half. This second half of the research is currently being conducted, as such, the results will be presented during the presentation in July at UCLA. This research is an important study to further provide computational methods to create and improve today’s cancer treatments.
Keywords: Cancer, Machine Learning, MHC, peptide, Bind, Gaussian Process Regression