These students are among the 12 undergraduates whose scholarship appears in the new volume of Lucerna, the UMKC undergraduate research journal produced by Honors Program students that publishes the work of students across the campus.

Michael J. Wacker of the UMKC Medical School will speak at the Lucerna Symposium, which will conclude with a panel discussion by presenters.

The six presenters are:

Kyle Broley, “Xenolith Structures in Welded Basalt Agglutinate Associated with Dotsero Crater, Colorado”

Evie Cross, “Grieving Through Participatory Art: Alternative Spaces and Rituals”

Symone Franks, “Temporary Representation is not Representation: The Black Experience at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art”

Gabriela Díaz Leguillú, “Everyday Language Acquisition: A Non-Native Speaker's Perspective”

Madison Pope, “Strange Mating Behaviors and Maximizing Reproductive Success”

Lauren Textor, “‘It Never Will Thump Again’: Domestic Horror in ‘The Daughters of the Late Colonel.’”

The work of six other students also will be published in the new volume of Lucerna:

Jessica Wise, “Co-sleeping vs. Cry-it-Out Sleep Training Methods in Conjunction with Attachment Style and Emotional Regulation”

Allyson Jenkins, “The Development of the Normal Distribution”

Lauren Melton, “The Walking Ecosystem: How Gut Psychobiotics Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli Alleviate Symptomatology of Depression and Anxiety”

Arkadeep Ghosh, “Perfecting The Art of Note-Taking for Medical Students”

Nitin Nadella, “Using Mood Journals to Combat Mental Illness”

Ariej Rafiq, “Grappling with Religion and Culture in the Western World: Muslim Women Writers.”

At the Lucerna Symposium, the faculty advisors of contributors will be recognized: Cristina Albu,  Tara Allen, John Barton, Antonio Byrd, Richard Delaware, Alison Graettinger, Margaret Kincaid, James McKusick, Jess Magaña, Jim Murowchick,  Cody Shrum and Henrietta Rix Wood.

The Lucerna Symposium is free and open to the public. To register for the event, please go to

https://forms.gle/5CNH6dufL5bWQrhX7.

For more information, contact Henrietta Rix Wood at woodhr@umkc.edu 

To learn more about Lucerna, which is accepting student submissions for the next volume to be published in March 2024, please go to honors.umkc.edu/get-involved/lucerna/