STRATA
STRATA, the STudent Research, Academic, and Talent Archive, is a collection of selected Fort Lewis College student work, including undergraduate research, senior seminar papers, published works, conference presentations, and other creative and artistic projects. Search by name, subject, title, or academic department.
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- The evolution of Halls Creek Narrows, Capitol Reef National Park, UT
- The purpose of this study was to decipher the geomorphic history, origin and processes of the entrenched meanders of Halls Creek Narrows incised into the sloping limb of the Waterpocket Fold monocline and propose a hypothesis for how this unique geomorphic feature was formed.
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- Therapeutic Geology: The Effect of Geologic Mapping on At-Risk and Underprivileged Youth
- In the summer of 2011, a study was done to test whether geologic mapping can alleviate depression and anxiety and improve spatial awareness in a population of at-risk youth. Opportunity School in Colorado Springs, a school which houses a population of low socioeconomic students, allowed for the study to be conducted during the last period of four school days. The importance for this study stems from the arise of Nature Deficit Disorder among today's youth. Children are not exposed to or taught to understand the nature around them. A pre/post test experimental model was used to evaluate the before and after levels of depression, anxiety, and spatial awareness. These levels were determined using a three-part questionnaire, each part focusing on one of the dependent variables (depression, anxiety, spatial awareness). Following the pretest, students were taught the basics of geologic mapping. On the first day, students were taught Pace and Compass Mapping techniques. The second day, students were responsible for mapping an "Urban Grid". The last day of activities, students were confined to the indoors due to bad weather. Inside, students participated in games aimed at spatial learning. Following these three days of activities, students retook the initial questionnaire and then were allowed to debrief from the week. Results from the pre/post testing showed significant change in depression (t(10) = 2.75, p < 0.02). Moderate significance in anxiety (t(10) = 2.17, p < 0.05), and insignificant change in spatial awareness (t(10) = -0.90, p > 0.05). While this data shows positive changes for depression and anxiety, the lack of change in spatial awareness may be due to other factors (i.e. type of testing). However, due to outside factors, such as home life, weather, and the approach of the end of the school year, the positive changes observed may not be as strongly correlated with the mapping program as it would be had there been a control group. Further research and studies may show stronger correlations.
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- There are Mansions in Your Eyes
- Poem by Eli Halterman, published in the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 edition of Images.
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- There is a long strip of desert
- Poem by Julia Klema from Fall 2008 - Winter 2009 issue of Images.
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- Thermal Electric Generators: A Versatile Power Source
- As small personal devices become more durable, compact, and accessible, cellular technology is quickly becoming the global standard for communication and information dispersion. Efficient production has made these devices affordable to people who have never had access to such technologies, bringing poor communities new opportunity for more efficient means of communication and education, thus increasing quality of life. The issue of charging these devices, however, renders them useless for many remote communities who remain without electric power and have little hope for electricity in the foreseeable future. The TEG senior design team's goal was to provide a solution to this problem by creating a thermoelectric generator (TEG) capable of charging a cellular device using thermal energy sources available within these communities. A device was designed to implement the TEGs to convert solar and stovetop waste heat into energy that can charge a cell phone.
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- Three-Channel Design Electric Field Change Sensor
- An electric field change sensor is an electronic device that detects charge build up on a metal plate that occurs as a result of charge development within thunderstorm systems. Typical atmospheric electrical properties are quantified by electric field mills that, with a rotating shield, expose a sensor plate to atmosphere in increments as short as one-tenth of a second to measure the amount of charge build up on the plate. Since the average lighting strike occurs over a time frame less than twenty microseconds, electric field mills are unable to measure the changes in the atmospheric electric field as a result of a lightning strike. Field change sensors, however, are designed to measure a sensor plate charge at a rate of tens of kilo-samples per second. This measurement rate allows the field change sensor to gather detailed information during a lightning strike that explains field changes as a result of lightning strikes during a thunderstorm. The intent of this project is to design, build and test a three-channel electric field change sensor that will be modeled after a previously built array of electric field change sensors. Due to the physical simplicities of field change sensors, lightning strikes can be detected and measured over a greater range of distances than field mills by using multiple channels. The channels used in a field change sensor are denoted as sensitive, medium, and insensitive. The sensitivity of each channel is determined by the size of the antenna and the gains associated with each channel. The sensitive channel is used to measure lightning strikes that occur up to 150 kilometers away from the sensor whereas the insensitive channel is used to measure lightning strikes that occur directly overhead the sensor that would saturate the other two channels. Using an electric field change sensor to quantify the electric field changes that occur during and immediately after a lightning strike can then be used to contribute to the research of upper atmospheric discharges that occur during a thunderstorm, called sprites. The discovery and research of sprites has been a topic of interest for researchers in recent years because our understanding of their formation and contribution to the atmospheric electrical circuit is largely unknown. By collecting data on lower atmospheric discharges, lightning, with a three-channel design electric field change sensor we hope that in the future we will be able to better understand sprites and the necessity they fulfill in the atmospheric global electric circuit.
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- Tides
- Short story by Ryan Meer, published in the Fall 2012-Winter 2013 issue of Images.
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- Time Flies When You're Having Fun: An Investigation of Mood and Time Perception
- Since 1868, numerous studies have been conducted to explore the area of time perception. The present study investigates the effects of mood and gender on time perception. The hypothesis presented is that in a certain emotional state one's perception of time is altered. To explore this hypothesis three gender balanced conditions were set up for a group of college students. The groups were shown one of three video clips in which the mood of sad, neutral, or happy were suggested with each clip lasting around 1 minute 10 seconds. Upon the end of the clip subjects were asked to estimate the duration of the clip. Results of this study exhibit a significant effect of mood on time perception, F (2, 35) =4.78, p= .016, η2= .25. The mean time estimation for participants in the funny video clip group was M=101.27, SD=36.772. Similarly the mean for the sad video clip group was M=103.13, SD=58.06. However, the mean of the neutral video clip group, M=180.83, SD=87.97 shows a clear separation between the neutral group and funny and sad group. A trend towards an effect of interaction between mood and subject gender was found with p=.069, with no effect of gender specifically pertaining to time perception with p= .882. Overall, results support the hypothesis that time perception is affected by one's mood.
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- Timelines
- Poem by Kinsey Wheatley from Fall 2012 - Winter 2013 issue of Images.
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- To the Stars
- Poem by Michaela Steiner from Fall 2012 - Winter 2013 issue of Images.
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- Too Much Moisture: A Strength Comparison of Hardware Loaded in Saturated and Unsaturated Sandstone
- The purpose of the study was to determine whether there was a significant strength reduction in the forces withstood by bolts in wet sandstone when compared to dry sandstone. The research aimed to inform the climbing community about the use of fixed protection in wet conditions in a specific rock type. The specific objective was to answer the question, "Are bolts significantly weaker when used in wet sandstone than when used in the same rock type that is dry?" Experimentation took place at a uniform slab of sandstone in the Durango, Colorado area. Twenty bolts were placed at a consistent depth. Half of the tested hardware was subjected to a violent thunderstorm-style rain event where a large amount of water was rapidly applied to the surface of the bolts and the surrounding rock. A manually operated winch was used to extract the bolts from their holes, and a dynamometer was used to display the value of the force withstood before failure occurred. When considering the observed strengths of both categories of bolts there was a negligible difference between the loads supported. The saturated hardware supported an average load even higher than the unsaturated hardware. Resultantly, the observed differences in strength were not significant. After reviewing the data, it was determined that bolts loaded in saturated sandstone failed at an insignificantly lower load than their dry counterparts. Bolts in saturated sandstone will not fail under a lower load than bolts in the same rock type that is dry.
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- Tracking Space Debris With a Single Camera System Via Gauss's Method
- Mankind has just over 1,000 operational satellites in orbit around the earth. Aside from those, people are tracking 15,000 chunks of space debris in orbit about the earth. There are an estimated 500,000 marble-size or larger chunks of space debris in orbit about the earth, moving at roughly 20,000 mph. These operational satellites are vital to our modern economy, so it is essential that we can track all the space debris possible in order to avoid catastrophic collisions. My senior research project explored the feasibility of a simple, single camera system as a means to track space debris and uniquely define the debris' orbit via Gauss's method.