2020

The Undergraduate Research Writing Conference (URWC) is an annual event that showcases outstanding work completed by students across Rutgers University. Students who earned A’s in any of the Writing Program’s research writing courses are invited to submit their papers for consideration, and the process of selection is highly competitive.

Selected students usually have the opportunity to present their work in a setting modeled on an academic conference, and the event provides an interdisciplinary platform for sharing ideas and networking in a professional environment.

This year, the URWC team has the pleasure of for the first time, transforming the conference into a virtual experience.

2020 Panels and Poster Board presentations (Click through to see papers and presentations)

Contributions to Life in New Jersey

As one of the most populated states in the United States, New Jersey is an area where urban life and urban issues frequently intersect. It’s precisely these intersections that make New Jersey the perfect place to explore solutions to some of the most pressing social issues.

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Jorge L.	Alvarez	Efficacy of University Response to a Student On-Campus Death by Suicide: University Postvention and Crisis Response
Madison	Bogard	Reducing Recidivism Rates in Middlesex County: A Review of East Jersey State Prison
Nesha	Daneshwar	Music and Mathematics: A proposed study to quantify and generalize mathematical skill improvement in adolescents at West Morris Central High School, Chester NJ
Emily	Grzesiowski	‘No Cap’: Imperative Improvements in Rutgers University – New Brunswick Counseling and Psychiatric Services
Alyssa	Juntilla	Sexually Transmitted Infections: A New Approach to STIs at Rutgers University
Brandon	Kalika	Building Bike Paths that Extend from Campus to Campus at Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Tehseen	Khokhar	Eradication of Infectious Diseases: A proposal to reduce the contamination and susceptibility of infectious diseases to members of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ
Marek	Kosiorowski	Food Insecurity: A Plan to Relieve the Burdens of Food Insecurity in Denville, New Jersey
Romulo A.	Meneses	CPR & AED Training in Low Income Neighborhoods Comprised of Ethnic Minorities in Elizabeth, NJ
Swetha	Sriramoju	Maternal Healthcare Program addressing Maternal Mortality for University Hospital – Newark, NJ

Communicating Memory & Identity in the Arts

The art of an era often mirrors the life and truth of an era as well. While art can be a purely abstract experience, it can also be used to communicate widely held truths. In this section, we see various explorations of identity, emotion, and memory through various mediums.

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Tasnova	Choudhury	A Literary Take on the American Dream
Lawrence	Frolov	Unhappiness in Japan: Failures of Eudaimonism in My Hero Academia
Peilin	Li	The Spectacle of the Masquerade and Pleasure Gardens: English Society in the Eighteenth Century
Austin	Manalese	Presentation and Representation of Drag Identity in RuPaul’s Drag Race
Carl	Octavo	Under representation of Asians in Hollywood Films and Television
Sneha	Patel	Balancing Tradition and Modernity: Examining Promiscuity in Indian Dress
Catherine	Pfromm	Identity Affliction: How Stigma Generation in Schools Results in Struggles of Identity Formation in Students
Anjali	Shah	Larry Stylinson: The Conspiracy Theory Turned Queer Safe Space
Tara	Shrier	Media Monsters: An Exploration of Fear and Enjoyment in Film
Chandana	Singathi	Dark Secrets Behind Light Shades: Hollywood & Modeling Media
Olivia	Smelas	Social Media as a Mode of Attachment and Facilitator of a Narcissistic Agenda in Young Adult Romantic Relationships
Sarah	Williams	Pervasive Pseudonyms: Banksy’s Faceless Art in Contemporary Landscapes
Tianxiang	Zhu	Architecture and Collective Memory: The Case of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (full-text not available)
Michelle	Zilberman	Use of Dance Movement Therapy to Uncover Dissociation in Sexual Abuse Survivors

Changing Social Structures

To exist without change is just that, existing. Human history is rife with instances of social rebirth, where one social structure births the next. The 21^st century is no different, with topics such as sexism, capitalism, and colorism dominating the social stage.

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Dina	Abdalla	The Transcendence of Veganism and Vegetarianism as an Identity Movement
Srusti	Chandra	India: Critics of Color An In-depth Analysis of the Psychological Causes and Effects of Colorism on Women and Africans in India
George S.	Henson, III	The Prevalence of Misandry in Nursing: The Past is Still in the Present
Alexandra	Koken	Universal Basic Income: Free Money for Freedom
Cassandra	Rizkallah	The Anti-Feminist “Feminine”; Beyond the Barre of Detriment
Olivia	Smelas	Social Media as a Mode of Attachment and Facilitator of a Narcissistic Agenda in Young Adult Romantic Relationship
Sarah	Walter	The Everyday Cult: Control as a Social Disease
Nadine	Yanes	The Privilege of “Anti-Vaxxers”
Angela	Zarra	The Psychology of Anti-Vaxxers: Privilege, Conspiracies, and the Medical Model

Environmental Stewardship

We live in a world that recognizes that the Earth’s abundance is not infinite. We, however, struggle to understand how to care for the resources we have left and how to change century-long practices. In this section, we explore how to tackle environmental issues on a communal level.

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Nicholas	Friedrich	The Destruction of Fairbanks Air Quality: A Crippling Issue on Health and the Environment
Jessica	Singh	Biodiversity Conservation: A Set Up for Failure
Ethan	Sinyavsky	Middlesex County Landfill Improvements: Organic Waste Collection and Processing
Honson	Tran	Community Urban Farming to Increase Farm Yield
Gorkem	Yurekli	Removal of Micro-plastics in Central New Jersey Freshwater Sources

Evolving Technologies

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Islam	Abdelmotaleb	The Intimate Relationship Between Human-Like Creations and their Human Creators
Austen	Damerau	Social Media and the Death of Logic
Surabhi	Dattatri	The Effect of Technology on Academic Achievement
James	Hadley	Artificial Intelligence and Rising Inequality
Jacob	Klonsky	Implementing Ultra-Wideband Technology on NYC’s 5 Line: A Pilot Program
John	Murphy	3D Printed Prosthetics: Production and Opportunities
Aruja	Patel	Sex Selection: The Impact of Reproductive Technology and its Consequences
Kristen	Rodriguez	How Artificial Intelligence Can Mitigate Supplier Risk
Rosalia	Russo	The Be Cyberkind Program

Improving Health and Medicine

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Daniel	Bernstein	Starving the Mind
Annalise	Burke	Isothiazolinone Contact Allergies
Jessica	Culin	Optimal Nurse-Patient Relationship
Pearl Kilien	Kravets	Hypersexuality: Social Normativity Gone Awry or Genuine Medical Problem?
Hannah	Oh	Just Sleep, You’ll Feel Better in the Morning and the Long-run: An Investigation of the Impact of Sleep on Affect and Cognition
Daniella	Ramiro	The Hippo-Critical Oath: How Time Constrained Physicians Contribute to the Opioid Epidemic
Shivankar	Vajinepalli	The Hidden Manipulation: The Influence of Pharmaceutical Companies on Physicians and Researchers
Daniel	White	Organs Wanted: Dead or alive? The Myths and Ethics Regarding Brain Dead Organ Donors

Rights and Law

103 Roundtables on Science and Technology

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Antonio	Bu Sha	Reaching for the Stars: The Importance of NASA Administered Rocket Research and Development Alongside SpaceX
Nick	Genung	Population Bomb or Population Boon?: Population Control and Ethnic Tension During the Global Climate Crisis
Aditya	Jain	The Cost of America’s Identity Crisis: Rising Pharmaceutical Prices Among a Fragmented Regulatory System
Prahlad	Jasti	Societal Establishment of Conformism Through Data Publicization
Jack	Lowry	Un-Human Minds: Why Being Human is Nothing Special

103 Roundtables on Contemporary Social Challenges

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Amanda	Chen	Hostile College Campus Environments: The Problem with Bureaucracy-Centric Sexual Assault Policies
Odhran	King	The Downsides of Forcing Diversity
Derek	Lin	Treating a Case of Rural Neglect
Emily	Liu	Organ Trafficking and the Ills of Late Capitalism
Bianca	Mastellone	America’s Gun Obsession: A Public Safety Crisis
Eshah	Murtaza	Green Consumerism: the Solution to Our Narcissism?
Patrick	Song	“The System is Broken!” Victimization and Anti-Establishment Sentiments as Mechanisms of Populism in Contemporary America

103 Roundtables on Consumer Culture: Opportunities and Choices

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Taqiya	Ehsan	Self-care in the 21st Century: Personal Wellness or a Capitalist Propaganda?
Adora	Grant	Compulsory Heterosexuality: The Core of the Sex Toy Industry
Ethan	Nguyen	Black America, Systemic Failure, and How the NCAA is caught in between the two
Deepkumar	Patel	NCAA and Athlete-students: De-commercializing in a Commercial Age
Vi	Rong	The Impact of East Asian Cultural Values on Familial Interactions
Charis	Shin	__________ is the New Biggest Dating Trend

Poster Board Presentations

Click the icon to see the presentation.

First name	Last Name	Project Title	Presentation
Taylor	Andrews	Making Us Human: The Ethics of Modern Carnivory
Krisha	Balar	South Asian Identity Development in a Multicultural Society
Anisha	Barde	The Tricks and Trades of the Privilege or Right of Privacy on the Internet
Pearl	Bengali	The Impact of Unschooling: How Games can be the Intrinsic Motivators for Success
Priya	Bhatt	Cell Phone Radiation: Is It Worth It?
Keshav	Chhibber	The Effect of Rising Western Nationalism on Climate Change
Angela	D’Adamo	Caffeine’s Effects on Adolescents, Young Adults, and Exercise
Danielle	Farah	Affective Documentation in the Photographs of Nan Goldin
Allen	Fu	Regulating Hidden Malevolence in Psychopharmacology
Pranya	Gaddipati	Disease and Awareness—A Paradox
Nura	Hussaini	The Fast Food Campaign
Hira	Javed	The Helping Hand: Providing Aid to the Homeless in New York City, 2019
Jahnvi	Joshi	Upper Class Influence on Western Female Beauty Standards
Manideepika	Katta	Under the same Moon: Urban Slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Catherine	Kratka	The Silence Breaker: The Power of the #MeToo Community on Sexual Assault Activism
Melissa	Kwong	Nicotine Epidemic: Adolescents’ Development towards Nicotine Addiction
Elizabeth	Leung	The Female Body and Emotional Experience during the Vienna Secession
Irfan	Peer	The Three C Savior of the Future: Combating Climate Change
Lydia	Rebello	Millions of Lost Meals: The Effects of Pediatric Food Insecurity in India
Leianni A.X.L.	Wong	The Childhood on Social Media
Jasmine	Xu	Why do Chinese restaurants have low status in fine-dining area in the U.S.?
Hyunji	Yu	Mutual Relationship between United States and South Korea
Jessica	Zheng	Medical Waste Management: In Support of Improving Medical Waste Management Due to Connections Between Environmental and Personal Health