URSP Student Highlights: Elizabeth Farley

For my intensive OSCAR research project this summer, I am studying a particular type of income for human services nonprofits that is called “program service revenue.” This type of income is earned often through providing services for a fee and is tax-exempt if related to the mission of the nonprofit. As such, program service revenue may prove a powerful source of revenue diversification for nonprofits.

By examining data collected annually from nonprofits through the IRS Form 990, I hope to discover the impact of “earned income” (or exempt program service revenue) on the overall revenue and change in net assets over time.

Management books and articles circulating among nonprofit leaders often (if somewhat vaguely) tout this type of revenue as potentially diffusing a heavy reliance on individual contributions and grant awards. In theory, earned income can enable a service nonprofit to raise some of its own funds by doing what it does best – fulfilling its mission.

In doing background research for my proposal, I found little academic evidence as to the success or failure of earned income strategies in the broad human services sector.

As an Accounting student with prior workplace experience in a nonprofit finance office, the path to research presented itself rather clearly this past spring during the intensive OSCAR project application process. Knowing the fast-paced nature of human services nonprofits, where day-to-day operations and scarce resources infrequently lend time for study of scholarly questions, I decided to further research the earned income question in order to expand the scholarly research base in nonprofit accounting and (hopefully) generate practical implications for nonprofit managers.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Karen Kitching (School of Business, Accounting Department), I am performing linear regression analysis to study program service revenue as a variable in revenue growth. The data collection process thus far has included Freedom of Information Act requests to various agencies to access federal government contracts data (one possible type of program service revenue), utilizing the Guidestar charitable database to create a sample of federal employer identification numbers and other financial data representing relevant charities, and extracting relevant IRS form 990 data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics database.

I’m thrilled to have received this opportunity for research through OSCAR, and I look forward to presenting the results of the study.

URSP Student Highlights: Daniel Howe

Ever since I started studying mechanical engineering I have had a particular interest in thermodynamics and heat transfer. Consequently, I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to develop and pursue my own research into the field. Working on this research has taught me volumes about heat transfer and research methodologies that I would not otherwise have experienced. In this regard, working on this research project has proved an overwhelmingly positive experience, and I am glad I received this opportunity.This summer, I have had the unique privilege of undertaking research into lightweight heat exchangers through an intensive URSP grant. 

In particular, my project seeks to evaluate the potential of a particular material, carbon foam, to serve as an alternative material for cooling a computer processor. In order to make this comparison, I have built a simplified case with a 5 square inch channel, inside of which I can place different heat exchangers on top of a heater assembly that produces approximately 90 watts of heat at maximum power. I also have two fans in a push-pull configuration that simulate the case fans found on desktop computers. In order to test the heat exchangers, I turn on the fans and the heater and let them run long enough to reach steady-state, or equilibrium, conditions. I then compare their convection coefficients, a measure of heat transfer, and the base temperatures they are able to maintain. Higher convection coefficients and lower base temperatures are desirable, and indicated better thermal performance. This provides a common methodology for evaluating the performance of different heatsinks for a given amount of heat that must be removed to ensure the safe operation of the system. All in all, this has been a fascinating experience and I recommend for anyone interested in performing undergraduate research.

URSP Student Highlights: Courtney Whitman

I started working with Dr. van der Ham with a research project he was conducting in the fall of 2015. This project focused on how adult insect communities could be used to determine rate of decomposition of cadavers. Through assisting with this for two semesters, I began to make connections between the forensic entomology focus and my own major of environmental science. Out of these connections came the idea to conduct a similar study that would focus on ecology.  My research project looks at the community dynamics of carrion-specific insects. Additionally, I am trying to determine if the composition of insects in one sample site is representative of multiple sites.

In order to collect data for my project, Dr. van der Ham, an undergraduate student, and myself set up fifteen emergent tents in a wooded area. After placing a rat carcass under each tent, we collected the insects that flew into the tent’s collection apparatus everyday for two weeks. Once fieldwork was completed, I worked in a lab where I identified the insects down to the lowest possible taxa and kept records of the number of each taxon found. After all samples were recorded, Dr. van der Ham and I ran statistical tests to measure the species richness of each sample, the variation in community composition of each sample, and the variation in succession of each sample.

Gaining research experience as an undergraduate is something that has been truly invaluable. Though I don’t plan to pursue a career involving entomology, this opportunity has taught me everything from how to conduct fieldwork to how to analyze statistical data. I will also be presenting my data at a poster seminar, which will help improve my oral communications skills in a professional setting.

URSP Student Highlights: Claire Johnson

My name is Claire Johnson, and I am a rising senior at George Mason.  I am majoring in chemistry with a concentration in biochemistry and minors in both biology and bioinformatics.  I have been working with Dr. Robin Couch in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since the fall of my junior year.

My project is focusing on the development of novel antibiotics, which is essential due to easily engineered and natural evolution of antibiotic resistance.  Naturally evolving antibiotic resistance poses a huge world health issue as “super bugs” become more common.  Engineered resistance is concerning as these strains of bacteria could be used by terrorist groups for biological warfare. 

The model organisms that the Couch lab utilizes are Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Plasmodium falciparum.  Y. pestis and F. tularensis are both biothreat agents classified by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as Category A priority pathogens.  This means that they “pose the highest risk to national security and public health” because they are extremely contagious and have high mortality rates.  M. tuberculosis and P. falciparum are causative agents of tuberculosis and malaria, respectively.  M. tuberculosis has two antibiotic resistant strains, known as multidrug resistant TB and extensively drug resistant TB, which makes tuberculosis a major world health concern.  P. falciparum is also a significant public health threat, with nearly half of the world’s population at risk of contracting malaria.

 

When designing an antibiotic, it is necessary to select a protein target that is specific to the disease causing bacteria (to avoid toxicity to humans) and necessary for its survival.  Our lab collaborates with Dr. Cynthia Dowd’s synthetic chemistry lab at George Washington University; their lab synthesizes the compounds that I then test against bacterial enzymes for their antibiotic potential.

The research that I am working on is related to my academic and career goals.  After graduating from Mason, I will go to graduate school to obtain a PhD in genetics, then, I plan to stay in academia to both teach at the collegiate level and research medical genetic conditions.

URSP Student Highlights: Brianna Artz

Hello! I’m Brianna Artz, and I am a senior, majoring in Psychology, working on independent research funded through Oscar’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. My research is mentored by Dr. Doris Bitler Davis, and I’m a member of the Animal Behavior and Cognition Lab. Her lab has tons of awesome research going on involving the behavior and cognition of goats, dogs, cats, chickens and other avian species.

            My study is looking at the response behavior of canines when presented with the emotions of their owner, and a stranger. Due to the generous funding of the URSP grant, I have been able to pay participants to bring themselves and their dogs to the lab in Catlett, Virginia, and test their dog’s emotion recognition abilities using a short maze which creates a two-path choice paradigm. Before arriving for their study sessions, the owner completes a survey which provides information about the dog’s age, breed, level of training, amount of socialization, and overall personality. During the study, the dogs enter the maze area with me, where I facilitate their observations of their owner holding a treat and expressing positive emotion on one side of the maze, and negative emotion on the other side. The owner then hides, and I allow the dog to choose a side of the maze. This process is repeated four times with the dog’s owner, alternating the side where each emotion is expressed. The owner then leaves the testing area, and the whole process is then repeated with a female stranger’s emotions.

            Using the data collected from the survey and the emotion recognition procedure, I hope to analyze how the dog’s age, breed, level of training, amount of socialization, and overall personality correlates with the dog’s emotional response behavior in the maze. I hope that our results can provide new insight into the emotional response behavior of certain dogs, and why some dogs are better than others at doing it. Our findings could potentially be applied to the use of emotional support service dogs, animal-assisted therapy in psychological or psychiatric care, and expand on our current knowledge of the symbiotic and emotional relationships human beings have with dogs.