2021 SCW Conference Showcases Student Research and Creativity

From examining the impact of climate change on Northern California’s endangered elephant seal population to examining how TikTok can be used to support academic and social emotional wellbeing in the classroom, this year’s Scholarly and Creative Works (SCW) Conference highlighted the diversity of expertise among Dominican University of California’s students and their faculty mentors.

The annual event, which was held virtually April 21, showcased a collection of research, art, dance, and choral performances by Dominican’s graduating undergraduates, graduate students, and Adult Degree Completion students. More than 150 students presented their work.

The day-long conference began with musical performances by members of the A Capella Workshop and the Dominican Chamber and Jazz Band Ensembles followed by President Mary B. Marcy's welcoming address.

Dr. Karen McCarthy, assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Program, delivered the keynote address. The address “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Research” explored how to enhance DEI initiatives in research by increasing representation of diverse groups, ensuring equitable access to knowledge, and dismantling the power imbalance through active participation of research participants.

Throughout the day, students delivered oral and poster presentations, gallery exhibitions, and live performances to a virtual audience of students, staff, faculty, and community members.  The full schedule is available on the SCW Conference website. Occupational therapy student Julia Zasso created the promotional video for the conference.

Creating signature work and then presenting it to an audience is part of every student’s Dominican Experience. It deepens learning and underlines the value of their work. And, despite the many challenges presented by the pandemic, this year was no different.

2021 SCW presentations included: 
•    The Relationship of Social-Emotional Learning and Self-Advocacy for Students with Disabilities
•    TikTok as an Academic/Social Emotional Tool in the Classroom
•    Comparison of Mask Perceptions and Marketing within Bay Area and Southern California Counties
•    Wildfires, Climate Change and Land Use Change in California and its Effect on the Prevalence of West Nile Virus
•    Politics Stops at Nature’s Edge: The Need for Bipartisanship in Environmental Policymaking
•    The Relationship Between Covid-19 Pandemic Protective Behaviors and General Risk-Taking Behaviors
•    Eating Habits and Academic Success Study
•    Knockout Parkinson’s Disease: A Fine Motor Program
•    Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris) Pupping Site Fidelity Through Time at Point Reyes National Seashore

The student research will be permanently housed on Dominican Scholar, the University’s institutional repository. Created a little more than six years ago by Michael Pujals, Dominican’s Scholarly Communications Librarian, Dominican Scholar now contains almost 4,000 master’s, senior and honors theses, faculty authored articles, photographs, videos, and audio recordings that are publicly available. Currently, the repository experiences about 21,000 downloads per month. In total, deposited items have been downloaded more than one million times by a worldwide audience.

APPLY NOW FOR FALL 2021