2021 Research, Creativity & Community Involvement Conference
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/16222
The MSU Billings Research, Creativity & Community Involvement Conference (RCCIC) provides a great opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students of all majors to present their research and creative scholarship in a public forum. The conference is hosted every year on the MSUB campus, sponsored by the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs, the University Honors Program, and Montana IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research (INBRE). The RCCIC is not a competition, but a celebration of the research and creative projects currently being carried out by MSUB students. All submissions are reviewed and approved by the sponsors prior to presentation or publication to ScholarWorks.
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Item Mathematics for Social Justice(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Fisher, Elizabeth; Day, Corinne (Faculty Mentor)This research project shares findings from my study of Social Justice Mathematics (SJM), which is mathematics that focuses on promoting equity within the mathematics classroom, but also on empowering students to understand and confront inequities outside the classroom. As part of my project, I created my own SJM lesson featuring Indian Education for All. In this lesson, students will learn through math that there is something happening on the reservations that is causing them to have higher rates of COVID cases and subsequently more deaths. In this lesson, students will calculate the percentages of current COVID cases for each demographic population in Montana and analyze data and identify discrepancies in COVID rates among ethnic groups. This lesson helps students start conversations about why this is occurring, how federal policy affects life on American Indian Reservations, and discuss what they can do to try to help change this.Item "Idiots and Distracted Persons:" Shifting Views on Mental Health in Eighteenth Century Colonial America(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Tiry, Jessica; Arendt, EmilyWith research deriving from many historians, and the help of Dr. Arendt, this project explores the eighteenth-century colonial period’s shifting views of mental health. These views during this time period were not solely based on religious standpoints, but medical aspects as well, as there was a new growth of knowledge into the strange minds of human beings. This would eventually lead Americans to view mental illness as a result of actions made by the individual. There were several influences which led to the shifting views on mental health, and each influence was connected and opened the path for another influence. These major shifts encompass changes from religious, political, and medical influences which tracked along one another in the eighteenth century. A major influence on shifting perceptions of mental illness was Native American traditions and beliefs, and minor influences that contributed to major intellectual shifts on mental illness include Cotton Mather, the father to modern medicine Benjamin Rush, and the role of natural law in American Colonies. Although medical explanations and treatments have drastically changed over three centuries, stigma towards those affected by mental illness has not changed since the eighteenth century. Colonial America opened the gates for medicine to be an answer to problems with the human mind, but stigma and treatment of these people were never changed—maybe these people will always be viewed as “idiots and distracted persons.”Item Relationship between Language Patterns and Antisocial Personality Disorder(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Goettlich, Kiah; McMullen, Matthew (Faculty Mentor)Background:Presently the diagnosis of personality disorders, particularly those that are concerned with manipulative traits such as those associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder, are extremely time consuming and variable from clinician to clinician. With the rise of social media platforms personal writings over time have become more widely available. If a new system of analysis were to be utilized as a way to help clinical assessments it could significantly reduce the time invested as well as the reliability of the data. Aim:This study was meant to investigate whether there are quantitative differences in language patterns of those identified with a personality disorder (through the use of the MCMI-III) and those without. Approach: Deidentified transcripts of the Adult Attachment Interview were formatted so that text-analysis could be run using the R-studio (Version 1.4.1103) software. The transcripts that were identified as persons with the disorder were randomly paired with those that were identified as not having the disorder. The content analysis included the complexity of the text through the use of each group's lexical diversity, lexical density, and word count. Sentiment analysis was run which assessed not only the number of positive words versus negative but also the most common words under each of those sentiments. Similarly, overarching themes can be seen when the most frequently used words of each condition are compared by themselves and then in pairs (using the bigrams data frame). Results:Based on previous research in this area, it was expected that those with the personality disorder would show themes that are more negative in nature (e.g., aggression, fear, etc.). When the sentiment analysis was run there were differences in common words based on sentiment. However, there were not significant differences when the analyses for the texts complexity were compared.Item Sustainability Perspectives Among Montana State University Billings Students(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Dilley, Shaylyn; Gilbertz, Susan (Faculty Mentor)The Honors Inquiry and Research class at Montana State University Billings set out to conduct a survey about sustainability amongst their fellow peers. The goal of this survey was to determine the knowledge and efficacy of students and to see if there were any trends or developments. Some of the trends examined were between political parties, knowledge and efficacy relationship, and gender. It was determined that Democrats were significantly more worried about climate change than Republicans and as an overall group they cared and knew more about sustainability. The hypothesis that higher knowledge means a higher efficacy was also proven correct. On average if respondents knew more about sustainability they also cared more. The next major category was gender trends between males and females. It was shown that not one gender knew more about sustainability. The gender-based knowledge data came out relatively evenly making it difficult to decipher if one gender was more knowledgeable. However, when it came to caring about sustainability there was a significant difference. Women cared much more about sustainability and sustainability issues than men. These trends provide a perspective about what the next generation feels about sustainability.Item A Crisis Like Never Before: The Economic and Ideological Divide of the Colonists and Britain, 1763-1769(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Tecca, Lauryn; Arendt, Emily (Faculty Mentor)This research seeks to prove that the debt crisis in Britain following the Seven Years’ War manifested itself as an economic and ideological crisis for colonial America. It seeks to examine the shockwaves that follow the first Acts passed by Britain in regards to taxation that left colonists angry and obstinate. It explores the idea of the Seven Years’ War as an economic anomaly for Britain and the colonists alike. Major themes include the impact of the economy on ideals, the nature of the economic issues following the Seven Years’ War, and rifts between colonists and Britain as a result of the Stamp Act of 1765. It will rely on primary sources, specifically newspapers and journals. Based on this primary evidence, it will seek to prove that the economic consequences of the Seven Years’ War became much more ideological in nature, forcing Britain to relinquish its hold on America.Item Introduction to Intersex and Intersexuality(Montana State University Billings, 2021-04) Hostman, Seth; McNeill, Vanessa (Faculty Mentor)There is an extraordinarily special moment in life for many couples--the magical day when they welcome a newborn child into the word. Everyone is excited for the pink or blue, male or female baby that is being brought into this world. Naturally, people try to prepare for these moments. They set up a nursery, stockpile diapers, and begin to buy clothes and other items so they can be ready for the child about to be. While this would ideally be straightforward thinking and acting for new parents it is not always this simple. Picture the parents prepared and anxious for the news--they are having a boy, or they are having a girl. However, no one can truly prepare themselves for the news that their child is neither male nor female, but that the newborn infant is intersexed. Another term used today to understand the complexity of this situation is to describe this is as someone born with ambiguous genitalia. However, this term still does not fully explain the infrequent situation where this occurs. There are several components that must first be examined in order understand the terms intersex and intersexuality