University Of Colorado, Denver: Mark Your Calendar: CU Denver's 24th Annual Research And Creative Activities Symposium (RaCAS)

Press release from the University of Colorado, Denver :

Alex DeWind

April 20, 2021

Every year, more than 200 student researchers showcase the exciting and creative projects they’ve worked on throughout the academic year at the annual Research and Creative Activities Symposium (RaCAS). The cross-disciplinary event is an opportunity for these students to celebrate their pursuit of knowledge and new ideas that will have a significant impact on the world around us. This year, RaCAS takes place virtually on Friday, April 30, and is open to the public.

“RaCAS is a great opportunity to practice presentation skills, and what a great chance to see the extensive range of projects students are involved in,” said Liz Evans, undergraduate research advisor in the Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities. “I feel like I am constantly learning from students as they share about their specific fields and passions.”

Below are excerpts from a few of this year’s projects, written by the student researchers.

Co-Authors: Jazmine DiGiorgio, Taylor Neumann 

Program: UROP (mini or full grant)

Faculty Mentor: Roma Sur     

Category/Presentation Type: Arts and Humanities, Media Exhibit/Performance/Demonstration  

Title: Maa Documentary

Filmed over the past two years in Kolkata, India; Ontario, Canada; and Denver, Colorado, Maa is a documentary film following a fatigued octogenarian’s dream of gazing upon Niagara Falls before her last breath. It is a testimony to the cross-cultural collaboration between the Satyajit Ray Film Institute of Kolkata and CU Denver, creating an intersection between two worlds that enhance the learning potential of how composition, color, editing, and sound influence a story through perceived cultural emotions. 

Growing up in a world that condemns female independence, this character study explores what it means to cast aside societal norms in India and reclaim one’s independence while raising a family as a single mother. Maa’s health is debilitating; her ability to walk is slowly withering away. Her knees bowed, and her hands shriveled. As the film progresses, it begins to delve into broader, more universal themes touching on depression through the lens of loneliness and the influence of spiritualism and human connection. It is a story about mothers celebrating the strength of living alone at 80 years old with fierce optimism in a post-modern era. On March 22, 2020, the West Bengal Government declared a lockdown due to COVID-19, shifting the documentary’s tone and the Falls metaphor to that of her loved ones who elude her in an unrelenting pandemic. As Maa’s health deteriorates, so do her chances of seeing the Falls and her daughter that lives half a world away. As the film concludes, the fight has left Maa. Her lust for life has been swept away by the fury of the pandemic. Forced into further isolation and unending grief, Maa is a testament to the hardships of years past and the year 2020, which challenged the human spirit in ways unknown to us.

Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Pugliano

Category/Presentation Type: Arts and Humanities/ Tech, Engineering and Math Oral Presentation          

Title: digital_theory

I am an interdisciplinary digital humanities scholar interested in investigating how virtual reality can be used as a tool and a method for arts-based research. My project, digital_theory, draws together past arts-based research projects and mixed reality capture software, exploring how virtual reality can become a space of pedagogy and praxis. My past research has critically reflected on my work as a caregiver for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and now I am exploring how my investigations into identity, subjectivity, and embodiment are expanded through my utilization of virtual reality and mixed reality capture software. I am also interested in exploring ways that research can become an immersive experience. I consider how the elements and principles of art can be used in conjunction with autoethnographic performance narratives to create immersive story spaces, transforming my research on the embodiment of care policy into a visual experience. Digital_theory also utilizes social media platforms, and seeks to validate digital spaces such as YouTube and Instagram as valuable and pertinent to digital humanities scholarship. 

Program: Student leaders in public health Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center

Faculty Mentor: Hyeyoung Nelson     

Category/Presentation Type: Biomedical Sciences, Oral Presentation         

Title: The Impact of Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Diabetes and Hypertension on Maternal Mortality Risk in Black Women

Black women experience extreme health disparities when it comes to childbirth and are four times more likely to die from childbirth than their white counterparts. While the specific causes of increased maternal mortality are largely unknown, current research indicates that higher rates of comorbidities could lead to the higher rates of maternal mortality for Black women. This study utilized cross sectional data in the TriNetX database to analyze the impact of asthma, coronary obstructive pulmonary disorder, diabetes and hypertension on risk of maternal mortality. These four diseases are associated with higher rates of mortality for people with SARS-CoV-2. The results demonstrated a 0.078% risk of mortality during childbirth for Black women with hypertension as well as a 0.057% risk of mortality for Black women with diabetes. The risk of mortality for white women with hypertension was almost half that of risk of mortality at 0.045% and 0.032% for white women with diabetes. These results, while not causal, indicate an increased risk of mortality for Black women compared to white women with these conditions. 

Faculty Mentor: Kirsten Christensen  

Category/Presentation Type: Social Sciences, Oral Presentation      

Title: Left Behind in Lockdown: COVID-19 and the Denver Unhoused Community

The population experiencing homelessness in Denver, Colorado, increased by nearly 15% from 2018 to 2019 (MDHI, 2020). This trend, combined with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic of 2020, led to a distinct crisis nationwide among populations experiencing homelessness. As the COVID-19 virus hit Denver in the spring, Gov. Jared Polis instituted “stay-at-home” orders in an attempt to control the virus. What did a stay-at-home order look like for those without one?  Previous research addressed several aspects of COVID-19 and homelessness: (1) Individuals experiencing homelessness are more socially vulnerable to hazards such as pandemics, (2) encampments may be safer than shelters in terms of COVID-19 spread, and (3) displacement of encampments have significant impacts upon the health and behavior of unhoused individuals. Existing literature gives a full picture of the displacement of encampments in Denver and the impacts of COVID-19 on unhoused individuals; however, it does not include thorough documentation on the intersection between these two experiences. Additionally, there is a notable lack of GIS data of encampments, shelters, services, and geographic movement.   

This press release was produced by the University of Colorado, Denver. The views expressed here are the author’s own.