Poster Session for STAT 450
When: April 8th, 9:30-11:30
Where: ESB Atrium
Come and see what the students of Stat 450 and 550 have been up to this semester!
Poster 1: Home-Fortification with Micronutrient Powders (MNP) in Rwanda
Researcher: Kristina Michaux, Department of Human Nutrition
STAT450: Yung Ming Huang, Angela Cotton, Chuan Zhang, Hong Xuan Zhao.
STAT550: Jack Ni
Rwanda is a country with an extremely high burden of childhood malnutrition and a high prevalence of diarrhea. Home-Fortification is a process in which MNP can be added to home grown foods. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the impact of Home-Fortification with MNP on anemia, growth, and incidences of diarrhea in young children.
Poster 2: In imperial China, Who Was Living Long Lives?
Researcher: Robban A. J. Toleno, Dept. of Asian Studies
STAT450: Qing Wei Li, Kathy Ng, Kevin Zeng
STAT550: Huiting Ma
China is famous for narratives of Daoists who sought immortality and Buddhist monks who achieved notable longevity, but little has been done to test the rhetoric of longevity against strong statistical evidence. The aim of this study is to understand the role of lifestyle in longevity and reveal unknown longevity patterns spread over two millennia from over 27,000 individual records in Chinese history compiled in different databases.
Poster 3: Statistical Tool to Assess TA Grading Consistency
Researcher: Liane Chen, Ph.D. Departments of Zoology and Botany
STAT450: Cristiana Hrehorciuc, Zhen Huang, Haoyi Jiang
STAT550: Andres Sanchez-Ordonez
Large classes commonly have many teaching assistants (TAs) leading individual tutorials/labs, as well as grading for their own sections and the class as a whole. Maintaining grading consistency among all TAs is a major concern. The goal of this work is to establish a statistical tool to allow TAs and instructors to evaluate the consistency of course grading.
Poster 4: Predictors of anemia in Cambodian women of reproductive age
Researcher: Crystal Karakochuk, Department of Human Nutrition
STAT450: Derek Cho, Fangyu Di, Yi Terri Zhang
STAT550: Daniel Dinsdale
Anemia is common in Cambodian women and can lead to an increased risk of maternal and infant mortality. Potential causes of anemia include micronutrient deficiencies, inflammation, disease, and genetic hemoglobin disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the major predictors of anemia in Cambodian women of reproductive age and to determine the magnitude of association between genetic hemoglobin disorders and anemia in this population.
Poster 5: The role of DNA structure in aging of cells
Researcher: Elisa York, Neuroscience
STAT450: HyunWoo Kim, Jonathan Luo, Mengping Tien
STAT550: Chiara di Gravio and Sean Jewell
Neuron death in Alzheimer’s disease may be amplified with the loss of microglia‘s protection. Microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system, become less functional as they age. Aging of cells throughout the body can be regulated by how tightly their DNA is stored. The goal of this study is to determine if compounds that loosen DNA are capable of restoring the ability of aged microglia to protect neurons.
Poster 6: Spruce Budworm Resistance in Douglas-Fir Trees
Researcher: Melissa H Mageroy, Plant biochemistry, Michael Smith Laboratories
STAT450: Nannan Wu, Wenyan Zhao, Ying Cui
STAT550: Neil Spencer
Chemical composition of spruce needles is known to be important in conferring resistance to defoliating (needle-eating) pests. Presence and absence of certain molecules can be the determining fact in whether a tree will be resistant or susceptible to attack by a major defoliating pest, the spruce budworm. The goal of this project is to determine if needles of Douglas-Fir trees make a similar kind of compound that provides resistance to spruce budworm.
Poster 7: Effects of Visual Adaptation on the Sensitivity to Recognize Facial Expressions
Researcher: Dr. Ipek Oruc, Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
STAT450: Jonny Po Hong Tang, Tommy Po Chung Tang, Shengyi Zhu
STAT550: Yifang Zhang and Jinyuan Zhang
Recognition of different facial expressions is crucial for building and maintaining social interactions. The purpose of this research is to study the occurrence of an adaptation aftereffect, which is the observer’s improved ability to discriminate face expression after exposure to a preceding stimulus[NH1] . Moreover, we want to identify factors that affect the efficacy of the adaptation including demographic factors and the congruency of identity and expression between the test and adapting stimulus.