Session C: 1:45PM – 3:15PM
Science and Social Sciences. Session C – Oral Presentations. Sorenson, (2nd floor), Alumni House
SESSION C (1:45-3:15PM)
Location: Sorenson (2nd floor), Alumni House
Petal projections and open books
Nathaniel Stevenson, Brigham Young University
Faculty Mentor Mark Hughes, Brigham Young University
SESSION C 1:45-2:00PM
Sorenson, (2nd floor), Alumni House
Science
Petal projections provide a way to describe knots in the 3-sphere using combinatorial information. In this talk we will discuss a generalization of this notion to knots in arbitrary three-dimensional spaces. In order to do this we will equip our spaces with open book decompositions, which are a way of decomposing a 3-dimensional space into a collection of 2-dimensional pages and a 1-dimensional binding. We will outline a proof showing that all knots can be represented in this way, and discuss further research directions.
Demographic Differences in Substance Use Recovery Capital in Utah
Ben Martinez, Utah Tech University
Virginia Merrill, Utah Tech University
Faculty Mentor Muhammad Yildiz, Utah Tech University
SESSION C 2:05-2:20PM
Sorenson, (2nd floor), Alumni House
Social Sciences
Nearly 100,000 people died in the United States from drug-involved overdoses in 2020. Although the high costs of substance use disorders and the benefits of treatment services are well-documented, more research is needed on demographic disparities in utilization and outcomes of the treatment services, especially in Utah. Using data from a Utah-based addiction recovery organization, Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness (USARA), we investigate the potential race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and veteran status differences in substance-use recovery outcomes (N=788). USARA used the 10-Item Brief Assessment Recovery Capital (BARC-10) to assess individuals’ substance use recovery capital each time they visited a recovery center. A sub-portion of the sample (N=270) visited USARA facilities more than once and thus had multiple BARC scores which enabled us to investigate the changes in recovery outcomes over time as well. Results indicated that racial minorities, females, heterosexuals, and veterans had higher average BARC scores compared to whites, males, sexual minorities, and non-veterans, respectively. However, the difference between the last and first BARC scores was higher for whites, males, non-heterosexuals, and non-veterans, indicating that, on average, these groups are recovering better from substance use disorders compared to their counterparts. Future researchers should look at the demographic differences as well as the barriers that may prevent an individual from seeking and maintaining recovery from addiction. More efforts need to be made to make sure that recovery is achievable, sustainable, and long-term for minority groups in Utah.
Creating a Lifeboat for Deaf Women: An Analysis of the Experiences of Deaf Women in the 1988 Deaf President Now Movement
Amanda Reece, Brigham Young University
Faculty Mentor Rebecca de Schweinitz, Brigham Young University
SESSION C 2:25-2:40PM
Sorenson, (2nd floor), Alumni House
Social Sciences
In the field of historical research of Deaf history in America, the Deaf community is often minimized into an entity with a singular experience; the lives of people defined solely by their deafness. Scholars of the American Deaf community like: Harlan Lane, David Armstrong, Katherine Jankowski, and Melvia Nomeland offer scholarship on the Deaf Community; although most research does not record the Deaf community the diverse and intersectional group it is. Research on the Deaf Community has only recently begun to analyze the different experiences of the Deaf based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic class. My project seeks to fill the gap by introducing the experiences of Deaf women and analyzing how that experience is different from the male dominated popular narrative of the Deaf experience. This project is specifically about the role of women in the 1988 Deaf student protest and civil rights movement, “Deaf President Now.” Many of the primary source materials are the oral narratives of women who participated in the protest like Nannette Hix, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Carol Padden, Dr Jane Norman, Jackie Roth, Dr. Mary Keane, and Vicki Hurwitz. Other sources include: videos of the protests, rally pamphlets, tv interviews, newspaper articles, news reports, and more. I found that female students at Gallaudet chose to protest for Deaf President Now, because it gave them an opportunity to advocate for themselves as Deaf people, the outside influence of peer culture and community, and it gave them a platform to empower themselves as women.