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Effects of climate change on the wolf-moose predator-prey system of Isle Royale National Park, MI
No full textiv, 27 p.The purpose of this project was to research, anticipate, and mitigate the future the moose-wolf populations of Isle Royale National Park. Isle Royale is an archipelago in west central Lake Superior and is a combination of boreal and northern hardwood forests. The experiential work was sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), and I assisted in the survey of the moose population of Isle Royale by bushwhacking through the dense wilderness in search for moose carrion to analyze for one week over summer 2022. The review paper focused on the increased impact of anthropogenic climate change on the predator-prey interaction of the moose and wolves of Isle Royale. The gray wolf population is expected to face increasing threats of inbreeding depression, while the moose population will face exponential stressors due to the changes in the archipelago’s composition and productivity. The anthropogenic impacts are found to be far greater than those of the predators. The review highlights the necessity of frequently evaluating the entire ecosystem of Isle Royale to create accurate and effective management practices. The senior individualized project experience enlightened a future path towards a career as a wildlife biologist and reiterated the importance of environmental conservation and the interconnection of all abiotic and biotic factors
The Importance of Feeling and Being Valued in the Workplace with Lessons from Kalamazoo College
No full text10 p.Over this past summer, I was able to intern at Klingman’s Furniture and Design where I operated in a number of spheres and learned a lot about workplace culture through being in a variety of settings. I worked on tasks that involved customer relations management, conducting training among the sales staff, social media marketing, and assisting their top interior designer, Michelle
The Confounded Cosmic
No full text25 p.My most recent paintings have been based on my lifelong fascination with the cosmos and the hauntingly beautiful nature of this domain. Outer space stands in contrast with many of the comforts and securities we experience on the earth, and I believe the cosmos naturally inspires feelings of awe, wonder, or uncertainty when seen in a visual sense (such as with Hubble Telescope Photos). Holding fast to this knowledge, a goal of my art is to awaken these same feelings in the viewer using imaginary realms. When referring to feelings of uncertainty, I maintain that it is acceptable for someone to lack a complete understanding about what is occurring in my compositions. Despite any uncertainties, however, a primary goal of my endeavors is to create artworks that read as foreign in the mind, but visually appealing in the extreme; it is my hope that the viewer can have continued interest in my pieces over both temporary and long-term lengths of time without experiencing rapid visual fatigue toward the various details included in the works. Lastly, I strive to make art this is exceptionally novel. This is accomplished by combining imaginative thought with specific skills and techniques that allow me to create pieces that straddle the line between realistic and hypothetical
Monitoring of White-tailed Deer Population using Citizen Science in Urban Neighborhoods
No full text1 Broadside. 48"W x 36"HOdocoileus virginianus, or more commonly known as the
white-tailed deer, has been the state game for Michigan since
1997. These animals are prevalent throughout the country,
and specifically overabundant in Michigan. While an
overabundance of any population can cause problems in an
ecosystem, the excessive number of deer brings ecological
and economic consequences unparalleled by any other
species to the state of Michigan. Prolonged overpopulation
can lead to over-browsing of commonly browsed vegetation,
inducing an unnatural dominance of browse tolerant species.
Humans can be directly affected by the overabundance in
ways such as an increase in deer related traffic accidents, as
well as an increase in the likelihood of contracting Lyme
disease. In an effort to better understand the vastness of
impacts that deer can have on the ecosystem, as well as
human society, a rough population count is needed to better
understand the mobile and residential tendencies of the
individuals. In an attempt to combat challenges surrounding
private land ownership, citizen science is being utilized to
better measure the deer population in urban Kalamazoo
neighborhoods.Kalamazoo College. Department of Biology. Diebold Symposium, 202
Music and the Mind : Exploring How Music Affects the Brain
No full text32 p.This project aims at exploring the role of diversity in the conduction of neuroscience studies, analyzing the effects of music on the human brain, and exploring its potential benefits. Several articles and studies were analyzed during this research. Musicians create music to express their emotions and people listen to it because it brings them a unique pleasure. The reviewed studies reveal that pleasant music plays a role in the brain’s mesolimbic pathway with the release of the reward hormone dopamine as a response. This release occurs both at the brain’s peak emotional response and several seconds before, during the anticipation phase. The reviewed studies demonstrate consistent results related to the effect of music on the brain’s dopaminergic response. Studies have also shown that music can be beneficial in treating and managing neurodivergent and neurodegenerative disorders including autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's disease. Together, all of these ideas are in conversation with the question: how does music affect the brain
The Stories That Shape Us All: The Presentation of Slavery at Public History Sites in Virginia
No full text45 p.While Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, and Colonial Williamsburg have very
different legacies, as public history institutions they have employed similar tactics relating to
slavery education, and in some instances worked with one another to create more comprehensive
exhibitions, tours, and programs. The work each institution has done over the course of the last
few decades has contributed significantly to the present state of slavery education in their spaces.
Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, and Colonial Williamsburg have adopted approaches that
best suit their interpretation styles, yet they similarly aim to create programs and content that are
more representative of slavery and the people who were enslaved at their sites. They have all
come to understand that their histories are incomplete without the stories of the enslaved and
their contributions, and the old approaches–to confine them to one space and talk about them
passively–are no longer sufficient, and quite frankly never were. Their struggles to
simultaneously confront their pasts with slavery education and create more comprehensive
content can be seen throughout each site, as new exhibitions that center the lives of the enslaved
stand in stark contrast to their outdated language and their museum and education centers. The
future of slavery education at Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, and Colonial Williamsburg
relies on each institutions’ willingness to honestly represent enslaved stories and experiences.
Each site still struggles to make slavery’s presence visible throughout their properties, as well as,
with the exception of Montpelier, make explicit connections between slavery in the United States
and the social and political structures present today. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and other important American historical figures held hundreds of men, women,
and children in bondage for the majority of their lives, and while Mount Vernon, Monticello,
Montpelier, and Colonial Williamsburg have become comfortable addressing them as enslavers,
most of these institutions still refuse to connect slavery to monumental eras beyond
Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Slavery in the United States impacted everyone, everywhere, and
its effects, especially in the midst of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the era of mass
incarceration and policing, have become more prevalent than ever. As state-wide debates about
Critical Race Theory in educational institutions ensue, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier,
and Colonial Williamsburg each face important but necessary decisions–do they continue to
confront their legacies with poor slavery education and wholeheartedly present enslaved voices,
stories, and experiences, or do they remain complacent and inch ever-slowly toward progress in
the hopes that one day they will get there
The Connection Between Fluctuating Female Sex Hormones During Menopause and the Subsequent Decline in Oral Health
No full textiii, 17 p.My Senior Integrated Project (SIP) is based on the opportunity and experiences I received while working at Drake Dental in Kalamazoo. I was able to be chairside as a dental assistant and learn through many hands-on procedures. Through my internship I gained insight into the world of dentistry and developed skills relevant to my interest in pursuing a career in dentistry. As a result of my internship, I became interested in the connection between female sex hormones and oral health. I reviewed papers connected to hormone changes, menopause, and oral health to further investigate this relationship. This paper aims to find the connection between menopause and oral health in women
Integration of Personalized Narrative to Inform Improved Communication for Patients with Life-Limiting Illness
No full textv, 22 p.Narrative intervention has proven to be an effective method of allowing informed decisions, considering patient comfort, improving treatment outcomes, and more. A narrative intervention approach entails prompting patients to share their histories and identities to allow healthcare professionals a more comprehensive view of the patient. This study implemented a person-centered treatment plan for patients afflicted with life-limiting illness. A more holistic view of the patient was integrated into their Electronic Health Record (EHR) to improve physician-patient communication and patient experience. Narrative intervention outcomes were quantified via three field surveys distributed to patients. Significant results of linear mixed models indicate improvement in intervention groups in two of the three themes evaluated: Feeling Cared for as a Person/Respected in your Beliefs, and General Communication with the Nurse/Feeling Heard and Understood. For Feeling Cared for as a Person/Respected in your Beliefs, intervention resulted in an improvement of 0.87635 while control showed a -0.72109 decline. For General Communication, intervention reflected an improvement of 0.41378 while control yielded a -0.09366 decrease. The control group experienced a greater improvement (-0.349865) than the intervention (-0.1271034) in Emotional Wellbeing. Personalized narrative intervention is indicated to be an efficient method of optimizing nurse to patient communication while taking a patient’s wants and needs into consideration. Narrative intervention is not shown to benefit the emotional wellbeing of patients. Future directions can examine its impact on more specific realms of patient satisfaction as well as the feasibility of the method