2019 DU Research and Scholarship Showcase

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KEYNOTE 2:00-3:30 PM
PRESENTATIONS Graduate
Presentations

3:30-4:30 PM
Keynote
Presentations

4:30-6:30 PM
Undergraduate
Presentations

Keynote Presentations

Student Name: Jasmine Andersen
Program: Physics
Project Title: Optical Vortices-Shedding Light on Dark Places in a Laser Field

Where laser light isn't may be even more exciting than you might have thought. Using a laser and
scotch tape, or a small LCD panel, we generate optical vortices- the optics version of tornadoes and
whirlpools . It turns out that optical vortices cause dark spots in a laser field. More importantly,
just as multiple tornadoes in the sky can interact with each other, we are on the forefront of
understanding emergent interactions between multiple optical vortices in a single laser beam.
We recently generated the highest purity optical vortices measured to date [1] and began
studying the dynamics of the vortices in laser light- all at room temperature- which already has
shown similarities between our system and complex systems that require temperatures very close
to absolute zero[2]. Our group is now building off of that expertise to spearhead research that
finds itself at the intersection of optics, condensed matter physics, particle physics, and fluid
mechanics. I will discuss what optical vortices are and how we can generate, control and
measure them in a very simple experimental set up. This will allow for a brief discussion of a
few applications.

[1] Jasmine M Andersen, Samuel N Alperin, Andrew A Voitiv, William G Holtzmann , Juliet T
Gopinath, and Mark E Siemens. Characterizing vortex beams from a spatial light modulator
with collinear phase-shifting holography. Applied optics, 58(2):404-409, 2019.

[2] Samuel N Alperin, Abigail L Grotelueschen, and Mark E Siemens. Quantum turbulent structure
in light. Physical Review Letters, 122(4):044301, 2019.

Student Name: Patrice Greene, Kahlea Hunt-Khabir and Elizabeth Ndika
Program: IRISE
Project Title: Seeking Grace: Mining Archives and Oral Histories for the Lived Experiences of Black Women at
PWI’s in the American West

The “Seeking Grace” project, named after the second Black woman to graduate from DU with a BA, Grace
Mabel Andrews, takes a consciously anti -racist and intersectional approach to the documentation and
representation of the history of Black women at University of Denver. Informed by Black women’s scholarship
across the disciplines and drawing from Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Thought, the project centers the
experiences of both Black participants and researchers. By expanding the scope of the project beyond the “firsts,”
an understanding of the lived experiences of Black women at Predominately White Institutions comes to life,
creating counternarratives that dispel the myth of a monolithic experience of Black women students in the
academy. “Seeking Grace” continues the tradition of sharing oral histories in the Black communities by
incorporating narratives from early students (1908-1960s) and intertwining the contemporary exploration of the
complex identities within the African diaspora, which includes women who identify as Black, African American,
Caribbean, and so forth. Researchers will present their current methodological process and incorporate their
own stories as Black women at PWI's.

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Keynote Presentations

Student Name: Jimmy Hessler
Program: French & Sociology, CCESL Community-Engaged Fellow
Project Title: Innovative Ways to Enhance Education Access for Vulnerable Youth Populations

During Spring Break 2019, with the help of CCESL, I was able to plan and execute a 5 day College Exposure
Trip for 15 potential first generation college students (currently freshmen and sophomores in HS) from Jackson,
Wyoming. The trip featured activities at the University of Wyoming, the University of Denver, and the Community
College of Denver, and featured 10+ DU faculty as well as 20+ DU students. The 3 key impact areas of the trip
were Communication Skills, College and Career Readiness, and Life Skills, and all areas saw improvement
throughout the trip, determined by an extensive pre and post survey. With the help of CCESL, I am now working
on creating similar opportunities for underrepresented youth populations in Denver, including the Colorado
Muslim Society and DPS.

Student Name: Laura Hosman
Program: International Studies
Project Title: Strategic Litigation and Rights Revolutions in Latin America: When civil society activism checks
corporate misbehavior
Why do courts suddenly become actively engaged in the enforcement and protection of human rights? In
particular, why do courts in Latin America, with a long history of dysfunctionality and regime deference, begin
to actively enforce and protect human rights? Traditional explanations have largely focused on institutional
design, with only minor acknowledgments of the democratization of courts. Subsequently, they have failed to
understand the role civil society plays in pushing this transition. My research, however, suggests that civil society
organizations have been instrumental in democratizing courts, resulting in rights revolutions and expansions of
protections for human rights. In what follows, this article analyzes the effect of increases in the use of strategic
litigation by communities in Latin America to challenge human rights violations committed by corporate actors.
Corporate Social Responsibility blossomed in the 1980s, ushering in the use of litigation to challenge corporate
misbehavior beginning in the 1990s. This coincided with rights revolutions in Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina,
and Chile, driven by the activism of local civil society organizations working in concert with international non-
governmental organizations via transnational advocacy networks. This suggests additional impacts for building
and transforming the rule of law in pursuit of democratization.

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