Looking Under the Wallpaper: Reconciling Painting and Digital Art

In the proposal for my project, I wrote that I wanted to explore “modes of meaningful participation in overlooked virtual and physical spaces.” For a while, I’ve been grasping for a hybrid creative practice that draws from drastically different spheres of personal experience and fine art. As an artist, I feel equally attracted to GeorgesContinue reading “Looking Under the Wallpaper: Reconciling Painting and Digital Art”

Shining a Light on Solitary Confinement: The Urgent Need for Prison Reform 

My research on solitary confinement significantly contributes to the larger conversation in the field of criminal justice and corrections, particularly focusing on the long-neglected issue of prison reform. By providing a comprehensive and systematic examination of the social and legal impacts of solitary confinement, my work revitalizes a decades-long conversation that has been forgotten forContinue reading “Shining a Light on Solitary Confinement: The Urgent Need for Prison Reform “

Overconsumption will be the Downfall of Advertising

My research delves into the commodification of happiness within the advertising industry, particularly focusing on the exploitation of consumers. The prevailing notion that companies are genuinely committed to improving the world through socio-political issues often masks a deeper truth: many prioritize profit above all else. Through my work, I aim to spark a broader conversationContinue reading “Overconsumption will be the Downfall of Advertising”

The Greater Impact: Celebrating and Empathizing with Queer Female Stories

Hi everyone! I have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to update you on the status of my summer research and to tell you more about the greater impact of what I am trying to accomplish with my honors in the major thesis! For an update, I am now home from Salt Lake City, Utah, butContinue reading “The Greater Impact: Celebrating and Empathizing with Queer Female Stories”

Expanding the Field of Eating Disorders

I anticipate that the impact of my research will be felt and applied globally. The syndromes that I am modeling within my animal studies are bulimic syndromes, including bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and the binge-purge type of anorexia. Through my study, I aim to identify therapeutic targets to combat the symptoms of these syndromes.Continue reading “Expanding the Field of Eating Disorders”

Oxidative Stress: An Underlying Cause of Cardiovascular Disease

Hey everyone! As a refresher, we are one of two group projects in this year’s IDEA Grant pool. Our project is investigating the potentially harmful effects of naturally occurring molecules in our bodies called reactive oxygen species (ROS). A large source of these molecules is an enzyme called NADPH Oxidase (NOX), which may be moreContinue reading “Oxidative Stress: An Underlying Cause of Cardiovascular Disease”

Spreading the Word on Scienceploitation

Hello again! My name is Alyssa Croft, and I am currently conducting research and designing an experiment with funding from the IDEA Grant. For a quick review, I am working on developing an experiment to test a method of a common phenomenon known as scienceploitation. Scienceploitation is the use of misleading scientific claims as aContinue reading “Spreading the Word on Scienceploitation”

Much Ado About This Poisoned, Vengeful Shrew: Shifting to Live Theatre

Greetings readers, I am coming to you one final time from across the pond! As June and my time studying in England conclude, this update too concludes a month full of theatre and introspection about my project on reclaiming feminine rage. Perhaps its biggest development has been consolidating the material it covers to focus solelyContinue reading “Much Ado About This Poisoned, Vengeful Shrew: Shifting to Live Theatre”

The Impacts of Reclaiming Hetero-centric Interpretations of Ambiguous Histories

With this project I am reinstating the ambiguity into art historical paintings that are typically read from a flattened perspective. By introducing a new extreme into the realm of historical art interpretations I am building a wider spectrum of possible perspectives for contemporary art historians. This reflection based in antiquity that I am taking onContinue reading “The Impacts of Reclaiming Hetero-centric Interpretations of Ambiguous Histories”

Blog 3: Filling in the Gaps

So far I have not run into as many structural inequalities as differences. My community is very small and tight-knit, lessening the presence of structural inequalities. However, I will say that more than the pandemic, access to the internet seems to have created the most differences. The question of how much internet we are consumingContinue reading “Blog 3: Filling in the Gaps”