Poster Presentations

Wednesday, April 15th, 2026

Location: Hatfield Library

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• 1 ARCH – Jason Lehman – 12 p.m.

  UAS-Based Visible Light and LiDAR Assessment of Post-Wildfire Landscapes in Attica, Greece

  During 2024, wildfires burned in the Daou Penteli region in Attica, Greece. This presented an opportunity for an unpiloted aerial system (UAS) study to search for undocumented archaeological features. UAS-mounted RGB photogrammetry and LiDAR were used to record both cultural and natural landscape features. The resulting high-resolution datasets revealed terrace walls, field boundaries, and possible traces of past land use, while also capturing variations in slope form, erosion patterns, and vegetation recovery. By documenting these drainages, the project created a valuable dataset for tracking geomorphic change and supporting the discovery of new archaeology.

  Faculty Sponsor: Scott Pike
  Discipline: Archaeology

• 2 BIOL – Kai Morgan – 1 p.m.

  Spatial Analysis of Human Activity and Bald Eagle Reproductive Success

  This research analyzes the impacts of human activity on bald eagle nesting success in Salem, Oregon. Using data from two active nests provided by the Salem Eagle Watch program, this paper examines eagle behavior over the past 5 years in relation to different levels of human activity and proximity during the nesting season. The study further examines these findings by analyzing secondary factors that affect eagle behavior, including weather patterns and interspecific conflicts. Results contribute to understanding bald eagle habituation in Salem and help determine primary factors affecting eagle nesting success in urban areas.

  Faculty Sponsor: David P. Craig
  Discipline: Biology

• 3 ELAS – Fumika Yoshida – 12 p.m.

  Motivation to Study Abroad: A Comparative Study of Japanese and American Students

  In Japan, the primary purpose of studying abroad for many students is to acquire English. The motivation to study abroad for English-speaking students in the United States, however, often varies. While participation rate in study abroad may be similar, the intentions and geographic preferences are often different. This paper focuses on the motivation for studying abroad from each country, the differences in choosing study abroad locations, and the differences in the support provided to the students. Furthermore, this paper will consider how studying abroad affects a student’s future in both countries.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 4 ELAS – Miyu kadowaki – 1 p.m.

  The Difference of Communication Patterns and Relationship Building Between the U.S. and Japan

  The research shows the differences in communication patterns and relationship styles between American and Japanese students. The lack of knowledge of other people's cultures can cause some misunderstanding when communicating. The purpose of the research is to help improve communication skills, which would lead to building good relationships for international business success. The data was collected from the Internet and interviews. The result of the research will present the percentage of the difference in non-verbal communication, such as frequency of gestures, bowing, and handshakes, as well as how educational and cultural upbringing shapes these interactions.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 5 ELAS – Shota Sano – 12 p.m.

  A Comparison of Sexual Minority Rights Between Japan and the United States

  This research examines the differences in sexual minority rights between Japan and the United States. Same-sex marriage is legal in the United States, whereas it is illegal in Japan. This study was motivated by the author’s experience in San Francisco where rainbow symbols representing sexual minorities communities were observed. The purpose of this research is to compare and clarify the differences between the two countries. Based on internet sources and a questionnaire survey, this study identifies key distinctions and explores the reasons. The findings suggest that cultural traditions influence the development of sexual minority rights in both countries.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 6 ELAS – Mizuho Kuroda – 1 p.m.

  Comparative Study on Residential Life of College Students

  Willamette University has a rule requiring students to live on campus.

  Most American Universities have a residency system like Willamette where underclassmen are required to live on campus. Japanese universities do not have such rules. Instead, it is common for students to commute to campus every day from their homes using public transportation. This comparative study focuses on dormitory life in America and Japan. Drawing on student perspectives, it will examine the advantages and disadvantages of dormitory life and analyze how these can influence students’ academic, community, and mental health.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 7 ELAS – Nami Ikeda – 12 p.m.

  A Comparative Study of Communication Styles in American and Japanese Cultures

  This study focuses on the differences in communication values between American and Japanese cultures. Previous research has shown that Americans take the meaning of the other person's words at face value and can freely express their opinions. In contrast, the Japanese often grasp the other person’s intention deeply and prioritize other people's intentions for social harmony. For analysis and comparison, data will be collected through surveys. Results will show the importance of understanding and learning cultural values as a bridge for successful cross-cultural communication.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 8 ELAS – Riku Uemasutani – 1 p.m.

  Addressing Homelessness in the United States

  This project aims to understand the problem of homelessness in the United States and consider its current state, future trends, and potential solutions. There are many homeless people in the United States, and despite ongoing efforts, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, reports that in recent years homelessness is still at a record high. The results of this project will indicate how both homeless individuals and those who are not homeless can act to resolve this problem. This project will be based on using information from the internet, books, and, where possible, interviews with individuals experiencing homelessness.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: English Language and American Studies

• 9 ENVS – Ellie Scott, Asia Scott – 12 p.m.

  Monitoring Local Plant Biodiversity Patterns in Parks of Salem, OR

  Urban nature provides many benefits for people and the environment, but there is limited information on plant biodiversity patterns across park types. Using a random stratified sampling design, we selected 15 parks across Salem. For each, we collected data within five randomly selected 400m2 plots and recorded the species and cover. We found 157 species, which included 19% trees, 32% shrubs, 46% herbs, and 3% vines. Of these species, 45% were native, 41% non-native, 8% invasive, and 6% unknown species. This study highlights key improvement areas in park management, including encouraging invasive species removal and monitoring, as well as promoting more native species.

  Faculty Sponsor: Michelle Talal
  Discipline: Environmental Science

• 10 ELAS – Yokota Yuka – 1 p.m.

  Cultural Differences in Carrying Beverages on Campus in the United State and Japan

  This paper explores the cultural differences in carrying beverages by students while they are on campus in the United States and Japan. The purpose of this study is to know the cultural and environmental factors that influence people’s habits of carrying their beverages with them. Data will be collected by taking a survey of TIU and Willamette students who use plastic bottles and reusable water bottles while they are on campus. The results will also analyze the kind of environmental factors that may affect their behavior. The results of this study will be revealed and discussed.

  Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jo Kozuma
  Discipline: Global Cultural Studies

• 11 HIST – Azi Opland – 12 p.m.

  Tracing Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement Across Salem

  I will be identifying and tracing the lives of Southeast Asian refugees who came to Salem as a result of the 1975 Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act while beginning to draw my focus closer in on Willamette itself. Data will be pulled from censuses, yearbooks, and newspapers from 1975-1985 to articulate the concentration, lives, and resources available to Southeast Asian refugees across Salem as well as establishing the beginnings of understanding where Willamette fell along the lines of sponsorship and volunteer work. This project has been built across the course of HIST 221W (FA'25) and HIST 399-01 (SP'26).

  Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Eisenberg
  Discipline: History

• 12 HIST – Jack Cornell – 1 p.m.

  The Evolution of Convocation at Willamette University

  This poster will summarize my research process so far into the weekly convocation system at Willamette University. The overall body of the poster will be devoted to a time line of the convocations origins as daily chapel to its evolution into a more secular community and academic focused program in 1942, into the 1960s and the student protests against the system and into the final stage of the program beginning under Phil Hanni before eventually ending with the end of the full time Chaplin’s office. There will also be a methodological section and a section about my continued research.

  Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Eisenberg
  Discipline: History

• 13 HIST – Mac Childers – 12 p.m.

  Racial Portrayal: WU Students' Responses to Cultural Discourse

  My research has been focused on WU students’ responses to topics of race and how these issues have been discussed throughout the university’s history. This research also looks at the timelines at which these attitudes may have shifted, attempting to analyze what made these changes and how it ties to greater issues outside of this institution. I have found interesting divergences in how Native American and Black populations have historically been portrayed in campus culture, which has led me to inquire about what has led to these differences in portrayal.

  Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Eisenberg
  Discipline: History

• 14 HIST – Brison SpeakThunder – 1 p.m.

  Black Activism at WU

  My project is a look into Black activism on Willamette's campus. I’d look at individuals such as Dave Rages who was the first president of the BSU in 1968, William Powell who was hired during the 1971 school year and not rehired that year. Looking at these individuals will help to give an understanding of how hard Black people at Willamette had worked to create an environment that is more inclusive for Black students at Willamette in the future. The next piece to my project would look at activism through things like community events having to do with minorities.

  Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Eisenberg
  Discipline: History

• 15 HIST – Simon Masingila – 12 p.m.

  A New Wu History: Black Students

  Similar to the majority of the U.S. around the mid 20th century, questions of racial equity were present at Willamette University. Unions arose among the student body meant to address such questions. The Black population on campus sought to gather into student unions focused on issues within racial marginalization present throughout their experience. I seek to illustrate this experience and answer the leading question “What was the context for which the BSU came to be and what did it need to endure through the first few school years at Willamette University?"

  Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Eisenberg
  Discipline: History

• 16 HIST – Miranda Dutton – 1 p.m.

  The Asian American Experience

  A project that focuses on identifying the Asian American students at Willamette University would aim to recover an overlooked part of the university’s history and better understand the experiences of early Asian and Asian American students on campus. By identifying who Asian American students were and reconstructing their experiences, this project would help fill a gap in the historical record and offer a more inclusive understanding of the university’s past. This poster could help create a more inclusive view of the university's history and lay the groundwork for future studies on underrepresented student populations by reevaluating current histories.

  Faculty Sponsor: Brandi Row Lazzarini
  Discipline: History

• 17 PSYC – Milo Maltz – 12 p.m.

  The relationship between personality and political engagement

  This project sought to identify relationships between personality traits (e.g., Big Five, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Empathy, etc.) and strategies for political engagement (e.g., voting, protesting, organizing, etc.), and ally identity. Data was collected from three samples: Willamette Institute for Continued Learning (WICL) members, community members, and introduction to psychology students. These results will contribute to the literature an improved understanding of predictors of political engagement that can be elaborated on in future research. These results may also inform organizers’ approach to mobilizing folks to effect change.

  Faculty Sponsor: Erik E. Noftle
  Discipline: Psychology

• 18 PSYC – Keegan Stershic, Chantal Yepez, Eclipse Albert – 1 p.m.

  The Effect of Misinformation on Stressful and Nonstressful Events and Moderating Factors

  A large body of literature has shown that individuals can encode false information into their own recollections of an event, a phenomenon known as the misinformation effect. Moreover, it has been theorized that individuals may either be more or less susceptible to misinformation based on whether their recollection of an event is emotionally distressing. Subsequently, the present study recruited Introductory Psychology students to examine whether emotions impact misinformation encoding and explore interventions (e.g., RSA, Sensitization) that may help reduce misinformation phenomena.

  Faculty Sponsor: Jeremy Miller
  Discipline: Psychology

• 19 PSYC – Augusta Castrodale, Emma Noffsinger, Squid Pletcher, Brennan Ware – 12 p.m.

  Personality Traits Revealed in Archival Interviews: Impact of Assessment Method and Closeness of Informants

  The current research is part of a larger project examining the reliability and validity of assessing personality traits in archival interviews. Our target was musician Bob Dylan, who was chosen due to the availability of interviews both of him and of people well-acquainted with him. Our current analyses address questions about trait profiles gleaned from atomistic versus holistic approaches, as well as the role of relational closeness between informants and Dylan. Based on preliminary findings, we predict higher indices of closeness correlate with lower Agreeableness and Honesty, and higher closeness in general will correlate with more agreement across informants.

  Faculty Sponsor: Erik E. Noftle
  Discipline: Psychology

• 20 PSYC – Brielle Moore, Tobie Peters, Caitlyn Almquist, Meghla Tasnim – 1 p.m.

  Personality Change Revealed in Archival Interviews: Do Self and Informant Perspectives Demonstrate Similar Patterns of Change?

  The current research is a part of a larger project examining the reliability and validity of personality trait assessment in archival interviews, using Bob Dylan as our primary subject. Drawing from both interviews with Dylan and individuals who knew him well, we coded Big Five and six additional traits using holistic and atomistic methods. We investigate how Dylan’s traits change over time, how self- and informant-reports correspond, and whether his trait development aligns with psychological theories like the maturity principle. These results contribute to understanding how personality develops across adulthood, particularly within a highly creative individual.

  Faculty Sponsor: Erik E. Noftle
  Discipline: Psychology

• 21 PSYC – Ingrid Standifer – 12 p.m.

  Temporal Remoteness Bias in Non-Autobiographical Memories

  Negatively valenced moral memories are biased backwards in time relative to positively valenced moral memories (Escobedo & Adolphs, 2010). Previous studies have used personal autobiographical narratives of moral events to study this bias. However, these memories are hard to collect and the method is taxing on participants. This study aimed to replicate this finding without using autobiographical memories. Intro Psychology students completed a task in which they rated the perceived morality of actions, then were asked to remember the order in which they originally encountered the actions. We predicted that more negative actions will be remembered as further back in time.

  Faculty Sponsor: Jeremy Miller
  Discipline: Psychology

• 22 PSYC – Grace Corsac, Maya Taila – 1 p.m.

  Ethnic Identity and Friendship Choices Among Asian American College Students: Role of Gender and Generation

  The purpose of this research was to explore friendship and ethnic identity in Asian American college students. 230 participants provided self-report survey data via prolific panels as part of a larger study on the Model Minority Stereotype. Friendship ethnic composition was assessed by asking participants whether their friends are mostly from the same or different ethnic/racial background as themselves. Significant correlations were found between friendship ethnic composition and ethnic centrality and public regard as measures of ethnic identity. Differences that were found in these associations according to gender and generation will be discussed.

  Faculty Sponsor: Melissa Witkow
  Discipline: Psychology

• 23 PSYC – Samantha Kennedy – 12 p.m.

  Achievement in College Students: Self-conceptions, achievement goals, academic behaviors, and outcomes

  The goal of this study was to examine potential pathways from self-conceptions of either intelligence or hard work through achievement goals to behaviors and ultimately to achievement outcomes. A sample of 226 Asian American college students filled out a prolific survey intended for a larger study examining the Model Minority Stereotype, with a subset of measures used for this study. Key findings include significant connections following the path through self-conceptions of hard work, mastery goals, self-regulation behaviors, and beneficial outcomes. Future directions would benefit from a more generalizable sample and a more experimental setting.

  Faculty Sponsor: Melissa Witkow
  Discipline: Psychology