Katy MacKay University Fellows Endowed

The topic of my research is abroad experiences effects on education inequality for pre-health students. This project consists of analyzing pre-health and especially pre-med student’s experiences of participating in a pre-health environment abroad. My research questions are how do health-related international programs and/or lab courses benefit pre-health professions students? And, due to access problems, how do these programs perpetuate inequality in the medical system?

As social media has become ubiquitous in today's society so too has disinformation, extremism, and political polarization. Is human nature to blame for these challenges to society and democracy, or has social media played a part in exacerbating these issues? In this research paper, the goal was to outline how social media content moderation creates echo chambers, incentivizes the spread of disinformation, facilitates political polarization, and pushes the collective United States toward extremism.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder resulting in symptoms such as resting tremors, muscle rigidity, and impaired balance. Familial PD has been found to result from mutations in the gene for the protein α-synuclein and accumulation of α-synuclein is found in familial and sporadic cases of PD. Prior research found that the chemical mannitol has a neuroprotective effect in a Drosophila model of PD. For my research project, I used a C.

This research explores the social, political, and economic implications of the CFA franc currency in Francophone West Africa. The CFA franc has been used by Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Togo, and Guinea-Bissau since French colonialism. However, it was announced in December of 2019 that a new currency named the Eco will come to replace the CFA franc.