Adele
Newcomb

Sponsor: Andrew Hall, Ph.D. Nutrition Zinc is an essential micronutrient and is a common deficiency. US Dietary recommendations do not account for reduced zinc bioavailability of plant-based diets. Our objective was to estimate zinc absorption of a vegetarian, female UC Davis first-year college student living in student housing and explore the potential effects of reduced phytic acid on zinc bioavailability. We based our calculations of zinc absorption on a dietary pattern recommended by the UC Davis Dining Commons (DC), assuming an 18 year old female. We calculated the zinc, protein, and calcium content based on values from the USDA Database of Standard Reference and phytate based on World Health Organization values. We calculated zinc absorption using Miller's 2013 model with and without phytate reduction. We estimated risk for zinc deficiency in relation to the Institute of Medicine physiological requirement for absorbed zinc. We found phytate content decreases zinc bioavailability of the recommended UC Davis diet. Phytate reduction would decrease the risk for zinc deficiency of female vegetarians consuming the recommended DC diet. This predictive modeling indicates a concern for zinc deficiency and, given the importance of zinc in health, warrants further research on the potential for zinc deficiency in this population. Using Video Games to Introduce College-Level Engineering Design

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Adele Newcomb

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With many students leaving their engineering major in the first two years of their degree, disproportionately impacting students in underrepresented groups, we aimed to find a way to foster a more engaging introduction to the field for engineering students. Thus, we developed eGames - a virtual and accessible way to expose students to engineering design concepts. We surveyed 1,022 students and measured changes in their responses to questions relevant to their knowledge and comfort level as engineering students. Five different questions were asked before and after the game, posed to gauge understanding and responsiveness to the experience. The students responded to each prompt on a five point Likert scale. We wanted to identify the impact the game had on students, and if it was stronger in different demographic groups. My role was performing statistical analyses on the data; I found the average scores within each group before and after playing the game, measuring the overall difference in scores, and performing t-tests to confirm statistical significance. While each group displayed an increase in their agreement with each of the questions asked after the game, we found very statistically significant results in specific groups with certain questions, showing significant improvements in responses. UC Davis 35 th Annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference 176 Glucosinolate Natural Variation Tiffany Ng

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UC Davis / Biomedical Engineering / 2024

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Adele Newcomb