1st Place - Nischal Aryal, Computer Science

In today’s rapidly advancing world of technology, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evident in every aspect of our lives. While the technology boom promises to make our lives better, the question remains - is it accessible to everyone? As a computer science student, I am fascinated by the integration of humans, data, and AI. My current research project focuses on creating visualization tools that can better understand human needs and biases, enabling everyone to explore datasets and extract insights with ease.

To visualize my research bibliography, I decided to create a program that would generate a word-cloud visualization by identifying the most frequent words in my text. I wanted this program to be easily usable by others. Simply put, a word cloud is a visual representation of a text where the size of each word represents its frequency in the text. While working on the code, I went through multiple readings and trial and error to ensure that the program worked efficiently. It was during this process that I became curious about how my bibliography would look in my native language, Nepali. As a Nepali student, I wondered if I had ever come across a bibliography or a research paper in Nepali before. To explore this, I used Google Translate to translate my bibliography into Nepali. To my surprise, I discovered a significant lack of inclusion of technical words in Nepali - some words did not even have a close translation.-Maybe technology isn’t for everyone? I corrected the errors in the translated Nepali version of my bibliography and attempted to create a word cloud using it. Unfortunately, the word cloud was empty because the program was not inclusive of foreign letters. Despite trying to update the code and reading articles on this problem, there was no direct solution. Faced with this challenge, I decided to ‘take matters into my own hands’ and create my first Nepali visualization. This experience made me realize that the lack of inclusion and accessibility in technology is an everyday concern. -Not all technology is accessible to everyone

Despite the recent buzz around ChatGPT and other AI technologies, the reality is that not everyone has equal access to these technologies. Accepting the reality of this issue is the first step towards creating a more equitable and inclusive technology.-All technology should be accessible to everyone.

2nd Place - Fang-Yu (Betty) Shen, Wildlife Science

The three panels represent key research concepts from each chapter of my PhD dissertation. The primary objective of the first chapter is to accurately estimate number of birds by integrating both community science and professional data. The second chapter aims to assess the impact of habitat and climate change on birds’ population and diversity. Finally, the third chapter aims to emphasize the importance of eco-friendly farming systems that not only benefit birds but also humans. My work is a fusion of traditional Chinese and Western art, aiming to find a harmonious balance between ink and color. Traditional Chinese art represents my roots - Taiwan, a country inheriting its art tradition from mainland China. Unlike Western art, Chinese art mainly utilizes elegant color tones dominated by black ink. Despite this, when I showed my artwork to my mom, she was astonished by the style I used, exclaiming, “This looks like Western art! You should use more ink on your art.” To me, my work is simply an integrated interpretation of Chinese art, one that ventures beyond the traditional perspective while maintaining its essential elements. I seek to create art that honors both my cultural heritage and aspects of the culture in which I am now living in America.  I firmly believe art is a bridge to connect the general public with science. Art can effectively convey complex messages while minimizing dialectical barriers. With this in mind, I created three panels to represent the concepts from each chapter of my PhD dissertation. My study aims to accurately estimate number of birds by integrating community science data with professional data, and investigating how habitat change impacts the number of birds and their roles in the environment that benefit human well-being. Each piece of art comprises two panels, with no fixed direction to follow. The panels provide a platform for changes to occur from one side to the other, allowing viewers to observe the changes fluidly between the two.

3rd Place - Cole Jetton, Mechanical Engineering

A core part of my research is using machine learning techniques to model how engineers perceive design targets, or modeling what a feasible design would be. To do this I am using a method called “Gaussian Process Regression” which is a powerful tool for not only modeling something but also incorporating the error. The further distance between two data points the more error is expected. Think of it like how your brain works when learning something new such as shooting a basketball. You may try aiming your elbow at a low angle, and then a high angle, and see the result. You now have an idea of what would happen at a medium angle, but you are not 100% sure, e.g., there is some error that your brain knows about.

Admittedly, it can be difficult to explain and even harder to interpret. To me, the mathematics and computer programming behind my area of study is concrete. To others, they are abstract. Even the idea of my research, using machine learning to model what engineers can and cannot design, is a newer field that combines both design engineering and computer science. This is why I went with an abstract piece of art, something that could be understood by those directly in my field but still appreciated by those outside of it.

For my visual bibliography, I decided to represent the general shape of a Gaussian Process with layers of paper mache. It started with a simple canvas picked up from Goodwill, something large enough to let me have enough detail. I printed out the first page of all 31 of my sources and used that for a paper mache representation of a Gaussian Process. The decision to go with vertical strips of paper was partially inspired by favorite painter Frantisek Kupka’s work, albeit with less color. The paper mache was first dyed with blue paint for the lower layer which was placed in the shape of the Gaussian Process. After drying for 24 hours, I went back for the second layer of paper mache strips to fill in the rest of canvas and add smoothness to the borders of the blue Gaussian Process.

Entry by Ke'ala Barnard, Public Health

This art piece is a collage of my honors thesis bibliography which has transitioned into a manuscript that I’m hoping to publish before graduating from my MPH program. The sources are in alphabetical order, as they would appear in an APA formatted submission, but I have also chosen to include some sources that were background reading and were not cited in my final paper. The sources highlighted in green are those that were contained in my actual honors thesis, and the names highlighted in pink are my two mentors, Drs. Catania and Dolcini. The newsprint background is torn up pieces of an American Public Health Association quarterly newspaper that I receive due to my involvement with the APHA after presenting this thesis research at their annual conference as a round table in Boston. The images and writing surrounding my bibliography are cut-outs from my planner. I love to doodle and take notes on everything that happens in my life as I plan out each day, and these pieces are things that I have drawn and imagines, as well as notes that I’ve taken throughout my the last year. I feel that this piece is a visual accumulation of my progression from my undergraduate into the MPH program at OSU and I am incredibly thankful for the amazing opportunities I’ve found and the mentorship I have received from Drs. Catania and Dolcini, who are featured in more than just my bibliography outtakes.
 

Entry by Jessica Mylan, Applied Ethics

This visual bibliography pairs images and videos by chapter through the related contemplative literature (quoted) that I draw on for my thesis. The first chapter of my visual bibliography begins with the journey of a spiritual traveler and the corresponding contemplative literature that shapes the ethical framework for a spiritual person. The second chapter addresses the mutual relationship between nature and contemplative practice, and the corresponding literature that reflects many studies on nature adding value to spiritual experience. The third chapter visualizes people working towards harmony and highlights literature on the impacts of contemplative practice on the global community. The final chapter pictures the personal growth of the yogi and the literature that demonstrates contemplative practice as a somatic experience. This visual bibliography symbolically illustrates that we can integrate contemplative literature into our spiritual journeys as tourists. Particularly, with strong ethical tools that support eco-conscious behavior, spiritual tourists can harmonize their intentions and practice sustainable travel. 

Entry by Sharon Salgado Martinez, History

Latino Roots in Oregon

Despite the extraordinary increases in the Latinx population in Oregon, only some scholars have focused on how and why Latinx communities decided to stay in Oregon. Most Latinx scholarship has centered on the Southwest and the U.S. borderlands. We know far less about the histories of the Latinos in the Northwest. Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico have a wide range of documented Latinx historical scholarship. Of course, California does as well since it has the highest Latinx population in the country. However, in Oregon, Latinx history remains almost invisible. White Oregonians' perspective about Latinx people relies on a historical narrative that portrays Mexicans and Latin Americans as sojourners and perpetual foreigners.

The first wave of Latinx migration to Oregon was of Mexican braceros coming for seasonal work at the Oregon fields, from 1942 until 1964.19 In the meantime, many braceros settled in many Oregon counties like Woodburn, Independence, Medford, and Nyssa. The second wave comprised Tejanos since they needed help finding work in Texas due to the continuous migration of Mexican agricultural workers in the 1950s, and the land consolidation, irrigation, and mechanization in the fields reduced their jobs. In 1987, Oregon became a “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants since it was the first state to pass a “statewide law stopping state and local police and government from helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement.”

In 2021, the Sanctuary Promise Act, passed that year, strengthened protection measures for immigrant communities. These policies made Oregon an appealing place for immigrants and increased year-round jobs with fair wages outside of the agricultural realm. Oregon’s Latinx population has increased exponentially over the last three decades. The growing Latinx population is fueled by that generation’s children and grandchildren, born in Oregon, or moving here from other states.24 Mexican immigrants who settled in this part of the Pacific Northwest were resilient.

Entry by Andy Radmacher, Applied Anthropology

Plotting the Future of Kentucky’s Lost Midwifery Past: the stories are waiting for us to remember. Andy’s graduate thesis research aims to agitate the dominant historical narrative constructing midwifery, professionalization, and power in their home state of Kentucky. An institutional narrative centering nurse-midwifery in Kentucky has suppressed and obscured the deep tradition of “community-originated” midwifery over the last century. Using analytic autoethnography to define the scope of the inquiry and sampling strategy, Andy will facilitating “community-rememberings” where Midwives, community-members, and service users will be invited to contribute previously unwelcomed stories, building a living body of archival knowledge. May the stories become midwives. May the midwives be the Archive.

The positionality of the midwife is in a constant state of reconfiguration based on historical temporality, locality, and intersecting identities. Intrinsically a practice of relationality and kinship, midwifery represents complex intergenerational knowledge systems. Specific to each community across time and space as unique social ecologies, layers of intersecting geopolitical identities construct pregnancy as a state and space of exception. 

This collage layers the colors of highlighted text from my lit review and builds a symbiotic relationship between the different knowledge held in each entry. I am using lichen as a representation of multiple ways of knowing, symbiotic partnerships building landscapes and social ecologies through textual and visual interactions. Scholarship seeks to make connections across disciplines. This image asks us to remember that scholarship is always a relational act. Each aspect of the work is layered into cellular structures that cannot be undone once combined. I cut and glued text from individual articles using line work and color to develop texture and depth. I then scanned the collage creating a digital image before overlaying the collage and the original photo.