(SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – March 22, 2018): Tomorrow, students from Algoma University’s biology, computer science, and psychology programs will present their theses in various conferences scheduled across campus.

Tomorrow’s presentations are the culmination of students’ four years of education at the University. Over the past year, students in the thesis tract have been developing hypotheses, collecting data and samples, executing sophisticated research in laboratories or with controlled groups, and analyzing their findings. At Algoma, students have the rare opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research at the undergraduate level. Many students will have the opportunity to publish their findings in scholarly journals.

First, students from the University’s Honours Bachelor of Science in Biology program will present their theses in the Honours Thesis Colloquium, scheduled for 9:30am – 3:00pm in the CC203 of the Essar Convergence Centre.

“This year’s cohort of students have shown an admirable work ethic and have done truly impressive research with faculty members in the Biology Department in the context of their honours thesis course. We are very proud of their research and look forward to their thesis presentations tomorrow,” said Dr. István Imre, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology and course instructor for the honours thesis class.

Their theses, developed alongside faculty, are contributing to the field of animal, aquatic, and plant biology.

This is the largest biology theses group in the history of the program.

At 10:00am in CC201 of the Essar Convergence Centre, the Honours Bachelor of Computer Science and Honours Bachelor of Science in Computer Science students will be presenting their findings in the annual Computer Science Thesis Conference.

Students will be presenting on a broad range of themes, including computer science and information technology.

In the afternoon, students in the Honours Bachelor of Arts and Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology programs will be presenting their theses in the annual Psychology Honours Thesis Conference in the Great West Life Amphitheatre (NW200), from 2:30pm – 4:00pm.

Topics covered in this year’s psychology thesis conference range from memory and cognition, brain and behaviour, questioning authority, the reliability of eyewitnesses, and more.

All thesis presentations are open to the public.

A schedule of presenters follows for each conference:

Biology Honours Thesis Colloquium

• Lucas Calderhead: “Enzymatic synthesis and purification of feruloyl-CoA”
• Jordan Dubie: Glycerol determination in Arabidopsis thaliana and Camelina sativa root suberin using a stable isotope-dilution assay”
• Gulrukh Asif Khan: “Effect of Mycorrhizal Association on Secondary Metabolite Production in Ox-eye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare)”
• Samara Al-Ani: “The Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) dawn chorus”
• Erica Brescacin: “Migratory sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) exhibits avoidance responses to alpha amylase”
• Hannah Brazeau: “Plant species co-occurrence and community-level temporal stability”
• Tristan Clarke: “Assessing song structure and song variation in the winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis)”
• Alexander Guido: “Behavioral response of goldfish (Carassius auratus) to early disturbance cues”
• Rebecca Creor: “Exotic grassland seeds host less fungi and have greater germination rates than native seeds”
• Caleb Charlebois: “Comparison of wax extraction methods to analyze cuticular waxes in mature maize (Zea mays) leaves”
• Brian Kment: “Behavioural response of adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) to the potential disturbance cue ammonium hydroxide”
• Michelle Lawrence: “The impact of neighbour density on the growth of large and small plants of two herbaceous species”
• Shannon O’Brien: “Video-monitoring of Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) behaviour at a migratory roost”
• Ayesha Bibi Rampput: “Are the songs of the brown creeper (Certhia americana) individually distinctive?”
• Kendriah Pearse: “Daily and seasonal variation in song type use in ovenbirds”
• Akeshia Trudeau: “The Co-occurrence of Species based on Similar Functional Traits”

Computer Science Thesis Conference:

• Alan Cantin: “Automating Heat Perimeter Mapping with Thermal Infrared Imagery”
• Justin Rhude: “SimulaTor: A Lightweight TOR Network Simulation for Traffic Analysis Attack Testing”
• Peizhi Yan: “Using Machine Learning in GOMOKU Game”
• Damindu Liyanage: “Encrypted Real-time Communication”
• Guy Coccimiglio: “Preventing Reward Hacking in Reinforcement Learning Artificial Intelligence”
• Joseph Tassone: “The Importance of Applying Security Practices in Wireless Communication: Bluetooth Low Energy and Radio Frequency Identification”

Psychology Honours Thesis Conference:

• Taylor Felix: “Challenging Pseudoscientific Beliefs”
• Samantha Browne: “Reaction Time & Cross Modality Sentence Verification Task”
• Jamie Lucio: “The Effects of Colour on Memory”
• Kayla Boyer: “Eyewitness Identification and Crime Severity”
• Maria Coccimiglio: “The Effects of Auditory Distraction on Memory”
• Emily Pouliot: “Self-Directed Speech in Adults”
• Andrea Collins: “Willingness to Question Authority in Aviation Training”
• Enya Farrelly: “Perceptual Differences Between Organic and Traditional Labels”
• Emily Markham: “The Effect of Sexist Humour on Women’s Perceptions of Men”

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