AI in Virtual Landscape Creation

"Designing a game takes a long time. Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V, the most popular game to release in the last decade, took about five years to complete and had an estimated cost of $256 million. Usually, the longest element to develop is the playable area, called the virtual landscape. Covering GTA V’s entire virtual landscape takes about two hours. Creating the landscape took most of the developers’ time. Currently, game designers must create these landscapes in the game engine hill by hill, tree by tree. This is a time-consuming task that takes a lot of resources from the studio that could be placed into other aspects of the game. My goal is to change this."

Earth II: The Final Frontier

"...I will be forming sustainability strategies for a hypothetical human pioneer population on Mars... determining the major requirements needed for life...in a Martian Environment."

Health Practitioner and Patient Communication

"I propose to explore how new research advancements are communicated to patients via health practitioners and factors hindering this transfer of knowledge."

The Growth of Forensic Pathology

"...I plan to evaluate virtopsy as a potential solution for those whose values conflict with the practice of physical autopsy. I also hope to weigh its merits as a noninvasive solution against its alleged limitations."

Intersectionality, Inequality & Social Change

"Intersectionality is defined as the overlapping of social categorizations which people identify with for most, if not all, of their lives. I aim to study how intersectionality impacts privilege and civil rights policy today."

Russian Food and Russian Self-Sufficiency

"I’ve chosen to take a comprehensive look at food through all its many facets in Russia and former republics of the USSR to determine the extent to which the role that Soviet-era food policies have affected popular conception about food and...agriculture..."

The Reality of Color

"By using the incorrect color wheel for color strategies, art educators have been hindering designers from accurately creating color schemes that reflect the true behavior of color...blindly guiding each generation with knowledge that has been refuted by over a century’s worth of scientific data."

Improving Western Drug Control Policies

"...I aim to investigate the causes of drug addiction, the many variants of Western drug policies, and the social attitudes toward drugs and drug addiction...in order to improve Western society’s outlook on drug addiction and reduce the number of drug-related deaths..."

Imperialism and the Development of Science

"I’ll be examining the environment imperialism created that has hindered scientific development or blinded the rest of the world from Latin America’s contributions to science."

 

The Civil War on Identity

"...I proposed to examine how analysis of human nature, achieved by combining philosophy and psychology of identity with neuroscience, is capble of predicting the next civil war."

Mathematics in E-Sports

"I will attempt to predict the success of teams in E-Sport competitions through the use of modeling and big data with a particular emphasis on Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs) genre video games...Dota 2."

Women and Religion in South Asia

"'I'm afraid of snakes and men' are the words uttered by fourteen-year old Kamala as she stands near the shed in rural Nepal she lives in during her menstrual cycle. She practices the tradition, prevalent in many cultures, of menstrual isolation. A fear of her impurity during her cycle keeps her away from home; her cycle is believed to bring bad luck to the family if she is inside. The shed that is her home during the days of her cycle is made of four wooden posts on either side with a raised floor. There is no roof." 

Ethnic Microaggression and Its Neurological Implications

"...I plan to study...slightly less discernible sources of ethnic prejudice, known as microaggressions, as well as their effects on the neurological makeup and mental health of those affected."

Nutrition Education in America

"America has an epidemic of childhood obesity. Currently, the obesity rate for children from ages 2-19 sits at 18.5% compared to 5.5% in the 1980s. In the United Kingdom, the obesity rates in 2-19 year olds increased since the 1980s from around 5% to 8% in 2013. The larger increase in obesity rates in America could be related to how public schools teach nutrition and exercise. In my interdisciplinary field . . . I propose to analyze the content and duration of health education curricula in Europe and the United States and how they correlate with childhood obesity." 

Empathy, Drugs, and Neurons

"Recent research has suggested variation in displays of empathy may be directly related to brain structure. The mirror neuron system and amygdala in particular have garnered attention from researchers as essential contributors to the demonstration of empathic behavior. Drugs have also been shown to impact empathy: a 2016 study provided evidence that physical painkillers reduce an individual’s ability to empathize by decreasing the individual’s response to physical pain..."

Eugenics and Ethics

"...I propose to explore the line between the ethical and unethical manipulation of human reproduction."

Cartoon Science

"My field . . . seeks to raise scientific awareness in teens by examining how teen media depicts science, exploring rhetorical and storytelling techniques used in popular young adult cartoons, and assessing whether STEM themes can be baked into a mainstream-style animated show without sacrificing academic or artistic value."

Affordable Housing and Homelessness in Urban America

"A home is more than four walls and a roof—it is a token of stability and security, the lack of which is devastating to an individual’s physical and emotional well-being. While the loss of a home is a calamity, the decline that follows is even more disastrous; it can lead to unemployment, substance abuse, and even incarceration..."

The Politics of Refugees in the 21st Century

"Images of drowning children from a sinking ship that carried asylum seekers off the shores of Australia in 2010 elicited an interesting response from the Australian public: rather than sympathizing with the migrants, the public demanded that any boats illegally carrying people seeking refuge must be stopped."

The History of Modern Disease Prevention and Western Society

 
"...I plan on analyzing the relationship between human behavior in the context of Western society and modern disease prevention techniques."

Biomimicry in Textiles

"In recent years there has been a growing interest in using biomimicry to minimize energy usage and promote sustainability. Biomimicry is the imitation of organisms and processes found in nature to create or improve human-made devices, materials, and systems. According to researchers Leslie Eadie and Tushar Ghosh, 'Nature follows the path of least resistance.' In other words, structures and organisms within the environment have found ways to optimize their energy usage through millions of years of evolution."

Beauty, Privilege, and Health

 
"Experts in aesthetics list parameters such as facial symmetry and hip-to-waist ratio as the objective determinants of attractiveness. These stem from multiple biological factors that objectively draw us to certain, more 'beautiful,' body dimensions. But right alongside this rigid definition are cultural beauty standards, which, though varied and less clear-cut, wield an easily discernible influence on everyday life..."

The Health Gap

"...I want to not only get a broad view of the health disparities plaguing our world and what is causing them, but also conduct comparative analyses of health disparities in different nations, especially in African and Western nations."

Optimism, Pessimism and Neuroplasticity

"Two students leave a room knowing that they performed poorly on a difficult exam. One student immediately blames her result on her competence and a general inability to succeed academically. The other acknowledges the difficulty of the exam and her subpar performance, but also realizes her ability to improve on future tests. While seemingly insignificant, these spontaneous reactions – based on beliefs about oneself – hold profound consequences."

Immigrant Health

"...I propose to explore how immigrants’ health in America is affected by the cross-cultural identities and immigration experience."

Processing Language and the Other

"Forms of a single language, or dialects, also define group identities within a region or diaspora, and are implicit in our placement of concepts on the spectrum between 'Self' and 'Other'...I'm primarily interested in understanding how this categorization...happens through language processing."

Information and Belief

 
"Every day, the average person receives enough information to fill almost 15,000 pages of a newspaper. Broadly defined, information is any transmittable detail. It may be derived from reality, fabricated, or a mishmash of the two . . . But what is the role of accuracy in what has been called a post-truth world populated by alternative facts?"

Effective Altruism

"Effective altruism, a service-oriented application of utilitarianism, is a social and philosophical movement that aims to answer how we can use our resources to bring the greatest good to the greatest number. Effective altruists use logic, statistics, and evidence to find the most efficient ways to help others. In my field, I will examine how we can advance service to optimize its benefits to society."

Political Rhetoric in Communist Russia

"...I will explore how different political leaders employed previously used messages, anecdotes and various persuasive techniques to convey the Soviet message to the masses." 

Interactive Digital Media in STEM Education

 
"...I will be exploring the strategic use of interactive media to foster concept acquisition and encourage academic exploring."

Sexism in the Video Gaming Industry

"...I plan to study the basis of sexist attitudes in professional video gaming, in both the workplace and professional gaming settings." 

History of Architectural Innovation

"...I will study how technological and mathematical innovations as well as politics and society have impacted architectural styles throughout history."

Lingostatistics in Jeju-eo

"I am primarily interested in finding statistically significant differences in grammar and in the development of vocabulary between Jeju-eo and Korean."

Policing Nutrition

"...I will be researching the connection between the health of a nation’s population and environment in correlation with their nutrition policy..."

New Waves: Music, Science, and Modernity in the 20^th Century

"...I plan to compare these two seemingly disparate yet very similar 20th-century upheavals...the development of modern physics, and the emergence of modernist music."

Market and Economy in Online Games

"...I intend to examine how the economic systems of online games are structured and maintained." 

Climate Change and the Middle East

"Climate change is not the only threat to people in this region. For the past century, the area has been aflame with wars and sectarian violence. Today, these conflicts are exacerbated by climate change. Israel and Palestine have been at war for over half a century, but now they are also fighting over water resources. The nomads of Iran, along with their culture, are fading away. An increase in weapons trading is diminishing their indigenous traditions, while droughts and heat waves are killing their cattle..."

Music and Culture of the Hispanic Caribbean

"Caribbean culture revolves around one thing: Music. One cannot walk down any street in Habana without hearing the characteristic sound of a tumbadora, an instrument of percussion used in most Caribbean music genres. Music in the streets of Cuba is everywhere; from a group of rumberos playing in a street corner to Marc Anthony’s voice blasting from a teenager’s speaker. And of course, where there is music, there is dancing."

Discovering Humanity Through Artificial Intelligence

"I propose to examine what differentiates human intelligence from artificial intelligence, and by extension, the question: what differentiates a machine from a human? According to Dr. Michael Mauk, the head of UT’s Neuroscience department, the answer is 'not much.'"

Music and Talent

"How does someone become musically gifted? Was she born that way? Did she have a great teacher? Was she pressured by parents or family? Was she inspired by someone? In my field of study, “Music and Talent,” I will examine the relationship between music and talent and will investigate the origins of music skills."

Technology and Depression

"Depression has many causes. These include biochemical, social, and environmental factors that by themselves or in tandem can cause depression. But what about technology? [. . .] Studies have  linked social media to depression and loneliness. Do video games and other uses for technology contribute to the depression epidemic? Does Netflix?"

Statistical Modeling of Tropical Storms