Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Journal

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how mixed (multiracial and multiethnic) students at UC Santa Barbara experience, interact with, and perceive Ethnic Studies at the university. We will derive conclusions about how mixed students measure their sense of belonging and representation in Ethnic Studies, as well as gather data on how Ethnic Studies impacts their identity, class participation, and other performances. We hope our findings provide important information on the role that Ethnic Studies plays for multiethnic UCSB students, as well as how campus can potentially be a more inclusive and intersectional space.

Although research has shown that social support is a strong buffer against mental illnesses, Asian Americans are one of the least likely ethnic groups to speak out about mental health and seek social support. The present study proposes two mediators - filial piety and perceived parental stigma towards mental health - as possible explanations for why Asian Americans are less likely to seek social support. A total of 340 U.S. undergraduates identifying as Asian American or White answered a writing prompt about a social stressor and questions that measured filial piety, perceived parental stigma, and likelihood of seeking social support. Results showed that Asian Americans were less likely to seek social support, have higher levels of filial piety, and are more likely to perceive greater parental stigma. Both filial piety and perceived parental stigma were significant mediators, but had different effects on the relationship between culture and social support. Higher filial piety predicted more social support-seeking behaviors, especially among Asian Americans, whereas stronger perceptions of parental stigma were correlated with a lower likelihood of seeking social support. These findings highlight the significant influence of family, stigma, and cultural values on mental health services, emphasizing the importance of addressing these factors when encouraging support-seeking behaviors among Asian Americans.

Coastal wetlands play a valuable role in sequestering carbon, but many have been degraded by human activities. Wetland restoration can help re-establish ecosystem function, including long term carbon storage, but the extent is somewhat unknown. One of the factors that determines how much carbon is stored in wetlands is plant tissue chemistry, specifically carbon content and C:N ratio. Plant carbon content directly translates to carbon stored in living biomass, and C:N is an indicator of decomposition rate, which can predict long term carbon storage. Taking C:N as an indicator of decomposition rate and thus longer term carbon storage, and carbon content as an indicator of carbon storage in living biomass, this study examines variation of C:N, carbon, and nitrogen in Salicornia pacifica (pickleweed), a common coastal wetland plant, between restored and established wetlands, as well as across elevations. I found that pickleweed from an established wetland has a higher carbon content than from a restored wetland. I did not find significant differences in pickleweed nitrogen content or C:N between established and restored wetlands, nor any significant differences in pickleweed carbon, nitrogen or C:N across elevations. These results mean that an established wetland contains more carbon in its biomass than its restored counterpart. This suggests that in the short term, established wetlands may store more carbon in their biomass than restored wetlands, but in the long term restored wetlands may store just as much or more carbon as they mature and catch up to their established counterparts.

This paper explores the barriers to voluntary assimilation encountered by Chinese American students at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). This study aims to explore the nuances of cultural assimilation by using a mixed-methods approach, specifically challenging the either/or dichotomy of retaining one’s native culture and acquiring American culture. The study analyzed factors such as cultural identity, family cultural practices, and experiences of discrimination. The findings reveal the complex interplay between cultural identity, discrimination, and assimilation, highlighting the multifaceted nature of the assimilation process for Chinese American students.

Coastal wetlands provide essential ecosystem services and are important sinks for atmospheric CO2. With climate change and sea level rise, coastal wetlands are threatened. Studying sediment accretion rates is important for predicting a wetland's resilience to sea-level rise. Sediment accretion, driven by local sediment availability contributes to the vertical growth of a wetland, which is important for the wetland to be able to keep up with rising sea-level. Sediment can accumulate in a wetland from a variety of sources, one of the most important being freshwater tributaries which bring sediments from the local watershed into the wetland system. This study focuses on two freshwater tributaries, Phelps Creek and Whittier Channel, which drain into Devereux Slough, the larger wetland system whose upper portion is located in University of California, Santa Barbara’s North Campus Open Space (NCOS), and their potential for contributing to the restored wetland’s sediment accretion. We processed stormwater samples from both streams in the laboratory to obtain their suspended sediment concentrations for the 2023 water year. Analysis of samples showed a higher concentration of suspended sediments in Phelps Creek when compared to Whittier Channel. We believe this is because of physical differences in the stream paths of both tributaries and the dynamics of their respective watersheds. Suspended sediment measurement in the solitary wetland output stream needs to be sampled to determine how much sediment is leaving the system and additionally how much of this study’s sediment is remaining in the system. While this study is useful for determining how much sediment was carried into Devereux Slough during the 2023 water year, the study should be extended over a longer timescale to gain insight to how this sediment input is changing over time.

Solar energy production, and thus photovoltaic (PV) installation, is on the rise in California. However, the land requirements pose a direct land conflict with agricultural land, as PV installations compete with, and often displace, existing agricultural land. Agrivoltaics, which collocate PV panels into agricultural crop production, have been proposed as a solution. Agrivoltaics can provide multiple additive and synergistic benefits for crop production, such as reduced drought stress, water conservation, increased food production, as well as preserving agricultural land while increasing solar energy production. However, there is limited research on agrivoltaic suitability and potential in California. This study assesses California’s agricultural land suitability for agrivoltaic integration using geospatial analysis of five suitability criteria: 1) crop type, 2) farmland productivity, 3) water stress, 4) insolation, and 5) proximity to electric substations. I found that there are significant areas of agricultural land, specifically the southern Central Valley, Central Coast and southern California, with high agrivoltaic suitability potential. Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Kings, Riverside and Madera counties have the largest area of highly suitable land for agrivoltaic integration. Given the trend of farmland displacement and California’s climate goals, which require increased PV installations, agrivoltaic integration in these areas could be a dual-use solution to this land conflict by meeting increasing demand for solar energy without compromising agricultural land and productivity.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a conglomeration of algal cells that can release toxins that worsen water quality, kill marine life, and ultimately endanger human health. Species of the diatoms in the Pseudo-nitzschia genus, which produce the marine neurotoxin domoic acid, are largely responsible for toxic blooms along the US West Coast. Ocean acidification, increased water temperatures, intensified precipitation unpredictability, and increased water stratification – all caused by global warming – are each linked to increases in domoic acid production in species of Pseudo-nitzschia. In response to HABs, statewide agencies issue advisories against eating certain seafood species and may formally close important commercial and recreational fisheries. These closures can last for months, shortening the fishing season, and costing millions of dollars in revenue or lost days of recreational fishing opportunities. To ease statewide fisheries management and support coastal communities, a review of HAB mitigation strategies and an analysis of four years of predictive data on Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid risk from the California Harmful Algae Risk Mapping (C-HARM) model was conducted. Pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid hotspots were found in geographically retentive areas that are supported in previous studies on HAB dynamics. A new hotspot was identified at the California-Mexico border. Changes in hotspots and HAB development can be explained by large scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation shifts. Recommended mitigation strategies to be further researched and eventually applied are clay flocculation, biological algicides, and allelopathic byproducts. The results of this study underscore the importance of HAB monitoring and modeling and may inform decision-makers on fisheries management.