The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology estimates that the United States will need to increase its number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals by 34% over the next decade. This guidance seems contrary to the rising trend of STEM majors becoming increasingly selective of the students they admit. Competitive degrees with additional requirements for entry (ARE) are a universally accepted phenomenon here at UW. However, there are no studies characterizing their prevalence in higher education or investigating their impact on students. We are conducting an exploratory study to characterize the number of STEM degrees across the U.S. with ARE and the factors departments use to admit students. First, we compiled institutional data for the research universities (R1) and Master’s-granting institutions with the highest number of undergraduates in each state. Next, we determined whether or not they offered STEM degrees with ARE. Programs were identified through a combination of data-mining institutional websites and contacting individuals at each institution. Finally, we administered an online survey to each department to gain deeper insight into the factors used in their admission decisions. We hypothesized that variables such as high school GPA, university GPA, and SAT score will commonly be used in the decisions to admit students. SAT scores and GPA often have significant socioeconomic and demographic biases. Consequently, if we confirm our hypothesis, this could raise questions about the equity of the admission processes for selective degrees. Preliminary results revealed over 250 degrees with ARE. Most of those degrees are offered in biology, health science, or engineering departments at R1 institutions. Ultimately, our results will inform a future study that will take a closer look at the impacts of degrees with ARE on STEM retention and diversity from a representative sample of institutions.

Can arts administration be an artistic act? Can curation itself be considered a performative art? These are two questions swirling in my head as I prepare to embark on a post-undergraduate journey of freelance art making and arts administration. My theory is that these two things do not need to be conceived of as mutually exclusive, specifically, that there is an art to simply making art happen. Through an experiential research process, I, as a performing artist, shall perform the role of art curator, undertaking contemporary concerns, processes and logistics in the field as such, and will produce an exposé of art by other artists as well as a research paper detailing my experience and a performed ‘curatorial talk’ about the featured work. Via this process, I hope to better understand the balance of generating and producing opportunities that mutually enhance both my individual art practice, and the practices of others. While, ultimately encouraging more working artists to invest in the wider conversation of what kind of work should be shown in this moment.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a gram-negative bacterium that asymptomatically colonizes the intestinal and upper respiratory tract of healthy humans. It is also an opportunistic pathogen that causes bacteremia, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and other severe infections in individuals with significant comorbidities. Klebsiella infections are often healthcare-associated and antibiotic-resistance is a major problem for treatment. A K. pneumoniae lineage known as multilocus sequence type 258 (ST258) is resistant to virtually all beta-lactam antibiotics, including the carbapenems, and many clinical isolates are also resistant to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. Additionally, the capsule of ST258 confers resistance to phagocytosis by neutrophils and killing by the complement system. However, it is readily killed if phagocytosed. One possible therapeutic approach is to develop an antibody-based immunotherapy that targets the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of ST258. As a step toward developing the tools needed for such an approach, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that can be used to detect CPS and titer CPS-specific IgG antibodies. Polystyrene ELISA plates were coated with purified ST258 CPS and then incubated with rabbit antiserum containing antibodies specific for CPS. Anti-CPS IgG was then detected with goat anti-rabbit IgG antibodies and a detection reagent. We anticipate the ELISA will be an important quantitative tool in our efforts to develop an immunotherapy that targets the CPS of K. pneumoniae.

Working with the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC), the Trailhead Outreach Project researched levels of avalanche awareness, education, and preparedness of different demographics and user groups who enter avalanche terrain in the winter backcountry. Washington state itself is responsible for 54% of hiker avalanche fatalities nationwide in the past ten years. This statistic, combined with the increasing popularity of mountain recreation, made it necessary to understand who uses the backcountry and how they can be reached with the education required to make informed decisions when traveling near or in avalanche terrain. It was believed that backcountry skiers are generally well versed in avalanche risk and protocol while snowshoers and hikers are not. To obtain this information, NWAC set up a tent staffed with volunteers at four popular backcountry trailheads in the Cascade mountains on 12 separate weekend days (three at each location) over the winter of 2017-2018. Users were asked to take a survey that consisted of 14 quick questions to identify their mode of travel and levels of education, awareness, and preparedness. General demographic questions were also included. Preliminary results indicated that hikers and snowshoers do in fact have lower levels of avalanche awareness, education, and preparedness than skiers, and that people are heading into the backcountry with low levels of avalanche education at astounding rates. The results from the survey help the Northwest Avalanche Center direct their education and awareness programs toward the user groups shown to be less informed and potentially more vulnerable to an avalanche related accident.

Incorporating research into the undergraduate experience provides students with opportunities to develop transferable skills by engaging in the process of science. Historically, most students who have participated in research did so through apprenticeships in faculty research labs. However, the apprenticeship model limits the numbers of students who have access to authentic research experiences early in their academic careers. In contrast, Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) engage larger numbers of students in firsthand research investigating questions that are relevant to the scientific community. CUREs provide access to undergraduates who might not otherwise have the awareness, confidence or social capital needed to pursue scientific research opportunities through traditional pathways. The University of Washington (UW) Introductory Biology CURE provides students with authentic research experiences studying the evolution of antibiotic resistance in E. coli through credit-bearing lab sections. We investigated the CURE’s impacts on students’ personal development as scientists along with their mastery of fundamental biological concepts and principles of experimental design. At the beginning, middle, and end of the first two quarters of the Introductory Biology series, CURE and non-CURE students completed concept surveys to detect changes in their: (1) attitudes about science and their own abilities, (2) competency in experimental design, and (3) conceptual understanding of key evolutionary concepts, such as the relationship between genotype, phenotype, and fitness. Although all students in this study attended the same lectures, we anticipate that students who participated in the CURE lab modules will attain greater gains relative to their peers enrolled in the non-CURE labs. Specifically, we predict that CURE students will demonstrate greater understanding of the mechanisms of evolution via natural selection, and improved ability to design controlled experiments and reason scientifically. In addition, we expect that alumni of the CURE will gain an increased sense of belonging and enhanced retention in science-related fields.

Recent advancements in North Korea’s nuclear program prove that it will soon be capable of targeting the US mainland. The Trump administration's imposition of aggressive sanctions and threats towards Pyongyang have been met by retaliatory statements from the Kim regime. Aside from these threats, lack of communications between the two nations have raised international concern over the possibility that war will resume on the Korean peninsula. Therefore, this student-run task force team takes up a detailed study of this emerging crisis using open-source data with three main objectives: 1) to determine the goals of NK's nuclear and missile programs by studying the historical relationship between the US and Korea; 2) to gauge threat potential by analyzing North Korea’s offensive capabilities; 3) to use local perspectives to determine how this crisis affects relations between the US, China, South Korea, Japan and how each nation views the NK threat; and 4) to learn from past mistakes in order make viable recommendations for the current US administration to de-escalate current tensions and provide a new framework for a peaceful solution to the North Korean crisis.

Understanding the principles that underlie physiological problems can help students succeed in the mastery of a wide range of physiology topics. Understanding the principle of flux, which governs pressure gradients, can greatly improve a student’s ability to solve problems related to bulk flow and pressure in a variety of physiological systems. In general terms, the principle of flux describes the rate of movement of a substance from one compartment to another. It is defined as the magnitude of the driving force (gradient) divided by resistance. We examined how students in an introductory physiology class think about flux in the context of a pressure gradient within the cardiovascular system. We began by incrementally refining a variety of gradient-related questions through successive rounds of think-aloud interviews with individual student volunteers. Using these responses, we generated a cardiovascular pressure gradient question that elicited a wide variation of student answers. We collected responses from 200 introductory physiology students both before and after relevant course content to be sure our question captured both novice and advanced reasoning. We examined the responses and constructed a rubric to categorize student responses into a hierarchy of response sophistication and completeness. Generally, level 1 represents the most novice responses, while level 5 represents the most advanced. In our rubric, level 1 answers relied on vague reasoning relating to homeostasis, equilibrium, or intuition. Responses categorized at levels 2 and 3 showed an understanding of the components that contribute to pressure without successfully identifying how they connect to changing pressures. Lastly, answers at levels 4 and 5 showed an understanding of these components as well as the ability to successfully relate them to changes in pressure. Identifying patterns in student responses to a pressure gradient problem can give instructors a starting point from which they can target common misconceptions to ensure conceptual mastery in their classrooms.

Mitosis is a process important for the regulated division of cells. In cancer cells mitosis is often dysregulated, which can cause cells to split uncontrollably. One important protein that plays a key role during mitosis is the protein kinase Polo-like Kinase 1 (plk1). The function of Plk1 is to regulate centrosome maturation, bipolar spindle assembly, and mitotic entry, making it a very important protein throughout mitosis. To understand how it functions during mitosis we can use drugs that turn off the activity of Plk1 to mimic what occurs when the protein is malfunctioning. Drugs like BI2536, a small-molecule inhibitor that turns off Plk1 activity in mitotic cells, have provided insight into how Plk1 functions; however, these drugs are not selective enough to inhibit protein activity at distinct locations in the cell. To address this problem, we use a technique called SNAP-tag to localize BI2536 to specific organelles within cells. Using genetic engineering approaches like cloning, virus generation and stable cell production, I helped make cells that express a SNAP protein linked to a PACT domain. PACT localizes to the centrosomes in dividing cells and allows us to bring SNAP protein only to that location. Our modified drug enters cells, binds to SNAP-PACT, and selectively inhibits Plk1 activity at the centrosome of cells. Through experiments I have run, we have shown that we are able to inhibit Plk1 activity in vitro and in vivo. Using immunofluorescences and super-resolution microscopy, I have shown that local targeting of CLP-BI2536 to the centrosomes causes a greater reduction in active Plk1 (p-plk1) than traditional global drug delivery. In the future, I hope to use this approach to investigate the activity of another mitotic protein, Aurora A, in order to further explore the role of mitotic kinases during the cell cycle. 

Monitoring bacterial indicators and pathogens in environmental waters via filtration is critical in preventing the spread of water-borne diseases. Despite the many filtration methods described in the literature, few have demonstrated applicability to multiple target agents and are adapted for collection of water samples in rural or remote areas. Recently, a novel system for collection and concentration of samples in remote settings was designed and validated. This bag-mediated filtration system (BMFS), originally developed for environmental surveillance of poliovirus, collects water-based samples in a bag then gravity filters the sample through a capsule filter, which can be easily transported back to the lab. The objective of my project is to adapt and validate the BMFS for capture and concentration of bacterial indicators and pathogens found in environmental waters. To evaluate the adaptability of the BMFS method to bacterial targets, I inoculated a series of 10L of tap water, with either E. coli, enterococcus, or an attenuated vaccine strain of S. typhi (Ty21a). I filtered the water through a ViroCapTM filter, then eluted the filter using 0.1% tween-20. Recovery rates were quantified using qPCR, defined substrate MPN methods, and spread plating techniques. Results were expressed as percentage of the bacterial inoculum recovered in the eluates. My next steps will be to filter various environmental water types obtained near the University of Washington, in order to assess the effect of water quality on BMFS performance. The experimental design will mimic the procedure described above, except we will be innoculating environmental water instead of tap water. It is our hope that the results of this study demonstrate the potential for environmental surveillance of multiple bacterial targets in remote settings where site location, climate, and road conditions make sample-site access challenging.

Enormous outpourings of energy blasted into space by an accreting supermassive black hole (SMBH) are known as quasars. Previously, it was believed that SMBH’s enter a quiet state, thus extinguishing the quasar, over thousand-year-timescales. Changing-look quasars (CLQs) are a recently discovered, rare type of quasar that have been observed to transition far quicker than was thought possible. These short timescales motivated researchers, including ourselves, to reconsider our understanding of accretion phenomena in quasars to better understand what is driving the unexpectedly rapid changes observed in these CLQs. It is essential to establish a larger, more comprehensive, and less biased catalog of CLQs than currently available to answer such questions; and our work emphasizes creating this catalog. Our research involves both visually comparing spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database to each other and to new Sloan observations in the interest of detecting variations that suggest the quasar has turned on or off between observations. Sierra Dodd has recently identified three extremely probable CLQ candidates, bringing us closer to an improved understanding of which key changes in spectra correspond to CLQs. Further work on our part will aim to discover additional candidates to enlarge the pool of discovered.

In the past few years, tetanus has caused many cases of the disease, according to the World Health Organization, specifically 34019 newborns died in 2015 from Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT). Many studies have been done on its transmission pathways and its effect on patients. This project explored research in academic journals and other professional publications with keywords such as “maternal and neonatal tetanus” and “transmission.” We explored existing transmission pathways of tetanus, as well as current recommendations for these specific cases, such as proper wound care regarding umbilical cord cutting and vaccination of pregnant mothers. Such recommendations would be to prevent illness and death, as well as diminishing the risk of infant demise. It was found that tetanus is endemic in certain regions. Its contamination can be prevented through proper wound care, vaccination, and proper umbilical cord practices. This review used the disciplinary lenses of microbiology, clinical medicine, epidemiology, and public health. There is overwhelming evidence pointing to the recommendation to vaccinate in the circumstances of a wound or as a form of prevention. This review will suggest implementation in regards to vaccination and prevention options to accompany current healthcare provider efforts to further assist their endeavors in eliminating the specific presentation of MNT in the remaining 15 countries where it remains a public health threat, such as Mali or Pakistan.

In some locations (e.g., refugee camps or rural areas in countries like Haiti), fecal waste systems are not water-based, but resemble a pit latrine, for which current sampling and processing methods were not designed. The fecal waste is collected and held, often under poor infrastructure. The fecal sludge management process is important to consider for environmental surveillance, as this may be the only source for screening. This surveillance is important for the continued eradication of poliovirus (PV). The goal of my research was to develop a method for PV extraction from sludge in pit latrines for use in locations with concentrated fecal waste. Towards this goal, I modified two existing protocols for extraction of various viruses from different solid media and applied them to evaluate virus recovery from primary sludge. The first (M1) was originally designed to recover hepatitis A from oysters, while the second (M2) was originally developed to extract somatic coliphages from sewage sludge. The modified methods were evaluated using primary sludge collected from a wastewater treatment plant in Seattle and spiked with the vaccine strain of poliovirus type 1 (PV1). Virus recovery was assessed by a plaque assay. M1 involved acid adsorption followed by glycine elution, threonine elution, skimmed milk flocculation, vertrel and threonine extractions. For M2, liquid and solid fractions were initially separated by centrifugation. Processing of the solid fraction involved beef extract elution, sonication, skimmed milk flocculation, and vertrel extraction, while the liquid fraction was concentrated using membrane filtration and beef extract elution. The preliminary data indicate that M1 may have a higher recovery, and therefore be the preferred method for use during environmental surveillance of poliovirus. Future work should include additional replicates and optimization of the preferred method.