2379 research outputs found
Sort by
Students Promoting Admissions Recruitment & Knowledge [SPARK]
Get PDFCreating an Admission Ambassador Leadership Development program should build leadership traits as well as employable skills. Leadership Identity Development [LID] asserts that leadership happens through different stages of transition, emerging and immersive leadership development, and tracks movement from awareness through integration of leadership identity. (Komives et al., 2005, p.95) In my project, I will support undergraduate admissions ambassadors in building leadership and employable skills within their positions for career success. By defining this position as a paraprofessional role, students will be able to build detailed employability skills to further their careers. Hernandez & Smith define paraprofessionals as students who have extended professional training who is specifically selected, trained, and given ongoing supervision to perform some designated portion of the tasks usually performed by the professional [(Delworth et al., 1974, p.12) Hernandez & Smith, 2019, p. 76]. The goal of the Admission Ambassador leadership development program is to support students in building employable skills through welcoming new students to their campus.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1029/thumbnail.jp
The Climate Gap: How Privilege Shapes Climate Vulnerability in the USA
Get PDFThis systematic literature review investigates the impact of climate change on various communities across the United States of America. To answer this question, a comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify twenty recent empirical research papers. The findings and themes of these papers were then synthesized. Findings indicated that communities that are already experiencing marginalization and oppression will be inequitably impacted by the changing climate due to suffering from increased risks of heat stress and lacking the resources to mitigate the impacts of a warmer climate. From a social justice perspective, this study emphasizes the need for policies to mitigate adverse climate outcomes expected to impact marginalized and oppressed communities.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1041/thumbnail.jp
Organic Synthesis of a Derivative of 4-Piperidone Hydrochloride Monohydrate to Treat Methamphetamine Addiction
Get PDFMethamphetamine is a synthetic drug that belongs to the amphetamines class. It is often misused due to the euphoric effects it produces. When methamphetamine enters the brain, it targets VMAT2, which stands for vesicular monoamine transporter. This protein is responsible for transporting monoamines such as dopamine and norepinephrine into the brain. Methamphetamine causes VMAT2 to function in reverse, leading to increased levels of monoamines in the synaptic cleft, which results in a feeling of euphoria. Previous analogs of aryl piperidines have demonstrated a strong binding affinity for VMAT2. Therefore, targeting VMAT2 could be a potential strategy to counteract methamphetamine addiction. The goal of this research is to synthesize a compound that features an aryl group. Two reactions have been successfully synthesized, yielding the starting material for the third reaction which will include the aryl group. While progress has been made, challenges are currently being faced in effectively purifying the second reaction. Some of the challenges in purifying reaction two will be discussed in this research.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1059/thumbnail.jp
NFL Circadian Data Analysis Project
Get PDFThe goal of this project is to determine whether NFL teams perform better based on the difference between their home timezone and the timezone in which the game is being played using data from the 2003-2023 NFL seasons. The data was collected from the nflreadr package in RStudio. The variables that are included in this analysis are the timezone difference, which is the number of time zones the away team is ahead or behind their home timezone, the number of touchdowns that each team scored, and whether the away team won or lost the game. Exploratory data analysis, including summary statistics and visualizations, will be performed to explore the distribution of wins and number of touchdowns by timezone difference. Logistic regression will be applied to determine the relationship between timezone difference and the away team’s outcome. Secondary analyses will explore the relationship between timezone difference and other variables of interest.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1112/thumbnail.jp
The Future of Workplace Wellness: Embracing Mindfulness-Based Interventions
Get PDFThis project examines gaps in employee well-being support, highlights promising workplace wellness interventions, and provides evidence-based program design recommendations.
Employee burnout is at an all-time high, with 76% of employees experiencing burnout. Chronic stress contributes to serious health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and mental health disorders. Workplace stress also impairs cognitive function, lowers morale, and reduces productivity, leading to absenteeism and high turnover. According to WHO, depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.
Employers bear the financial burden of workplace stress through increased healthcare costs, absenteeism, and disengagement. With 61% of employees believing their employer is responsible for their well-being, organizations that invest in wellness programs see a 50% increase in engagement and retention.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), such as yoga and meditation, offer flexible, accessible, and cost-effective solutions for holistic employee well-being. As organizations recognize the interconnectedness of physical, mental, and emotional health, these interventions have been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, enhance work engagement, improve sleep quality, regulate heart rate variability, and strengthen emotional resilience.
With as little as one hour per week, workplace mindfulness programs provide a scalable, effective approach to fostering a healthier, more productive workforce while lowering healthcare costs.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1121/thumbnail.jp
Training and Recovery in High-Level Motorsport Athletes
Get PDFOpen-Wheel racers(F1) experience extreme g-forces, temperatures, and other physical and mental challenges. Due to these high demands they often lose lots of weight during the race and with races sometimes only being 7 days apart recovery and a high-level strength and conditioning program is crucial for these athletes. There seems to be lack of scientific literature on this subject so my project attempts to fill in the gaps and give a recovery program that could be helpful to coaches working with these athletes.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1120/thumbnail.jp
Promoting the Benefits and Importance of Utilizing a Medical Organizational Model in Collegiate Athletic Training
Get PDFAthletic trainers play a critical role in college athletics, however many athletic trainers at this level face significant work-life conflicts due to long-hours, travel, and coaching demands. Additionally colleges and universities face staffing problems due to high turnover rates and inadequate salary and benefits. Unfortunately these problems affect not only the athletic trainers, but also the quality of care student-athletes receive. Transitioning to a medical organizational model can help to reduce these issues. In the medical model the head athletic trainer would report to a team physician who works under the college or universities health services instead of reporting to the athletics department. The purpose of this project was to review the current literature and provide evidence for the benefits and importance of a collegiate athletics department adopting a medical model for athletic training services. The literature review was conducted utilizing articles found in the online databases of GoogleScholar, SportDiscus, and PubMed. The findings show that major benefits of a medical model are better work-life balance, role congruity, and increased staffing. The increased staffing also correlates with better quality of care for the student-athletes. This project shows that there are multiple benefits to transitioning to a medical model for athletic training services. Athletic trainers should bring this evidence to whomever they report to and advocate for this change, and organizations like the NCAA and NATA should be advocating for this model as well.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1126/thumbnail.jp
Hormonal Birth Control Amongst Merrimack College Students
Get PDFThis semester I have been working with Dr. Amy Shafrir in her research study on pelvic pain among college students at Merrimack College. Through helping with this study I have gained extensive information about pelvic pain and different effects it can have on the college student. For this presentation, I will investigate how the use of different types of birth control may cause differences between types of pelvic pain. This study was done through a survey that was available to female, at birth, undergraduate students at Merrimack College who have had moderate or severe pelvic pain in the past 6 months. Students completed a questionnaire including information about their demographics, specific pain, period regularity, and birth control use. We recruited participants through posting flyers around campus and by having our study listed on SONA . I will use the information from multiple questions for my presentation including but not limited to, type of birth control used, presence and level of pelvic pain, and age the participants first noticed pelvic pain. At this time, 55 participants have completed our study and we anticipate recruiting more participants before the conference. Over 70% of participants reported ever using birth control, with almost 35% reporting using more than one type of birth control in the past. The number of birth control types currently and previously used will be compared between participants with period pain and those with general pelvic pain.This study will show the correlation between types of birth control used and pelvic pain.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1131/thumbnail.jp
How to Physically Train to be a Member of a Law Enforcement Agency/Department
Get PDFInvestigative report on how best to physically train to be a law enforcement member. What could be down differently to train, how to train, and what you are training to be ready for.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1146/thumbnail.jp
Hydration Assessment and Protocol: Emergency First Responders
Get PDFEmergency first responders around the world are called upon to act in a moment\u27s notice. These community members are exposed to high levels of physical exertion in unknown environments and stress, while responsible for the safety of civilians. Due to this responsibility, these first responders must be physically able to perform the best they can. In the same manner as athlete hydration, being heavily researched and implemented, hydration assessments and protocols must be made and acted upon for this specific population. There are many ways to assess hydration, such as taking body weight measurements before and after an emergency event, urine osmolality and color, and blood variables. With more resources for our emergency first responders, they are able to perform their profession at the best of their ability.https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rcac_2025_posters/1157/thumbnail.jp