Keystone Symposium 2026

Room 545A Live Stream

10:15 am – Isabella Castillo
Civic (Dis)Engagement: Political Cynicism, Short-Form Media, and Youth Political Participation

10:30 am – Karim W. Barake
School-Based Pediatric Vision Screening Program in Lebanon: A Clustered Cross-Sectional Prevalence and Penetration Study

10:45 am – Jude Kotob
Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Patterns Across the Darién Gap: A Systematic Review of Migrant Health and Cross-Border Transmission

11:00 am – Pranjal Kumar
The Lives that Labored and Lost: India’s Covid-19 Lockdown and the Internal Displacement of Migrant Workers

11:15 am – Sydney Aslan
Climate Change, Migration, and Community Response: A Case Study of How Religion and Culture Affect Systems of Migration Support in Colombia

11:30 am – Jessica Laman
The Illusion of Separation: An Illustrated Book on Nature’s Connectivity

11:45 am – Maria Belen Ordoñez
Teacher Perspectives on Utilizing Culturally Responsive Teaching to Support Social Emotional Learning in Early Childhood Classrooms

12:00-1:00 pm – Lunch Break

1:00 pm – Catherine Knox
19th Century Fiction Revisited: Crafting an Original Novel

1:15 pm – Thomas Larsen
Alternative Facts: Understanding how Political Parties Have Changed with Misinformation

1:30 pm – Susan Shobeiri
Penny Politics: The Role of the MAPS Program in Oklahoma City’s Renaissance

1:45 pm – Maya Wiisanen
Remineralized Enamel: Armoring Our Teeth Against Caries-Producing Bacteria

2:00 pm – Cady Stanton Messimer
Understanding Success

2:15 pm – Rohan Dupaguntla
Effects of miR-223 on Behavioral and Pathological Progression in Alzheimer’s Disease

2:30 pm – Shreeya Khullar
Parasympathetic Reactivity as a Moderator of Attentional Allocation to Fearful Stimuli in Children with Callous-Unemotional Traits

2:45 pm – Ranely Henriquez
Classifying Extracellular Matrix Architecture for Tissue Engineering

3:00-3:30 pm – Snack Break

3:30 pm – Prerna Shankar
When the Story Matters: Interest-Driven Attention in Autistic and Typically-Developing Children

3:45 pm – Lucille Meyer
Policy for Impact: Comprehensive Sex Education as a Tool for Protecting and Improving Student Wellbeing

4:00 pm – Jasmine Lee
Refugee Protection Outcomes in Signatory and Non-Signatory States: A Comparative Case Study on Jordan and the U.S.

4:15 pm – Bella Candalaria Moreno Enriquez
No One is Safe: The Criminalization of Humanitarianism Across Desert and Sea Borders

4:30 pm – Cavelle Simpson
Rage Bait Marketing in Beauty and Fashion Brands: How Structural Inequality Shapes Backlash, Influenceer Culture, and Brand Survival 

Room 545B Live Stream

10:15 am – Dylan Gozdziewski and Erin Mosier
Lola

10:45 am – Isabella LeBlanc
Pan-Africanism in Practice and the Future of Alliances: The Alliance of Sahel States, Anti-Colonial Sentiment, and Navigating African Sovereignty

11:00 am – Gabby Church
Race or Results? An Empirical Analysis of Differential Employer-Driven Dismissal Likelihoods and Responsiveness to Performance Change Between Black and Non-Black Managers in English Football

11:15 am – Julia Tran
Understanding International Student–International Faculty Relationships: Comparative Case Studies from Boston University and the University of Sydney

11:30 am – Sean Bryant
An Oasis in a Box: A Glimpse into the Potential of Native Agriculture Through a Vivarium of the Sonoran Desert

11:45 am – Sierra Koerber-Marx
Investigating patterns of kelp population dynamics and thermal tolerance across New England in Saccharina latissima

12:00-1:00 pm – Lunch Break

1:00 pm – Chaney Finkeldei and Jonathan Sim
Multi-Component Borehole Well System

1:30 pm – Oliver Pratt
Eastie Farm: A Documentary

1:45 pm – Ryan Lin
A Union by Another Name: Uncovering the alter ego of Boston’s Chinese Progressive Association as a de-facto union for the displaced garment workers from the 1980s to 2000s

2:00 pm – Alessia Jones
Green Spaces and Growing Minds: A Qualitative Analysis of Child-Centered Improvements in Central Park

2:15 pm – Rafael Dovarganes
Epithelial Epiphanies: Comparing Epithelial Cell Signaling in Chronic Inflammatory Diseases in the Lungs and Guts

2:30 pm – Emily Hamer
The Contribution Score: When Free Speech Fails, Higher Education Falls

2:45 pm – Kaylin Torres
Sensory Overload vs. Structured Learning: The Role of Children’s TV in Speech Development

3:00-3:30 pm – Snack Break

3:30 pm – Nikolai Rodrigues
The Greater Game: A Comparative Study of Geopolitical Strategy and Cooperation in the Turkic World

3:45 pm – Adriana Carlota Leyba Macedo
Framing Fandom: How Sports Journalism Shapes Soccer Culture in Argentina and the United States

4:00 pm – Zoe Solberg
Navigating Federal Pressure: Community Health Organizations’ Adaptation and Resistance to Policy Shifts

4:15 pm – Rysen Hirata-Epstein
“According to the kind of sex which doth prevail”; Transgender Originalism

4:30 pm – Jules Trager
Elevating Automation Opportunities for Boston University’s School of Theatre

Room 613A Live Stream

9:00 am – Opening Remarks

9:15 am – Poster Introductions:

Xiao Chuan (Ophelia) You
Dirichlet’s Theorem on Primes in Arithmetic Progressions by L-Functions

Ayomide Egbejoda
From Early Intervention to School: Exploring Gaps in Healthcare Support for Children with Communication Disabilities

Venessa Odera
The Weight of the Vote

Shravya Tathineni
Investigating ASD and ADHD Comorbidity: A Score and Imaging Analysis

Christen Williams
Stigma and Help-Seeking Barriers: Mental Health Resource Utilization among Boston University Students

Jueshan Ji
A Modular Framework for Cell Type Annotation in Spatial Transcriptomics: Early Implementation in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors

Kylee Liabeuf
City Councils: Size, Electoral System, and Representation Since 1970

Kiara Waller
Classrooms of Critical Care: An Exploration of Black Teacher Memory Work

Nopphavit Punpeng
State Ownership and Green Innovation in China

9:45 am – Poster Presentations & Discussions in the Lobby
This portion of our presentations will not be live-streamed

10:15 am – Ed Driscoll
The Issue of the Patriarchal Power Contract: Masculinity’s Relationship to Young Men’s Political Behavior in the United States

10:30 am – Rebecca Smith
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Addressing Inequality in Access to Civilian Bleeding Control Training

10:45 am – Caitlyn Bains
The Moment of Decoloniality: The Effectiveness and Scalability of The Royal Museum of Central Africa Closure and Renovation 

11:00 am – Tristan Hou
Hypothermic Oxygenated Machine Perfusion (HOPE) Device for Advanced Preservation of Human Pancreas 

11:15 am – Zach Roisman
Onboarding, a Short Film by Zach Roisman 

11:30 am – Alessandra María Lanz
Under Pressure: Adaptive Isolation for Visual SLAM Perception Workloads on Contended ARM Hardware

11:45 am – Anjali Byju
Beyond Entertainment: A Thematic Analysis of True Crime Podcasts 

12:00-1:00 pm – Lunch Break

1:00 pm – Katrina McCarthy
Functional and Structural Characterization of Enzymes Involved in Bacterial Glycoconjugate Production 

1:15 pm – Lauren Bell
Enhancing Antitumor Immunity through cGAS–STING Agonist Nanostructures 

1:30 pm – Autumn Bachofen
The Oldest Profession? Kantian Ethics, Feminist Critique, and a Utilitarian Case for Decriminalization of Sex Work 

1:45 pm – Cynthia Lin
Voices Behind the Wall: A Research-Based Podcast on Incarceration, Education, and Reentry 

2:00 pm – Warishah Qandil
Psychological Challenges Among Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Pakistan: A Systematic Review 

2:15 pm – Teresa Popovic Markola
The T Should Not Have To Abide By Traffic 

2:30 pm – Marty Tumey
The Brain Behind The Brawn: Inside the Psychology of Bodybuilding 

2:45 pm – Caliana Samer Kanaan
Restitution Beyond Contracts: A Decolonial Approach to the Repatriation of Archaeological Artifacts 

3:00-3:30 pm – Snack Break

3:30 pm – Poppy Livingstone
“Siempre Estaremos Aquí”: Unmaking History at el Bachillerato Popular Travesti-Tran Mocha Celis 

3:45 pm – Sabrina Wong
Bridging the Divide: Culture Among Allopathic and Osteopathic Medicine 

4:00 pm – Berit Schaus
MaternalScreen: A Portable Diagnostic Device for Malaria and Trichomoniasis Detection

4:15 pm – Anjali Amin
The City of London is Falling Down

Room 613B Live Stream

10:15 am – Sofia Corso
Say It Ain’t So: Weezer’s Loser Rock and Incel Angst

10:30 am – Ethan Wanner
Biomarker Discovery for Acupuncture Response in Gulf War Illness: a Proteomics Approach 

10:45 am – Dylan List
The Potential for an Urban Wind Turbine on Boston University’s Campus 

11:00 am – Mikaela Higgs
A Not-So-Wild Goose Chase: An Assessment of Canada Geese Vigilance in the Greater Boston Area 

11:15 am – Liv Scappa
Micropollutants, Macroconsequences 

11:30 am – Claire Sarnowski
Beyond the Screen: Telehealth, Equity, and the Future of United States Health Care

11:45 am – Will Stride
Expansion shapes competition in growing microbial colonies 

12:00-1:00 pm – Lunch Break

1:00 pm – Alina Keshodkar
Clustering the Renewable Energy Transition: A Multi-Decade Study of Policy Stringency, Economic Growth, and the Case of Brazil 

1:15 pm – Kyra Karolyn Odoi
Investigating How Speech Perception and Production Predict Literacy Development in Preschoolers

1:30 pm – Ishtiyaq Shajahan
Community-Led Urban Agriculture & Food Justice in Boston 

1:45 pm – Saanvi Thakur
Mosaic of Frontline Engagement: Promoting International Humanitarian Law among Non-State Armed Groups 

2:00 pm – Sarah Cadet
Ethical Safeguards for Generative AI’s Impact on Creativity and Labor

2:15 pm – Leila Elayan
The Write to Return: Embodied Subjectivities in Contemporary Memoirs by Palestinian-American Women 

2:30 pm – Andy Asante
Team 132 – Autonomous Sailboat 

2:45 pm – Al Sutherland
Splinters 

3:00-3:30 pm – Snack Break

3:30 pm – Joseph Tudisco
Community Impact of the Green Line Extension 

3:45 pm – Sasha Greenhall
From Sherd to Story: How Archaeological Pottery Reveals a Wealth of Information at Samaria-Sebaste 

4:00 pm – Anna Rubenstein
Finding a narrative at Mass. and Cass 

4:15 pm – Meghan McGrody
Whether the United States fashion industry can be regulated to ensure sustainability through PFAS regulation and a circular economic policy