University of New MexicoGraduate and Professional

Student Association

Research and Creative Expression Symposium

“Excellence in Academics”Abstract Booklet

September 29, 2007

CONTENTS

Mission Statement 3

Special Thanks 3

Nominated Students 4

Artwork 13

Creatives 14

Oral Presentations 16

Panel Presentations 29

Poster Presentations 30

Contact the GPSA 36

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MissionThe goal of this symposium is to provide an open forum for graduate and professional students campus wide to present work in order to gain valuable feedback on their presentation skills and practice presenting to a general audience. Another goal for the symposium is to serve as a venue that will allow a diverse representation of departments for both students and faculty to network and meet, facilitating communication for both students and faculty within and across departments to create a stronger graduate community. Finally, the symposium is a chance to recognize the quality and breadth of research conducted at UNM.

Special ThanksWe would like to thank those who have contributed to the success of this symposium including all of the GPSA officers, especially President Joseph Garcia, Chair Melanie Armstrong, and Officer Christopher Shank for giving thoughtful and constructive feedback. GPSA council members for suggesting proposal revisions and voting to fund this event. Theresa Lopez for insights on coordinating a campus wide event. Students who gave feedback on our initial proposal: Una Medina, Elizabeth Stewart, Kathryn McGinnis, Mark Smith, Cody Wiley and Jodi Sanchez. The symposium committee members including Nicole Dante, Christopher Ramirez, Beth Nichols, Soumia Dhar and volunteers including Annette Rodriguez, Clare Daniels, Patricia Perea and all those who volunteered to participate the day of the event. Thank you to the Student Union Building for their help with rooms, equipment and food. A big thanks to all the graduate and professional staff and faculty who kept in touch and offered their guidance and assistance by nominating students and giving feedback and advice. Last but not least a thank you to the UNM Office of Graduate Studies Barbara Carver for sending out all of our announcements and to Graduate Dean Amy Wolhert for her support.

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Nominated Students

As part of our mission to ensure diverse representation from graduate and professional department across UNM we asked departments to nominate outstanding students. Nominated students received top priority for limited oral presentation slots and also received a gift certificate to the UNM Bookstore. CONGRATULATIONS!

Eva Angeli, MS III (Third Year Medical Student), School of Medicine

Emergency contraception in the Emergency Department: A survey of New Mexico hospitals

E. Buchen, MD, E. Angeli, MS III, E. Espey, MD, J. Ogburn, MD, L. Leeman, MD

Objectives: To assess the availability of, and provider knowledge about, emergency contraception (EC) in New Mexico emergency departments (ED), especially in the setting of sexual assault. Background:  Across the United States, sexual assault accounts for an estimated 25,000 pregnancies each year; of these pregnancies, 22,000 could be prevented with timely use of EC.  In 2003, the New Mexico legislature passed a law requiring emergency departments to offer and provide EC to sexual assault survivors.  However, there has been no assessment of the extent to which this requirement is followed in individual EDs. Methods:  We visited 33 of the 38 full service EDs in New Mexico.  At each facility, a standard interview was conducted with a physician, a nurse, and a clerk to determine the ED’s policies about EC, as well as staff knowledge about EC provision. Results: Overall, 63% of staff members reported that EC was routinely offered to sexual assault survivors.  The remainder of responses indicated that hospitals provided EC on an individual basis according to physician preference or referred the patient to another provider.  In the case of consensual unprotected sex, only 20% of nurses and physicians reported that EC was routinely provided.  Fewer than 5% of respondents were aware of the state law requiring that EC be offered to sexual assault survivors. Conclusion:  Since over a third of ED providers do not routinely dispense EC to victims of sexual assault, New Mexico women would benefit from more effective dissemination of the state statute regarding EC for sexual assault survivors, which should lead to inclusion of EC provision in ED protocols.  Additionally, in the face of the current epidemic of unintended pregnancy in the U.S., the provision of EC should be considered an emergency medical service regardless of the setting in which unprotected sex occurred.

Jana Berlin, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Chondritic meteorites and their components: Records of processes in the solar nebula

Chondritic meteorites (chondrites) come to Earth from bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They are the oldest solar system materials and record processes that

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happened in the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago, before the planets formed. The two major components of chondrites are chondrules and matrix. Chondrules are small igneous spherules (Fig. 1) which crystallized from molten droplets after a rapid heating event. Matrix (Fig. 1) is the fine-grained material adjacent to chondrules. I am studying the chemical relationship between chondrules and matrix to help elucidate the mechanism that formed chondrules. This mechanism is still an active debate and numerous models have been proposed over the past decades. A popular hypothesis is the X-wind model in which chondrules were melted close to the Sun and then got transported outwards to mix and accrete with matrix material in cooler regions of the solar nebula. Other scientists argue that chondrules and matrix were formed in the same nebular region by shock waves that originated from gravitational instabilities caused by the formation of Jupiter. A proposed complementary chemical relationship between chondrules and matrix has been used as an argument that provides strong support for the shock wave model. The objective of my study is to collect more precise data on chondrules and matrix in different chondrite types to test whether or not a complementary chemical relationship exists. And indeed, my data show that while the chemical composition of each component taken separately is significantly different from solar element abundances, when chondrules and matrix are added together, their composition closely resembles that of the sun. I will discuss additional findings that must be considered in chondrule formation and solar nebula models, because chemical data alone do not tell the whole story.  

Heather Campbell, Ph.D. Candidate, College of Pharmacy

An Assessment of the Effects of Patient Information Handbooks in Clinical Trials

BACKGROUND: Patients considering clinical trial enrollment often do not fully understand clinical trials. The Veterans Affairs (VA) Cooperative Studies Program Pharmacy Coordinating Center (CRPCC) developed a patient clinical trials information booklet. The primary objective of this study was to determine how the booklet affected knowledge and attitudes regarding clinical trials. We also assessed knowledge retention. METHODS: People waiting at outpatient hospital clinics were approached. Participants were eligible if they were non-institutionalized, at least eighteen years old, and able to read English. Subjects were randomized to control and treatment conditions (complete a questionnaire versus read our booklet, then complete a questionnaire). The questionnaire assessed knowledge and attitudes about clinical trials. To evaluate knowledge retention, a sample of the treatment group was contacted by telephone 6 to 12 weeks later.  We used hierarchical regression analysis with the mean of the likelihood of participation scores as the dependent variable and perception of understanding, perceived risk of clinical trial participation, education group, and mean total knowledge as predictor variables. Age, gender, and ethnicity were entered as control variables into each regression equation. RESULTS: Knowledge scores were significantly higher in the treatment group (84.5% 1.7% vs. 64.4% 4.3%, P<0.001). At an average of 64.5 days later, knowledge was lower (74.0% 3.3% vs. 84.5% 1.7%, P<0.001), but still remained higher than the control group (P<0.001).  Hierarchical regression analysis revealed perceived risk of trial participation was negatively associated with trial participation, knowledge was positively

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associated with trial participation, knowledge was negatively associated with perceived risk of trial participation, and knowledge was positively associated with perceived understanding. CONCLUSIONS: The information booklet increased participant knowledge about clinical trials; this knowledge was retained 6 to 12 weeks. Patients considering enrollment in clinical trials may benefit from an information booklet, thus improving the informed consent process.

Soumia Dhar, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Communication and Journalism

A Quantitative Review of President Bush’s March 2006 Visit to SouthAsia

This study tested whether a de-hyphenated approach of the US government towards the governments of India and Pakistan is desirable, after President Bush’s 2006 visit to the two countries. A content analysis of archival data from the official websites of the two governments was conducted; routinized generic frames in media discourse were used as coding categories. Descriptive statistical techniques of frequency and percentage analysis, and chi-square goodness-of-fit test were used for data analysis. The results indicate that for India conflict and for Pakistan diplomacy are important issues currently, thus insinuating the necessity for the US government to use de-hyphenation in its South-Asia policy.

Peggy Hulick, Ph.D. Candidate, Special Education Program, College of Education

Portfolio Assessment for Young Children with Autism

Assessment provides information that allows educators to evaluate if their instruction is appropriate, meaningful and improving learning for students. It is the tool which shows us whether or not our instructional approach is working or in need of modification. It is an ongoing process from the beginning of the school year to the last day of class. Students with autism spectrum disorders have been traditionally assessed using norm referenced tests. These tests do not accurately demonstrate the actual learning of these students. Student based portfolio assessment is a method that can be utilized to show progress for students across the school year. This project assessed the effectiveness of the use of portfolio assessment with young students with autism spectrum disorders. The use of portfolio assessment provided a holistic and accurate picture of the students and their growth. This resulted in teachers, families, and the community viewing individuals with autism spectrum disorders as true effective learners. It also resulted in higher expectations for current and future learning. 

Sara Jamieson, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology

Wayuu women's initiation rituals in Maracaibo, Venezuela

Sara Jamieson’s dissertation research focuses on Wayuu women’s initiation rituals in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela.  The Wayuu are currently the largest indigenous

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population in Venezuela,.  While many Wayuu live in rural areas, large numbers of Wayuu people are moving to urban centers for employment.  This study documents the changes in form and meaning the puberty ritual has undergone in this urban context, as well as the contemporary role the rite has assumed as an expression of ethnic identity for Wayuu. Her research looks at how over the course of 2005-6 urban Wayuu families are reviving the rite and modifying it in interesting ways to fit with aspects of urban life.  Through interviews, life histories, and her own observations of the rituals themselves, she shows how senior female family leaders have revived this event in ways that dovetail with the urban school system and turned it into a rite that encourages their daughters’ further education in various professions.  These changes are contextualized within the larger political context of Venezuela.  Sara connects these changes to the fact that indigenous peoples have recently been granted constitutional recognition under the Chavez administration.  Moving out from the family focus, she explores how urban Wayuu leaders are currently talking about the girls’ puberty rite in the context of debating what it means to be Wayuu.  Through interview data and a discussion of several public events she looks at the ways these leaders are promoting the rite as integral to the preservation of Wayuu tradition.

Kris Kirschbaum, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Communication and Journalism

Analysis of a Measurement Model used in a Structural ModelTo Predict Conflict Management Styles across National and Cultural Groups

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the accuracy of an instrument used to predict conflict management style in different national groups.  Although accurate translations and back-translation of words was part of the data collection process, this study seeks to determine if simple translation provides an accurate scale to assess underlying structures that may differ from culture to culture.  The major findings of the current study are as follows: (a) data collected from U.S. and Japanese respondents did not demonstrate similar good model fit for the measurement model portion predicting integrative conflict management style; (b) there is evidence that conflict as a concept may be approached differently in the two national groups suggesting a universal instrument may not accurately measure structures of conflict management style across cultures.

W. Azul La Luz B., Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Sociology

Addiction, Death, and Economic Development in Northern New Mexico: The Epidemiological Paradox of a “Landed” Lumpen Proletariat

Based on personal field observation and ethnographic research, the presentation will focus on drug-related, real-life issues within one community in Northern New Mexican using an extension of a post-Marxist theoretical perspective as analytic tools. Historical materialism is used to analyze the loss of self-sufficiency through decimation of land ownership, loss of communal agrarian production, loss of barter systems, and subjugation to a capitalist / religion driven wage subsistence. It also examines inculcation of false consciousness. Evidence seems to indicate that an underground economy based on, and

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sustained by, illicit drug trafficking assisted this economic transition in means of production and has resulted in the creation of a landed lumpen proletariat, which is an epidemiological paradox since lumpen proletarians by definition are no real estate or substantial holding of any kind. The principal consequences of the growth of an economy built on drug trafficking maybe concurrent, inter-generational, illicit drug use, virtually no evidence of “maturing out,” and generation of the highest per capita rates of heroin addiction, and accidental drug overdose in the entire United States. These structural conditions may have also led to epidemic levels of older user accidental, illicit drug overdoses that may not be accidental occurrences at all, but rather may actually be anomic suicide. Future systemic changes are recommended, as is future research.

Jeremy Lehnen, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Latin American Studies

Sex, Silence and Social Disintegration:  Batalla en el cielo

Susana Rotker in Citizens of Fear (2002) compares the nation to a body, stating that: "If society can be understood in terms of the human body, in which every individual is a 'member' (head, heart, legs, arms), what slowly emerges is a whole being, a body with its own illnesses, equilibrium, deviations, and abnormalities." (18) At the beginning of the twentieth century, the implementation of neo-liberal policy in many Latin American countries has lead to state apparatuses that look to the market to cure the ailments that affect the national socio-political body.  However, what has resulted from these policies is a social landscape that is evermore divided, one in which the gap between the poorest and richest segments of society continually grows.  Analogous to this splintering; traditional civic structures, such as the family, the nation, etc. that in the past offered individuals a sense of social cohesion are fragmented and have virtually disappeared from the national landscape, becoming merely empty symbols of times past. The Mexican film Batalla en el cielo (2005) contemplates the violence that emerges from the processes of social disintegration and how, consequently, violence is a constant element in Mexico City's daily life.  This cinematic production does not locate itself within the genre of the "new brutality films," such as Amores perros (2000). Rather, Batalla en el cielo approximates itself to documentary film or testimonial literature. Carlos Reygadas' film therefore "testifies" to the everyday violence that has infected and dissected the Mexican national body.  In the current paper, I will consider how Batalla en el cielo brings into the critical purview of the camera the socio-economic paralysis marginalized individuals experience. These subjects are the debris of the national body, those who have been isolated or excised from its hegemonic corpus.  At the same time, the film also calls into question the homogenizing conception of a national body indicating its fractures through the portrayal of the social anomie experienced by both the lower and the upper classes. In the film, the individual body becomes the location of a struggle where symbolic social regulations are inscribed as well as transgressed.

María Nieves de Abajo Bajo, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

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Spanish women writers at the end of the millennium: Crisis and transformation in female protagonists

Since the fascist dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, Spain has gone through dramatic and rapid changes as a country. Among other things, women have become a more important part of the complex web that forms the labor force and political underpinning of the nation. In my study, I examine some of these changes from a sociopolitical perspective by analyzing three important novels by women writers published in the nineties: Nubosidad variable (1992) by Carmen Martin Gaite, Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas (1997) by Lucía Etxebarria, and Atlas de la geografía humana (1998) by Almudena Grandes. In spite of belonging to different generations, these writers coincided in presenting Spain at the end of the 20th century as viewed through the eyes and voices of women experiencing personal crisis. The authors' view of their protagonists is one of internal struggle and the search for identity in the emerging democracy. How does a woman reconcile the demands for new ethical and political values in the new world where her roles are changing so fast with a yearning for love and passion at the personal level? In my analysis, I explore the reasons underlying the characters' disenchantment in their personal lives as well as the crisis that bring them to a turning point. Moreover, I consider how similar crisis may be affecting women in present day Spain and, in general, how these crisis are being reflected in the fictional texts by women writers today. 

Amanda A. Pagan, J.D. Candidate specializing in Family Law, School of Law

Will I Ever See My Children Again? A Critical Study of the U.S. Department of State’s Reports on Signatories Compliance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the

Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that each year thousands of children are parentally abducted from the U.S. and taken across international borders, where bureaucracy makes it virtually impossible to bring them back home. The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague) was enacted to protect children internationally from the harmful effects of parental abduction and establish procedures to ensure a child’s prompt return. Noncompliant signatories, however, continue to frustrate the objective of the Hague and make successful returns completely unpredictable. To assist left-behind parents in determining whether to invoke the Hague, Congress has mandated that the U.S. Department of State (St. Dept.) keep records and report annually on countries party to the Hague who are noncompliant with their obligation. The compliancy reports can be a great tool for left-behind parents to determine the probability that they will be reunited with their abducted child. However after significant analysis, this paper argues that the reports are misleading to parents. Specifically, the results of this study demonstrate that the St. Dept.’s “noncompliant” ratings are inconsistently applied; fail to account for each country’s unique legal, cultural, and law enforcement differences; and are contrary to international statistics. The evidence also suggests that the St. Dept.’s reports may be affecting a parent’s decision to invoke the Hague. Although the information contained in the reports is specially mandated by Congress, limiting compliancy ratings to U.S. cases provides a narrow and incomplete

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view of the Hague. Therefore this repot also considers the benefits of including other member state’s experience into the St. Dept.’s reports. To illustrate these findings, this paper compares Austria, Germany, and Mexico’s application and compliance with the Hague. The data analyzed includes numerous public documents from many countries, including the St. Dept.’s past eight years compliancy reports and the comprehensive 2006 statistical analysis developed by the Hague Permanent Bureau.

Jeremy Ryan Ricketts, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies

"Out of the Ashes": Keiji Nakazawa's Barefoot Gen and the Representation of the Atomic Bomb through Manga

Since the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, artists who survived the atrocity (survivors are known as hibakusha) have been struggling to find ways to communicate the horror of that event.   How does one find language to represent an atrocity that pushes up against the boundaries of that which can be described?  Authors who were established prior to the bomb such as Hara Tamaki and Ota Yoko literally could not write about anything other than the bomb for the rest of their lives.  For those citizens in Hiroshima at the time of the explosion, the bomb forever bifurcated their lives into a "before" and an "after," often leading to despair, nihilism, and in the case of Tamaki, suicide. Keiji Nakazawa is one of these artists, and he tells the story of the bomb through manga.  Manga is a Japanese art form that melds the fundamentals of American comics with a traditional Japanese style of narrative.  Nakazawa was a child living in Hiroshima at the time of the explosion, and he has channeled his experiences into a powerful series of books collectively entitled Barefoot Gen. The portrayal of the events of August 6, 1945, through manga adds another layer to the complex aesthetic of bearing witness and imbues it with a power not available to more conventional forms of atomic bomb literature such as a written testimonials or documentary accounts. This paper seeks to show that by using manga as his aesthetic vehicle for representing the bomb and its effects, and by employing various binaries such as documentary and testimony, victimry and "survivance," the collective and the individual, and modernity and traditionalism, Nakazawa overcomes many hurdles faced by other hibakusha authors and delivers a powerful work that bears witness to the atrocity of Hiroshima.

Annette M. Rodriguez, M.A. Candidate, Department of American Studies

“Yoixtlapouhque/ Their eyes are wide open now”: ProtoAutoethnography and the Indigenous Agency of Doña Luz Jiménez

Doña Luz Jiménez (1895-1965), an indigenous woman born in Milpa Alta, Mexico, grew up during the last days of the Porfiriato and survived the revolutions led by Zapata and Carranza.  Later in life she acted as a linguistic collaborator and native informant for many anthropologists and linguists, as well as a model for artists. Jiménez’s life writings and tellings were collected in the post-Revolutionary period, when Mexico was in the throes of a socio-political movement that celebrated indigenismo, adopting the Indian as the symbol of the eternal, the ancient, the romantic, and the preindustrial.  A

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consideration of the Jiménez autobiography Life and Death in Milpa Alta: A Nahuatl Chronicle of Díaz and Zapata paired with Los Cuentos en Nahuatl de Dona Luz Jimenez—a collection of community histories and folktales—provides rich ground for life narrative study.  In both narratives, dictated in Nahuatl, Jiménez displays sophisticated acumen in serving her own goal o linguistic and cultural preservation while re-creating herself as an “Indian” for folklorists, anthropologists, and artists. In addition to her narratives, the “created” Jiménez, will be considered through the artistic works in which she was portrayed—the works of Rivera, Charlot, Weston, and Modotti. Jiménez is a truly major figure in early native anthropology and autoethnography.  Her work echoes work accomplished by Zora Neale Hurston under the direction of Franz Boas and the work of Jovita Gonzales, whose work was sponsored by Frank Dobie.  Like Hurston and Gonzales, Doña Luz Jiménez crossed boundaries of race, gender and class, and strategically exploited exoticizing networks to preserve and chronicle her community’sspecific cultural identity and experience. Jiménez’s work is an example of proto-autoethnography in an unexpected location and period, pointing to the importance of collaborative life narrative for indigenous communities at the turn of the century.

Ginny L. Rust, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Earth andPlanetary Sciences

Hydrogeologically Characterizing the Subsurface for Groundwater Modeling: How it’s done and what the models tell us

Subsurface characterization is a complicated goal riddled with inadequate data, non-unique interpretations, and spot-checking.  Every year, new insights into methodologies and techniques are developed in an attempt to minimize uncertainties in this task- but no technique is without error and no single method is all-encompassing.  Although many techniques can be used to record specific properties of the subsurface, these properties are often not the actual parameters of interest and interpretations of these data are required.  Yet, given all of these obstacles, subsurface models are developed and applied to a large range of scientific, environmental, economic, and industrial problems… but is reality ever truly captured?  No, at least not entirely, however we can capture specific properties of an area.  By simplifying the question, we can get more reasonable solutions.  Here, we consider the characterization demands associated with development of groundwater models.  Geologic, hydraulic, and geophysical techniques can be used to gain flow-impacting parameters of the subsurface, however gaining parameters is only the first step in model development.  Once these data are compiled, interpolation techniques must be applied to create three-dimensional space from discrete or discontinuous data.  In this study, geostatistical techniques were applied that allow conditioning of the model based on the modeler’s conceptual interpretations.  Real data are presented to demonstrate the task of constructing subsurface interpretations, along with visual illustrations of the models developed.  Finally, models produced from our recent research are presented and evaluated for their success in capturing the true subsurface.  These results illustrate that groundwater model’s can be successful in capturing hydraulic field data, but that this success does not indicate that the true system has been captured.

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Marcos Sosa, MS IV (Fourth Year Medical Student), AAMC Primary Representative, School of Medicine

Identification of mitogen-activated protein kinase docking sites in enzymes that metabolize phosphatidylinositols and inositol phosphates

Background: Reversible interactions between the components of cellular signaling pathways allow for the formation and dissociation of multimolecular complexes with spatial and temporal resolution and, thus, are an important means of integrating multiple signals into a coordinated cellular response. Several mechanisms that underlie these interactions have been identified, including the recognition of specific docking sites, termed a D-domain and FXFP motif, on proteins that bind mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). We recently found that phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C-γ1 (PLC-γ1) directly binds to extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2), a MAPK, via a D-domain-dependent mechanism. In addition, we identified D-domain sequences in several other PLC isozymes. In the present studies we sought to determine whether MAPK docking sequences could be recognized in other enzymes that metabolize phosphatidylinositols (PIs), as well as in enzymes that metabolize inositol phosphates (IPs). Results: We found that several, but not all, of these enzymes contain identifiable D-domain sequences.  Further, we found a high degree of conservation of these sequences and their location in human and mouse  proteins; notable exceptions were PI 3-kinase C2-γ, PI 4-kinase type IIβ, and inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase. Conclusion: The results indicate that there may be extensive crosstalk between MAPK signaling and signaling pathways that are regulated by cellular levels of PIs or IPs.  Published: 30 January 2006 Cell Communication and Signaling 2006, 4:2 doi:10.1186/1478-811X-4-2. This article is available from: http://www.biosignaling.com/content/4/1/2

Diane Thomas, Ph.D. Candidate, Art Education, College of Education

The Role of Action Research in Art Curriculum Development at the High School 

What do my students wish to learn, and why?  How shall I map their learning journey with experiences that engage and challenge?  As educators facilitate student learning, we can assist in building layers of meaning through inquiry and process.  But where to begin?  As Newman (1998) suggests, when we are truly concerned with relevant student learning, classroom research emerges naturally out of the flow of investigation, execution, reflection and revision. It also reinforces what Stewart and Walker (2005) believe opens the gate to meaningful learning: that a highly personalized construction of knowledge, organized to serve the purposes of the learner, results in higher levels of student engagement and development of authentic learning strategies. The key to this gate appears when educators examine what students do as they construct knowledge, how they approach this process, and where they place the emphasis in each learning experience.  My concern with student learning and engagement led me to conduct several months’ research in my own and another educator’s art classrooms, comparing learning environments, teaching strategies, media choices and instructional approaches.  Using

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qualitative action research methods including surveys, interviews, observation and instruction, I was able to gather data by working closely with students to examine their approach to working with both materials and ideas in the context of an art project.   This data, rich with student insight about what works when authentic learning is a primary goal, helped point the way toward a radical change in my teaching philosophy, daily practice, and ultimately, the curriculum itself.   The relevance of this research extends well beyond the art classroom when we examine the underlying principle of student ownership of the learning process, the role of engagement in learning, and the authenticity of students’ voices in the dialogue about shaping content.     

Sara Vicuña Guengerich, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Indian Women at the Onset of the Conquest: A Textual Analysis of the Early Chronicles of the Andes

The colonial chronicles of the Andes have been traditionally interpreted as “phallocentric discourses that never mention the names of Indian women but rather include them as commodities or present them solely as objects of pleasure”1 This sweeping statement exemplifies how researchers of Andean women who see in their sources evidence of a patriarchal social dynamic concentrate on incidents of female subordination and abuse narrated in some literary and historical discourses. In doing so, they conclude that these women have always been dominated by patriarchal regimes. These common interpretations of gender and power significantly limit scholarly production of knowledge. Current historical research proposes that no such patriarchal paradigm existed in the Andes until much later. Rather, the actions of men and women regardless of their ethnicities were regulated by an economy of powers promoted by the decentralized Spanish colonial system. I propose a new reading of early colonial textual sources within the context of three historical periods that shaped the discursive representations of Indian women. First, the initial settlement of the conquistadors (1532-1550) in which these women are depicted as symbolic examples of the impressive Inca Empire. Second, the colonial accommodation (1550s-1560s) which emphasizes the links between female Inca nobility and the conquistadors for the creation of a new colonial elite class. Finally, the Toledan era (1569-1581) that stressed the immoral and idolatrous customs of the Inca, which were associated to the present moral decay of Indian women in the colonial society of the sixteenth century.  I analyze these dissonant gendered discursive representations to demonstrate how the colonial vision of Indian women was continually recreated as the state took a self-conscious role that utilized written discourses as an apparatus of politics.

Artwork

Cynthia Brinich-Langlois, M.F.A. Candidate in Printmaking, Department of Art and Art History

Transitions and Transformation in the Natural World

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My work explores transitions and transformations in the natural world. In my prints, I combine different printmaking media to recreate the innumerable layers and textures that form complex systems in nature. Currently, I am building small houses and leaving them outside for several months. The roofs of these houses acquire evidence of the weather and environmental conditions, creating a record of these events etched into roof's surface. I remove the roofs from the house frames and print them to create a background of the experiences of each house. Over this background, I print images of the houses themselves, of the landscapes where the houses stood, and of the people and animals interacting with the structures. These intricate images encompass the idea of the house as one small part of an elaborate, living system. The surrounding landscapes dwarf the modest size of the houses, but the people and creatures that perch on the roofs or find shade from the sun inside the small interiors suggest the importance of each small construction.

Sage Chettle, M.F.A. Candidate in Printmaking, Department of Art and Art History

Series One: Maps and Landscapes: Mixed Media

My great, great grandmother, a Jewish woman, died during childbirth. Her infant daughter was abandoned at a Catholic orphanage, and later sent on the orphan train to the Missouri river bottoms. There, she was adopted by a Catholic family. The spirit of what it means to be culturally Jewish has gradually been lost through generations in my family. When I was a child, my mother, ad mist stories of my great, great grandmother, told me I could go to Israel to claim land. I played these stories over in my mind hundreds of times. Eventually, I traveled to Israel where I had an unexpected experience. I saw many people—Jewish people—who I resembled. I longed to stay because I felt that I belonged. My physical identity had, in my mind, finally been answered. In my imagination, I had been to Israel hundreds of times so the act of physically being in Israel was an emotional, spiritual, and physical experience. Exploring this imaginary connection to family history and physical location helps me understand my identity as an artist and as a woman disconnected from Jewish tradition and culture. I use personal cherished media to reconstruct my identity through awakenings and imaginations I have about memory. In Women of the Book, a traveling exhibition of female Jewish book artists, there is a shared interest to story tell and record memories. In my sketchbook, which I call my “Collectanea”, I incorporate sewing, fabric, found objects, thoughts, drawings, poetry, prayers, and collage. In a sense, it becomes a journaled self-portrait of daily thoughts and artistic decisions to create a dialogue between my memory and my disconnection to Jewish tradition and culture. In this work, I hope the viewer can begin their own conversation about personal identity, as well as explore the influence of their own family history.

Creatives

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Varda Brahm, M.A. Candidate, Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

We must Be the change we wish to see in the World

Encouraging creativity, cooperative, artistic and joyful learning is possible!  We will enjoy some movement, singing and dance to connect with our own experience of playful expression, and discuss options for supporting holistic and peace education in school environments. I will share some movement/walks, singing, and dances that open our minds and hearts to the experience of compassionate understanding, joy, and play (based upon the Dances of Universal Peace and adapted for use in public schools), and possibly a theatre game ‘icebreaker’ -- as we feel our own inspiration, freedom and authenticity, we can support and encourage that in our interactions with the young people whose growth we serve. I will provide an overview and list of resources and organizations that support cooperative, holistic, artistic, and peace-oriented education for teachers and students.  I will describe some common denominator characteristics of these approaches, such as empathy, valuing emotional intelligence to support its development, using language skills to teach conflict resolution, and more.  I will facilitate some discussion as to how these kinds of approaches to education might be implemented within current frameworks and requirements.  Attendees may possibly share interests and concerns, and how to integrate their hopes and inspirations into actions to sustain a sense of creativity and effective ‘character education’ in their school environments.  A handout listing the resources will be provided for future reference. We will end with a dance to inspire the continuing sense of unity and peace. 

Héctor Contreras-López, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish Poetry Selection

“Isleta” “Un caiman en Chihuahua” “Nancy Morejon” “Raptor del viento”

Carmen J. Jolguin-Chaparro, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish Poetry Selection

“Frontera” “Sirena del desierto” “Ella” “Dios te Salve Maria"

Anuradha S. Kowtha, M.A. Candidate with a concentration in Rehtoric and Writing, Department of English

The Portrayal of Love in Bharata Natyam

Bharata Natyam originated in southern India nearly 3,000 years ago and was performed in Hindu Temples. The dance style includes abstract dance as well as expression. The

word ‘Bharata’ comes from ‘bhava’- expression, ‘raga’- melody, and ‘tala’ – rhythm and

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‘Natyam’ means ‘dance.’ The first dance Pushpanjali, ‘offering of flowers’, welcomes the audience to the dance program. After this piece, a sloka entitled Angekam that

worships Nataraj, the Lord of Dance will be performed. In the final item, Nethrandi Nerathile, the dancer portrays a young woman who sees her partner talking to another woman by the river. A common theme in Bharata Natyam is love, or shringara, and is

depicted through devotion or romance. True bhava is created when the audience experiences the emotions of the dancer and empathizes with the characters of the story.

Maria Nieves de Abajo, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish Poetry Selection

“El Mundo ya no es” “On the Road” “Existencia”

Michael Swierz, M.F.A. Candidate in Creative Writing-Poetry, Department of English

A Selection of Poems: Original and New Translations

As a representative of the English Department’s new MFA program in creative writing, I will be reading a sampling of poetry from creative projects I am currently working on toward the completion of my degree. During this reading I will be presenting both original poem compositions and translations of poems by the renowned Misty poet Shu Ting. My co-translator, graduate student Ying Xu, will most likely accompany me for the recitation of the original Chinese poems, which I will then follow with our English renditions. The original poetry I present will come from a recent series of lyric poems and a chapbook project of abstract minimalist compositions. I may also share a few new poems and translations written this summer while I will be in San Agustín Oapan, Guerrero, Mexico, on a Yale University Summer FLAS grant to study and translate modern Nahuatl poetry and stories.  My reading will include original poems followed by a presentation of Shu Ting’s long poem “Bloodlines Branching,” recently published as a feature in UNM’s Blue Mesa Review. 

Theodore J. Walker, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish Poetry Selection

“El oro rojo/ The Red Gold” “Tatuaje azul/ Blue Tattoo” “Barba velluda/Shaggy Beard"

Oral Presentations

Katherine Alexander, M.Mu Candidate, Department of English

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Vergil’s Aeneid and Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice: Models for Berlioz’s Les Troyens

“I am sure I have written a great work, greater and nobler than anything done hitherto.” These were the words of Hector Berlioz, the innovative French composer, as he finished his monumental five-act opera, Les Troyens in 1861. The opera, based primarily on Books I, II, and IV of Vergil’s Aeneid, quenched a passion ignited by Berlioz’s early studies of Vergilian verse.  The plights of Cassandra and Dido, two tragic heroines of the Aeneid, were to occupy the composer’s thoughts until he made the decision to retell their stories in operatic form many years later.  In the meantime, Berlioz had his first glimpses of Shakespeare’s tragic heroines as the Irish actress, Harriet Smithson, his future wife, brought these women to life in the Paris theatre. With Shakespeare now added to the equation in the form of Lorenzo and Jessica from The Merchant of Venice, Berlioz found additional challenges as he went about capturing the essence of Vergil’s work and adding the flavor of a Shakespearean drama while adhering to the requirements of classical French opera.  He succeeded in doing this without diminishing his own inimitable musical style and his absolute dedication to the portrayals of Cassandra and Dido, whose pain and suffering he seemed to take on himself. In an effort to be faithful to the words of Vergil and Shakespeare, Berlioz himself wrote the libretto for his opera.  His task was to capture the essence of Vergil’s Latin dactylic hexameter and Shakespeare’s iambic meter as he fashioned the words into the French Alexandrine, a form using iambic hexameter.   This presentation will examine the methods of Berlioz as he worked with the poetry of Vergil and Shakespeare not only to write the libretto, but also to adapt the words of these great poets to music.  Musical examples of the special effects created by Berlioz will be presented to show his musical techniques such as text painting, instrumentation, dramatic and musical styles, as well as staging. 

Tita Berger, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies

Realizing Critical Regionalism: A Case Study in the Southwest BorderlandsMore than twenty-five years ago, Jay Mechling, in Square Tomato: Notes Toward a Holistic Approach to Regional Studies, presented five propositions in order to “summarize the ethical, theoretical, methodological and pedagogical arguments for a fundamental shift in American Studies curricula and research agenda” (Mechling 1979, 60). This work engages these expectations Mechling claimed were possible through the rediscovery of place in the study of region. Taking the broad field of Southwest Studies as a critical case, this work traces the seemingly unassailable discourses that inform the historical imaginary of the American Southwest. Beginning with Herbert E. Bolton’s seminal 1921 work The Spanish Borderlands, credited for establishing the field of Southwest Borderland study, and moving through other notable texts that followed, a picture of the taxonomy of classification and theoretical understandings of the region emerges. Methodological approaches, most notably ethnographic and anthropological work, also reflect these far-ranging discourses. Recent sites of challenge to these understandings, coming from border studies and border theory, offer resistance to the older and more staid discourses, but do not offer a coherent critical framework that integrates both theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding and analysis.

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Critical Regionalism emerges as a viable and dynamic framework that offers both solid theoretical nuance as well as methodological rigor. Theoretical challenges to identity, gender, race, religion, nation, modernity and other imbedded understandings become central to the critical understanding of region. Methodological approaches are similarly challenged through a focus on convergent disciplinarily, divergent disciplinary and broadly conceived interdisciplinary scholarship that draws on a wide variety of sources and disciplines, ranging from quantitative analysis to literary critique. The conclusion returns the focus to the ethical and pedagogical dimensions of Critical Regionalism. A survey of recent works that can be read as expressions of Critical Regionalism demonstrate its theoretical and methodological promise and illustrate the ethical and pedagogical strengths of this framework, a  recognition of the intimate connections between these expectations.  

Craig D. Broadbent, M.A. Candidate, Department of Economics

A Water Leasing Framework for the Middle Rio Grande with a focus on the Farmers Decision Making Process

In the semi-arid southwest there are competing users for a scarce resource, water.  Some of these users include agricultural interests, environmental interests and urban interests with agricultural interests having the largest share of resource allocation.  In times of drought the allocations to each user make it difficult to obtain the water necessary to grow a crop, meet environmental concerns and fulfill urban interests.  Currently a market-mediated system that allows these competing users to temporary transfer (lease) water is not in place.  In order for such a system to function properly it is important to understand the factors that influence agricultural water demand for crop production as they have the largest allocation. This research utilizes experimental methods through a double auction that allows participants to voluntary submit bids and offers for acre-feet of water to the marketplace.  Functions for cash crops and capital crops are developed, where capital crop farmers are modeled to be growing pecans and cash crop farmers are given the choice between alfalfa and chili to be planted at the start of each growing season. Twelve experiments have been conducted under four different climatic scenarios.  The model yields results on the price per acre-foot of water traded along with income gains and losses to each participant through voluntary market participation while at the same time tracking water movement around the river system.  The results show that participants effectively take on the role of their assigned user and they are able to comprehend the cognitive complexity of trading under different climatic scenarios in a sophisticated decision process.

Patrick D. Burton, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering

Synthesis And Activity Of Pd Nanoparticle Catalysts

Patrick D. Burton1, David M. Lavenson1, David Gorm1, Ayman Karim1, Abhaya K. Datye1, Bernadette A. Hernandez-Sanchez2 and Timothy J.

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Boyle2

(1)Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, MSC01 1120, Albuquerque, NM 87124 (2)Inorganic Chemistry and Nanomaterials - 1846, Sandia National Laboratories, Advanced Materials Laboratory - MS 1349, 1001 University Blvd. S.E., Albuquerque, NM 87106

In this work, we will present the results of the synthesis of colloidal monodisperse Pd nanoparticles supported on aluminum oxide (Al2O3) that retain their size distribution, and exhibit remarkable thermal stability, after becoming catalytically active for CO oxidation.  Collodial nanoparticle synthesis provides a method to prepare well-defined catalysts that can provide improved activity and selectivity. The nanoparticles we have prepared were found to be well dispersed, with an average diameter of 2.4 ± 0.4 nm.  Supported particles demonstrate good conversion to CO2 and good size stability after oxidation and calcination (2.4 ± 0.4 nm (as prepared) 2.6 ± 0.7 nm (after calcination), 2.9 ± 1 nm (after reaction)).  The calcined sample does show evidence of a few larger particles, but the majority remain close to the starting diameter.  After surfactant removal, these particles are catalytically active in CO oxidation. This work has been supported by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract number DE-FG02-05ER15712 (University of New Mexico) and DE-AC0494AL85000 (Sandia National Laboratories).  Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company for the United States Department of Energy. 

Rosamaria Ciscenros Kostic, M.A. Candidate-Educational Dance History and Criticism, Department of Theater and Dance

Gypsy 101

I am an American Gypsy with a mother who is a Gypsy and a father who is Serbian. Gypsy 101 will introduce an authentic understanding of who the Gypsy are as a culture, a people, and as a living and dying art form. The workshop will be a model for the mind/body connection. I will invite everyone to trust me as I guide them on a journey where flamenco, dance, and the Gypsy awareness all facilitate in the community building that experiential education requires. My workshop will integrate theoretical foundations and innovations by applying what I call the Four P’s—Passion and Patience, Presence and Practice. These four elements could be compared to John Dewey’s Three R’s (Relevance, Relationships, and Realness). I combine the “learn by doing” method wherever I go. Gypsy 101 will be a space where kinesthetic learning will be included while the discovery of the mind/body connection will be explored. I will teach key elements of flamenco, extend and use myself as the springboard to illustrate the dialogue between the mind/body, show the paradox found within teaching and the gypsy culture, while rooting myself in the essence of what a Gypsy is. Individuals will explore the dynamic paradox found within teaching and the Gypsy culture. Flamenco, dance, and the use of oral traditions will educate others on the importance of the Gypsy culture. Gypsy

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101 will offer insight into this unique community that has survived genocide, racism and classism, while simultaneously exploring the beautiful artistic voices of the culture.

Ruth E. Cisneros, M.A. Candidate, Department of Linguistics

Punching the Line: Human and Language Ideologies

Woolard and Schieffelin point out that “ideologies of language are significant for social as well as linguistic analysis because they are not only about language. Rather, such ideologies envision and enact links of language to group and personal identity, to aesthetics, to morality, and to epistemology” (1994: 56). Cultures vary widely in how ideological tenets are expressed. Generally, linguistic structures are organized into socially acceptable routes, and dissemination of ideas among members of a culture happens through formalized modes of expression. Identifying such sites of expression within a culture, and understanding their function as an outlet for ideologically shaping content, is vital to achieving a functional grasp of any given language, since as a tool it is not only a set of formal grammatical structures, but intrinsic in shaping and maintaining cultural and social perceptions of others and the self. As a site of ideological dissemination, humor works as “an embodiment, a filter, a creator and recreator, and a transmitter of culture” (Sherzer 1987: 306), much like discourse does in general. The interest of this analysis is humor, using stand-up comedy as the primary site: a “natural” (Silverstein 1998: 128-9) interpretation of language, and therefore a valid medium to shape cultural perception. This manipulation of discourse and performance through mechanisms such as juxtaposition, frame-shifting, and ambiguity, works to convey the opinion of the speaker, which carries social meaning and cultural relevance beyond the joke, the vehicle for perceptions of language and language use. The focus of this presentation will be performances by several comedians as performed within the frames and schemas of stand-up comedy. Through analysis of linguistic structure, as well as underlying cultural messages which these forms convey, I hope to outline specific mechanisms by which language ideologies are dispersed throughout audiences and society via the use of humor.

Gil Greengross, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology

The influence of different types of humor on our desirability as mates - an evolutionary perspective

It is widely believed that humor has an evolutionary basis. Humor and laughter are universal human phenomena, present in both industrial and traditional societies. Other mammals, especially primates, also exhibit displays that are perceived as antecedents to human laughter. Humor is a very complex trait that appears to have more than one function in our everyday life. A variety of theories have been offered to explain both the evolution of humor and its use. In this talk I will focus on the role humor plays as a fitness indicator in mate selection (including the use of humor as a costly signal), based on a study conducted with UNM students. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of aggressive humor (self- and other-deprecating humor) within different status

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domains, and to see how personality and demographic characteristics are related to different types of humor. 64 female and 32 male college students participated in a two-part study. The first part examines the relationship between personality and demographic characteristics and different types of humor. The main finding was that men score higher than women on aggressive humor and that the use of aggressive humor decreases with age. In the second part of the study subjects listened to two combinations of humor and status presented by members of the opposite sex. The subjects listened to tape-recorded self-descriptions that were humorously self-deprecating, humorously other-deprecating, neutrally humorous, or non-humorous; and then rated short-term and long-term attractiveness of the speakers based on that content. Both sexes expressed more willingness to have a long term sexual relationship with the higher status individual who used self-deprecating humor, compared to other-deprecating humor. These results are discussed in light of sexual selection theory and costly signaling theory, as well in their relation to subjects’ personality and humor scales.

Kiley Guyton, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Intersections of Race and Gender in Sab, Cecilia Valdés and A escrava Isaura      Through this paper, I examine how questions of race and gender intersect and dialogue with one another in Cuba’s famed abolitionist novels Sab (1841) by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda and Cecilia Valdés (1839, 1882) by Cirilio Villaverde along with their Brazilian counterpart A escrava Isaura (1875) by Bernardo Guimarães.  In considering this junction, I intend to locate the performance of race and gender roles within the works, considering it as a window into the complex world of nineteenth-century slaveocracies in Cuba and Brazil. Additionally, while the portrayal of race and gender among the literary characters render portraits of slave-society life and certainly imply broader social commentary, these renderings cannot be considered in isolation from the very authors who imagined them.  Thus, my analysis is twofold.  It will consist of an examination of the literary intersection of race and gender in the aforementioned novels and will also address how the race and gender of the authors themselves dialogue with each story and its broader implications. To varying degrees, all three authors choose to tackle these issues through the lens of race.  That is to say that as the seeds of abolitionist thought began to disseminate in the national conscience, these authors harness nineteenth century racial dialogue and use abolitionism as a foreground for exposing manifold aspects of the slaveocracy in turmoil. While the theme of gender in each work may appear less conspicuous than that of race, it becomes equally as crucial to the plot as well as to the allegorical messages the novels impart. Generally speaking, all three novels impart that regardless of individuality, race and gender in slave societies of the nineteenth-century code the individual and predetermine which amorous unions will fail and which will succeed.

 John Herda, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Latin American Studies

Film, Franco, and Fascism: The Use of Symbolism in Víctor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive

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This presentation examines the implied sociopolitical commentary in the 1973 Spanish film The Spirit of the Beehive, considered by many critics to be the monumental film depicting post-civil war Spain. The movie is of particular significance due to being filmed during fascist Spain and shot on location in the country. Through the representation of the daily lives of a provincial Spanish family, director Víctor Erice reveals a haunting portrait of solitude, melancholy, and disillusionment after the misery of war. Despite the presence of fascism, the figurative technique of Erice enabled the release of the film in Franco’s Spain during an era of immense censorship. By methodically analyzing the symbolism in the film, this study concludes that The Spirit of the Beehive elucidates how one family is a microcosm of the psychological state of Spain, with the characters being just as alienated as the nation itself. 

Tim Hoyt, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Psychology

Blogotherapy: Online Journaling Following a Traumatic Event

In the last several years, the use of the Internet for the purposes of mental health promotion and therapy has increased dramatically, with many therapists and survivors using online journaling (blogging) to augment traditional psychotherapy. However, the effectiveness of online journaling techniques has not been critically examined. In the current study, the content of traumatic event-focused online journals was analyzed for linguistic content associated with recovery following a traumatic event (e.g. natural disaster, car accident, or sexual assault). The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program was used to identify changes in cognitive mechanics, affective word use, and self-focused word use over the course of blog entries in thirty public access blogs. Results suggest that blogging about traumatic events does not elicit changes in word use associated with recovery following a traumatic event on average, but for individual blogs which show these patterns of word use, blogging may be therapeutic. These results suggest that the inclusion of web-based writing as a therapeutic technique could be more helpful if tailored to the individual’s needs, and should include structure components, such as how often and how long a person should engage in therapeutic internet journaling. Implications for the inclusion of online journaling in the therapeutic process are discussed. 

A. Shaffee Jones-Wilson, M.A. Candidate, Department of Landscape Architecture

Innerscapes: Vertical Landscapes

The vertical panel system designed allows plants to be grown hydroponically and vertically for indoor use. It humidifies, removes toxins from the air, takes up minimal floor space and conserves and cleanses water. In addition to these functional accomplishments this vegetated wall redefines the form of the landscape as traditionally understood, questioning the lack of nature in our built environment and daily life. New Mexico is situated in an extremely arid region.  The regional constraints with which Landscape Architects are confronted require an understanding of water scarcity and

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necessary conservation.  In the near future securing potable water will concern everyone. As buildings increase in energy efficiency interior toxicity also increases. Innerscapes address these issues by providing a series of mental and physical filters which purify the psychic and cognitive experience as well as the water and air.  Innerscapes stress “the relationship of architecture, urbanism, landscape and building technologies to their cultural, social and political milieux.”

Karin Jozefowski, M.A. Candidate, Secondary Education with Licensure in Language Arts, College of Education

Non-Verbal Signs in the Classroom: Perceptions of the teacher through dress

This research and paper focus on nonverbal signs as a persuasive communicative tool in the classroom specifically through the perception of teacher expressed through dress.  Exploring the interpretation of the nonverbal indicators investigates the power of first impressions, semiotics, and begins to discover the power of these messages on students as a function of teacher effectiveness.  Discerning the language of dress helps explain how nonverbal coding is used to convey meaning and how meanings are interpreted. The research was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods from court rulings to local surveys conducted on the UNM campus.  Surveys were conducted to determine the power of image alone and an interview conducted with a hiring manager.  There emerged two distinct schools of thought regarding teacher dress.  One supports the idea that teachers are professionals and their dress should reflect their value of the educational system and the second supports freedom of expression and embraces the notion that a teacher’s more casual dress helps break down barriers of communication.  The research does show a powerful impact of visual cues with a variety of interpretations.  As society moves to a more casual form of dress, what does this communicate to students and how does this alter the power structure in the classroom?  The impact of verbal and written language is understood as critical forces in the classroom.  There are texts written on how to visually create harmony in a classroom through seating layout and décor.  More research is needed on the powerful impact of the teacher on students, inclusive of verbal and nonverbal cues.  These issues define the heart of this study.   

Iván A. López, M.A Candidate in General Public Management, School of Public Administration

Exploring the Instrumental Value of Mentoring Relative to the Buffering of Six Threats to Student Retention at Public Universities

This study seeks to explore the instrumental value of undergraduate mentoring relative to the buffering of six threats to student retention. Although the topic of student retention has been investigated by academic scholars for well over forty years (Tinto, 2007), the relatively recent need to improve student retention rates at institutions of higher education has been mostly in response to the legislative pressures placed on the institutions (Titus, 2006). Pressures for improving retention rates and scholarly interest in student retention are discussed and subsequently converged with the development of an Integrative Model

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of Student Departure. The model is then adapted to assess the preventative measures used by mentors in the reduction of student attrition at public universities.

Waleed Mahdi, M.A. Candidate, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature

Yemen in Hollywood

The Orient has always been a source of fascination and inspiration for the American popular culture – a legacy inherited from the Ex-European powers. Many travelogues, paintings, photographs, and films have been produced to represent the Arabs as irrational and unthinking primitives. This attitude has been further stressed in the twenty first century with a new obsession: terrorism. The Arabs are now viewed as a threat targeting the United States interests around the globe. One of the recently released films that crystallizes this fear into dramatic scenes is Rules of Engagement (2000). The target is the American embassy in Yemen. The terrorists are a whole nation symbolized in a demonstration of people of different sexes, ages, classes, and backgrounds with guns of different models. The US military base in the Persian Gulf sends a marine team to rescue the ambassador and his staff. The cost is three dead marines and one hundred and eighty three Yemeni children, women and men dead and injured. When watching this film, the first question that arises is: Did that really happen whether in the recent or the distant history? An answer with a negative NO would naturally lead to another crucial question: Why Yemen then? This paper seeks to answer this question that has bewildered many viewers and reviewers of the film. It sheds intense light on the reasons that led to the choice of Yemen – out of all the Arabic, Islamic, Communistic, and anti-American countries in the world. Depicting Yemen as an anti-American country is discussed in depth with reference to the Arabic ethnicity, the Islamic religion, and the political ideology of post-Orientalism.

Una Medina, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Communication and Journalism

DWI Intervention Message Effects: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Message Effects Analysis Via Classical and Complex Systems Methods

Policy makers of the future may use a symbiotic application of mixed methods, demonstrated here, to explain and predict impacts of social interventions that are otherwise difficult to quantify. For example, previous research on efficacy of a DWI intervention by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) has been mixed and inconclusive. Little is known about effectiveness of MADD intervention messages on DWI behavior. This is remarkable since courts mandate thousands of DWI (driving while intoxicated) offenders per year to MADD VIP (Victim Impact Panel) interventions. The mixed-methods approach in this study determines intervention message dosage frequency and intensity from qualitative message analysis of 11 different MADD VIP treatments. Then using classical linear statistics, survival analysis of length of time treatment versus controls survive until DWI rearrest, and hierarchical linear modeling (nested outcomes within 11 different treatment groups), traffic safety outcomes are determined. These short-term outcomes become inputs to a systems dynamics model that simulates and

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predicts traffic safety outcomes and social impacts over twenty years. New information is obtained from the symbiosis of methods that is unavailable through either the qualitative or quantitative methods separately. And new questions can be asked: Are survival rates of MADD VIP treatment versus control groups actually linear, as assumed in classical linear models, or asymptotic? And if asymptotic, are the treatment and control groups asymptotic to the same level of rearrest rates over time or different levels? This mixed-methods approach provides policy makers with evidence-based results on a DWI intervention that can be used to evaluate and predict efficacy of other difficult-to-evaluate social interventions. This study offers implications through demonstration of multiple modeling perspectives for health policy formation, health intervention strategies, theory building, and persuasive message design.  

Anne Marie Scott, M.S. Candidate, Department of Dental Hygiene

Evaluation of an Undergraduate Dental Hygiene Communication Skills Workshop

Educating dental hygiene students in communication skills is essential during formal dental hygiene education.  A communication skills workshop was implemented and evaluated to determine if student communication skills increased.  Twenty-four undergraduate dental hygiene students at the University of New Mexico participated in a communication skills workshop conducted by a multidisciplinary team.  The students attended three, two hour classroom sessions that emphasized effective communication skills including active listening techniques, conducting medical and dental histories, and emotion-handling skills.  Each student participated in a pre- and post-workshop mock, videotaped interview with a standardized patient.  Directly after the interviews, the students and patient had to complete student assessments and patient response forms, respectively.  Additionally, both the student and the tutor completed evaluation forms after viewing the pre- and post-workshop interviews.  Results of the t-tests and Pearson correlation tests indicated an overall improvement in communication skills as seen in tutor and student evaluations especially in active listening skills, non-verbal skills, and responsiveness to patient’s feelings and needs.  Further, results reveal that the dental hygiene students recognized effective and non-effective communication skills with their own post-workshop evaluations corresponding with tutor evaluations.  Correlations determined that when scoring themselves high on one skill the students tended to score themselves high on all other skills indicating that all the communication skills presented during the communication skills workshop were important especially responsiveness to patient feelings and needs and degree of interview structure.  Additionally, the students shifted from a professional manner to a personal manner becoming more empathetic and courteous toward their patient.  By incorporating a communication skills workshop within the dental hygiene curriculum, the dental hygiene student is likely to develop patient rapport resulting in an improvement in patient oral health via treatment acceptance and oral hygiene compliance thereby increasing overall patient well-being.

Mathew Nelson, M.A. Candidate, Department of Anthropology

Western Medicines Arrival to Navajo Nations

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Western medicine's arrival to the Navajo Nation has brought a new paradigm of health and healing to a still traditionally minded people. However, unlike many other Native American ethnic groups throughout the U.S., medicine men and other native health practitioners operate in full force among contemporary Navajo. As their patients are actively engaged in the preservation of native traditional healing practices, Western trained health care workers often actively encourage using methods that conflict with traditional Navajo ideals. This paper explores the choices Navajo patients face when traditional medicine conflicts with the possibility of a Western based cure. Ethnographic analysis and personal interviews with patients served by the Navajo Area Indian Health Service illustrate that the ailing population is in a continual struggle between physical wellness and traditional death. 

Patricia Perea, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies

El Viajar A Través de 500 Años: Writing with Diaz del Castillo, Cabeza de Vaca and John Phillip Santos

Transculturation, contact zone, and autoethnography are the terms that inform this presentation; however, this paper shifts its focus to the moment of contact between the indigenous and the Spanish and then moves through the next five hundred years of encounters, some violent, all haunted. Bernal Díaz Del Castillo’s The Conquest of New Spain (1963), Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación (1993) and John Phillip Santos’ Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation (1999) are the three narratives that inform my study. I argue they are all examples of autoethnography and travel narrative. What does it mean when a Chicano writes a travel narrative of México? Does it disrupt or reinforce the colonialist project when Santos retraces Cortez’s route from Veracruz into Tenochtitlan/México City? How do these acts disrupt conventional understandings of travel writing? Everywhere is home and nowhere. Home is now a destination. This is not a recent phenomenon; I argue that all three of these travel narratives exhibit an understanding of place as transnational and fluid. America is América whether it is the 1521 or 2007. Looking at Díaz del Castillo, Cabeza de Vaca and Santos as autoethnographic travel writers changes the way we understand travel writing. This paper argues the narratives of Díaz and Cabeza de Vaca are forms of travel writing. I also argue, these travel narratives of early exploration in the Americas p roduced “the rest of the world” (5). What happens when Santos writes a travel narrative that takes us across space from Texas to Mexico to Oxford to New York? What is the significance of a narrative that time travels – that refuses to acknowledge Western chronology? This presentation illuminates the dialogue that exists between these three narratives that span across boundaries, across centuries and across América.

Andrea Porras-Alfaro, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology

Diversity and structure of fungal communities in a semiarid grassland 

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Jose Herrera, Robert L. Sinsabaugh, Donald O. Natvig

Although drylands constitute one-third of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, our knowledge about fungal communities and the impact the nitrogen deposition has on these communities is very limited. We studied the effect of long-term nitrogen (N) fertilization on the diversity and composition of soil, endophytic, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in a semiarid grassland. Soil and Bouteloua gracilis root samples were collected at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (New Mexico, USA) from control and N-amended plots. Small subunit and internal transcribed spacer rDNA were amplified using AMF and fungal specific primers. Soil and root fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycetes and B. gracilis roots were mainly colonized by dark septate fungi. Differences in fungal diversity were found among samples (roots, cyanobacteria-crust and rhizosphere soil) and between treatments (nitrogen vs. control plots).  Soil samples have higher fungal diversity than roots.  Roots collected in nitrogen plots have higher fungal diversity than control roots. In contrast to roots, fungal diversity in the rhizosphere declined with nitrogen amendment while diversity in crusts appeared unaffected. Our data suggest that the heterogeneous micro-topography, characteristic of semiarid grasslands, may be influencing a differential response of fungal communities to N enrichment. 

Carmen Samora, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies

Julian Samora, The Ford Foundation and Hostilities at Catholic Notre Dame

In 1971, Julian Samora created the Mexican American Graduate Studies Program at the University of Notre Dame. Initially funded by the Ford Foundation, fifty-seven students were admitted to the program, which ended in 1985 upon Dr. Samora’s retirement. The Ford Foundation provided funds for the first five years of the program and then declined to continue the funding. The University had failed to keep its commitments to the Ford Foundation to match funds and provide support programs in the form of the establishment of an Ethnic Studies Program and the hiring of faculty of color in strategic departments. This paper will investigate the relationship Julian Samora developed with the Ford Foundation that enabled the establishment of the unprecedented fourteen-year graduate studies program that allowed fifty Latino students to receive advanced degrees in seven disciplines. The second part of this paper investigates the reasons why the university did not keep its contract with the Ford Foundation and lost the support of the Foundation for the education of Latino students. What was the political climate that allowed the establishment of such a graduate studies program at Catholic Notre Dame? What were the philanthropic goals of the Ford Foundation in the late 1960s and early 1970s? And finally, what were the cultural politics in operation, or was it simply neglect, that allowed the University to turn its back on several million dollars (in today’s terms)?

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These are the main questions I will address in this short paper, although more will be raised that I will want to investigate.

Ketievia Segovia, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of English

Into the Woods: An Exploration of Myth and Ritual in Sir Garwin and the Green Knight

The poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight had access to and used a number of Celtic stories in crating his work.  These Celtic stories are the record, sometimes incomplete and vague, of a Celtic myth and ritual practice. This paper traces some of these mythic and ritual themes through the trope of the pentangle, or endless knot, that underlies five of the rituals written into Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and discloses them to be rituals of transformation.  Using a reversal of Jesse Weston’s idea of ritual to romance into a myth-to-ritual model, this is also an exploration of a different way of reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that ties together the Gawain poet’s main trope of the pentangle, its magical rituals of transformation and the tale of Sir Gawain’s rite of passage from mythic hero to human.

Elise Switzer, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering

Nanostructured Anode Pt-Ru Electrocatalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Elise Switzer, Abhaya Datye and Palemn Atanassov Pt-Ru blacks are commonly used as methanol oxidation electrocatalysts in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs).  Noble metal utilization in these catalysts has been traditionally low in comparison to anode catalysts used in hydrogen/air fuel cells. One of the reasons is inefficient mass transport within the fuel cell catalytic layer.  Mass transport within this layer can be improved with a new synthetic method to produce nanostructured Pt-Ru catalystst. One approach to improve noble metal utilization is the synthesis of nanostructured materials via replication of nanostructured silica templates followed by template removal [1-3]. One example of such an approach is the impregnation synthesis of a Pt-Ru bimetallic nanowire network templated by mesoporous silica, specifically SBA-15 [4]. The pore infiltration procedure is extremely labor-intensive and can lead to an inhomogenous distribution of the alloy components in the pores.  Therefore, while impregnation synthesis of bimetallic networks represents an interesting material design approach, it is limited in application due to its complexity, parameter variability and time-consuming steps. We propose an alternative aerosol-based approach wherein mono-disperse silica particles are used to template a Pt-Ru network. Spray pyrolysis is an aerosol synthesis technique and has been extensively applied to the formation of mesoporous silica particles [5-6]. Our approach allows for the synthesis of a material with a pore structure that is pre-determined by the size of the silica template. Thus, by using the process of spray pyrolysis, the templating of Pt-Ru networks can be achieved in less time and with greater control.  

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David Wilde, Post-Baccalaureate with an interest in Regional Studies and American Literature

Scuttlebug

The textual representation (1998), embodied in this biography is about a historical subject (Commander E.C. "Zeke" Cortez, Jr., USNR), and is a descriptive monograph, an epic in prose, about a successful Hispanic American of the contemporary American Southwest. Chronicled in twelve parts, the chapters of this work briefly describe the historical period, the demographic antecedents from the early to middle of the 19th century in which the settlement of the southwestern regions is a significant backdrop, including Cortez's great-grandfather, Jose Victor Garcia (b. 1832) his two spouses and the birth of their subsequent children. Next is Sheriff Amarante Garcia (grandfather) and his descendants, the period up to the time of Cortez' birth and his childhood reflections, his memories of growing up on the land, is described. His professional life, his role in local politics as an undercover informant at the Springer Corrections Facility, his work with the construction of Internment Camps for Japanese-Americans, detained in Roswell, and Douglas, Arizona follow. The diplomatic ambassadorial missions to the Dominican Republic and Philippines, and the Reconstruction of post-hostilities Mitsubishi Oil during a brief career as a Washington lawyer and bureaucrat. The crucial struggles in overcoming obstructions, which were only surmountable at the cost of his ambitions to eventually attain high rank, or office in the navy are considered next. The drama surrounding these significant world events and the bigger political picture, frames the actions of his seniors, and underscores their consequent behavior. The completion of military service and return to New Mexico and the less demanding role, in civilian clothes as a retired executive, and the subsequent period of directorships moves to other locations. The return to local politics following a stroke in 1982 enabled him once again to assume the position of prime mover in the freshly challenging arena of the handicap Olympics.

Cheryl Wise, Ph.D. Candidate, College of Education

Synthesis of Literature and Functional Behavioral Assessment

This presentation provides a synthesis of literature on addressing challenging behaviors by implementing a functional behavior assessment and subsequently using information gained from the FBA to develop an effective behavior intervention plan. Discussion will surround why one must program for challenging behaviors, the importance of a functional behavior assessment, what comprises a functional behavior assessment, and development of a behavior intervention plan. Useful strategies that can be implemented to increase the effectiveness of the behavior intervention plan will also be addressed. Finally, the session will conclude with a discussion of how behavior intervention plans can be used in the home as well as the school setting. This session will provide a thorough review of functional behavior assessments and examine how the FBA is utilized in

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developing effective behavior intervention plans that address challenging behavior.

Panel PresentationsChair: José Luis Santana, Ph.D. Candidate, LLSS, College of Education

Room Moderator: Mary Haney, M.A. Candidate, LLSS, College of Education

Panel: Mathew David Smith, M.A. Candidate, LLSS, College of Education, Lisa Paton, M.A. Candidate, College of Education and Mabel González, M.A. Candidate, LLSS, College of Education and Department

of Latin American Studies

“Comunalidad” and “Docente”: The Intricacies of Communal-based Teaching 

In our experience, most mainstream American schools and teachers talk about the importance of parents and community in the success of their students. Yet, within the United States there is an epidemic that seeks to dichotomize the school from the community thus distancing the teacher from the families and communities they serve. In our studies of indigenous education in Oaxaca, we find that the concept of teacher (docente) and community (comunalidad) often has a very different interpretation. Our research and presentation focus on these concepts of docente and comunalidad, how they are interpreted within indigenous communities in Oaxaca, and how these concepts can be compared to our understanding as American educators. We then consider and offer, in light of the best of what we have learned from these indigenous communities, ways to transform our own understandings and practices both at an individual and systemic level. In our research of comunalidad and docente within the indigenous Oaxacan context, we have utilized various publications, interviews, and electronic correspondence that offer a fresh perspective on what it is to be a docente. We are proposing a different approach to curriculum, one that is different from the usual vertical teacher-student relationship. We suggest a horizontal relationship where teachers works to aid in increasing the students’ understanding of themselves, families, communities and culture with respect to their past, present and future realities and possibilities.  We suggest that the learning that takes place needs to be tied to an awakening of critical social awareness that inspires an active involvement in social issues, and includes the voices of youth as reflective thinkers and agents of social change. We propose that teachers must work together as colleagues to promote a rich communal-based curriculum that truly represents

the communities they serve.   

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Poster Presentations

Kerrin Ann Barrett, Ph.D. Candidate—Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology, College of Education

An Exploration of EFL Teachers’ And Learners’ Lived Experiences In A Synchronous Online VoIP-Enabled Cross Cultural Language Learning

Environment

My dissertation research centers on examining teaching and learning in a cross-cultural synchronous (real time) virtual classroom where students and teachers can both speak and hear using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. My research question asks, “How do participants in a cross-cultural synchronous online English as a Foreign Language environment supported by Voice over Internet Protocol perceive the teaching and learning context and their lived experience?"  The program I am researching is called “SpeakToMe”, which for more than four years taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to Chinese and Taiwanese students via the Internet using multimedia.  The objectives of this research are to explore cultural dynamics and language development in this unique environment.  The development of this study is derived from research conducted throughout 2003 to 2006 that investigated this new approach to language development (Barrett, 2006; LaPointe, et al., 2004; LaPointe, Greysen, & Barrett, 2004).  The present study aims to build upon this previous research. This qualitative research study will combine phenomenology with grounded theory, drawing upon the ethnographic tradition.  This methodology requires iterative, in-depth interviewing of participants in order to obtain rich narrative data.  The participants will be teachers, students, teaching assistants, and administrative staff in the Speak2Me LiveUSA program.  Students and teaching assistants are located in China and Taiwan, while most of the LiveUSA teachers are located throughout the United States.  The study will endeavor to contribute to the development of a theory about teaching and learning in a synchronous online EFL environment supported by VoIP.

Caroline Itoi, M.A. Candidate, School of Architecture with Louvenia Magee, M.A. Candidate, School of Architecture

Architecture and Identity in Berlin

When the Berlin wall fell, the world community waited to see how the city and Germany as a whole would deal with the massive undertaking of reunification. Berlin had been a divided city for more than 40 years, still wearing the scars of war's devastation. As a result of its division, Berlin developed unique conditions in urban planning, development, and the program of the city absent in any other 20th Century metropolises. These conditions provide a compelling set of demands, lending Berlin status as an important case study for architects, planners, and historians. In the summer of 2007, we traveled to Berlin, Germany for three weeks to study the architectural, cultural, and emotional landscapes of the city, continuing to employ dialogue as a tool to enrich our two

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perspectives on Berlin. The aim of this exploration was a deeper understanding of design's influence and contribution to place; to learn how contemporary architects approach building while retaining the richness embedded in a city's historical fabric. Our studies in Berlin extended an academic research focus on interests that extend far into our own histories and are integral to our critical perspective as designers. We documented our observations and dialogue about the dynamic energy of the evolving city through mapping exercises, narrative writing, photography and sketches, which we will use to present our experience and research in a visual installation of words and images.

Brenda Martinez-Papponi, Ph.D. Candidate-Cognitive, Brain and Behavior, Department of Psychology

Verbal Ability and Structured Navigation on Learning with Hypertext

Learners bring their unique individual perceptions, preferences, and abilities to a learning situation.  The effect of individual differences on learning depends in part on how the instructional system accommodates individual differences. The current study examined the role of individual differences in verbal ability and structured navigation in hypertext learning. It was predicted that learning would vary with how well the hypertext environment supported a learner’s individual attributes.  Ninety-seven participants participated in one of four groups of a 2 X 2 between-subjects factorial design, which focused on the interaction between levels of navigational structure (unconstrained or expert constrained) and levels of participants' verbal ability (high or low). The results did suggest that learners with certain levels of verbal ability do perform better in certain types of navigation structures.  Low-verbal learners performed better in the expert-constrained navigation than in the unconstrained navigation structure as measured by the assessments.  The expert navigation structure may have supported the low-verbal learners in forming semantic associations between related concepts and also by suppressing unrelated associations.   It provided the learner with an implicit channel to form an expert-like mental representation.  In contrast, high-verbal learners tended to benefit less from the expert-constrained navigation.  Since they have superior skills in selecting or focusing their attention to the important information, as well as organizing and integrating it, they were not disadvantaged as were the low-verbal learners in the unconstrained navigation environment.  Therefore, the authors of hypertext should develop hyperdocuments to maximize reader comprehension.  Implementation of navigational constraints based on an expert’s knowledge structure is one way of maximizing a learners’ comprehension, especially those learners with low-verbal ability.  The design of these systems should convey the interrelationships of the concepts through the structure of the interface itself.  By doing so, it can accommodate to learners at different levels of verbal ability. 

Peggy McLean, M.S. Candidate in Child Psychology, Department of Psychology

The dynamic nature of mother-infant interaction in ethnically diverse, very low birth weight infants

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Because infants acquire a foundation for healthy socioemotional development through reciprocal interactions with their caregivers, investigating the nature of mother-infant interactions in special populations at risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties, such as infants born Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW), is particularly salient. The present study assessed the bi-directional nature of mother-infant interactions in an underrepresented group of ethnically diverse infants born VLBW and their mothers (N = 50). We assessed the proportion of percent positive infant affect and the proportion of maternal responsive behavior as mothers and infants participated in a modified version of Tronick and colleague’s (1978) Still-Face protocol. The typical Still Face design relies on an A-B-A model, in which A is a normal play interaction, B is the Still Face episode, and the second A is a reunion/play episode. In our version, a second Still Face and third reunion/play were added. We found that mothers who demonstrated more active, reciprocal play had infants who manifested greater positive affect during dyadic play. This was true across all three Still Face play episodes. We examined the contingent nature of maternal responsiveness to changes in infant affect by correlating infant affect change scores between Still Face episodes and subsequent play episodes with mothers’ responsiveness at the subsequent play episodes. In both cases, as infant (positive) affect increased, mothers’ responsiveness also increased. Finally, we investigated the relationship between changing infant affect with changes in maternal responsiveness by correlating changes in infant affect between successive play episodes with changes in maternal responsiveness between those same episodes. In both cases, as infant affect decreased, maternal responsiveness increased. Findings suggest that infants born VLBW and their mothers exhibit considerable synchrony in their interactions. A subset of dyads included infants with less positive affect coupled with less responsive mothers, with implications for early relationship-based intervention.  

Susan Metheny, Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Linguistics, Department of Language, Literacy and Socio-Cultural Studies

Conceptual Metaphors of Child Linguistics

 Although the psychologists who do research into the cognitive aspects of children’s development do not typically take a linguistic theory such as that of conceptual metaphor into account, the emergence of child language is a large factor in this research, so linguistic theory is still present as part of language use and development. As one of the most observable emergent human processes, language acquisition melds sensory experiences with categorization and naming skills. The indication for interdisciplinary research in psycholinguistics to study this joint construction of language acquisition, which might offer insight into the use of metaphors in conceptualization, is gaining support. This poster presents the possible use of the combination of discourse and semantic analysis to establish an innovative method of experimental design resulting in an individualized educational assessment framework. This poster shows how observing and interpreting children’s map drawing and the related behavior of explaining maps

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might be a way to explore the emergence of metaphor and conceptualization at a moment of simultaneous and synchronized incarnation. Map drawing is a visual manifestation of an internal image, and map-making, or map drawing, is a symbolic behavior, a way for a human to represent him or herself as a constituent member of an external space. The paper uses the results of a map task in a pilot study as a basis for setting preliminary parameters for the development and analysis of cross-cultural metaphorical representation in children.

Ilnaz Shirkhorshidian, Pharm. D. Candidate, College of Pharmacy

Alternative mRNA splicing: Mechanisms of human disease and toxicity and putative targets of new therapeutic agent

Recent advances in genomics and proteomics have demonstrated that 40-50% of human genes undergo alternative splicing.  Given the low number of human genes revealed by the human genome project, it has become evident that alternative splicing of introns/exons generates significant proteomic diversity and complexity from the limited human genome.  An increasing number of human diseases, including cancer, are being recognized as arising from changes in alternative splicing in human tissues. It has recently been estimated that 15% of the mutations known to cause human genetic diseases arise due to changes in RNA splicing. Cytochromes P450 (CYPs) are a large family of enzymes that metabolize many xenobiotics (including most human therapeutic drugs, as well as important endogenous substrates), and are increasingly being characterized for their alternative splicing pathways. A number of CYP-mediated human diseases, including cancer, have also been correlated with changes in alternative splicing patters of human CYPs. The goal of the current study is to explore the mechanisms by which drugs and other chemicals might perturb splice site selection of CYP genes, and thus contribute to human disease. Our preliminary studies have clearly shown that certain chemicals alter splice site selection for the CYP2B family of enzymes.   We have demonstrated that under methylene dioxybenzene (MDB) exposure in the rat liver, that the CYP2B2 gene can be alternatively spliced to generate a new form of CYP2B2, denoted CYP2B2v.  This variant form of CYP2B2 contains a 24 base pair intronic sequence that encodes a novel protein with 8 additional amino acids.   This protein can be resolved from both CYP2B1 and 2B2 on western blots, utilizing antibodies that recognize all three proteins.  However, a major goal of this project is to develop variant specific antibodies capable of differentiating all three CYP2B isoforms.

Billy James Ulibarri, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Sociology

Deserving and Undeserving Victims: Anti-Human Trafficking Laws in Four Countries

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The purpose of this study is to examine underlying gender bias in anti- human trafficking legislation.  In response to geo-political pressures, many countries are devising and adopting various forms of anti-trafficking legislation designed to protect victims of trafficking, prevent trafficking activities and prosecute traffickers.  However, the policies are often punitive to those who do not fit a pre-determined profile of a “deserving victim.” Previous research, especially critical social science, in international development and gender has shown that women often have to bear a disproportionate amount of burden caused by development policies, such as structural adjustment.  It may not be completely intentional but as the laws filter through the contexts of social norms and gendered expectations, the benefits are unequal, leaving the most vulnerable people unaided. The research will show that “destination1” countries, which are typically economically developed countries, are likely to adopt the most sweeping legislation, but it often includes means-tests”, which require victims to “prove” their worthiness as a trafficking victim.  These countries enact policies that focus on the actions of the source country as opposed to dealing with the demand for trafficking within their own borders. In contrast, source countries are more likely to enact policies that focus on socio economic activities that address the conditions making trafficking a lucrative enterprise. The role of prostitution will be studied as a predictor of gender biased legislation. This study has found that victims of sex trafficking who were discovered in countries where prostitution is illegal have to prove that they were smuggled across the border against their will. The poster and analysis will present legislation in four countries that show evidence of a means test, or how trafficking victims must prove their own victimhood.  A comparison of the legislation will be presented and implications will be discussed.

Peter Wong, MLA Candidate, Department of Landscape Architecture

The Flamenco Garden: Animating the National Hispanic Cultural Center with the Passion of Flamenco and the Spirit of Spain

In this final studio of the master’s program in landscape architecture, the project was a real one: that of designing the outdoor space at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC). My solution was to utilize the metaphor of flamenco to recognize the significance of Hispanic culture in Albuquerque. The NHCC is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to the preservation, promotion and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts, and humanities.” Within the center is a museum, three state-of-the-art theatres, library, history and genealogy center, and education building. The NHCC wished to transform an empty area into a public space that would welcome both visitors and the community to their campus. They desired a design that would provide a distinctive identity and memorable destination with areas for public activity, quiet contemplation and accommodation for crowd overflow. Also needed were improved way-finding, pedestrian circulation, screening of undesirable noise and sights, and lack of shade. The metaphor of flamenco was chosen for four main reasons. First, the architectural style of the campus is primarily Aztez/Mayan and territorial adobe style. The concept of flamenco provides reference to Spain. Additionally, the rectilinear and plain campus is like that of another stage at the NHCC, awaiting a performance such as dance. Thirdly, Albuquerque is the largest center of flamenco in the United States. Fourthly, flamenco expresses the

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exuberant nature of Hispanic culture currently lacking in the landscape. The duende (passion) of flamenco is translated into a landscape filled with sound, scent and movement, with swirling paths and sound events. The Garden reaches out to the community, inviting the surrounding neighborhood. In addition to the functional aspects needed in a design, the desert southwest climate of Albuquerque was recognized through materials, plant choices, and water infiltration into the water table of the nearby Rio Grande River.

Zhen Yang, Ph.D. Candidate in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Pyschology

Impact of Mother Rats’ Physiological Stress Response on Adult Offspring’s Body Weight

Zhen Yang, Bethany Reeb, & Akaysha Tang

While the phenomenon of early stimulation effects that seemingly mild neonatal stimulation can have long lasting impact on the adult offspring’s spatial and social memory is firmly established, the relative roles played by direct stimulation effects and maternal behavioral and physiological influence continue to receive heated. With the adult-offspring body weight as a physical developmental index that complements the previously described social and cognitive indices of development, in the present study, we followed 66 offspring born of 14 mother rats from birth to 12 months of age.  During the first 3 weeks of life (P1-21), with a split-litter design, half of the male pups were exposed to a non-home cage for 3min per day (Novel, N= 32) and the other half of their siblings remained in the home cage (Home, N=34). On P26-27, 5-6 days after weaning, mother rats’ adaptiveness in stress response was measured by the initial rise in the blood corticosterone concentration 5 min after 1 min exposure to swim stress At 13 months of age, the body weights of the offspring were measured twice on 2 consecutive days to obtain an average weight. Daily food consumption was obtained to partial out its unavoidable contribution to the body weight measure. ANCOVA, with litter as the unit of analysis, novelty exposure (NOVELTY) as a within subject factor, and maternal corticosterone response (CORT) and daily food consumption as covariates, revealed a significant CORT by NOVELTY interaction effect (F(1, 11)= 6.812, p = 0.024, effect size f = 0.786).  Specifically, adult offspring body weight increases with maternal corticosterone stress response only in the Novel rats.  This result suggests that the offspring’s physical development can benefit from their mothers having an adaptive stress response system and that exposures to novelty is critical for the realization of this benefit.

CONTACT THE GPSAThe University of New Mexico Student Union Building 1021

Phone: (505) 277-3802 Web: unm.edu/~gpsa

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