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An Ecological Analysis of Radical Black Thought from the Black Panther Party
Get PDFRecent scholarship has attempted to expand common notions of ecology to include human beings and their struggles to survive within their environments. Within that trend, scholars have begun centering radical Black ecology, a discipline that seeks to understand how radical Black thinkers have conceived of their spaces and attempted to influence their surroundings. While much progress has been made in developing that understanding, there is still a large gap in the literature surrounding the ecological implications of radical Black political thought. Using the political writings of Black revolutionaries from the Black Panther Party –including Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver– this work finds a number of ecological applications within tracts that have previously been limited to social or historical analysis. This work places these writings in conversation with historical and contemporary Black ecological thought, creating new ground for understandings of Black space, place, and environment.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1047/thumbnail.jp
No Evidence for Sex-Specific Visual Acuity in Anolis aquaticus
Get PDFSex differences in sensory perception are widespread among animals, driven by sex-specific reproductive challenges. Males and females often exhibit different sensory abilities, such as in visual acuity; for example, in Heliconius butterflies, males exhibit greater visual acuity due to their mate-seeking behaviors. This study examined this idea in Anolis aquaticus, a semi-aquatic lizard with sexual dimorphism. Males court females using a colorful throat fan (dewlap), which females use to select mates. It is predicted that females will have greater visual acuity than males, given their reliance on visual signals for mate choice. A custom-built apparatus was used to test 45 A. aquaticus (17 females, 28 males) responses to increasingly conspicuous stimuli. No significant sex differences were found in visual acuity or overall responses to stimuli. These results suggest that visual acuity does not differ between sexes in anoles and that other ecological factors (e.g., prey identification) may drive the evolution of visual acuity.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1052/thumbnail.jp
Science (not so) Fiction: H.G. Wells’ Contributions to Social Degeneration and Eugenics in the Context of the Holocaust
Get PDF“The minds of all of us… would be perceptibly different if Wells had never existed” (Orwell). Celebrated today for his technological prognostications and contributions to science fiction, H.G. Wells’s influence on twentieth-century thought and politics has a darker side. Much of his work deals with the theory of social degeneration, a belief that the foundations of society were eroding and that whole swaths of people are now spreading their ‘inferior’ genetics. Thus, this research paper focuses on Wells and his popularization of social degeneration theory and eugenics in The Time Machine (1895) and Anticipations (1901). This investigation is crucial because, even today, many continue to believe that the ‘Jewish backstab’ theory or the ‘scapegoat theory’ served as primary factors in the Holocaust instead. Moreover, this paper considers links between Wells, eugenics, and Nazi ideology, highlighting how some of the ideological roots of the Holocaust unnervingly intertwine with 19th and early 20th-century Anglophone popular culture.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1055/thumbnail.jp
Rivers and Industry: The Environmental and Economic Evolution of Broome County
Get PDFThis research paper aims to analyze how the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers in Broome County has impacted the industrial and economic development of the area, from the arrival of the first European settlers to modern times. The general methodology for research gathering of the paper revolves around historical analysis, utilizing data from the county, state, private firms, and independent studies to develop a foundation. The paper places less emphasis on generating new data and instead focuses on analyzing and compiling preexisting information to reach new conclusions. Generally speaking, even with the unique topography of the area, both rivers have not seen much commercial use beyond the fertile lands they provide in their immediate basins. Despite the lack of commercial utility, the rivers’ occasional flooding has had significant negative economic impacts on the county.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1070/thumbnail.jp
What Impact Do Parks Have on Their Community?
Get PDFHow do parks benefit people and how do they affect housing prices? Parks play a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life for individuals and communities while also influencing local housing markets. To explore these questions, a survey will be used to collect data from many college students, who will be asked about various aspects of how they believe parks can be beneficial to themselves as well as others. There will also be analysis of housing prices at different relative distances away from parks in Binghamton. The survey, along with the analysis of the housing price data, will offer insight into these questions. The data is expected to find evidence supporting that people believe parks benefit them and that they positively impact their lives. It is also expected to find a trend that housing prices tend to rise the closer they are to a park.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1077/thumbnail.jp
The Soundtrack of Life: A Foray into the Ontology of Musical Works
Get PDFHistorically, classical music has been the domain of compositions and jazz the realm of performance, but the question “what kind of entity is the work in rock music?” has caused some doubt. Strong cases have been made for rock’s claim to recordings, songs, and live performances. This paper will show how disagreements over the ontology of rock give cause to question the very method of constructing higher-order ontologies because of two problems: that of category overlap and that of form/genre conflation. It will be argued that the category overlap problem challenges existing rock ontologies while the form/genre conflation problem gives us a method of constructing a new one. A formal ontology which categorizes musical works based on their form rather than their soundscapes is then posited as the best way to address both issues.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1084/thumbnail.jp
Revaluing Work: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Exposed Labor Market Failures and UBI as a Solution
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic forced society to confront a fundamental flaw in labor markets: compensation does not align with social value. Essential workers—healthcare staff, food suppliers, and manual laborers—kept society running yet remained underpaid and overworked, while many white-collar workers retained financial stability and prestige. Beyond waged labor, unpaid contributions like caretaking, child-rearing, and household labor remain invisible in economic accounting despite their necessity for social reproduction and well-being. This project examines how the pandemic exposed the systemic undervaluation of both essential and uncompensated labor and explores Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a corrective measure. Drawing from Revaluing Work after COVID-19 , Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs, and studies on labor mispricing, this research argues that UBI could help rectify market distortions by providing economic stability to essential and unpaid workers alike, redistributing wealth from those able to prioritize lucrative careers to those whose responsibilities—such as caregiving and maintaining households—sustain society yet remain financially unsupported.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1085/thumbnail.jp
The Fall of Communism & Its Effect on the Environment of Eastern Europe
Get PDFHow has the environment changed in Eastern Europe since the end of communism in 1990? How has environmental policy changed in these countries? What caused the changes in these policies? Eastern Europe has seen significant changes in the quality of its environment in the past 35 years, and this study will be exploring these changes as well as their causes. The study compares communist environmental policies and current European Union environmental policies. It also compares UNFCCC data sets and charts depicting different environmental factors such as pollution and air quality. The comparison of the policies will offer an explanation for the changes in the environment, and the comparison of the data will determine the effectiveness of the policies. The study also includes peer-reviewed articles that discuss differences and observations of the area under different policies. Ultimately, the study discovers that the quality of the environment in Eastern Europe has significantly improved since the end of communist regimes in 1990, due to many of these former communist countries implementing stricter environmental policies (especially those who went on to join the European Union).https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1087/thumbnail.jp
Economic Freedom and Universal Basic Income: Compatible or Contradictory?
Get PDFEconomic freedom is frequently invoked as an argument both for and against Universal Basic Income (UBI). Classical liberals may object to the policy on grounds of minimal government, demanding the right to retain one\u27s earnings – or what Isaiah Berlin called negative liberty. However, egalitarians argue that true self-determination requires a stable economic base – an argument based on Berlin’s positive liberty. This essay examines how these conflicting conceptions shape political philosophy and economic policy discussions regarding UBI. By referring to Isaiah Berlin, Robert Nozick, Philip Pettit, and Philippe Van Parijs, it examines how the libertarian credentials of UBI depend on whether freedom is conceived as non-interference or resource availability. By reframing the debate, this paper demonstrates that UBI can be perceived as a violation of property rights or as a magnification of the autonomy of an individual. Lastly, these competing definitions reveal how UBI complicates traditional definitions of economic freedom while potentially expanding its meaning.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1090/thumbnail.jp
A Study of the Palestinian Diaspora in Upstate New York
Get PDFSince 1948, the number of Palestinian refugees has grown immensely, from roughly one million to more than eight million globally. The recent conflict in Gaza has brought attention back to this group and their unique nature of statelessness. Through archival research, observations, and interviews with community members, this ethnographic study examines their livelihoods and struggles in Syracuse and Binghamton as a part of the Palestinian diaspora in Upstate New York. Palestinians prevail through markets, religious centers, and cultural events and celebrations. Through such representations, their heritage is brought to the United States, maintaining identities, fostering a multigenerational community, and preserving a connection to their homeland. By presenting the Palestinian-American experience, an underrepresented community that is integral to the diverse fabric of Upstate New York is highlighted, dispelling stigmas and stereotypes that have been enhanced post-9/11 and October 7th.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/1107/thumbnail.jp