University Honors

This work is a collection of short horror and thriller stories. All the works were written byme, either specifically with this capstone in mind, or adapted for it recently and included. Thiscapstone discusses a variety of “frightening” topics, including predators (real and imagined),ghosts and monsters, abuse and its effects, mental health crises, and violence. Protagonistsfeatured in this collection are a variety of ages, genders, ethnicities, and disability statuses, allconnected by the common theme of fear. The collection hopes to encompass a broadunderstanding of horror and thriller by including supernatural and psychological elements, withvillains anywhere from demons to human beings to one’s own self.

Soil microbiomes are formed from a diverse community of bacteria, fungi, archaea,protozoa and other types of microorganisms. These microscopic organisms play crucial roles insoil health, nutrient cycling, gas exchange, and overall ecosystem functioning. Soil microbialcommunities are capable of decomposing organic matter, detoxifying toxic substances, andfixing nitrogen. Surface soils differ from subsurface soils, in their pH, texture, moisture, redoxreactions, and nutrient concentrations. This project aims to explore how microbial communitieschange in response to soil depth in the “Nivolet Critical Zone” field site, in Gran ParadisoNational Park, Italy. We hypothesized that microbial communities will change with soil depth,and that dominant taxa would include Chloroflexi, Nitrospirae, and Euryarchaeota and parentmaterial would heavily influence microbial diversity within sites. Soil pits were dug in a range ofsites with variable bedrock parent materials and positions on the slope. Samples were collected ata range of depths for microbial community and other analyses. Soils were frozen within 24 hoursof sampling and maintained frozen during transport from Italy to Riverside, CA in the USA. Soilsample microbial DNA was extracted and purified, followed by Polymerase Chain Reaction(PCR) amplification of the V3 and V4 region of 16S rRNA. Results show that alpha diversitysignificantly varies by depth increment across sites, however alpha diversity does not vary bysite. Beta diversity shows that the overall microbial community vary significantly by site. Thisindicates that parent material and depth has a huge influence on microbial diversity and relativeabundance. This helps to understand the diverse biological, microbial and ecological diversity ofsoil depths.

Rebecca is a psychological drama that explores the breakdown of a young woman'sidentity over the course of a night. Through precision editing and camerawork, along with asparse and surreal soundscape, the film aims to convey the tension and emotional turmoil of itscentral character. The film will be no longer than 15 minutes in length and will feature UCRstudents as the cast and crew.The narrative of the film follows Rebecca as she experiences a series of conversationsthat lead to a profound sense of dislocation and confusion. As the night progresses, she becomesincreasingly detached from her sense of self, leading to a climactic confrontation that forces herto confront the fundamental questions of her identity.The film's director will oversee all aspects of production, including casting, productiondesign, and location scouting. Through these efforts, the film seeks to create an immersive andauthentic atmosphere that fully captures the emotional journey of its protagonist.In summary, Rebecca is a character study that explores the psychological toll of losing one'sidentity. Through a combination of precision filmmaking and the participation of UCR students,the film aims to create a compelling and immersive cinematic experience that speaks to thechallenges of navigating personal identity in the modern world.

As the middle child of a wealthy sugar merchant in Cuba during the Golden Age ofPiracy, Morgan Fletcher always fails to fit the molds she’s expected to fill. Desperate to escapean arranged marriage to a man she hates, Morgan throws in her lot with Thomas Butler, ahandsome pirate who claims Morgan is the key to the Legendary Treasure of Pirate Heart. If real,the treasure would buy Morgan’s safety and freedom from her father forever.Together, Morgan and Thoams seek the guidance of the famed Captain James Spencer, anexpert on the legend where they learn that, unfortunately, just being the key isn’t enough. Inorder to find her treasure, Morgan must live up to the legend’s namesake and her past self: PirateHeart. Worse still, their crew is being hunted at every turn by Morgan’s father and an even morebloodthirsty band of pirates, all of whom want her treasure for themselves.But Captain Spencer has been keeping a secret. Once he admits the truth, that he isMorgan’s real father, Morgan’s world unravels, then spirals further when he’s killed while tryingto keep her safe, leaving the fate of Morgan and her treasure hanging in the balance.The Legend of Pirate Heart is a historical romance novel where Pirates of the Caribbeanmeets Runaway Bride in a tale about a girl who must find herself, love, and where she belongs inorder to find her treasure before it falls into the wrong hands.

Grief is a natural response to the passing of a loved one or someone who has had a significanteffect on one’s life. As the process of grieving is rather personal, there lies this unexplainablebarrier that withholds people from uniting together, but rather seeking isolation as a way tointernally cope with these negative experiences. One way to cope can be to channel or expressthose internal feelings through forms of music and art. Our focus will be concentrating onproviding a musical and visual experience through a music record titled Sclera, which will beaccompanied with an art composition detailing the journey that the listeners will experience. Thetracklist features a combination of lyrical and instrumental songs, primarily inspired by varyinggenres such as cinematic, jazz, and classical. When listening to these forms of music, we analyzethe methodology, what inspired them to compose their own songs. Through this research process,we can gain a better understanding of the artists’ thought process or creative vision. Through thismusical journey of an album, we hope that listeners are able to process their own experiences ofgrief and gain a more defined perspective on accepting the passing of life.

The current study examined associations between risk contexts (i.e., immigration discrimination,classism, colorism), acculturation (i.e., assimilation, separation, integration, marginalization),and adjustment (i.e., school belonging, substance use, GPA) among U.S. Latinx adolescents.Additionally, we considered how gender may moderate study associations. Participants for thisstudy include a subsample of Latinx adolescents from a larger study with two public highschools in the western United States (N=703, Mage=15.93 (SD =1.22); 51.3% male). Preliminaryresults revealed that experiencing more colorism, classism, and immigrant discrimination wasassociated with a higher inclination for separation and substance use (e.g., tobacco, cannabis,alcohol). Specifically, Latinx adolescents were more likely to reject U.S. culture and formstronger ties with the culture and values of their country of origin, as well as engage in substanceuse, when they experienced higher levels of risk contexts. Regarding differences by gender,bi-variate associations revealed that higher levels of separation were linked with higher GPA forLatinx female adolescents only. Male adolescents, on the other hand, were more likely to reporthigher levels of assimilation to U.S. culture, in conjunction with higher levels of colorism,classism, and immigration discrimination. Follow-up analyses will include testing howcomponents of the acculturation process mediate associations between each risk context andadjustment, as well as differences by gender. Findings have implications for how Latinxadolescents navigate risky contexts and the critical role of acculturation processes in relation tohealthy adjustment.

African American adults are twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared toNon-Hispanic White individuals. Positive psychosocial resources (optimism) are associated withreduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in African American individuals. However, littledata exist on the relationship between optimism and T2D among African American individualsby age. We hypothesize that high levels of optimism and younger individuals will be negativelyassociated with T2D. This study examines the association of optimism with T2D prevalenceamong African American men and women stratified by age categories, using data from theJackson Heart Study (JHS). Optimism was measured using the 6-item Life OrientationTest-Revised (LOT-R) scale. Using multivariable Poisson regression analysis, we estimated theprevalence ratios (PR, 95% confidence interval-CI) of diabetes (yes/no) by tertiles of optimism(low, medium, high), adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and behaviors. A greaterpercentage of participants with high optimism were younger, male, high SES, and not depressed(p<0.05). Optimism, as measured in standard deviation units, showed a significant inverserelationship between levels of optimism and diabetes (0.94 95% CI 0.90-0.99). The associationattenuated after full adjustment. High (vs. low) total optimism was more protective againstdiabetes for participants less than 45 years of age (PR 0.49, 95% CI 0.30-0.79) than olderparticipants after full adjustment. The results from this study demonstrate that interventions thatfocus on positive psychosocial well-being in Black adults may help to reduce the risk of diabetesin an aging population.

Gender disparities between men and women have deep historical roots. In present dayMexico and Brazil, these disparities follow women all the way to death. The female murder ratein these two countries far surpasses that of men, and my research question is: WHY? Case aftercase there has been very little accountability done to the murderers of these women, and therehas been no progress in preventing the murder rate as it has been climbing. The female murderrate has a name, and this is known as femicide. Women are at risk of falling victim to this crimeevery single day. The daily lives of women in Latin American countries are being tampered withthe fear of not being able to see their loved ones the next day, or to be unable to continueexperiencing their lives. Because of this, I want to examine why the legal system has allowed themurder rates in Mexico and Brazil continue to rise each year. In 2022, Brazil was the numberone country with the highest rate of Femicides in Latin America, Mexico was also in the top ten.I will use research by historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and journalists as well ascrime statistics to explore the explanations that have been proposed and understand why thiskeeps happening and is getting worse.

Associative memory refers to a form of memory in which separate pieces of information arelinked together into a cohesive memory through binding processes. The long-term memoryversion of our QuadMax associative task demonstrated that memory performance decreased asthe number of items to-be-remembered together increased from two to three to four words, aswould be expected if demand on binding processes also increased with associative load.However, an alternative interpretation is that memory worsens at higher associative loads due toincreased demands on short-term associative memory processes which may exceed the amountof information that can be held in mind at once (short-term memory capacity), as there is moreinformation to hold in mind when encoding and retrieving sets of four versus two words. Thecurrent study aimed to disentangle these processes by developing a short-term associativememory variation of the QuadMax task. Thirty-five young adults studied pairs, triplets, andquadruplets of words and were immediately tested on novel, repeated, or recombined word sets.Results revealed that there was no statistically significant effect of set size on accurate memoryfor repeated sets (hits) relative to inaccurate memory for novel (recognition memory score) orrecombined (associative memory score) sets. The lack of statistical significance supports thenotion that short-term associative memory does not contribute to memory deficits found in long-term associative memory tasks, even at increased associative loads that may exceed short-termmemory capacity.

This project examines several historical institutions that have been used to educate Nativepopulations and the impacts of these respective schooling systems. This project analyzescurricula and living conditions within these schooling systems so that their cultural and historicalimpacts may be better understood. To understand the full impact that varying educationalopportunities have on Native communities, this project spans from as early as colonial schoolingattempts in the seventeenth century until education about and for Native peoples in the modernday. By first examining the type of education offered to Indigenous populations and how thisaltered the lives of Native people, the issues within modern public school curricula regardingNative history can have harmful consequences. This project will also touch upon the changesthat have been made in modern curricula to provide more accurate depictions of Nativecommunities and their histories. By showcasing historical forms of Native education as well asmodern representations of Indigenous histories in academia, I strive to bring awareness to andinvalidate holdovers of European hegemony over education. It is only by understanding the waysin which the hegemon controls the historical narrative of Native people and their culture thatsociety can begin to reform the way that Natives are viewed and treated via better education.This project aims to point out the harm being done to Native communities by misrepresentationin order to bring about better representations and educational opportunities for the communityand end a cycle of hurt that has been ongoing for generations.