On April 19, a group of hand-picked liberal arts students who have conducted exceptional research projects presented them at the Dean’s Research Reception. College faculty and staff members, college administrators and Dean Randy Diehl all gathered to learn about the outstanding work that liberal arts students have conducted.
The annual event is a part of UT Austin’s Undergraduate Research Week, which is hosted by the Senate of College Councils and the Office of Undergraduate Research in the School of Undergraduate Studies. Colleges and organizations across campus coordinate events throughout the week to showcase the work of undergraduate student researchers.
Learn more about six of the 16 featured researchers and their projects below.
Political Economy of Thailand’s Third Gender
David Aguirre, an anthropology and marketing junior from Flower Mound, Texas, researched the political economy surrounding the construction of the third gender (sao braphet song) in Thailand, and the opportunities available to non-binary gender identities.
How did you decide on your research topic?
During my spring 2017 semester, I was studying abroad in Thailand and heard rumors of it being a “gay paradise,” especially for people who identify aside from the gender-binary. Although there was a relative amount of tolerance toward men who identified as women, the stereotypes of their behavior and roles caused my Thai friends to create generalizations about them that often were not true. Therefore, I wanted to understand how sao braphet song are really viewed in Thailand, and how their reputation limits or expands their opportunities.
How did you conduct your research?
My research was focused around literature of past researchers such as Peter Jackson, LeeRay Costa, Andrew Matzner and other prominent researchers of Thailand’s third gender. Additionally, I conducted virtual interviews with individuals who identified as sao braphet song and read personal letters submitted by sao braphet song.
What element of your research do you find most fascinating?
The term research is too impersonal when it comes to the population I am interacting with. When talking about formation of identity, the stories you hear and read of various people are intimate. Each story is just as unique as the person who wrote it. One person’s story can be full of love and acceptance while another can be a story of hardship and courage, and as a result that individual builds a relationship with the reader that cannot be defined in the typical researcher and subject pairing. Therefore, the most fascinating thing about my work is that it is not research, it is a relationship.
What were your findings?
Sao braphet song are pigeonholed into three areas of Thai society: beauty, entertainment and sex work. Although they have experienced great acceptance in these areas, they still face harsh workplace and housing discrimination that makes them choose between expressing their identity or securing economic stability. However, colleges, service jobs and start-ups are becoming more receptive of sao braphet song, creating a brighter image for the future.
What kind of impact do you think this research could have?
The impact of this research is to help expel the false myth that Thailand is a “gay paradise” and expose the ways in which sao braphet song are still restricted within Thai society. Further, it identifies the trends and patterns associated with the lived experiences of sao braphet song by giving them a voice in academia leading the way for further activism and opportunity.
Has this project impacted what you want to do following graduation?
My goal has always been to conduct anthropological fieldwork in Thailand. However, my thesis has given me greater insight on the function of gender in Thailand and political implications of gendered expression. Therefore, it has opened my eyes to the work that still needs to be done to truly make Thailand a “gay paradise.”
The Rise of Female Congressional Candidates and Women’s Issues in Party Platforms
Ariana Azimi, a government senior from Spring, Texas, investigated if the presence of female candidates running for U.S. Congress also increased attention to women’s issues in their parties’ platforms.
What is your research project about?
Women make up half of the population of the United States, but the U.S. has yet to have a woman as president and women make up less than 20 percent of Congress. This study addresses the number of female congressional candidates and the mentions of women’s issues in party platforms from 1900 to 2016. The question to be answered was, “Does the presence of female candidates running for the United States Congress increase attention to women’s issues in their respective party platforms?”
The hypothesis of the study is that as the presence of female congressional candidates increases, the mentions of women’s issues in their respective party platforms will increase as well.
How did you decide on your topic?
I wanted to see if and how women’s issues are presented in both the Republican and Democratic party platforms. The presence of female candidates has intrigued me since the 2016 presidential election. I wanted to do a project that looked at both topics.
How did you conduct your research?
I collected data by searching each platform for key words and phrases associated with women’s issues, such as “women/woman, girl, abortion, reproductive, maternal/maternity, contraception/contraceptive, lesbian, gay, female, violence against women, and right to choose.”
After noting the year and party of the platform in an excel sheet, I inserted the number of times each of the key words or phrases appeared. In terms of collecting the number of female congressional candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties from 1970 to 2016, the numbers were collected from a Center for American Women and Politics fact sheet and put into an excel document noting the year, party and whether the candidate was running for the House or Senate.
In order to collect the number of candidates from 1956 to 1968, the book entitled United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997 is was used.
What were your findings?
Women have been running at a higher rate than they did in the former part of the 20th century and there has been an increase in the mention of women’s issues in party platforms. Increases in women running for office and the presence of women’s issues in party platforms are both influenced by social movements and events during their respective time periods.
What kind of effect do you think this research could have?
I responded to a gap in the existing literature, so hopefully one day I can expand on this project.
Has this project impacted what you want to do following graduation?
I knew before I did this project that I wanted to run for office, but now I am even more encouraged to run.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Expanding the Original Adverse Childhood Experiences Model to Include Immigrant Experiences
Emily Burns, a Plan II Honors senior from Dallas, Texas, examined the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Model, which shows that children who experience toxic stress are more likely to develop chronic disease as adults, and proposes an expanded version of ACE to include the experiences of children of undocumented immigrants.
What is your research project about?
The children of undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to stressors such as discrimination, fear of separation from family and deportation. I propose expansion of the ACE model to include the experiences of children of undocumented immigrants.
How did you conduct your research?
I reviewed the medical literature about ACEs and reviewed social science literature about immigrant experiences. Using information from these two fields, I synthesized a new way of incorporating immigrant experiences in medicine.
Who were your mentors on this project and how did they impact it?
Dean Luis Zayas and Dr. John Walker mentored me through this project. Dean Zayas works in the School of Social Work, and Dr. Walker is a pediatrician. Their respective areas of expertise were really helpful in developing this project.
What kind of effect do you think this research could have?
I hope that professionals who act as gatekeepers for children, such as pediatricians or school counselors, can use this expanded ACE survey to fully capture children’s trauma and ultimately serve them better.
Has this project impacted what you want to do following graduation?
Next year, I’m attending Baylor College of Medicine. As a physician, I hope to incorporate trauma-informed care into my practice.
Understanding the Correlation Between Overcrowding in Prison Systems and Its Effect on Health
Anokhi Kashiparekh, a health & society and genetics & genomics senior from Ahmedabad, India, focused on the idea that prisoners are entitled to “adequate” mental and physical healthcare instead of “good” mental and physical health. To do this, she looked at the various causes of “good” health, specifically personal space and physical environment.
What is your research project about?
My research looks at prisoner rights, specifically the right to heath, on a global scale. It is divided into two major themes. The first part explores the topic of health versus healthcare and looks at the prisoner right to “healthcare” in global constitutions. The other examines the association between overcrowding in prisons, a violation of the right to health, and rates of infection in prisons as compared to the common population.
How did you decide on your topic?
A few weeks after Hurricane Harvey, I read an article on how prisoners in a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, had their water access cut off for a week due to the hurricane, but were not evacuated during that time. This got me interested in learning what prisoner rights exactly consisted of, how they varied across different parts of the world and the effect these varying policies had on prisoner health.
How did you conduct your research?
My research mainly consisted of reading papers about health and healthcare. Most of my data comes from that World Prison Brief, as well as research papers on the specific countries I am examining. All of my data was examined in either Excel or R.
What element of your research do you find most fascinating?
It is incredibly fascinating to look through different constitutions and understand how the history and culture of each country impacts how they approach prisoner rights and subsequently, inmate health.
What kind of effect do you think this research could have?
The fact that most countries do not have a law that guarantees the right to health to prisoners is something that I believe this research can help tackle. The right to health for prisoners can help regulate various other laws like provision of nutritious food or clean water to prisoners so that cases like that of the Beaumont federal prison do not occur again.
Has this project impacted what you want to do following graduation?
As a genetics and genomics major I had always assumed that I would go to graduate school to study and research in the field of molecular genetics. However, working on this research made me realize how much I enjoyed exploring the interplay between the society and an individual and how it impacts their health. While I do want to continue understanding how specific genes affect the health and behavior of individuals, I also want to incorporate the societal impact on them as well.
Willingness to Pay for Environmental Policy if Time of Disaster is Random
Joseph Stemmler, an economics and mathematics senior from Houston, Texas, analyzed how a country’s wealth affects its willingness to pay for environmental policy in order to mitigate loss from natural disasters in the future.
What is your research project about? In my research project, I study willingness to pay for climate policy and its dependency on wealth. I first developed a model to determine a metric for willingness to pay for environmental policy for a single country, and then analyzed how two countries act in a “game” setting to decide on climate policy contribution. My research is rooted in economic theory, and I draw from theoretical models rather than from empirical data.
How did you decide on your topic?
I presented my academic interests and a rough idea of the direction with which I wanted to apply myself to my advisor, who provided crucial suggestions which spurred the creation of my research. I am particularly interested in environmental economics, and the marriage between economic theory and environmental economics was a logical research direction.
Who was your mentor on this project?
My mentor for this project was [economics associate professor] Svetlana Boyarchenko. She was instrumental to my completion of this project and sparked within me the desire to go above and beyond with it, as well as to continue research beyond the undergraduate level.
What element of your research do you find most fascinating?
Uncovering fields and sub-fields of study that I have not been exposed to as an undergraduate student is exciting, and I am fascinated by the endless intersections between disciplines, particularly mathematics and economics. Additionally, it is fascinating to see practical application of the theorems and analytical tools taught in coursework, and to implement them in independent research.
What were your findings?
In the single-country setting, wealthy nations are more willing to pay for climate policy to mitigate the future damage associated with climate disaster. In the two-country setting, in which there is a disparity in wealth, the poor country is still less willing to contribute to climate policy than the wealthy country, even with the inclusion of the poor country’s capture of spillover benefits. In the future, I will extend these results to develop a mechanism to incentivize the poor country to contribute to climate policy in the form of a lump-sum payment from the wealthy country.
What kind of effect do you think this research could have?
I think that the implications of my research could in theory assist countries in negotiating climate policy, and incentivizing cooperation between countries to reach a mutual goal.
Has this project impacted what you want to do after graduation?
Absolutely. Undertaking this thesis has confirmed my interest in research and truly ignited my passion for economics. I will be beginning my PhD in economics this fall.
Do you have anything else to add about this experience?
My only regret with this research project was not learning of this opportunity sooner. This has singlehandedly been the greatest decision I have made as an undergraduate student, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Toxic Language and Video Gaming: A Cross-Genre Approach
Shu Jie Ting, a psychology senior from Sarawak, Malaysia, by way of Kuala Lumpur, investigated language patterns of online video game players from different genres to provide insight on how game characteristics may influence general language use in online communities.
What is your research project about?
This study investigates thematic content and language patterns of players from different video game genres. It aims to provide insight on how game characteristics may influence general language use in online communities.
How did you decide on your topic?
As a gamer myself, I have always been interested in why gaming is so addictive and how competitive arenas influence attitudes online.
How did you conduct your research?
Data is categorized through the use of linguistic software developed by the Pennebaker Language Lab, then analyzed for significant similarities or differences between game genres.
Who was your mentor on this project?
My primary mentor is a second year psychology graduate student, Mohini Tellakat. Under her invaluable guidance, I learned about the nuances of analyzing and navigating around big data sets. She’s a very personable mentor that always encourages me to brainstorm and work through roadblocks together. Without her expertise, my project will likely not come to fruition.
What element of your research do you find most fascinating?
Motivation of play in-game and language patterns of players out-of-game.
What were your findings?
To summarize, the players of all 3 games genres compared are found to write more analytically than emotionally on online forums; amongst the top 50 most frequently used words across game genres, there is also a notable lack of profanity and negative emotion words. Also, although previous studies have found that video games can have a lasting effect on player’s behavior and mental health, the results from this project imply a lack correlation between language used in-game and language used on other online social platforms.
What kind of effect do you think this research could have?
Hopefully, this project allows us to better understand the relationship between language patterns, motivation and content generated from the online gaming community.
Has this project impacted what you want to do following graduation?
This project consolidated my desire to enter graduate school to pursue a career in research and academia. I enjoyed being able to work towards achieving a satisfactory answer for social issues I am passionate about.
To learn more about research in the College of Liberal Arts, visit the Frontiers research page.